What Makes a Winning City?
Although akin to alchemy, creating and maintaining a winning city concentrates the minds of a good proportion of politicians, planners and the public worldwide. The rewards of success are great, with...
View ArticleRoad User Charging – are you for or against?
There is about a 70% chance that you are against road user charging, assuming that you are not a transportation expert and that you live in a city that has no road user charging. This is a pity,...
View ArticleFuture Cities Africa –“The Story”
In a month, we will be officially launching WSP Future Cities Africa, our integrated engineering and environmental design service for designing new cities and renewing existing ones. The story behind...
View ArticleDistrict Thermal Network Connections to Existing Buildings
When working in the London Construction Industry any time over the past five years it would be impossible not to have heard the quote that ‘80% of today’s building stock will still be around in 2050’....
View ArticlePaul Toyne featured in Construction News article
LOW CARBON URBAN DEVELOPMENT The term ‘green buildings’ and ‘green cities’ are common parlance these days but are we really doing enough to meet the challenges ahead? We must scale up our efforts if we...
View ArticleLinkages to fossil fuel
Growth of cities is inevitable under the current economic system, and I would find it hard to think anyone would refute that our current economy is intrinsically linked with the energy that is driving...
View ArticleKey Ingredients for Making a Winning City (Part 1 of 2)
In the second of my series of three blogs about winning cities, I want to explore the first batch of what I believe are some of the key ingredients for success and help reinforce the potential role of...
View ArticleKey Ingredients for Making a Winning City (Part 2 of 2)
In this, the final of my series of three blogs about winning cities, I want to explore three more key ingredients that I believe are essential to success. Ingredient #4 – Providing State-of-the-Art...
View ArticleUrbanisation and Poverty Alleviation in Africa: Designing better outcomes in...
I must admit to being something of a rural idealist – imagining the life of the peasant farmer as one of simplicity and content. However, a quote from one of Africa’s most accomplished urban designers...
View ArticleReconnecting city children with nature
Growing up I was fortunate to have access to the green open spaces of west London. Chiswick House, Richmond Park and the tow path along the river Thames were all in my range, either on foot, by bike...
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