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What does the net zero city of the future look like?

Most cities and many towns have set net zero carbon target dates. They are committed to their transformation, and this will interact strongly with societal changes post-COVID and technological developments. Director, Barny Evans glimpses into the future to consider a net zero future, the massive amount of work to be done and some of the challenges likely to arise.

Let’s cut to the chase and assume we get there, so what are net zero cities like? 

Air and noise pollution

The first thing we will notice is the air pollution and noise change. In any net zero future we will have electrified almost all of our cities. That means that vehicles will be much quieter and many forms of air pollution will be reduced. They will smell and sound different. The irony is that we will become much more aware of other smells and noise that had previously been masked, such as drains and ventilation systems. The change of our heating systems from gas boilers to heat pumps will clean the air and be very low carbon, but we will need to place them well to ensure they don’t cause annoyance in this new, quieter world. Because they require an external unit as well, we can expect to see more of them popping up on walls and roofs. There will, of course, be a fair amount of solar panels on roofs.

Roads and travel

My hope is that we will see road space reclaimed, as we have increased the use of car clubs, micro-mobility and active travel, meaning the number of parked vehicles is reduced greatly. One challenge the future net zero city faces is that once they are electric, cars are very low carbon, so previous arguments about getting out of cars for the climate will have to change. This is one area where I am less optimistic. There is a golden opportunity for cities to embrace the micro-mobility revolution; car-clubs, scooters, bikes, skateboards and shared services. The challenge here is facilitating lots of smaller co-ordinated steps, investment, and policy changes that could revolutionise travel, alongside big infrastructure projects which tend to pull focus.  An example of this gap is that there is still no major car club in any city. Car club and scooter hire in public/private partnership will revolutionise transport and free huge space in cities, but even in the latest multi-billion pound announcement from the Government it was all conventional rail, road and bus investment, with only a little for cycling.  Our net zero roads could become as congested as ever.

The transport issue is an example of how technology is driving change, at least as much as climate change. The growth of delivery shopping is going to change, and how we, and as a consequence our town centres, adapt to that will have a huge impact on what they look like in ways that are less predictable.

Green spaces

More positively, I expect that we will see a lot more greenery. Tree planting and small scale natural areas are promised in many plans and we are beginning to see them delivered. (There was some specific funding mentioned in the budget.) It is amazing the difference these changes can make to streets and our perception of them. On new build, I see the net positive biodiversity requirement has really changed thinking from one of mitigation to one of improvement and local and UK government is responding.

There is much that we will not see, as well. This all-electric revolution will mean our networks will be controlled much more smartly, helping to balance all that solar, nuclear and wind power. We will pay more or less for electricity depending on when it’s used. A car’s battery or other device may even export power at times. This may seem a strange time to write this, given recent price surges, but we will benefit from much lower energy bills as super cheap renewable energy transforms the world.  People worrying about energy bills should become a thing of the past. 

Post-COVID, our cities face something of an existential crisis; workers don’t need to come in, students can stay with their parents and we can buy everything we want online. The net zero transition, done well, can make cities places people choose to be because they combine the social and leisure opportunities only a city can offer, with the tranquillity and sense of nature that we crave from the country. All that whilst addressing climate change.

For more information please contact Barny Evans. Click here to find out more about what is happening in the green energy sector across the UK and Ireland. 

1 November 2021