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Creating developments that encourage inhabitants to reduce their consumption is the next frontier for low-carbon design, according to Hélène Chartier of sustainable urbanism network C40 Cities.

Chartier said that “a change of mindset” is required to ensure that architects look beyond the carbon footprint of their buildings and also consider emissions generated by the lifestyles of building users.

“As a designer, they don’t just build a box,” Chartier said during a Dezeen talk about carbon held at Dutch Design Week last week. “They build a place where people live. The design can really empower people to live a more sustainable life and make lower-carbon choices in their daily lives”.

Consumption-based emissions “a catastrophe”

Consumption-based emissions are those produced by the consumption of goods and services by building users and include emissions from transport, food, clothing and other goods.

These are “a catastrophe,” said Chartier, who is head of zero-carbon development at C40 Cities, a network that helps the world’s biggest cities with their decarbonisation goals.

“If we take the city of Copenhagen, which is one of the most ambitious cities in terms of carbon-neutrality objectives and everything, and add the consumption-based emissions today, they are just getting worse and worse,” she said.

Consumption-based emissions come on top of the lifecycle emissions of a building itself.

Hélène Chartier made the comments during a Dezeen talk at Dutch Design Week (above and top image)

While operational carbon (emissions caused by a building’s use) is widely understood and embodied carbon (emissions caused by the construction supply chain) is becoming better known, consumption-based emissions remain a blind spot, Chartier said.

“Consumption-based emissions are something that has been not taken into consideration enough when they do the carbon calculations,” she said.

“When a city or nation says it will be carbon neutral, they totally avoid thinking about all of the consumption of the people, which is a very large problem.”

Consumption-based emissions can be reduced by encouraging people to walk, cycle or use public transport and by reducing parking provision to discourage car use.

Other moves include encouraging local food networks and local sourcing of goods and materials, sharing facilities including laundries and tools, and prioritising low-carbon businesses such as restaurants and shops.

Two-thirds of consumption-based emissions come from outside cities

A 2018 report by C40 Cities found that two-thirds of consumption-based emissions come from outside the city’s boundaries.

“Cities rely heavily on the supply of goods and services from outside their physical boundaries,” said the report, which was based on a study of 79 cities within the C40 Cities network.

“The results of this study show that the GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions associated with these supply chains are significant, particularly for C40 cities in Europe, North America and Oceania.”

“Over 70 per cent of consumption-based GHG emissions come from utilities and housing, capital, transportation, food supply and government services,” it said.

“I think today when a city or nation says they are they are going to be carbon-neutral by 2030 or 2050, they basically consider the emission in their producing in their territory,” and therefore overlooking consumption-based emissions, Chartier said.

Chartier was one of three panellists at the Dutch Design Week talk, speaking alongside Cambridge University biomaterials researcher Darshil Shah and designer Teresa van Dongen.

The talk, called Good Design for a Bad World: Carbon, explored ways that architects and designers can help remove carbon from the atmosphere.

The session was the latest in the ongoing series of Good Design for a Bad World talks organised by Dezeen and Dutch Design Week.

It built on knowledge gained during Dezeen’s Carbon Revolution editorial series, which explored how atmospheric carbon can be captured and put to use on earth.

Cities are “major contributors” of emission

While the built environment is responsible for around 40 per cent of global emissions, cities account for between 50 and 60 per cent of all emissions when additional factors including consumption-based emissions are taken into account, Chartier said.

“Cites are really the major contributors of emissions,” she said. “A new city the size of New York is built every month in the world.”

“We know that today that 55 per cent of the world’s population is living in cities and it will grow to 70 per cent by 2050. So the way we design and build our cities is going to make a huge difference,” Chartier added.

Chartier oversees C40 Cities’ Reinventing Cities competition, which will see 49 experimental low-carbon developments built in 19 different cities.

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University College London has admitted that “unacceptable behaviour takes place” and appointed external agency Howlett Brown to investigate allegations of discrimination at The Bartlett School of Architecture.

