Regenerative Design in Urban Planning

Future Energy Insights

Sustainable, resilient, and climate-positive urban environments are not a pipe dream, and regenerative design is a game-changer in transforming the built environment. On episode 17, we discuss how governments, urban planners, and communities can come together to reverse climate change.

By 2050, two out of every three people will be living in cities or major urban centres. With cities generating around 75 percent of global CO2 emissions, the race is on to create sustainable, resilient, and climate-restorative cities.

Regenerative urban design will play a pivotal role in helping transform the built environment to enhance potential for net-positive impact on natural systems. From retrofitting a commercial building with a green skin to creating wetlands that capture and store rainwater, there is ample opportunity for cities and citizens to rebuild a harmonised relationship with nature.

This episode was recorded during the 2024 World Future Energy Summit. Our invited experts identify the global cities setting benchmarks for regenerative design, discuss what it takes for a city to become a carbon sink, and ask whether major gateways like London, New York and Dubai can go beyond carbon neutrality and into the realm of carbon negativity?

Moderator Jeffrey Beyer, Founder and Managing Director of Zest Associates, is joined by Dr Hala Omar, Sustainability Manager at turnkey consultancy Dar Al-Handasah, and Vice President of the Egypt Green Building Council; and Laurence Kemball-Cook, founder and CEO of clean-tech company, Pavegen.

Powered by World Future Energy Summit, the Future Energy Insights show seeks to address the biggest challenges shaping the future of energy today, both in the Middle East and around the world. Find us on social media at @WFES