Climate Action Strategy for City of London - Adaptive Design/Pathways "London's Cubic Mile"
Lead Research Organisation:
British Geological Survey
Department Name: Engineering Geology
Abstract
The City of London "Square Mile" is the historic centre of London and the financial and commercial heart of the UK. It is a very high-density urban environment with a low level of greening and few mature trees. Specific modelling carried out by the Met Office (UKCP18) for 'The City' of London indicates that overall winters will be 20% wetter and summers 30% drier with more extreme weather events and sea level rise. Increased rainfall and surface water run-off present an issue for The City, where the presence of hard surfaces and will significantly increase the risk of flooding of high-profile commercial premises. Temperatures and heatwaves will also increase in frequency leading to increased mortality and issues of overheating for The City's people and services.
The future resilience of The City to climate change is high on the City of London Corporation's (CoL) agenda. The aim of this embedded researcher placement between Katy Freeborough, of the British Geological Survey, and the CoL is to support the delivery of the City of London Corporation's Climate Action Strategy 2020-2027. A key strand of this strategy is to improve the resilience of the City to future extreme weather and long-term climatic changes though identification of potential adaptation measures. The 12- month placement will focus on the use of subsurface space to support delivery of the Climate Action Strategy to identify potential opportunities as to how subsurface space may be better used to improve climate resilience. The project will evaluate a range of subsurface climate adaptation options; sustainable urban drainage systems, urban greening and tree planting, cool spaces below ground, ground sourced energy and prevention of damage to buried utility services.
Traditionally subsurface knowledge has been under-utilised in resilience planning as its significance is often misunderstood or underappreciated. Addressing data issues and interpreting technical analysis can be problematic for non-specialists. The research project has been designed to help identify and better understand data, identify suitable locations for surface-subsurface climate resilience adaption measures and support the development of plans for their implementation and future monitoring of their effectiveness.
The placement will provide a platform for surface-subsurface knowledge exchange. The project will identify, collate, examine and understand relevant data and policy sources; explore how best to visualise and represent the 3D information; how to manage data sharing protocols; and provide the level and understanding of data required to fully define options for subsurface use. By working alongside urban planning experts at CoL, Katy will gain greater insight into planning processes and routes to downscale NERC geoscience research for local application delivered through the planning regime.
Fundamentally the placement will answer the question 'How can the urban subsurface help us meet our climate objectives?', and specifically for CoL 'What subsurface measures can be implemented and where?' and 'If current understanding is insufficient, what work is needed to fill the gaps?'.
The future resilience of The City to climate change is high on the City of London Corporation's (CoL) agenda. The aim of this embedded researcher placement between Katy Freeborough, of the British Geological Survey, and the CoL is to support the delivery of the City of London Corporation's Climate Action Strategy 2020-2027. A key strand of this strategy is to improve the resilience of the City to future extreme weather and long-term climatic changes though identification of potential adaptation measures. The 12- month placement will focus on the use of subsurface space to support delivery of the Climate Action Strategy to identify potential opportunities as to how subsurface space may be better used to improve climate resilience. The project will evaluate a range of subsurface climate adaptation options; sustainable urban drainage systems, urban greening and tree planting, cool spaces below ground, ground sourced energy and prevention of damage to buried utility services.
Traditionally subsurface knowledge has been under-utilised in resilience planning as its significance is often misunderstood or underappreciated. Addressing data issues and interpreting technical analysis can be problematic for non-specialists. The research project has been designed to help identify and better understand data, identify suitable locations for surface-subsurface climate resilience adaption measures and support the development of plans for their implementation and future monitoring of their effectiveness.
The placement will provide a platform for surface-subsurface knowledge exchange. The project will identify, collate, examine and understand relevant data and policy sources; explore how best to visualise and represent the 3D information; how to manage data sharing protocols; and provide the level and understanding of data required to fully define options for subsurface use. By working alongside urban planning experts at CoL, Katy will gain greater insight into planning processes and routes to downscale NERC geoscience research for local application delivered through the planning regime.