“UCL has been deeply troubled to learn about allegations of unacceptable behaviour at The Bartlett School of Architecture and we have appointed an external agency, Howlett Brown, to carry out an independent investigation into the culture and behaviours in the School,” said Sasha Roseneil, pro-provost of equity and inclusion at UCL.

“We are aware that unacceptable behaviour takes place at UCL”

Consultancy Howlett Brown will investigate a series of claims that were first brought to light by former student Eleni Kyriacou and revealed in the Guardian in May.

Initially, Kyriacou compiled a dossier from 21 people who alleged staff sexually harassed female students and made derogatory comments about race.

Since then, further students have come forward, with a group named Bartlett United now representing 70 former students and staff.

“We are aware that unacceptable behaviour takes place at UCL, and we are committed to fully understanding the issues and to addressing them,” said Roseneil.

“This is a complex investigation and we ask for patience”

According to UCL, the investigation will be carried out independently, with Howlett Brown set to make recommendations to the university early next year.

“UCL has asked Howlett Brown to report back with recommendations at the beginning of 2022,” said Roseneil. “This is a complex investigation and we ask for patience while Howlett Brown conduct their work.”

“This independent investigation will provide recommendations for changes at The Bartlett School of Architecture, to ensure that all its students and staff are treated fairly and are able to thrive,” she continued.

School is “keen for students and staff to share their experiences”

UCL is asking current and former students of the Bartlett, which is based in Bloomsbury in a HawkinsBrown-designed building, to share their allegations with Howlett Brown.

“As part of the investigation, we are keen for students and staff (current and former) to share their experiences of studying and working at the School with Howlett Brown,” said Roseneil.

“Howlett Brown specialises in independent investigations that concern workplace culture, diversity, and inclusion,” she continued.

“Their investigation will be carried out separately from the university, and UCL and The Bartlett School of Architecture will not have access to any identifiable information from current or former students or staff who come forward.”

Disappointed with UCL’s progress investigating the allegations, Bartlett United recently hired a lawyer to pursue “breaches of a serious nature” at the architecture school.

It also recently launched a campaign to raise £2,500 to fund a further investigation and legal review.

The Bartlett is currently looking for a new director to replace current director Bob Sheil when his second term in the role comes to an end in 2022. Sheil‘s move predates the recent controversy over alleged discrimination at the school, and he will return to his former position as a professor at the school.

The Bartlett is the latest but not the only architecture and design school to face allegations of discrimination. Rhode Island School of Design recently announced a series of initiatives to tackle “multiple racist issues”.

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Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng has revealed its concept for a flying car that would also be capable of driving on the road, which the company plans to release as soon as 2024.

XPeng revealed the renderings of the unnamed electric flying vehicle at its annual 1024 Tech Day, where it showcases its latest innovations.

The road-capable flying car is being developed by the company’s urban air mobility (UAM) affiliate HT Aero.

Unlike most current UAM vehicle concepts, HT Aero’s would be capable of functioning both in the skies and on the roads, and will have a foldable dual rotor mechanism that converts it from a car to a flying machine.

The renders suggest the vehicle will be equipped with a steering wheel for driving and a single lever for flight.

According to TechCrunch, Xpeng is aiming to set a retail price of less than one million Chinese yuan (£114,000) for the vehicle, which will be more understated than the depiction in the current renderings.

The vehicle will include an environmental perception system that can evaluate the surroundings and weather conditions to make sure it can take-off and land safely at the desired destination.

While it will be manually controlled, a perception and flight control algorithm will help the pilot to avoid obstacles during flight.

Xpeng plans to sell the vehicle directly to consumers and sees it operating in urban environments.

The vehicle is an evolution of the company’s previous two-seater flying car concept, the Traveler X2, also developed by HT Aero.

HT Aero aspires to be the leader in the field of UAM and has raised US$500 million in a funding round earlier this month.

