Decisions.city – increases citizens’ awareness for sustainable urban construction
Accelerating urbanization is a worldwide phenomenon. Cities produce more than 70% of global CO2 emissions. This means that the choices that cities make have huge implications for the people and for the planet. The citizens are usually not involved in making decisions about construction materials in the cities, one reason why concrete and steel predominate.
To help both citizens and decision-makers push for more sustainable urban construction Architectural Democracy, Metsä Wood, and Accenture Interactive came together to explore how to turn todays’ rigid and exclusive urban construction process to a more inclusive and sustainable one - in a digital tool called Decisions.city.
“The idea behind the movement of Architectural Democracy is to move away from opaque urban planning into a more open decision making process. There is no perfect mix of construction materials, but without including the voice of citizens we will continue to use traditional emissions-intensive materials”, Pedro Aibéo, architect and civil engineer, and the founder of the Architectural Democracy organization notes.
Decisions.city is a showcase of a playful, yet informative online interaction platform that allows anyone to adjust the mix between different building materials; wood, concrete and steel - and to see the differences over time. “Decisions.city is an interactive experience that allows people to learn and understand how their city can develop in the future”, says Elliot White, Service Design Lead & Resident Architect at FJORD part of Accenture Interactive.
“City structures are 90% concrete and steel, two of the single biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. Engineered wood products, like Kerto® LVL, store carbon and enable sustainable construction. We hope to increase citizens’ awareness of sustainable urban construction through participation and thereby contribute to finding new ways to make our cities sustainable, inclusive, resilient and safe”, says Jussi Björman, Director, Business Development, Construction, at Metsä Wood.
Initial version of Decisions.city will be launched in conjunction with the 2021 Venice Biennale of Architecture to promote building a more sustainably, resilient and inclusive urban future.
Try it out and see what the future of cities could look like: Decisions.city
Images: https://databank.metsagroup.com/l/fFXBh-DTrNjr
For more information, please contact:
Henni Rousu, Communications Manager, Metsä Wood
tel. +358 40 554 8388, henni.rousu@metsagroup.com
Metsä Wood
Metsä Wood is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of engineered wood products. We process valuable log wood into environmentally friendly products for the construction and transport industries, which are both megatrend-driven businesses of the future. Our main products are Kerto® LVL, birch and spruce plywood and further processed sawn timber. Material-efficient wood products store carbon and play an important role in combatting climate change.
In 2020, our sales totalled approximately EUR 0.4 billion, and we have around 1,600 employees. Metsä Wood is part of Metsä Group.
Follow Metsä Wood: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | Pinterest
Accenture
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services — all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 537,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities.
Visit us at www.accenture.com.
Architectural Democracy
Architectural Democracy started as an academic research in Finland 10 years ago as a framework of the relationships between architecture and democracy for all stakeholders to better understand the complexity of cities and thus to participate more actively in the planning decisions that affect their lives. Architectural Democracy is considered today a nascent movement, an informal academic discipline, encompassing service architecture with its own developments in for example housing, such as the "Gamified Cohousing" or in urban planning serious games, such as the "Urban Dots".
