UCLEi Annual Report 2012

Annual Report 2012
UCL Environment Institute
UCL ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTE

That environmental issues are a prime focus
of research and outreach activities at UCL
is clear from the wealth of activities and
publications recorded in this year’s Annual
Report. The Environment Institute sees its
mission as facilitating and promoting inter-
disciplinary research at UCL and the value of
such inter-disciplinarity is fully demonstrated
in these events. Almost every one has brought
together people from across schools and
departments and even faculties. This attests
to the growing recognition that environmental
problems cannot be solving without pooling
our expertise, knowledge and insights.
The Sustainability Concepts and Materials Conference
– co-organised with UCL Urban Lab – was particularly
notable for forging connections between different
disciplines. The first day was devoted to academic
colleagues learning more about each others’ work; the
second day drew together research students working
on material aspects of sustainability through study of a
great variety of topics. This was one of the Cultures of
Sustainability theme events.
But each of the Environment Institute’s other
themes – Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental
Governance, Migration & Settlement, Sustainable
Cities and Water Security – have been active in
promoting collaboration and co-learning across UCL
and showcasing UCL research to a wider community.
There was the Migration Film Festival, the Heuristics
of Mapping Urban Environmental Change Project,
the London Water Hackathon and the Designing
Environmental Protection Conference. The following
pages provide details of many more.
The Environment Institute is also glad to act as UCL
home to a very active group of Visiting Fellows and
Professors and Artists in Residence. In each case, this
has enabled research occurring at UCL to make links to
environmental policy and action occurring in a variety
of organisational contexts beyond academe.
The list of events, activities and publications
associated with environmental research at UCL and
the Environment Institute more specifically grows year
on year. This is also reflected in the growing numbers
subscribing to the Environment Institute newsletter
and twitter-feeds and visiting our website and
Facebook page. Details of how to enjoy the Institute’s
social media are on the last page; if you are not signed
up, may I urge you to do so. That way you will not miss
any of the events that the Institute is already planning
for 2012-3.
Professor Yvonne Rydin
Director
Contents
Foreword
Director’s Report
Activities & Events
- Theme Activities:
• Biodiversity
• Climate Change
• Cultures of Sustainability
• Environmental Governance
• Migration & Settlement
• Sustainable Cities
• Water Security
- General Events:
• Public Lectures
• Workshops
• Conferences
Artists-in-Residence
• David Finnigan
• Heather Ackroyd and
Dan Harvey
• Artist Residencies for
2012-13
Affiliated Organisation:
• Thames Estuary
Partnership (TEP)
Visiting Professors -
Talks & Activities
2
3
4
4
22
22
23
25
26
26
28
4
6
8
10
11
12
16
18
18
20
21
Foreword
Two of this year’s many UCL
Environment Institute activities
are particularly strong exemplars
of the approach our university
has adopted in the UCL Research
Strategy, through which our
collective expertise is brought
to bear on problems of major
significance.
First, the UCL – Lancet
Healthy Cities Commission
drew on expertise from 11
UCL departments and other
universities in order to highlight
the role that urban planning can
and should play in delivering
health improvements through
reshaping the urban fabric of
cities around the world. The
commission’s report is achieving
further impact through sector-
specific workshops and briefings
with key policymakers and
practitioners.
Second, the Climate Change &
Financial Risk workshop,
co-organised by our new UCL
Public Policy unit, brought leaders
in government, business and
policymaking in touch with leading
academic expertise from a number
of disciplines, in order to consider
the financial risks associated with
climate change adaptation (or the
lack thereof).
In areas such as these, the UCL
Environment Institute plays an
important role in identifying
environmental issues that
cross-disciplinary approaches can
address effectively, and in drawing
together research leaders from
across our university to do so. It
enables experts to synthesize the
insights from their subject-specific
research – thereby addressing
problems in their full complexity
– and to share their analysis with
policymakers and practitioners.
I congratulate those involved for
their contribution to the success of
London’s Global University.
Professor
David Price
UCL Vice-Provost
(Research)
from the UCL Vice-Provost (Research)
2
Director’s Report
3

Biodiversity
Co-Director:
Dr David Murrell,
UCL Department of
Genetics, Evolution
and Environment (GEE)
The Biodiversity theme continued
to be run by Dr David Murrell.
David’s research concentrates on
understanding what biological
processes act to maintain bio-
diversity. In other words, what
acts as the glue to hold natural
communities together? In
particular he is interested in the
effects of spatial structure on
population and community
ecological and evolutionary
dynamics.
Under this theme, a wide variety of
seminars were held as part of the
UCL GEE/CEE series.
The following are a selected few
to highlight the diversity of topics
covered.
Stories about Polychaetes from
Deception Island (South Shetland
Islands, Antarctica).
Sergi Taboada Moreno,
University of Barcelona.
Theme Activities
The UCL Environment Institute (UCLEI) acts as a ‘hub’ for
environmental research at UCL, providing access to expertise
across the university and running a variety of events show-
casing UCL Environmental research. Most of the events of last
year were organised as part of the UCLEI’s 7 themes, but there
were others that were organised by the EI as a whole and
others still that were sponsored or supported by the Institute.
Antelope
conservation in the
21st century: from
diagnosis to action.
The drastic decline in wildlife
populations since 1970 has hit
antelopes particularly severely with
more than a quarter of species
now threatened by extinction.
However, antelopes have received
far less conservation attention than
many of their mammalian relatives
in spite of providing some of the
most fascinating wildlife spectacles
on earth. Thus in the absence of
immediate action, several species
are in imminent danger of joining
the scimitar-horned oryx as recent
extinctions in the wild.
This symposium aimed to clarify
the current trends in global
antelope biodiversity, understand
what drives the major threat
processes and, on this basis,
highlight conservation priorities,
taking into account both biological
and socioeconomic aspects.
Contamination in coastal eco-
systems: old and new issues and
some responses.
Julian Blasco, Instituto de Ciencias
Marinas de Andalucia.
The origin of sponges and the
Cambrian explosion.
Dr Jonathan Antcliffe,
Department of Earth Sciences,
University of Bristol.
Because antelopes demonstrate
striking variation in morphology,
ecology and behaviour, they are
exposed to a wide range of the
threats facing biodiversity today.
In this way, the focus on antelopes
provides a prism through which
general insights into the principles
governing conservation threats and
their mitigation can be achieved.
The topics addressed by world
leading experts in antelope
conservation included: how to
turn habitat loss into conservation-
friendly land use in a world of
environmental change; how
antelope-livestock interactions
affect resource competition
and disease transmission; how
to render bushmeat hunting
sustainable; and the usefulness
of sport hunting, game ranching
and reintroductions as tools in
conservation.
Organised by
Jakob Bro-
Jorgensen and
David Mallon, ZSL.
Restoration Ecology:
fantasy and reality.
Prof. Jane Memmott,
University of Bristol
Professor Jane Memmott’s
interests include pollination
ecology, invasion ecology, agro-
ecology, biological control, urban
ecology and restoration ecology.
A theme that runs through many
of her projects is the use of
ecological networks to as a tool to
answer a variety of environmental
questions.
For example, does restoration
ecology restore ecological function,
are ecosystem services affected
by farming approach and how do
aliens integrate into ecological
networks? She works as both a
pure and an applied ecologist and
is particularly keen on working
at the interface between the
two disciplines. A wide variety
of techniques are used by her
research group, from field
observation to field experiment,
from theory to molecular
approaches.
Conservation in China: unique
challenges or global lessons?
Samuel Turvey, ZSL.
Using herbarium specimens to
track the arrival and spread of
non-native seaweeds.
Jane Pottas & Juliet Brodie,
Department of Botany, NHM.
What role does stress play in
translocation outcomes?
Molly J. Dickens,
University of Liege.
The curious case of the
disappearing devil.
Shelly Lachish,
University of Oxford.
The Journey to SCAN: A
Schistosomiasis Collection at NHM.
Aidan Emery,
Department of Zoology, NHM.
©ZSL
UCL Environment Institute Activities & Events
54

