This video is made by the Czech Geological Survey in collaboration with the Norwegian Geological Survey and is funded by EEA Norway Grants (2021)
The Sub-Urban group has evolved into the
Urban Geology Expert Group
Geological Surveys have long recognised that sharing knowledge and experience can save resources and lives. EuroGeoSurveys is comprised of individual members from 38 national Geological Survey organisations. The main objective of all the EGS is “to contribute to improving the operational capacity and economic capabilities of governments, institutions, organisations, businesses, and individuals and define measures and actions.” Urban Geology is one of the many topics that EGS hopes to highlight by establishing the Urban Geology Expert Group (UGEG). Currently, 24 surveys participate in UGEG. Read more in link: https://arcg.is/0vKK9O0
Creating Just and Sustainable Cities EURA - UAA Conference City Futures IV June 20-22, 2019 in Dublin, Ireland
Visit website at http://cityfutures2019.com/
Conference Theme
The theme of the City Futures IV conference jointly organized by EURA and UAA is Creating Just and Sustainable Cities. Taking inspiration from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals the conference topic focuses on the challenges that we are currently facing to create cities and communities that are just, inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, while reducing poverty and inequality. Following a decade of crisis and austerity, inequalities are becoming ever more apparent at local, regional and global scales, with our current economic models increasingly being questioned and trust in formal politics declining. Violence and extremism lead to enforced migration and the post war geopolitical map is being shaken. Urban areas are often the sites where the contrasts between wealth and poverty are most stark, where inequalities become expressed spatially, where environmental degradation is most pronounced, and where the disenfranchised and disillusioned look for solutions in entrenchment and fear of ‘otherness’.
Despite such challenges urban areas, as they have been for millennia, are often the fulcrum of hope and innovation. The Conference theme asks scholars to reflect on how we can move towards more socially just, diverse, democratic, environmentally rich cities and city region.
Pathways & Pitfalls to Better Sub-Urban Planning
“The vision is for Future Cities that live sustainably and in harmony with the ground they are built on. Relevant policy at local, national and trans-national scales will be needed to support this.» Dr. Diarmad Campbell, Chair of COST Action TU 1206 Sub-Urban, BGS.
Use link to read report: WROCLAW WEST END
In 2017 City of Wrocław was finalising work on the draft version of the new Master Plan. Prominent goals for the spatial development within this new framework are: ensuring more compact, energy efficient and sustainable city.
One of the challenging issues which new Master Plan has to face in this context is how to shape the structure of the western district of Wrocław. Shortly this place can be portrayed as an extremely fragmented great development potential for the city.
City of Wrocław would like to elaborate different scenarios for the future development of its western part. This is why two international organisations – International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) and International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITACUS) – were invited
by the Mayor of Wrocław, dr. Rafał Dutkiewicz, to organise international professional urban workshop in order to produce new, fresh visions for this district and concepts for its future form.
GEOCIM - Geo City Information Modelling
A new concept, GeoCIM is proposed for City Quarter to Conurbation scales, combining subsurface and above-ground models. These enable: a.) holistic urban planning; b.) identifying subsurface opportunities; and c.) saving costs by reducing uncertainty in ground conditions.
What cities think about COST Actions
Cities are increasingly involved in COST Actions, yet the collaboration between cities and COST networks usually stays under the radar, with good practices not usually extending beyond the borders of COST Actions. On the 10th October, COST organised an event as part of the European Week of Regions and Cities to explore this issue further.
Karina Marcus and Mickael Pero, Science Officers at COST, held the session at Welsh House, Brussels, with the objective to look into the main benefits of cities and regions participating in COST Actions, from their perspective. This event took an innovative approach by inviting one city representative and one academic from three COST Actions on smart cities (CyberParks, Smart Energy Regions, Sub-Urban).
