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Public Art + Renewable Energy + Living Buildings and Cities + Integrated Systems = Land Art Generator Initiative

This was the equation that LAGI co-founder Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry used to describe the initiative in the opening slide of their presentation on Tuesday 7 June. Both speakers gave a passionate and detailed background to their work and the many ways that they encourage multidisciplinary collaborations to develop renewable energy infrastructures as works of art. The talk included information about their biennial competition and more locally some of the work they have been undertaking in Glasgow.

The talk really captured the imagination of the audience and the GRP was delighted by the level of engagement from all who attended.

A copy of the presentation can be found at http://www.landartgenerator.org/LAGI-Lecture-Warwick.pdf. The GRP is keen to explore this theme further and so anyone interested in finding out more should contact Stephanie Whitehead cities@warwick.ac.uk.

Innovate UK are to invest up to £15m in business led, innovative projects in Infrastructure Systems, provisionally including:

• Solutions for affordable, sustainable and secure energy systems

• Innovative solutions for Nuclear Fission

• Innovative solutions for Offshore Wind

• Solutions for connected transport through the integration of multimodal transportation systems

• Resilience of infrastructure and cities to environmental and societal pressure

• Integrated solutions to systemic challenges in urban areas

Where possible, projects should address more than one of these areas particularly through the introduction of cross-cutting technologies (e.g. digital, sensors, autonomous systems) that can address system integration.

Briefing & Brokerage Events

The Knowledge Transfer Network, in partnership with Innovate UK, will be hosting a series of events across the UK to discuss Innovate UK's forthcoming competition ‘Infrastructure Systems’.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) says Africa needs to implement a vigorous structural transformation agenda to bridge gaps that inhibit the creation of sustainable cities. AfDB Acting Director for Development Research Abebe Shimeles said the institution was engaging African governments on bridging gaps in areas such as infrastructure development and promoting access to quality human services by the people.

Shimeles was speaking during a panel discussion at the ongoing AfDB Annual Meetings, which commenced in Lusaka, Zambia, on 23 May 2016. His comments came during the official launch of the African Economic Outlook report for 2016 under the theme: “Sustainable cities and structural transformation in Africa”. The Annual Meeting is taking place at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre from Monday, May 23 to Friday, May 27, 2016 under the theme “Energy and Climate Change”. Shimeles said the Bank had taken major steps towards investing in programmes to aid policy-makers at various structures of governments' develop and implement strategies towards creating sustainable cities.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) will soon launch a new report entitled 'Urban adaptation to climate change in Europe 2016 - Transforming cities in a changing climate' on 5 July during the Open European Day in Bonn - organised by ICLEI and EEA as a pre-event of the Resilient Cities conference. The report supplements EEA’s 2012 report on the issue and reflects on the adaptation action taken since then and relate their level of ambition to the challenges ahead.

On 20th April 2016, the city of Masdar in the UAE, in partnership with the Zayed Future Energy Prize, hosted primary and secondary students from across the world for an unique sustainable cities learning experience. The students were debating sustainable cities as part of a global essay competition run by the Trust for Sustainable Living, which is based in Berkshire, UK.