Climate Change
Co-Director:
Prof. Bill McGuire,
UCL Department
of Earth Sciences
The Climate Change theme was
new this year and is the result
of the combination of previous
two themes, Past Climate &
Ecologies with Climate Predictions
& Impacts. Climate Change was
led by Professor Bill McGuire. Bill
is Professor of Geohazards at the
UCL Department of Earth Sciences
and is one of Britain’s leading
volcanologists. His main interests
include monitoring volcanoes and
global geophysical events.
Under this theme a number of
workshops were held. A brief
synopsis of each event is included
below.
Knowledge Exchange, the Media
and Climate Science: A Workshop.
Workshop convenor:
Dr Neil Gavin,
Department of
Politics, University
of Liverpool
Workshop overview
Dr Gavin is a researcher in the
politics and mediation of climate
change, who - based upon this
experience - offered free, half-
exchange and public outreach
activities. The session was
specifically geared towards those
engaged in all aspects of climate
science, and it augmented,
developed and extended (rather
than replaced) the media training
courses offered by organisations
such as NERC (e.g. NERC’s ‘Engaging
the Public with your Research’).
The workshop covered the
following areas:
• The journalistic environment
and how this affects climate
scientists’ engagement with the
media.
• How the public react to climate
change messages, and what this
says about how to (and how not
to) project your research.
• The politics of climate scepticism;
what to expect in debate with
‘contrarians’; and best and worst
practice in confronting them.
• The extent to which ‘climategate’
has changed the nature of the
media environment.
• The dangers in misrepresenting
climate science, even with the
best of intensions.
• The resources available to
climate researchers who are
engaged in media and public
outreach activities.
Climate Change Communication
- Critical to mitigation policy and
carbon governance?
Discussion Panel:
• Richard Dent MSc (Visiting
Researcher, UCL Environment
Institute);
• Prof Mark Maslin (UCL);
• Prof Chris Rapley (UCL);
• Camilla Scassellati Sforzolini
(UCL);
• Mark Raven MA.
Concern about climate change
is fairly high in the UK yet the
problem of climate science
scepticism and a value-action gap
in the public is increasing. What
role does climate communication
play and has the media become
a political force in defining the
direction of our low carbon
economy?
A group of students from UCL and
LSE looked into this and related
topics during the summer as part
of a research project based at the
UCL Environment Institute. They
found complex and unique issues
that surround climate change and
renewable energy communication
that could present significant
barriers to successful mitigation
policy and carbon governance.
They also presented potential
solutions and ways forward
applicable to scientists, policy
makers and civil servants working
in climate change or renewable
energy sectors.
Climate Change and Financial Risk
The policy discourse on climate
change has tended to focus
primarily on mitigation in order
to reduce carbon emissions and
minimise a global temperature
rise. However, with growing
evidence pointing to a likely global
average temperature rise of more
than 2ºC, possibly within decades,
it is apparent that future efforts
also need to focus much more
seriously on adapting to the effects
of climate change that are now
inevitable.
The workshop considered the
financial risks associated with
climate change adaptation, or the
lack thereof. It addressed potential
scenarios of climate change and
adaptation, and explored the
degree of awareness amongst
business leaders and policy
makers of the risks presented by a
changing climate.
Through a particular focus on
water, the event addressed some
of the specific financial risks of
climate change in more depth.
It investigated the financial and
business risks of both flood and
drought, including the challenges
facing the continued operation
of business, and increasing and
unpredictable insurance exposure
to such risks.
The speakers also reflected upon
the actions that businesses will
need to take in order to adapt to
changed circumstances brought
about by climate change, and
the role of policy-makers in
mitigating the associated risks and
establishing the appropriate policy
frameworks.
Speakers:
• Rob Bailey, Senior Research
Fellow for Energy, Environment
Resource Governance,
Chatham House.
• Dr Sarah Bell, UCL Civil,
Environmental Geomatic
Engineering.
• Darius Campbell, Head of
Climate Change Adaptation
Mitigation, DEFRA.
• Dr Julien Harou, UCL Civil,
Environmental Geomatic
Engineering.
• Lisa Horrocks, Project Director
for Climate Change Impacts
Adaptation, AEA Group.
• Professor Bill McGuire, Professor
of Geophysical Climate
Hazards, Aon Benfield UCL
Hazard Centre.
• Bill Peck, Head of Corporate
Planning, Aon.
• Bob Piggott, Head of Group
Contingency Risk, HSBC.
• Chaired by Julian O’Halloran,
BBC.
Organised by UCL Public Policy, in
conjunction with Aon and the UCL
Environment Institute.
UCL Environment Institute Activities Events
76

Cultures of Sustainability
Co-Director:
Dr Jerome Lewis,
UCL Department
of Anthropology
The Cultures of Sustainability
continued to be run by Co-Director
Dr Jerome Lewis from the UCL
Department of Anthropology.
Jerome began working with Pygmy
hunter-gatherers and former
hunter-gatherers in Rwanda
in 1993. This led to work on
the impact of the genocide on
Rwanda’s Twa Pygmies. Since 1994
he has worked with Mbendjele
Pygmies in Congo-Brazzaville
researching child socialisation,
play and religion; egalitarian
politics and gender relations; and
language, music and dance.
Under this theme a one day
conference and a postgraduate
workshop were held. The
conference was jointly organised
with the Urban Lab.
Sustainability: Concepts, Culture
and Practices Conference.
The UCL Environment Institute and
Urban Lab hosted a joint event
on the theme of Sustainability:
Concepts, Cultures and Practices,
with the aim of bringing together
staff working on sustainability
issues from any discipline,
including and especially from those
with a focus on anthropological/
sociological/ethnographic/
historical and cultural perspectives.
The conference opened with three
20 minute presentations from the
following speakers:
Dr Sam Randalls:
The Goals of
Sustainability
Exhortations to
live sustainably
are usually accompanied with
assumptions about the nature
of the good outcome to be
achieved: sustainability. But this
good outcome is much harder
to conceptualize and justify in
practice, albeit we can note
it is unlikely to be singular. In
this short talk, I explore these
debates within the context of
climate change considering their
source of legitimation (here it is
instructive to consider precaution/
pre-emption and the ‘rational’
basis for action) and their effects
(here thinking particularly of
the universality or not of the
sustainable subject).
Professor C.J. Lim:
Science Fiction and
Biblical Tales of
Sustainability
Science fiction (SF) and constructs
of biblical tales have often
presented us with scenarios of
sustainable futures. Imaginative
SF often predicted the future,
predates modern technology and
cities, and is much more than the
narrow pop culture definition.
SF is often used to comment on the
failings of the real world - Edward
Bellamy’s utopian socialism
‘Looking Backward’ and William
Morris’ ‘News from Nowhere’
questioned egalitarian wealth
as well as bureaucracy. In Jack
Vance’s ‘Rumfuddle’, a typical job
is driving a bulldozer that shoves
the detritus of industrial civilization
through a portal into the oceans
of a garbage world, restoring the
earth to its pristineness. Adam
and Eve did not have to go far for
sustenance, for everything was
aplenty in the Garden of Eden,
where every type of tree, pleasing
to the eye and good for food was
planted. However, can the world
ever achieve perfect sustainability
credentials.
Dr Jerome Lewis:
Competing Cultural Conceptions
of Sustainability
Pygmy hunter-gatherers
conceptualize sustainability in
terms of maintaining abundance
through proper sharing.
The talk will present and contrast
these widespread indigenous
cultural conceptions of sustainable
resource use in the Congo Basin
with dominant capitalist discourses
that value goods according
to their scarcity. Interestingly,
emerging NGO sponsored
sustainability programmes
such as the Forest Stewardship
Certificate have more cultural and
structural similarity to indigenous
conceptions than existing capitalist
paradigms underpinning efforts
to achieve sustainability. From
this perspective internationally
imposed top-down REDD (reduced
emissions from deforestation and
forest degradation) programmes
are unlikely to achieve their
anticipated outcomes.
Sustainability:
Concept and Materials:
Postgraduate Workshop
The Anthropology Sustainability
Reading and Research Group at
UCL held a one day interdisciplinary
workshop on the Theoretical
and Analytical Perspectives of
Sustainability.
PhD level papers, presentations
and poster submissions were
invited from all departments
across the university. The aim
of the workshop was to draw
postgraduates together who
are working on sustainability
and encourage interdisciplinary
exploration and networking
across UCL’s faculties. Different
departments brought their
understandings and theorisation
of sustainability and the panels
were diverse in their approaches
and subject matter. Sessions were
innovative in format.
Latour argues that this is a
historical moment, not only when
material engagements are more
frequent but also more intimate,
and this intimacy has given us
detailed (scientific) knowledge
about changes to the climate
of the earth. This has resulted
in a redefinition of the term
‘sustainability’ which implies a
reordering of the material and
moral. Now it feels like the entire
material world is being redefined in
terms of sustainability.
The definition of sustainability,
however, is still highly contested,
ranging from Rayner (2009)
and Giddens (2009) who like
the usefulness of the term,
to Beckerman, who calls it an
all-embracing concept “with no
clear analytical bite” (2008:1).
This, despite so much time,
energy and money going into
its implementation at almost
every level of society. It is time to
further clarify and to ask: What
are the ideas that constitute
sustainability? And what possible
futures are these producing? How
is sustainability made material
and what does this mean? How
can we work together to make
sure that the best ideas surface,
constructively critique developing
concepts of sustainability and how
it is being materialised.
Sponsored by
Sustainability: Concepts,
Culture and Practices
UCL Environment Institute and URBAN LABORATORY
Location: UCL Archaeology Lecture Theatre
University College London
Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PY
17th May 2012
14.00-18.30
drinks reception
FREE
EVENT
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/environment-institute/forthcoming-events/cultures
CALL FOR
PRESENTATIONS
Submit by no later than
5pm Friday 20th April
98

