Cities are engineering themselves into a dead end, consuming resources the planet cannot supply. This research argues that current attempts to fix cities—like installing efficient appliances—fail because they ignore what people actually want. The core problem is a mismatch: people pursue material consumption for social status, yet research shows that meeting those aspirations often fails to improve wellbeing. The project proposes a radical rethinking, using CO₂ emissions as a proxy for overall harm, and developing engineering solutions that are both low-carbon and socially acceptable. It will create a city analysis methodology that combines technical fixes with quality-of-life indicators, accounting for social norms and aspirations. The team will use “back-casting”—defining a desirable future first, then mapping the steps to get there—to identify tipping points and barriers. If successful, this could transform how cities are engineered, shifting from techno-fixes that clash with daily life to integrated strategies that reduce emissions without demanding impossible behaviour changes. The impact would be felt in urban infrastructure, energy grids, and housing, but also in the quieter systems—planning regulations, policy frameworks, and social norms—that shape how people live, work, and consume.
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There is irrefutable evidence that the climate is changing. There also is strong evidence that this is largely a result of human activity, driven by our insatiable consumption of resources, growing populations, unsustainable migration patterns and rapid overdevelopment in cities that are resulting in heavy ecosystem services losses. Humankind's solutions to these problems do not always work, as many rely upon quantities of resources that simply do not exist or that could not support the rate of change that we are facing, behaviour changes that sit uneasily with our current consumption patterns and quality of life aspirations, and government policies that emphasise long-term sustainable gain but potential short-term economic loss for businesses and local people. A radical revisioning of the problem is needed, not only to reverse current trends, but also to contribute positively to the sustainability and wellbeing of the planet, now and in the future. This proposal is that radical new vision, adopting a 'whole of government' focus to the changes needed in the ways that societies live, work, play and consume, balancing social aspirations against the necessary changes, and using CO2 emissions as a proxy measurement for the harm being done to the planet and the resources (particularly energy) that we use. Through the development of a city analysis methodology; engineering design criteria for quality of life and wellbeing; engineering design criteria for low carbon pathways and; radical engineering approaches, strategies and visioning-all generated in a multidisciplinary context-we aim to deliver a range of engineering solutions that are effective in sustaining civilised life, in an affordable and socially acceptable style. Our vision is to transform the engineering of cities to deliver societal and planetary wellbeing within the context of low carbon living and resource security. We seek to prove that an alternative future with drastically reduced CO2 emissions is achievable in a socially acceptable manner, and to develop realistic and radical engineering solutions to achieve it. Certain techno-fixes for a low-carbon society have been known for some time (e.g., installing low energy appliances in homes), but are not always deemed successful, in part because they have not been deemed socially acceptable. Current aspirations for material consumption are driven by social factors and reinforced by social norms, yet recent research shows that meeting these aspirations often does not enhance wellbeing. Thus, the challenge the research community faces is to co-evolve the techno-fixes with people's aspirations, incorporating radical engineering strategies within the financial, policy/regulation and technical contexts, to re-define an alternative future. A roadmap is required to chart the path from here to there, identify potential tipping points and determine how to integrate radical engineering strategies into norms. However, this roadmap can only be considered once that alternative future has been established, and a 'back-casting' exercise carried out, to explore where the major barriers to change lie and where interventions are needed. Our ambition is to create an holistic, integrated, truly multidisciplinary city analysis methodology that uniquely combines engineered solutions and quality-of-life indicators, accounts for social aspirations, is founded on an evidence base of trials of radical interventions in cities, and delivers the radical engineering solutions necessary to achieve our vision. We seek to achieve this ambition by using a variety of innovative and traditional approaches and methods to undertake five research challenges, which are outlined in detail in five technical annexes.
A. Bahaj (Co-Investigator)Brian Collins (Co-Investigator)Christopher David Foss Rogers (Principal Investigator)Francesca Medda (Co-Investigator)Helene Joffe (Co-Investigator)Jane Falkingham (Co-Investigator)John Urry (Co-Investigator)Jon Sadler (Co-Investigator)Nick Dunn (Co-Investigator)Nick Tyler (Co-Investigator)Patrick James (Co-Investigator)Rachel Cooper OBE (Co-Investigator)
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