Three testimonials highlighted key benefits from a city point of view:
Building bridges: connect with the relevant research community can support in finding solutions – as well as connect with other cities facing similar challenges
Priority setting: connect research communities with local priorities helps to find common areas of interest
Critical mass: involve research communities in key city challenges allows to increase the visibility and importance of the topic
Interdisciplinary: discuss with COST networks is an opportunity to relate with multiple research communities and point of views
Exploration: COST networks represent an access to different ideas offered by science and technology to solve daily problems for citizens
Acceleration: involving research communities can speed up the advancement of city projects
The event is considered a first step in deepening knowledge about collaborations between COST Actions and Cities.
For more information and to download the presentations visit: http://www.cost.eu/media/newsroom/cities-think-cost-actions
"Nobody Knows What Lies Beneath New York City"
Read the story by greg milner from Bloomberg businessweek.
"Subterranean cartographers are bringing to light the dark, tangled truths buried under the streets." The attention of the what the subsurface contains is increasing. Read the story here https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-08-10/nobody-knows-what-lies-beneath-new-york-city.
SUb-urban 2017 planning and management week 13.-16. of march in bucharest, romania. The final conference for cost action 1206 sub-urban
First Sub-Urban Training Workshop is being arranged in Lisbon, Portugal, 3. & 4. of November 2016
For more information go to: http://costsuburbantu1206.ipleiria.pt/
Rotterdam Resilience Strategy launched in MAY 2016
Chief Resilience Officer of Rotterdam Arnoud Molenaar together with Chair of COST action 1206 Sub-Urban Diarmad Campbell (BGS) and representatives from the Resilience City Lisbon Paulo P. Pais and Resilient City Glasgow Cathy Johnston, together with Ignace van Campenhout from Rotterdam Municipality and Sub-Urban member and colleague.
Rotterdam (NL), Lisbon (PT) and Glasgow (UK) are all part of the 100 Resilient Cities, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation. To learn more about the 100 Resilient Cites see http://www.100resilientcities.org or https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/our-work/initiatives/100-resilient-cities/
On May 19, 2016, the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, released its Resilience Strategy, outlining its plan to use initiatives including a circular economy, a climate change panel, and resilience education to address the city's challenges. To read Rotterdam`s Resilience Strategy go to: http://www.100resilientcities.org/blog/entry/rotterdams-resilience-strategy#/
Geologists turn detective to unearth map of underground Scotland
Read more: http://www.scotsman.com/news/geologists-turn-detective-to-unearth-map-of-underground-scotland-1-4069485#ixzz42yMDPFTy
Monday 14 March 2016 in the Scotsman, Scotland`s national newspaper
Geologists have embarked on a major piece of “detective work” to create a map of how Scotland looks beneath the surface.
The legacy of Scotland’s mining industry as well as the impact of more recent invasions on the country’s natural geology will all be documented.
Dr Diarmad Campbell, chief geologist for Scotland at the British Geological Survey (BGS), said the aim was to make the surface of Scotland “transparent”.
He said: “What we are trying to do is make the surface that we stand on transparent so that people can see through it, see the different rock formations and see what has been done with them in the past by previous generations.
“It is like a gigantic detective story. It is using all the forms of detective work we possibly can to build up the best picture possible of what has happened below the surface.”
The BGS is now focussing on the east of the central belt on land to the north and south of the Forth after completing a major analysis of “sub-surface” Glasgow.
It is using thousands of records, some dating back to the 19th century, to build up as accurate a picture as possible as to what lies below, with builders and renewable energy firms among those most likely to benefit.
GEOTECHNICAL DATA AND GEOHAZARDS IN CITY SUBSURFACE MANAGEMENT
The rapid growth of urban areas, and the constant development of city infrastructure, necessitates better understanding of the underground space. Across Europe, the urban subsurface is usually taken into consideration in the planning process, but awareness of the importance of knowledge about the geotechnical data and geohazards among city planners and stakeholders, still needs to be increased. This includes the need for a greater consideration of the subsurface information in the City Master plans, if geological and geotechnical problems are to be anticipated, and more realistic construction timeframes and budgets are to be developed.