flexible enforcement that makes
for more cooperative compliance,
but some scholars argue that the
European Union’s system of checks
and balances and its expansion of
judicially-enforceable rights are
leading its policies down a path of
legalistic and rigid enforcement
standards. In this conference,
these claims were examined and
what they mean for the future of
environmental protection in the
European Union and beyond.
Environmental Governance
Co-Director:
Dr Colin Provost,
UCL Department of
Political Science/
School of Public
Policy
The Environmental Governance
theme was led by co-director
Dr Colin Provost. Colin’s primary
research interests are American
state politics, judicial politics,
organisational behaviour and
government regulation, specifically
consumer protection, financial
regulation and environmental
policy. In particular, his research
has focused on the policy making
decisions of American state
attorneys general.
Under this theme a conference and
a public lecture were organised.
Designing Environmental
Protection: Law, Regulation and
the Environment in the European
Union
The implementation of regulatory
policy is central to protecting
our environment and our natural
resources. Whether businesses
comply with environmental
regulations depends heavily on the
design and enforcement of such
regulations. The European Union
has long had a reputation for high
standards coupled with
The Inefficiency of Current
Environmental and Energy Policy
Lecture by Professor
Robert Hahn
Professor Robert Hahn of Oxford
and Georgetown Universities
spoke to an audience of the
about inefficient energy and
environmental policies.
Professor Hahn’s talk was designed
to appeal to both staff and
students, as he spent much of the
time discussing simple economic
solutions to environmental
problems, such as taxes on
polluting firms that are designed
to reduce output, thereby also
reducing pollution. Professor Hahn
went on to illustrate a number of
examples of inefficient policies,
such as subsidies for petrol which
encourage people to drive. Finally,
in the question and answer period,
Professor Hahn answered more
questions about specific policies, as
well as talked about his own time
working for the President’s Council
of Economic Advisers in the United
States.
Robert Hahn is director of
economics at the Smith School at
Oxford, a professor of economics at
Manchester, and a senior fellow at
the Georgetown Centre for
Business and Public Policy. From
1999 to 2008, Professor Hahn
served as the director of the
AEI-Brookings Joint Centre, a
leader in policy research in law
and economics, regulation, and
antitrust.
Migration Settlement
Co-Director:
Dr Laura Vaughan,
Bartlett School of
Graduate Studies,
UCL
The Migration and Settlement
theme was run by co-director
Dr Laura Vaughan of the UCL
Bartlett School of Graduate
Studies. Laura’s research stems
from a concern with the challenges
posed by an increasingly urbanised
society. In collaboration with
colleagues she uses space syntax
to study the relationship between
micro- and macro- scales of urban
form and society and to this
end has been collaborating with
geographers, historians and social
scientists for nearly a decade.
The Migration and Settlement
network organised a one day film
festival this year.
UCL Urban Migration Film Festival
The festival and symposium
explored the impact migrants have
on their physical, social, cultural
and economic environment as well
as how cultural, spatial, legal and
ideological forces affect rights,
mobility and settlement.
By showing a wide variety of film
clips from various periods and
settings of the past 70 years, an
opportunity was created for an
interdisciplinary dialogue raised by
the selected films and film-making
practices.
These questions related to:
• Journeys - how do migrants
negotiate their environment
whilst on the move?
• Transition - how do migrants
adapt to new systems, shape
their communities and create
temporary environments?
• Negotiation and Accommodation:
with films on establishing roots,
acculturation and myths of
return.
• Migrant experience in the
built environment relates to
settlement patterns, modes
of acculturation, contextual
legal and immigration systems,
the divergence of different
generations’ experiences. It may
even lead to return to the place
of origin, a move onwards, or –
for the children of migrants – a
visit through memories to places
from the past.
An interdisciplinary panel of
experts from architecture,
anthropology, film studies,
planning, psychiatry and art
were joined by several of the
film-makers, who introduced
their own films and participated
in discussions at the end of each
session.
UCL Bartlett
Faculty of the
Built Environment UCL Environment Institute
Funded by
COME FOR THE DAY
...feel free to drop into one of the
sessions or come to the lunchtime
showing.
FILM FESTIVAL
Location:
UCL Archaeology Lecture Theatre
University College London
Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PY
15th February 2012
9:30 - 17:00
FREE
EVENT
http://urban-migration-filmfestival.eventbrite.co.uk/
UCL URBAN MIGRATION
1110

