Engineering in the Anthropocene

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Engineering

(in) the

Antropocene

Dirk Sijmons

KIVI Jaarcongres

12 november 2014

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I-

A-

B-

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2000

1950

1900

1850

1800

1750

Surface temperature

Population

Energy use/CO

2

concentration

Loss of tropical rainforest and land reclamation

GDP

Species extinction

Motor vehicles

Paper use

Water use

Fisheries exploited

Ozone depletion

Foreign investments

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architects

civil engineers

ecologists

landscape architects

construction managers

urban & regional planners

conservation managers

The Silent Majority

Civil Engineers as the Master Planners of the 20th_Century

Source: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

From: Pierre Belanger, Landscape Infrastructure, 2013

141.00 91.300 645.800 668.000 38.400 29.800 26.700

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• influencing geo chemical cycles;

• influencing sediment flows;

• influencing ocean currents;

• influencing climate;

• influencing biodiversity;

• influencing landuse (agric. + urbanization);

antropocene

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A-

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R-Nature

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• hybridisation of geo chemical cycles;

• hybridisation of sediment flows;

• hybridisation of ocean currents;

• hybridisation of climate;

• hybridisation of land-use: urban landscapes;

antropocene

I-

A-

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B-

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Hal I: DE AARDE EEN TUIN

bemiddelde relaties

(groen)milieubeleid

Hal II: HET METABOLISME

VAN DE STAD

(grijs) milieubeleid

!

Hal III: STRATEGIEËN VOOR

HET STADSLANDSCHAP

RHRM: PURE VEERKRACHT

stedelijke ecologie

IABR--2014 Urban by Nature

Brabantstad

Texel

Kelly Shannon

Rotterdam

DC I: HET VERKENNEN

VAN DE ONDERGROND

plannen in een

onbekende wereld

DC 2: STADSLANDSCHAP EN

KLIMAATVERANDERING

!

New York/New Orleans

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A-

B-

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IABR topics for engineering (in) the Antropocene

ecology as the new

engineering learning to ride the tiger synthesizing decoupling growth and

footprint?

enhancing biodiversity as

planned side-effect adaptation to climate change mutual opening up between designers and engineers engineering the transition to

renewables

inverse engineering:

retrofitting old mistakes dealing with uncertainties sectoral vs integral savings: assisting to a

prosperous way down

nature technique as the civil

engineering for the advanced steering in dialogue with the ecosystem generalist: oversee cascading effects when one part fails fine-tuning the urban

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IABR topics for engineering (in) the Antropocene

ecology as the new

engineering learning to ride the tiger decoupling growth and

footprint?

renewables

retrofitting old mistakes dealing with uncertainties integral vs sectoral savings: assisting to a

prosperous way down

metabolism

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mitigating climate change:

engineering the transition

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Engineering angle (1)

5514 ZJ Solar Energy received

1 ZJ Geothermal Energy

0,1 ZJ Tidal Energy

0,4 ZJ Human Economy

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Electricity

Heat

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mitigating climate change:

engineering energy savings

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0,4 ZJ Human Economy

400 % Tidal Energy

50% Geothermal Energy

0,007 % Solar Energy Received

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fine-tuning the urban

metabolism

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cargo

food

sewers

energy supply drinking water

sediment waste rubble biota drinking water data

urban metabolism

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Existing and suggested organic/ human waste cycle 2762 0 800 3453 924 231 800 imported food locally produced food

imported food locally produced food community food production

community food production certified Emission Reductions

orga

nic w

aste degradab

le w ast_es fert ilize r tom ato , p ep pe r loc. pr od. food fertilizer fe rt ili ze r to_m ato_{, p} ep pe r bio ga s _s ga bio ele ctri_city battery bio ga s bi og as elec tricit y ele ctr icit_y ele ctr icit y elec tric it y toile t b ag s hu m an w as_te

organic and human waste community food production

com. food prod. biogas

plant

+ -value added chain within the Makoko community

value losses of Makoko community Existing principle of organic and human waste

cash flow products processing place product flow number of created jobs Suggested closed-loop cycles of organic/ human waste

1

2

Today, all organic waste is released directly into the lagoon without any treatment whatsoever.

The suggested network of Neighborhood Hotspots is able to provide the badly needed waste management, linked to new job opportunities and income for the Makoko community.

The Neighbourhood Hotspots with attached biogas plants function as business incubators, knowledge centers, and “brain” of the new waste economy. They are owned and organized by the biogas cooperatives. The Hotspot network will provide income, increase the standart of living of the Makoko community and create a more healthy environment. Each of the Hotspots serves as a micro-community-center, providing a doctor’s room, shared sanitary facilities, rainwater harvesting, biogas cooking, and a multi-puropose workshop room, proving education opportunities for girls, amongst other features.

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adaptation to climate change

&

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T=0

_T=5

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inverse engineering:

retrofitting mistakes

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IABR topics for engineering (in) the Antropocene

ecology as the new

engineering learning to ride the tiger decoupling growth and

footprint?

renewables

retrofitting old mistakes dealing with uncertainties engineering in a cultural context savings: assisting to a

prosperous way down

metabolism

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Do engineers work without theory, while architects overdose on it?

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1964

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2002:

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Miljoenen stuks

0

250

500

750 1000

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

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lighting

digital universe

The digital universe is made up of images and videos on mobile phones

uploaded to You Tube, digital movies populating the pixels of our high-definition TVs,

banking data swiped in an ATM, security footage at airports and major events like the Olympic Games, subatomic collisions by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, transponders on highway tolls et cetera…..

digital universe

source:

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• engineers that know when to use a tech fix when an eco fix;

• engineers that dare challenge the decoupling ideology between economical

growth and ecological footprints, but dare to work in small steps anyways.

• engineers that can position their work in a societal and cultural context;

• engineers that dare to start working also when not all the knowledge is available

(Hoekelinge dam? Garuda?) Building in dialogue with the system. (learning from

monitoring);

• engineers that know how to deal with uncertainties in a complex world (riding the

tiger);

• Integral vs sectoral specialization

• engineers and designers (don’t stay locked in in your autonomous Buildings) need

to open up to each other

• engineers that help us on a ‘prosperous way down’. “you got us into this mess now

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ecology as the new

engineering charting the course in a complex world

eco-fix vs tech-fix dealing with uncertainties mutual opening between _{designers and engineers}

retrofitting old mistakes learning riding the tiger

engineering for the advanced steering in dialogue with the system bottom up engineering

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attached & responsible

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era

_resources

nature/

vector

key notion

modernization

given, source

_{and sink}

emancipation

_detachment

freedom/

explicitation

nothing for

_granted

concern

responsible/

_attached

antropocenic

?

riding the tiger

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A-

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R-science

tools

tech-

niques

standards

policy

other

engineers

legal

Engineering 2014

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Nature

Nature Society

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civil engineers

construction engineers

architects

ecologists

urban & regional planners

conservation managers

landscape architects

0 175000

350000

525000

700000

The Silent Majority Civil Engineers as the Master Planners of the 20th_Century

Source: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics From: Pierre Belanger, Landscape Infrastructure, 2013

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