The document is about a forum discussing possible food futures for Birmingham, UK in 2050. It provides background context on Birmingham, including that it has a population of 1 million people and sits on fertile land. The forum will discuss new technologies that could transform Birmingham's food supply chain by 2050, with the goal of understanding how these technologies could make a difference and what actions could be taken now.
6. The New Optimists & the Forum
• Began with the simple question What are you optimistic about to
over regional scientists
• Over 80 responded . . . a book launched at the 2010 British
Science Festival (through a not-for-profit company)
The New Optimists: Scientists View Tomorrow’s World &
What It Means to Us
• New Optimists Forum: a space for regional scientists to bend
their minds to help meet the big challenges of the 21st
century . . .
Monday, 11 June 12
7. the big challenges
• climate change, resource depletion, population pressures
• but . . . BUT . . . BUT
• yet “doing nothing is not an option”
(Sir John Lawton, 2006 Lunar Society Annual Lecture)
Monday, 11 June 12
8. working within our human cognition
• Carolyn Steel: Hungry City . . . food as a means to understand
the complexity of cities . . .
• scenario planning as a thinking tool . . .
• grounded in space (my home city) & time (2050 is beyond
today’s planning systems but within our psyche) . . .
• scientists bending their minds in facilitated conversations with
live social media reporting . . .
• computational and youngsters’ analytical brainpower
(their skin as well as their DNA is in the game)
• all under the watchful brief of a random grandmother . . .
Monday, 11 June 12
12. what we’ll be doing this evening
• Introductions & scene setting
• Understanding the nature of the technologies
• How these technologies could make a difference to
Birmingham by 2050
• What that means for now . . . and what next
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14. Birmingham & its immediate environs
• Birmingham is at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation,
roughly 60K hectares (232 square miles).
Monday, 11 June 12
15. Birmingham & its immediate environs
• Birmingham is at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation,
roughly 60K hectares (232 square miles).
• The city’s population is about 1M people (density 9,450/m2),
part of a conurbation of over 3.6M people.
Monday, 11 June 12
16. Birmingham & its immediate environs
• Birmingham is at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation,
roughly 60K hectares (232 square miles).
• The city’s population is about 1M people (density 9,450/m2),
part of a conurbation of over 3.6M people.
• Formerly a few hamlets, it grew explosively during the Industrial
Revolution; it’s an 18th, 19th & 20th century city.
• Swathes were badly bombed in WW2, redeveloped in the 1960s.
• Its economy collapsed in the 1980s; it is still heavily dependent
on the public sector. There has been significant investment in the
central parts of the city over the last 20 years.
Monday, 11 June 12
17. Birmingham & its immediate environs
• It sits on the Birmingham Plateau, rising 500-1000 ft (150-300m)
above sea level, between the basins of the Rivers Severn and
Trent. It is served only by minor brooks and streams . . . & canals.
• Water is pumped in from the Elan aquaduct built in 1904.
Monday, 11 June 12
18. Birmingham & its immediate environs
• It sits on the Birmingham Plateau, rising 500-1000 ft (150-300m)
above sea level, between the basins of the Rivers Severn and
Trent. It is served only by minor brooks and streams . . . & canals.
• Water is pumped in from the Elan aquaduct built in 1904.
• Originally part of the ancient Forest of Arden, there is still dense
oak tree cover, aided by policies of our Quaker philanthropist
forebears — there are 94K street trees. Many district names
end with “-ley”; others have the name “heath”.
• There is 3.2K hectares of parkland, plus the 1K hectares of
Sandwell Valley.
Monday, 11 June 12
19. Birmingham & its immediate environs
• Originally part of the ancient Forest of Arden, there is still dense
oak tree cover, aided by policies of our Quaker philanthropist
forebears — there are 94K street tress. Many district names
end with “-ley”; some have the name “heath”.
• There is 3.2K hectares of parkland, plus the 1K hectare of
Sandwell Valley.
• The city has over 7K allotments, several community orchards,
wildflower meadows, Bourneville and Moorpool garden estates,
sizeable gardens aplenty.
Monday, 11 June 12
20. Birmingham & its immediate environs
• Originally part of the ancient Forest of Arden, there is still dense
oak tree cover, aided by policies of our Quaker philanthropist
forebears — there are 94K street tress. Many district names
end with “-ley”; some have the name “heath”.
• There is 3.2K hectares of parkland, plus the 1K hectare of
Sandwell Valley.
• The city has over 7K allotments, several community orchards,
wildflower meadows, Bourneville and Moorpool garden estates,
sizeable gardens aplenty.
• The shire counties of the West Midlands has some very fertile
agricultural and horticultural land.
Monday, 11 June 12
21. Birmingham & its immediate environs
• Geologically, the city is dominated by the Birmingham Fault,
running from the Lickey Hills in the south-west to Sutton
Coldfield in the north-east.
• SE of the fault, the ground is largely Keuper Marl (layers of
siltstone and mudstone) . . .
• To the NW, there is a long ridge of Keuper Sandstone.
Monday, 11 June 12
22. Birmingham & its immediate environs
• Geologically, the city is dominated by the Birmingham Fault,
running from the Lickey Hills in the south-west to Sutton
Coldfield in the north-east.
• SE of the fauly, the ground is largely Keuper Marl (layers of
siltstone and mudstone) . . .
• To the NW, there is a long ridge of Keuper Sandstone.
• Similar to other UK cities, Birmingham has considerable urban
heat effect.
• Relative to other built-up areas in the UK, it is a snowy city due
to its inland location and comparatively high elevation.
Monday, 11 June 12
23. Birmingham & its immediate environs
Tyseley Plant
•366K tonnes of household waste burnt per year
•providing 166MW electricity (average individual consumption is
5.85MW pa)
•& 282K tonnes of CO2
Monday, 11 June 12
24. Birmingham & its immediate environs
Tyseley Plant
•366K tonnes of household waste burnt per year
•providing 166MW electricity (average individual consumption is
5.85MW pa)
•& 282K tonnes of CO2
Possibility . . . a distributed energy generation system
Monday, 11 June 12
25. Birmingham & its immediate environs
Tyseley Plant
•366K tonnes of household waste burnt per year
•providing 166MW electricity (average individual consumption is
5.85MW pa)
•& 282K tonnes of CO2
Possibility . . . a distributed energy generation system
•fuel: the detritus of 1-3.6M people
•mini-plants: on currently non-productive former industrial land
•heat by-product: fed into the city’s existing CHP system
Monday, 11 June 12