Sustainable Cities
Co-Director:
Dr Adriana Allen,
The Bartlett
Development
Planning Unit, UCL
The Sustainable Cities theme
continued to be run by co-director
Dr Adriana Allen. Adriana has
specialised over the years in the
fields of urban environmental
planning and political ecology. She
has over 25 years international
experience in research and
consultancy undertakings in 16
countries in Latin America, Africa,
Asia and less extent the Middle
East. Both as an academic and
practitioner, Adriana’s work
focuses on the interface between
development and environmental
concerns in the urban context
of the global south, and more
specifically on establishing
transformative links between
environmental justice and urban
sustainability and resilience.
Urban Metabolism at UCL,
Project Report
The objective of the project
“Urban Metabolism at UCL” was
to examine in detail a theoretical
concept which is gaining currency
in engineering, economics,
planning and human geography,
“urban metabolism”, to address
sustainable cities challenges.
We wanted to examine how far this
concept has influenced work within
different UCL departments and
examine the potential to create
interdisciplinary dialogue around
this notion which can contribute
to the UCL Environment Institute
agenda on sustainable cities.
The concept of urban metabolism,
referring to the exchange
processes that produce the urban
environment, has already inspired
new ways of thinking about how
cities can be made sustainable and
has raised criticisms about specific
social and economic arrangements
in which some forms of flow are
prioritised or marginalised within
the city.
Within this framework we asked
the following questions:
• How is the concept of urban
metabolism understood within
different disciplines? Can this
concept foster new ideas and
concepts of the urban? What is
its potential to develop practical
applications?
• The methodology aimed at
addressing these questions
within UCL and more broadly,
within academic debates about
urban metabolism. To address
the former, we conducted 15
semi-structured interviews with
key researchers in UCL. We
did a global call in UCL aimed
at contacting both established
academics and post-graduates.
We also targeted individuals whose
work on urban metabolism is
internationally recognised.
The interviews were filmed and key
passages were transcribed for their
analysis using qualitative analysis
software. To address the later, we
conducted an interdisciplinary
literature review, we explored
six specific questions about how
urban metabolism has been
addressed in different fields. The
project has had a very defined
audience of established, but
principally up-coming researchers
in sustainable cities interested in
urban metabolism.
The project has produced the
following outputs:
1) a literature review on urban
metabolism which was published
by the UCL Environment
Institute;
2) a project report summarising
the conceptual basis of different
views on urban metabolism
found at UCL;
3) a short film putting different UCL
academics and postgraduates in
conversation around the idea of
urban metabolism;
4) a journal paper which is
currently under review within
the Journal of Industrial Ecology;
5) a synthesis paper which is
currently in preparation; and
6) an exhibition at the UCL Cities
Methodologies 2012, where
we presented the film and offer
the opportunity to visitors to
provide feedback.
These outputs can be accessed
through a dedicated project
website hosted by the
development and planning unit
www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu/
urban-metabolism
and have been promoted with a
flier which was distributed at the
UCL Cities Methodologies 2012 and
through the project networks.
The project has had the following
outcomes:
a) Within UCL: both the film
and the report, particularly
through their presentation at
the UCL Cities Methodologies
2012 and the project website,
have provided a window for
participants and other interested
parties to get to know and
understand the different
approaches to urban metabolism
that emerge within different
methodologies. The emphasis
on dialogue shows that there
is a significant potential for
cross-disciplinary collaborations
and we expect that this outputs
may generate the grounds for
such collaboration. Through
the exhibition in UCL Cities
Methodologies 2012, and with
the flier, we were also able to
reach many post-graduates and
students who provided feedback
and have further engaged with
this dialogue.
b) Beyond UCL: the project has
focused on challenging the
boundaries of the concept
of urban metabolism,
demonstrated that there are on-
going dialogues to which some
disciplines remain oblivious.
Our approach has the potential
to have an impact on bridging
dialogues normally confined to
disciplinary silos. For example,
after publishing the literature
review on our website, we were
approached by the editor of the
Journal of Industrial Ecology to
submit a paper to this journal.
He commented: “Interest in
urban metabolism is growing
rapidly in the industrial ecology
community and this literature
review would be very valuable.
The perspective presented
in the literature review is
different from what many in the
industrial ecology community
have seen and would attract
a lot of interest” (Reid Lifset,
07/03/2012).
Although it is still early to be
precise about the broader impact
of this project we are confident
that it has generated the grounds
for interdisciplinary dialogue
for sustainable cities within and
beyond UCL.
UCL Environment Institute, University College London
Pearson Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
URBANMETABOLISMATUCL
Aworkingpaper
TheUCLEnvironmentInstituteSeminarSeriesReport
INTERDISCIPLINARYPERSPECTIVES
ONURBANMETABOLISM
Areviewontheliterature
Aworkingpaper
12 13

The Heuristics of Mapping
Urban Environmental
Change
The objective of the research
platform entitled “the
heuristics of mapping urban
environmental change” is
to investigate the agency of
maps and of mapping, and
develop a heuristic path
through interdisciplinary
dialogue and collaborative action.
The use of mapping by ordinary
citizens is increasing and taking
a central role in contestations.
However, it is often adopted
without fundamentally engaging
with the assumptions it is based
on and the diverse effects it is
able to produce. The research
project seeks to problematise maps
and mapping by engaging with
these assumptions and critically
evaluating to what extent can
mapping, as a political tool, be a
means to contest and re-shape the
unjust distribution of resources
and opportunities in cities. The
main questions we ask are: how
can mapping be appropriated by
ordinary citizens in their place-
making practices? What are the
lessons and practical applications
that can be drawn from its use in
various disciplines?
Since the project’s inception
in February 2012, we have
established a website through
which the outputs, so far
produced, can be viewed.
The website address is:
www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/
dpu/portlets/dpu/mapping-
environmental-change
Within UCL, we have so far
conducted three interviews
with key academics from the
department of Architecture,
the Centre for Advanced Spatial
Analysis and the department of
Civil, Environmental and Geomatic
Engineering. These interviews were
filmed and will be made accessible
through the project website. The
aim of these is to understand
how different departments within
UCL approach mapping and
more specifically what they map,
why and what for. Some of the
reflections extracted form part of
a literature review, which looks
at the role of mapping within
different conceptions of place
and justice. Also informing the
literature review, have been two
mapping workshops in Milan and
Cairo.
We have established a working
relationship with the Politecnico di
Milano and MEGAWRA (Built
Environment Collective) in
Cairo. Together with the
Development Planning
Unit, these two institutions
form the platform entitled
‘Dialogues on the Move’.
Two events have taken
place as part of the dialogue
bringing together academics,
activists and organisations.
The first was hosted by Politecnico
di Milano, from the 21st to the
23rd of March 2012, under the
central theme ‘Mobilising the
Margins’. The objective of the
latter was to promote a reflection
on participatory mapping as a
practice that can (re-)activate
‘hidden territories’ – spaces and
practices that are positioned ‘on
the margin’ of the dominant forms
of city planning, and the processes
conditioning emerging urban
environments.
The second Dialogue on the
Move, curated by MEGAWRA
(Built Environment Collective)
in conjunction with Politecnico
di Milano/DIAP- Laboratory of
International Cooperation took
place in Cairo, between the 26th
to the 29th of May 2012, and
focused on ‘Mapping Informality’.
The discussions centred on the
dichotomy established between the
formal and informal in Cairo and the
role of mapping in challenging such
dichotomy through contemporary
and historical practices of place-
making in the city.
The outputs from these two
workshops are in the form of a
paper capturing the reflections
from the discussion and several
filmed interviews with participants.
The latter portray the different
responses to the question: What
is a map for you? These outputs
have been made public and can
be accessed through the project’s
website:
www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu/
mapping-environmental-change/
dialogues-on-the-move
The organisation of the third event
is underway and will be hosted
by the Development Planning
Unit in London on the 20th to
the 21st of September 2012. This
will take the form of a seminar
bringing speakers and discussants
from different UCL departments,
post-graduates, students as well
as outsiders, to partake in the
interdisciplinary dialogue about the
role of mapping in place-making.
Moreover, a paper integrating
the literature review has been
written and will be presented by
Adriana Allen and Alex Frediani at
the ‘Research Committee 21’ ISA
Forum Conference in Buenos Aires,
in August 2012.
Although it is too early to be
specific about the impact of the
project, the workshops have
established a valuable exchange
between academia and the general
public. Furthermore, we believe
it will enable a dialogue between
different UCL departments and
outside academic and non-
academic organisations engaged in
mapping.
14 15

