Urbia Group

17/08/2016

Another creative day in Christchurch. Hosted by the CEO of Regenerate Christchurch, Bernd kicked off the day with a briefing meeting there, followed by a presentation to c 50 members of the City Council, Environment and Regenerate Christchurch. Stakeholder consultations with leaders of initiatives from East Christchurch set focus on the Residential Red Zone, which was also the topic of Bernd's new session as guest of the Tuesday Club, hosted by Garry Moore at the Smash Palace.

After five years of growing frustration about the delays of the city's earthquake recovery, Bernd planted the seeds of confidence that Urbia Group's Adaptive Urbanism will bring the long awaited creative boost to both a human-centered and climate-resilient future. Further advisory consultations will lead the way.

12/06/2016

Sustainable Christchurch and I agree, let's take the city's disaster as an opportunity!

Climate Change Opportunities June 6, 2016 by Rosemary Neave Leave a Comment Urbia Group is about transforming the challenges of Climate Change into opportunities, developing alternatives that encompass the complexity of urban societies. Thinking beyond the current paradigm to create vibrant, natural...

07/06/2016

A remarkable night in Christchurch.

Check out how much Garry Moore, host of the Tuesday Club and former Mayor of Christchurch, enjoyed Bernd's presentation:

"To say that our speaker last week gave a remarkable presentation would understate the presentation massively. Bernd has extensive international experience on reconstruction and rebuilding of Cities and neighbourhoods. His focus in recent years has been around climate change and sea level rise. All this knowledge comes from his background as an architect and urban designer. This was the sort of big thinking most of us have been hanging out to hear since the earthquake. We were challenged by this thoughtful and intelligent long term thinker, to consider what we have to plan for to achieve a liveable city in the 22nd century. He demonstrated his talk with examples of societies which had faced the sort of challenges in front of us as a country and, especially, as a city. The opportunity which the earthquakes have given us to look at the urban form in a different way was a fundamental part of the talk. Older civilisations which have the approach of a “managed retreat” from challenges like rivers shifting their banks need to be models for us with global warming and sea level rise. Bernd’s advice is that we need to plan for these things in a measured and sensible manner. We must plan for our housing stock to be able to be shifted. We need to plan for green buffers to be implemented over the next 100 years so our successors can say we used this disaster to our City as a way of sensibly planning for their future.

Bernd impressed us all with his knowledge and his experience. Here was a good listener who displayed great depth in his answers. He gave me a sense of hope. There were representatives of both CCC and Development Christchurch at the meeting and they left saying they would get Bernd back to assist them with their future thinking. Thanks a heap Bernd for coming down here."

07/06/2016

Check out how much Garry Moore, host of the Tuesday Club and former Mayor of Christchurch, enjoyed Bernd's presentation:

"To say that our speaker last week gave a remarkable presentation would understate the presentation massively. Bernd has extensive international experience on reconstruction and rebuilding of Cities and neighbourhoods. His focus in recent years has been around climate change and sea level rise. All this knowledge comes from his background as an architect and urban designer. This was the sort of big thinking most of us have been hanging out to hear since the earthquake. We were challenged by this thoughtful and intelligent long term thinker, to consider what we have to plan for to achieve a liveable city in the 22nd century. He demonstrated his talk with examples of societies which had faced the sort of challenges in front of us as a country and, especially, as a city. The opportunity which the earthquakes have given us to look at the urban form in a different way was a fundamental part of the talk. Older civilisations which have the approach of a “managed retreat” from challenges like rivers shifting their banks need to be models for us with global warming and sea level rise. Bernd’s advice is that we need to plan for these things in a measured and sensible manner. We must plan for our housing stock to be able to be shifted. We need to plan for green buffers to be implemented over the next 100 years so our successors can say we used this disaster to our City as a way of sensibly planning for their future.

Bernd impressed us all with his knowledge and his experience. Here was a good listener who displayed great depth in his answers. He gave me a sense of hope. There were representatives of both CCC and Development Christchurch at the meeting and they left saying they would get Bernd back to assist them with their future thinking. Thanks a heap Bernd for coming down here."

20/04/2016

The second session of the Initiative for the Future of Great Rivers is being held in Montreal, Canada. Our special case study here is the port extension with respect to both navigation and implementation.

24/02/2016

This is an alarming scenario for Paris once the expected next 100 year flood hits France's nerve centre. The last one was in 1910. How can Paris prepare for a catastrophe of this magnitude?

Oubliez les jolies images des Parisiens en barque dans les rues du Paris de 1910. A l'occasion de l'exercice de simulation Sequana qui démarre le 7 mars, l'Institut d'aménagement et d'urbanisme montre en animation 3D ce que serait la réalité de l'épisode dans le monde d'aujourd'hui.

20/10/2015

Even the coolest Parisian days and nights come to an end eventually. Now on my way back via James Bond Airport - Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1.

19/10/2015

Now in Paris I have meetings and dinners with exciting people. Leaders of both the architecture and fine arts community of France.

In the morning I reflect what I learned at the brasserie next door, because thinking is better with a coffee.

18/10/2015

The final day of the first session of the Initiative for the Future of Great Rivers presented the results of our discussion to the public representatives.

Lively conversations with Jean Jack Queyranne, President of the Rhône-Alpes region, and Gerard Collomb, President of Lyon Metropole, helped to insert our message into the regional political governments. A plenum with NGOs and interested public concluded the three days.

Our report will be submitted to Ségolène Royal, French's Ministry for Ecology, Laurent Fabius, President of the COP 21 Climate Conference in Paris, and to the President of the Republic François Hollande.

A last photo with Elisabeth Ayrault, CEO of the Compagnie National du Rhône and our host, finished this event off. We will meet again in April 2016 in Montreal, Canada!

16/10/2015

The work in the Initiatives for the Great Rivers continues. The workshop about urbanism, flooding, pollution initiated by Bernd was overshadowed by the recent disaster in Southern France with many fatalities.

The Chairman of Bangladesh's inland water authority pointed out that his country will have lost a third of its territory due to climate change by 2050. Together with The COO of the port of Montréal, Canada, he illustrated the imminence of river transport.

The General Director of the world's most powerful dam at Itaipu in Paraguay and Laos' Minister of Energy reminded of the importance that joint hydropower ventures have for peace in their regions. This was further emphasized by Minister for Agriculture of the Senegal, who focussed on agriculture and irrihation.

12/10/2015

Bernd has arrived in Lyon, France, where he will attend the first session of a new think tank. He has been appointed Permanent Member of the Initiatives for the Future of Great Rivers.

12/06/2015

Bernd has been appointed permanent member of a new think tank based in Lyon, France.

The role of the Initiatives for the Future of Great Rivers is to develop a transversal and multi-disciplinary view on the issues about rivers in order to build a holistic and collective vision of the river of tomorrow.

The observatory is entrusted with three missions:
- Nourish a prospective reflection of the future of rivers;
- Collect and share international best practice in river management;
- Improve our understanding and challenge our current actions and methodologies.

The college will meet twice a year, either in its HQ at the Musée des Confluences in Lyon (designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au), or visiting one of the selected 14 great rivers on all continents.