Fundamentally the placement will answer the question 'How can the urban subsurface help us meet our climate objectives?', and specifically for CoL 'What subsurface measures can be implemented and where?' and 'If current understanding is insufficient, what work is needed to fill the gaps?'.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Kathryn (Katy) Freeborough (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Freeborough K
(2023)
The Cubic Mile project : workshop overview
Freeborough K
(2023)
The Cubic Mile project : recommendations and guidance for implementation
Freeborough K
(2023)
The Cubic Mile project : policy summary and overview
| Description | The project indicated the remaining barriers and gaps in knowledge in the collation of subsurface data and its potential use for climate adaptation and resileince. There are three common issues that needed to be addressed in order to improve the use of the subsurface for climate resilience: 1) Lack of urban planning and policy framework for climate resilience and adaptation. 2) Lack of availability of subsurface data for climate resilience planning, including insufficient or poor-qualitydata (e.g.,locations of basements, depth of assets, anthropogenic deposits), high costs and/or poor accessibility of data (e.g.,for strategic mapping purposes) and associated security concerns. 3) Insufficient documentation and coordination of developments and works affecting the subsurface that prevents improving climate resilience and adaptation outcomes. Highest priority actions were identified as follows: A common, stronger regulatory framework to supportclimate resilience and adaptation activities; Both national and regional level frameworks to coordinate planning and allowing appropriate timescales for local delivery, including sufficient guidance and funding for local authorities and delivery partners; Improved communication and coordination at local level between organisations and stakeholders to deliver maximum benefits; Strategic policies to better coordinate use of underground space, including for climate adaptation measures such as local heat networks, water schemes and green infrastructure etc.oImprovements to planning and development data collection for the subsurface, such as legislation for required reporting. Communitications are continuing in the form of contibution to formal consultation documents and collboration in wider, governmnet lead workshop discussions. |
| Exploitation Route | Learning can be shared in collborative local discussions and trial gathering of subsurface data, local mapping excercises and movement into proactive opportunity mapping for climate adaptation and reslience. Involvement in national consultation documents from local experience . |
| Sectors | Energy,Environment,Other |
| Description | The Award finished officially in October 2022 and summaries were published in February 2023. Impacts are already being noted in the the City of London Corporation and are reported at high level in the partnership and outcomes section. Key immediate impacts involve a change in understanding and thinking with trial maps and knowledge adding to Local Area Plan development and Public Realm/ Climate resilience making for tree planting. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Environment |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | City of London Corporation |
| Organisation | City of London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | City of London Cororpation were the host organisation for this UKCP Embedded Researcher Scheme Grant award |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staff resources:Environmental Resilience Officer -1 day per week for the duration of the programme. Access to funds for data and other resources needed:The Climate Action Strategy has funding behind it, so should money be needed for purchasing of datasets or other resources, itis available. There would be around £20,000 available for this project. Use of office space: When necessary, the City of London can provide desk space at the Guildhall for the embedded researcher when in London |
| Impact | See publications section. - contribution to UKCR insight paper (work in progress) - Putting climate resilience in its place: developing spatially literate climate adaptation initiatives Freya Garry Paul O'Hare & Claire Scannell Jenna C. Ashton, Michael Davies, Katy A. Freeborough, Alan T. Kennedy-Asser, Neil Macdonald, Stephen Scott-Bottoms & Liz Sharpr - Evidence base: GoScience and Geospatial Commision. Project providing vital evidence for new Foresight Project at the Government Office for Science The Future of the Subsurface - Letter of Support: Grant funding for the ICL/ BGS/ Uni Manchester/ Uni Leeds collaboration SMARTRES; Urban Geothermal capacity and systems for subsurface monitoring in the UK. CoLC provided letter of support letter of support- representative to engage with the project and serve on the management or advisory board as requested (BGS) http://gotw.nerc.ac.uk/list_split.asp?awardref=NE%2FX005097%2F1 - Evidence base: Project experience contributed to BGS response to government policy consultations for Consultation Response: National Underground Asset Register (NUAR); Consultation Response: Levelling up and Regeneration Bill - amendments to the NPPF (England). City of London report internal outcomes -Mapping output of underground congestion including features relevant to greening/tree planting and SuDS already being applied to upcoming public realm and highways projects to identify constraints -Plan to increase use knowlddge gained to inform strategic greening/planting scheme planning - i.e. later phases of the Cool Streets and Greening programme of the Climate Action Strategy -Identification of disused/under-utilised underground space has informed exploration of these spaces for climate resilience uses, e.g. with City Surveyor, asset owners/other public bodies -Informed progression of Local Area Energy Plan (e.g. ground source and geothermal possibility) including discussions between CoL and stakeholders -Outcomes and recommendations have directly fed into the Local Plan development. Specifically informing policies of the Local Plan relevant to climate resilience, e.g. safeguarding below ground space - Increased knowledge of climate resilience among planning officers, including design and development management officers alongside sustainability officers. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Cubic Mile; Stakeholder Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The City of London Corporation and the British Geological Survey (BGS) hosted a workshop to conclude the 'Cubic Mile' project, an embedded researcher project carried out between November 2021 and October 2022. Focusing on the City of London the year-long partnership investigated how urban subsurface space could be better utilised to improve the City's resilience to the impacts of long-term climate change and extreme weather. The workshop event brought together a range of stakeholders to discuss the progress of this project over the past 11 months, and to develop recommendations and next steps in the understanding, and potential development, of the urban subsurface for climate resilience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/533953/ |