Ground-breaking research from
Dr Richard Taylor received over
35,000 downloads in one week!
Quantitative maps of groundwater
resources in Africa.
A.M. MacDonald, H.C. Bonsor,
B.É.Ó. Dochartaigh and
R.G. Taylor.
Abstract
Substantial groundwater resources
underlie Africa. New research by
the British Geological Survey and
Richard Taylor (UCL Geography)
maps and, for the first time,
quantifies the substantial ground-
water resources that underlie
the African continent. This study
funded by the Department for
International Development and
published in the open-access
journal, Environmental Research
Letters, reveals that groundwater
resources in Africa are orders
of magnitude greater than the
water present at the surface in
rivers, lakes and wetlands. The
quantitative maps draw from over
250 studies. The analysis reveals,
however, that high-intensity
abstraction of groundwater (e.g.
individual wells pumping in excess
of 10 litres per second) for irriga-
tion and town water supplies may
only be possible in a few areas.
Low-intensity development of
groundwater may nevertheless
prove an invaluable strategy in
many parts of Africa to adapt to
the current high variability that
exists in surface water resources
and rainfall which is expected
to increase as a result of global
warming.
View full paper here:
http://iopscience.iop.
org/1748-9326/7/2/024009/article?dm_
i=U64,S88Q,4VVQDG,2CSCI,1
Water Security
Co-Director:
Dr Richard Taylor,
UCL Department
of Geography
The water security theme was
run by Dr Richard Taylor. Richard’s
research interests fall primarily into
two areas:
1) the impact of climate change
and rapid development on
freshwater resources with a
particular focus on basin stores
of freshwater; and
2) the role of groundwater in
improving food security and
access to safe water.
The water group organised a
seminar series, a workshop event
and a record-breaking publication.
London Water Hackathon
The London Water Hackathon
was a fun and successful event
that attracted a total of over 40
developers and water problem
solvers. The event begun with
short introductory talks by Mark
Charmer (akvo.org), Deepak Bhatia
(World Bank), and hosts Julien
Harou (UCL) and Emmanuel Letier
(UCL).
The programmers and problem
definers settled into 4 groups and
produced 4 projects/products:
• BlooBelly - a personal shopping
water footprint calculator.
The vision is an app that allows
you to compare your water
consumption with others in your
social network, your street, etc.
Objective is to make consumers
aware of the water demands
implied by their choices.
• Water trading portal - an
international water trading
system.
Imagine logging in and seeing the
price of water mapped all over
the world. An initial iPad app was
made to investigate how this could
work and what data needs and
outputs could be relevant.
• Water supply-demand planning
tool.
How do you plan 20 or 50 years
of water supply and demand
management (water conservation)
interventions to minimise capital,
operating, social environmental
costs while guaranteeing supply
demand with sufficient reliability.
This HydroPlatform app does it in 1
page of code!
• Taarifa - the London Water
Hackathon 1st prize winner!
Congratulations to the Taarifa
10-person team. In 30 hours
of non-stop development they
produced a functional website
and app! Their work is designed
to enhance the Ushahidi citizen
reporting system to enable better
managed sanitation complaints in
Tanzania (soon globally).
The panel posed tough questions
but in the end was supportive of
all submissions. Prizes consisted
of lots of Google gear and an IBM
global conference call to promote
the winning project.
Water Security Seminar Series
Highlights of the seminar series
include:
An inter-departmental seminar
series promoting interdisciplinary
discussion and debate over water
science within UCL.
Karen Hudson-Edwards,
Department of Earth and Planetary
Sciences (Birkbeck).
Mining and Water: Contamination,
Remediation and Future Issues.
Chiara Ambrosino, UCL Department
of Statistical Sciences.
Precipitation analysis for hydrology
and water resources: some
statistical tools and models.
Sarah Bell, UCL Department of
Engineering.
The technical code of water in
cities.
Julien Harou, UCL Department of
Engineering.
Policy and regulatory design
for UK water and environment
regulators - Building custom water
management models.
Paul Sutherland Willy Burgess,
UCL Department of Earth Sciences.
Effective vertical permeability in
sedimentary basins – scoping the
impacts of Coal Bed Methane
development on shallow
groundwater.
UCL Environment Institute,
Institute for Global Health and
Urban Lab Seminar.
Elisa Roma, University of KwaZulu-
Natal, South Africa.
‘Sustainable sanitation initiatives
in ‘Thekwini municipality, South
Africa’.
Luiza Campos, UCL Environmental
Engineering.
‘Sustainable and resilient sanitation
service chains for the urban poor’.
©JulienHarou
Publications
16 17

Royal Society of Canada Panel on
Oil Sands
The Canadian
Oil Sands – an
Environment
Institute Debate,
lecture by Professor
Steve Hrudey
The ‘Environmental and Health
Impacts of Canada’s Oil Sands
Industry’ report, published
in December 2010 was an
investigation commissioned by the
Royal Society of Canada (RSC) , and
was the first in a ‘new series’ of
expert panel reports. According
to the RSC, this report is the most
comprehensive evidence-based
assessment of the full spectrum of
major environmental and health
impacts of Canada’s oil sands
industry that has been available
to the public to date. The expert
panel that produced this report
was chaired by Professor Steven
Hrudey, FRSC and Professor
Emeritus, Faculty of Medicine and
Dentistry, University of Alberta.
On 12th December 2011, the
UCL Environment Institute held
a debate to discuss the report’s
findings. The development of the
Canadian oil sands in northern
Alberta is a highly controversial
topic that has raised important
issues about energy security,
decarbonisation, environmental
degradation and international
trade in energy. The UCL
Environment Institute debate
examined these and other issues.
It offered an opportunity to hear
the Chair of the Royal Society of
Canada present the report of its
expert panel on the environmental
and health impacts of Canada’s
oil sands industry, and to hear
reactions from a UCL expert panel.
The debate was chaired by
Prof. Yvonne Rydin, Professor
of Planning, Environment and
Public Policy and Director of the
UCL Environment Institute, and
the Panel comprised: Prof. Paul
Ekins, Professor in Energy and
Environment Policy, UCL Energy
Institute; Prof. Catherine Redgwell,
Professor of International Law,
UCL Faculty of Laws; and Prof.
Peter Sammonds, Professor of
Geophysics, Director of UCL
Institute for Risk and Disaster
Reduction.
General Events
Public Lectures
The Complex Physics
of Climate Change:
Nonlinearity and
Stochasticity
Lecture by Professor
Michael Ghil
Recent estimates of climate
evolution over the coming century
still differ by several degrees.
This uncertainty motivates in
part the work presented in this
lecture. The complex physics of
climate change arises from the
large number of components of
the climate system, as well as from
the wealth of processes occurring
in each of the components and
across them. This complexity has
given rise to countless attempts
to model each component
and process, as well as to two
overarching approaches to
apprehend the complexity as a
whole: deterministically nonlinear
and stochastically linear. Call
them the Ed Lorenz and the
Klaus Hasselmann approach,
respectively, for short.
We propose a “grand unification”
of these two approaches that relies
on the theory of random dynamical
systems. In particular, we apply
this theory to the problem of
climate sensitivity, and study the
random attractors of nonlinear,
stochastically perturbed systems,
as well as the time-dependent
invariant measures supported by
these attractors.
Results are presented for several
simple climate models, from the
classical Lorenz convection model
to El Nino-Southern Oscillation
models. Their attractors support
random Sinai-Ruelle-Bowen
measures with nice physical
properties. Applications to climate
sensitivity and predictability are
discussed.
This lecture is the result of recent
collaborations with M.D. Chekroun,
D. Kondrashov, J.C. McWilliams,
J. D. Neelin, E. Simonnet, S. Wang,
and I. Zaliapin.
Biography:
Prof. Michael Ghil is Distinguished
Professor of Atmospheric Sciences
and Geophysics at the University
of California, Los Angeles (UCLA),
since July 1994, and Distinguished
Professor of Geosciences (since
September 2002) and Director of
the Environmental Research and
Teaching Institute (CERES-ERTI),
since January 2003, at the Ecole
Normale Supérieure (ENS), in Paris,
where he also acted as Head of
the Geosciences Department (July
2003-December 2009).
18 19

Workshops
Climate Change
Cities Workshop
held with Professor
Sue Parnell
The UCL Environment Institute
hosted a half day workshop with
Professor Sue Parnell, who is
one of the editors of “Climate
Change at the City Scale: Impacts,
Mitigation and Adaptation in Cape
Town”.
The chapters of the book
draw from research that was
commissioned from specialists
under a partnership known as
the “Cape Town Climate Change
Think Tank”. Cape Town has
long been acknowledged as an
innovator in the area of urban
environmental management.
Few Southern cities have been as
proactive or as successful as Cape
Town in putting issues of global
environmental change at the core
of their governance philosophy
and practice. As a highly unequal
coastal city with limited resources
to manage the demand for a more
resilient and equitable future, the
Cape Town response to climate
change challenges presents
an especially provocative case
study of the challenges of urban
transformation in the context of
climate change.
Professor Parnell gave a short 30
minute presentation on “Climate
at the City Scale - reflections on
the co-production of knowledge
for local action from the Cape
Town Climate Think Tank”. The
Climate Think Tank brought
together consultants, academics,
activists and city administrators
in an effort to establish a credible
and locally useful evidence base
to inform climate action in the
City. The partnership was not
without its stresses, but the ‘Think
Tank’ established not only new
local knowledge that has already
informed action in the local
authority, it also established an
epistemic community of climate
change leadership across the city
region. Working in areas as diverse
as climate science, legal reform,
energy modelling and institutional
and organizational change the
findings of the first phase of the
‘Think Tank’ are to be published
by Routledge (Earthscan) in May
2012. This talk presents highlights
from the book and provides critical
reflection on one cities’ collective
experiences in responding to
climate change.
We also invited Pete Daw, Policy
Programmes Manager ‐ Climate
Change Mitigation Energy
Development Environment,
Greater London Authority; Doug
McNab, Sustainability Officer
in Planning Environment
Regeneration, Islington Council and
Paula Vandergert, Sustainability
Research Fellow, Sustainability
Research Institute, University of
East London, to form a panel in
response to Sue’s presentation.
Conferences
In Conjunction with the Grand
Challenge of Sustainable Cities:
UCL-Lancet Healthy Cities
Commission
Following the first UCL-Lancet
Commission on the Managing the
Health Effects of Climate Change
(published in The Lancet on 16
May 2009), UCL and The Lancet
collaborated again on a second
Commission report.
The Healthy Cities Commission
is a UCL Sustainable Cities Grand
Challenge (GCSC) project on the
role that urban planning can and
should play in delivering health
improvements through reshaping
the urban fabric of our cities.
The project has involved 19
academics and students from a
variety of disciplines led by Prof.
Yvonne Rydin, Director of the
UCL Environment Institute and
Professor of Planning, Environment
and Public Policy in the UCL
Bartlett School of Planning.
The Commission’s report, Shaping
Cities for Health: the Complexity
of Planning Urban Environments
in the 21st Century, has now been
published.
With almost 30 years’ experience
from the Healthy Cities movement,
the features that transform a
‘city’ into a ‘healthy city’ are
increasingly evident. What is less
well understood is how to deliver
the potential health benefits and
how to ensure that they reach all
citizens in urban contexts across
the world. This is an increasingly
important task given that the
majority of the world’s population
already live in cities and that, with
current high rates of urbanisation,
many millions more will soon do
so.
The UCL–Lancet Commission of
Healthy Cities provides an analysis
of how health outcomes are part of
the complexity of urban processes,
arguing against the assumption
that urban health outcomes will
improve with economic growth
and demographic change. Instead,
it highlights the role that urban
planning can and should play in
delivering health improvements
through reshaping the urban
fabric of our cities. The report
considers this through case studies
of sanitation and wastewater
management (Mumbai), urban
mobility (Bogotá), building
standards (London), the urban
heat island effect (London) and
urban agriculture (Havana and
Accra). These are followed with
a discussion of the implications
of a complexity approach for
planning of urban environments,
emphasising project‐based
experimentation and evaluation
leading to self-reflection and
dialogue.
Key Messages
• Cities are complex systems,
so that health outcomes are
emergent properties;
• The urban advantage in health
outcomes has to be actively
promoted and maintained;
• Inequalities in health outcomes
should be recognised at the
urban scale;
• A linear or cyclical planning
approach is insufficient in
conditions of complexity;
• Urban planning for health needs
to emphasise experimentation
through projects;
• Evaluation leading to dialogue
between stakeholders and
self‐reflection is essential.
20 21

Writer-in-
Residence
January 2011 –
June 2012
David Finnigan
David is an Australian playright,
theatre producer and festival
director.
For more information please visit:
www.bohointeractive.com
David produced a UCL Residency
Report: Performance Piece on
Climate Models.
Since founding science-theatre
ensemble Boho Interactive in 2006,
David Finnigan has developed
a reputation as a significant
emerging science/arts practitioner.
Boho’s Game Theory-based play
A Prisoner’s Dilemma presented
seasons in Adelaide, Brisbane,
Canberra and the Gold Coast,
including at the 2007 Asia-Pacific
Complex Systems Science
Conference.
In 2009, Boho was funded to
complete a residency in the
Manning Clark House Cultural
Centre to write and produce
Food for the Great Hungers,
a performance exploring
Australian history and complex
systems science. In 2010, Boho
was co-commissioned by the
Powerhouse Museum to produce
and tour True Logic of the Future,
an interactive science-fiction
performance exploring issues
of Climate and Global Change.
Boho’s collaborators include
scientists from CSIRO’s Centre
for Sustainable Ecosystems, the
Powerhouse Museum and the
National Centre for Science and
Technology (Questacon).
With Boho, David developed
a diverse set of styles and
techniques for live interactive
performance. Building on
pre-existing forms ranging from
street performance, live art
and computer gaming, Boho
employed different techniques to
elicit varying forms of audience
participation and contributions.
Over 2006-10, Boho developed
and tested more than 15 unique
interactive performance formats.
This array of forms include: a
broad spectrum of interactive
mechanisms; performer/audience
relationships; passive/active
involvement; narrative/experiential
performances; and individual/
large-scale audience involvement.
Having consolidated this ‘menu’ of
functioning mechanisms, David is
now seeking to apply them to the
field of participatory co-modelling.
This is a presentation of the results
of his creative research residency
at UCLEI. For this project David
examined different forms of
modelling. His research included
looking at predictive climate
simulations, participatory models
for communities and governments,
integrated assessment models, and
the processes through which these
scientific tools are translated into
public policy and decision-making.
This research is the first phase
of the development of a new
theatre work, which will be
developed over 2012-13. This
work will be constructed in the
form of a participatory model,
which audiences will be able
to engage with to develop a
deeper understanding of a series
of interconnected real-world
phenomena, and use to reach
a stable consensus as the basis
for coordinated action. This
report presents a summary of
the research David conducted,
with the support and advice
of UCL scientists, and outlines
the proposed format for the
development of a new interactive
work based on this research.
Often working outside the gallery
space and in diverse contexts,
Ackroyd Harvey are acclaimed
for large-scale architectural
interventions where they grow
landmark buildings with seedling
grass. In 2007 they realised their
largest temporary living public
artwork ‘FlyTower’ on the exterior
of London’s National Theatre.
They are also acknowledged for
their pioneering work utilising the
light-sensitivity of the pigment
chlorophyll in making complex
living photographs in seedling
grass, receiving the NESTA Pioneer
award, the Wellcome ‘Sci-Art’
award and the L’Oreal Grand Prize
for this work.
Earlier in 2011 they were also
selected for the major MAPPING
THE PARK public art commission
in the Olympic Park; their winning
proposal comprises 10 artworks
marking the entrances of the Park
as a lasting legacy of the 2012
Games for future generations. The
artists were also awarded special
mention in the ‘Prix COAL Art
Environment’ for their on-going
project ‘Beuys’ Acorns.’
For their residency they held the
Beuys’ Acorns Installation:
Beuys’ Acorns, an artwork by
Ackroyd Harvey involving 250
sapling oak trees are displayed at
the Southbank Centre this summer
as part of Festival of the World. On
Sunday 8th July guests, including
writers Robert Holtom, Oliver
Morton and Edward Parker will join
Ackroyd Harvey for an afternoon
of conversation and debate. Placing
a tree grown from Joseph Beuys’
famous artwork 7000 Oaks at
the centre of their conversations,
Ackroyd Harvey and guests
discuss the cultural, biological and
climatic significance of trees and
how art can act as a transformative
agent.
The audience is encouraged to
join the artists and guests in
questioning and understanding the
role of trees in the 21st century.
©AckroydHarvey©AckroydHarvey
©AckroydHarvey
UCLRESIDENCYREPORT:
PerformancePieceonClimateModels
sponsored by
January – September 2012
Heather
Ackroyd
Dan Harvey
For more information please visit:
www.ackroydandharvey.com
UCL Environment Institute Writer-in-Residence UCL Environment Institute Artists-in-Residence
22 23

On May 31st 2012 they presented
at Hay Festival with Ed Gillespie
(Futerra) and Steve Colling
(Onearth) on The Art Response
- 5 Images to Change the World
- “From baby seals to flooding
devastation, has the use of dra-
matic imagery lost its potency to
inform the climate change debate?
Despite our short attention span,
can an incredible image in our
increasingly visual world still make
an impact?”
www.hayfestival.com
/p-4525-ed-gillespie-steve-colling-
and-ackroyd-harvey.aspx
They are participating at a 5 day
event (11-15 September 2012) at
dOCUMENTA 13 in Germany
organised by the Nature Addicts
Fund.
http://na-natureaddictsfund.
org/#/en/creations/artists/
ackroyd-harvey
dOCUMENTA is highly prestigious
in the art-world and the concentra-
tion an art and sustainability is
an excellent opportunity for us
to further our connections and
research. The UCLEI residency is
key to supporting this.
January – September 2012
Heather Ackroyd
Dan Harvey
Artists Residencies
for 2012-13
David Finnigan will undertake the
second stage in the development
of this new performance work
looking at systems modelling and
drawing on the UCL-Lancet Healthy
Cities Report.
The UCL Environment Institute
will also be funding a TippingPoint
Commission: TippingPoint offer
a range of activities centred on
exposing artists from all art forms
to the enormous challenges of
climate change, working in tandem
with the scientists at the forefront
of the subject. TippingPoint’s
role is to be a catalyst and to find
new ways of increasing the level
of engagement of artists in this
complex issue.
TippingPoint is network-based
organisation aiming to be a year
round ‘connector’ of the arts
and climate science worlds. At
the heart of our work is an inter-
national programme of two-day
gatherings where artists and
scientists participate in an informal
but intense series of meetings
and exercises to provoke and
engender collaborative thinking
and creative work. We also offer
points of engagement through one
off events, conferences and public
debates.
We launched the TippingPoint
Commissions in 2009 – an open
invitation to artists to propose
performative work that in some
way embraces climate change.
The UCL Environment Institute is
funding the 2012 Commission, the
work for which will be presented at
next year’s Annual Report.
Artist-in-
Residence
October 2012 –
June 2013
David Finnigan
David is an
Australian
writer, theatre-
maker, festival
director and
founding
member
of science-
theatre ensemble Boho Interactive.
From July - November 2011, David
has been working at the UCL
Environment Institute, examining
different forms of modeling.
Working with Yvonne Rydin and
other UCL researchers, David’s
research has included looking at
predictive climate simulations,
participatory models for
communities and governments,
integrated assessment models, the
processes through which these
scientific tools are translated into
public policy and decision-making
and UCL’s inter-disciplinary report
Building Health Into Cities. This
research is the first phase of the
development of a new model-based
interactive performance, which will
be developed over 2012-13.©AckroydHarvey©AckroydHarvey
©TippingPoint
13/11/2012 11:25Nature Addicts Fund
Page 1 of 1http://na-natureaddictsfund.org/#/en/creations/artists/ackroyd-harvey
sponsored by
©DavidFinnigan
©TippingPoint
UCL Environment Institute Artists-in-Residence Artists Residencies for 2012-13
24 25

The Thames Estuary Partnership
(TEP) is a registered independent
charity hosted by the UCL
Environment Institute. They
provide a neutral communication
network and project management
service for the Thames and its
coastline within the Thames
Gateway.
TEP won funding from the Heritage
Lottery Fund for their award
winning project: the Thames
Discovery Programme. This project
was subsequently successfully
transferred to the Museum of
London Archaeology in March
2012, in order to continue its
vital work with local volunteers,
monitoring and recording the wide
variety of cultural remains on the
foreshore. TEP also supported
staff working on the Balanced Seas
Project and this was completed in
July 2012. Working in partnership
with those who have an interest in
the marine environment, TEP’s aim
was to identify and recommend
Marine Conservation Zones for the
inshore and off-shore waters of
south-east England. The work goes
to public consultation this autumn.
This year two new partnership
projects have started:
• The Greater Thames Marshes
Nature Improvement Area (NIA).
Key contact: Jo Roche,
j.roche@ucl.ac.uk
Biodiversity in the Greater Thames
Marshes is in decline and struggling
to compete with increasing
pressures in the south east. This
pilot project, deploying funding
won from DEFRA in a national
competition, will bring together
skilled and enthusiastic residents
and local communities, businesses,
landowners and technical experts
to work to restore and create
habitats for wildlife. Increased
public understanding and
enjoyment of the environment will
help to deliver greater resilience by
the natural world to the effects of
development and climate change.
Our delivery partners are Greening
the Gateway Kent and Medway,
RSPB, Essex County Council,
Environment Agency and Natural
England.
• Water Framework Directive:
Tidal Thames Catchment Pilot.
Key contact: Amy Pryor,
a.pryor@ucl.ac.uk
TEP, together with environmental
charity Thames21, has been
appointed by government to
co-host a pilot project to complete
a Tidal Thames Catchment Plan.
The year-long project in 2012 is a
step towards compliance with the
EU’s Water Framework Directive
(WFD) which states that all rivers
and other bodies of water across
the Union should achieve ‘good
ecological potential’ by 2027.
By co-working we can bring
together the huge variety of
stakeholders who have interests in
the Tidal Thames and it is hoped
we can extend the project beyond
December 2012.
The core activities of TEP
include running action groups.
The Dredging and Sediment
meetings offer an open forum
for stakeholders to discuss
key issues such as sediment
contamination and the beneficial
reuse of dredged materials, whilst
Thames Estuary Partnership
(TEP)
Jill Goddard
Executive Director
j.goddard@thamesweb.com
furthering understanding of the
hydrodynamic processes within
the estuary. The Fisheries Group
brings together local fisherman
and commercial bodies to voice
concerns about the key impacts of
the dynamic changes in the outer
estuary. The Thames Learning
Group, run in conjunction with
the River Rowing Museum,
Henley-on-Thames, is developing a
new, web-based learning resource
to help educators find outdoor
centres and to download free
materials.
TEP Events
Equally important are our events
– this year we held a summer
networking gathering at UCL
and our Annual Forum on the
river on the Silver Sturgeon and
had Minister Richard Benyon as
the keynote speaker. Planning is
underway for this year’s forum
on November 14th at Glazier’s
Hall, near London Bridge. Our
twice yearly magazine ‘Talk of the
Thames’ has a circulation of 5,500.
We are keen to support UCL
students with a research interest in
any matters relating to the Thames
Estuary.
Please contact: Sue Harrington,
s.harrington@ucl.ac.uk,
with any enquiries.
©TEP
©CrownCopyright.Allrightsreserved.RSPBlicence100021787
No Window
©Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. RSPB licence 100021787
Greater Thames Marshes Nature Improvement Area
Central Grid Reference: TQ867746
SSSI
SAC
SPA
NIA Boundary
Jill Goddard at Tilbury Fort
Greater Thames Marshes Nature Improvement Area Map
Thames Estuary Partnership (TEP)
26 27

Visiting Professors
Professor Motoo
Kusakabe
Motoo Kusakabe
is the founder
of the Open City
Foundation and formerly the senior
counsellor to the President of the
European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development. Before joining
EBRD, he worked for the World
Bank as the Vice-President for
Resource Mobilisation and Co-
financing for six years. Professor
Kusakabe was responsible for
mobilising concessionary and
grant resources for the Bank’s
operations in poor countries and
for enhancing donor relationship.
He led the Bank’s initiative to
promote global partnership
programmes as the Chair of the
Council of Development Grant
Facility and has been instrumental
in drumming up support for
the ICT and development,
community-driven initiatives and
promoted partnership with NGOs
and foundations. He promoted
various activities of the World
Bank and its partner institutions
relating to ICT, knowledge sharing
and development, including the
Community Telecenters.
After the retirement from the
World Bank in January 2003,
he spent half a year at Stanford
University, on the Digital Vision
Fellowship programme as a visiting
scholar assisting fellows from
different countries around the
world to develop and implement
their innovative projects using ICT
for development.
Before joining the World Bank, he
worked for the Japanese Ministry
of Finance on international finance,
liberalisation of domestic financial
markets and developmental
matters, and was appointed
as Deputy Commissioner of
National Tax Administration in
charge of international transfer
taxation issues. He has a MA in
Mathematics at the University of
Tokyo and MPhil in Economics at
Yale University.
He is currently developing the
Community Carte Project.
The Community Carte System is a
holistic welfare system to prevent
social exclusion and has been
designed by Professor Motoo
Kusakabe, Director of the Open
City Foundation, Former Vice-
President of The World Bank. The
‘Community Carte Survey’ aims to
investigate dynamic processes of
‘Social Exclusion’ asking questions
about whether people feel
deprived in their own sense of
wellbeing or in social relationships.
The questions covered 8 areas,
including health, education,
family, employment, housing
Visiting Professors - Talks Activities
and neighbourhood. The survey
was conducted in 3 cities, Tokyo,
London and Liverpool.
Professor Kusakabe will present
his project which has been
endorsed by the Japanese largest
academic grant organization, JSPS,
for a three-year testing in Tokyo,
Liverpool and Melbourne. This
socially-led innovation is part of the
Open City Portal, an open-source
platform developed by universities
and development organisations,
which enables small cities to create
their tailor-made e-government
portal.
Professor
Jim Penman
A physicist by
training, Jim Penman
has over thirty
years’ experience in science,
energy and the environment -
firstly in university research and
consultancy, and from 1990 to
2012 for the UK government. For
nearly twenty years he led the UK’s
greenhouse gas response strategies
programme, covering evaluation
and assessment of greenhouse gas
mitigation for UK Climate Change
Programmes. He is a principal
architect of the treatment of land-
use, land use change and forestry
in the climate negotiations and was
the EU’s lead negotiator on LULUCF
in Durban. He played a large part in
establishing and developing REDD+
under the UNFCCC, including the
guidance negotiated in Bali in 2007
which set the initial guidance for
results-based payments.
He supported the initiative that led
to the World Bank Forest Carbon
Partnership Facility and negotiated
the 2008 Poznan Statement that
increased political momentum
of REDD+. He retired from DECC
in January 2012 and become
an Honorary Professor in the
Environment Institute at University
College London.
His current interests include
greenhouse gas inventory
methodologies and the future
development of the climate
negotiations. He was awarded an
OBE in 2009 in recognition of work
on establishing the UK emissions
mitigation evidence base, and in
the international negotiations.
Invited Talks
Forestry and land use in the climate
negotiations
University of Oxford, School of
Geography and the Environment,
26 April 2010.
Global Forest Observing Initiative,
IPCC and UNFCCC
Global Forest Observation
Initiative Meeting organised by the
Norwegian Space Agency, Tromsø,
June 2012.
28 29

Activities
Global Forest Observation
Initiative
Established under the Group on
Earth Observations (GEO), the
Global Forest Observation Initiative
(GFOI) exists to improve the use
of remote sensing data in forest
monitoring. The priority is to meet
the needs for a future climate
agreement to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. Following an
invitation from Australia, which co-
leads the GFOI, Jim Penman chairs
an international Advisory Group
to ensure that GFOI will meet the
needs of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
and the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC). The GFOI Task Force
met at the UCL Environment
Institute in April 2012 and, with
input from the Advisory Group,
will publish in 2013 a practical
guidance document for countries
and organisations to use in
integrating remote sensed and
ground based data for forest-
related greenhouse gas estimation.
This activity is supported by
the Department of Energy and
Climate Change, the Department
for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs, and the Natural
Environment Research Council.
Greenhouse Gas inventories
A future climate agreement will
only work if countries can agree
on how to estimate greenhouse
gas emissions from fossil fuels and
other sources, and emissions and
removals from the atmosphere by
land use. Jim Penman is the UK
representative on the committee
that steers development by
the IPCC of the greenhouse
gas inventory methods used by
countries to report emissions to
the UNFCCC. The IPCC is currently
working on better estimation
methods for greenhouse gases
associated with wetlands,
and on the land use reporting
requirements from the decisions
made by the UNFCCC Conference
of Parties in Durban in 2011.
This activity is supported by the
Department of Energy and Climate
Change.
Climate Change Programmes
At the invitation of the UNFCCC Jim
Penman acted as one of two Lead
Reviewers for a UNFCCC review of
the climate change programme of
the United States of America. This
is scheduled for publication later in
2013. There is a requirement under
the UNFCCC for countries to report
to the international community
on their actions to address
climate change. These reports
are reviewed by international
teams of experts coordinated by
the UNFCCC Secretariat. Jim’s
participation is supported by the
Department of Energy and Climate
Change.
www.ucl.ac.uk/environment-institute
Director
Yvonne Rydin
Deputy Director
Marianne Knight
Co-Directors
Biodiversity - David Murrell
Climate Change - Bill McGuire
Cultures of Sustainability - Jerome Lewis
Environmental Governance - Colin Provost
Migration Settlement - Laura Vaughan
Sustainable Cities - Adriana Allen
Water Security - Richard Taylor
Administrator
Nina Crane
Visiting Professors
Stephen Brown
Motoo Kusakabe
Jim Penman
Martin Poessinouw
Mike Young
Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey
David Finnigan
Special Advisor on
Climate Change
Chris Rapley
Emeriti Professors
David Goode
Richard Munton
David Norse
Honorary Research Associates
Simonetta Tunesi
Jean McNeil
Image credit - front cover: Fotolia.
UCL ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTE STAFF
30

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