Alongside the flying car, XPeng also revealed new versions of its driver assistance system, supercharging technology and a robot prototype in the shape of a pony at its 1024 Tech Day.

“Our exploration of more efficient, safer, carbon-neutral mobility solutions goes far beyond just smart EVs, and is the cornerstone of our long-term competitive advantages,” said XPeng CEO He Xiaopeng.

“We strive to implement cutting-edge mobility technologies in mass-production models for the benefit of our customers.”

It has scheduled the new vehicle for mass production in 2024.

A number of companies are vying to be among the first to bring “flying cars” to the urban skyline. This term has been increasingly used in recent years to refer to personal aircraft concepts and prototypes that feature electrical vertical takeoff and landing (EVTOL) technology.

Hyundai’s European operations chief Michael Cole recently said he expects to see this technology in use before the end of this decade.

Hyundai has a partnership with Uber to develop flying taxis, while others working on similar technology include German company Lilium and US-based Kitty Hawk and Boeing.

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Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Laura Deschl has developed The Healing Imprint, a therapeutic garment that looks like activewear but is made to help heal trauma.

The project was developed to explore the potential of combining acupressure – a non-invasive practice originating in traditional Chinese medicine – with yoga-like movement to treat psychological trauma.

Deschl produced custom-knit garments with a grid stitched into them that allows small massage balls to be inserted and moved onto specific acupressure points on the body, feet, hands and head.

The garments’ aesthetic is similar to activewear or leisurewear, and a full set includes a bodysuit, gloves, socks and a pillow.

The idea is to combine acupressure with an embodied movement practice based on yoga, which would allow a person’s bodyweight to heighten the pressure at the targeted “acu-points.”

Deschl based The Healing Imprint on research that shows how physical therapies can be incorporated into psychotherapy to help people heal from psychological trauma, in an approach known as integrative therapy.

She was particularly inspired by the work of Bessel van der Kolk, whose 2014 book The Body Keeps the Score documents the effects of trauma and an array of methods that can be used to treat it.

“I was inspired by how he is incorporating ‘untypical’ ways of healing trauma, such as through yoga, tapping and community,” Deschl told Dezeen.

“My research also encompassed certain other thinkers, but their take on healing trauma through the body is somehow similar,” she continued. “One thing is certain: they are all convinced that the body needs to play a major role in overcoming the imprint left on the body caused by a traumatic event.”

Acupressure has been used to address symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as trauma-related anxiety and depression.

With The Healing Imprint garments, the acupressure aims to help the wearer access buried memories or emotions, while the trauma-sensitive yoga practice would facilitate introspection around those recollections.

Deschl said that a person’s body and their emotions are “two elements that are crucial for one’s sense of self, but are often highly impaired as a result of trauma”.

“Many people with histories of trauma and neglect experience an extreme disconnection from their body due to a deep divide between the sense of self and sensory experiences,” said Deschl.

“The goal of this project is to help patients train embodiment and thus bring them closer to their bodies.”

One of The Healing Imprint garment sets is knitted from predominantly merino wool plated with an elastic yarn, which was produced specifically for the project.

A second set with meridian patterns is made from a recycled knitted athleisure fabric, while the massage balls are gemstones.

The Healing Imprint includes a set of illustrations showing where to place the balls for which symptoms, and Deschl worked with a psycho-motor therapist to facilitate test sessions with trauma patients.

Deschl tested the garments at Eindhoven mental health institute GGzE and is seeking funding to further develop the project.

A social designer and artistic researcher, Deschl has a background in fashion and textiles as well as yoga teaching.

The Healing Imprint is her graduate project from the Master of Fine Arts and Design at Design Academy Eindhoven and is emblematic of her interdisciplinary approach.

“The garment is not only an interface for an individual to access embodied knowledge and self-awareness, but also represents how design can converge fields such as science, business, medicine, psychiatry and textile-making,” said Deschl.

Other designers to have made tools for therapy include Ariadna Sala Nadal, whose Balisa kit is meant to help children express their emotions, and Nicolette Bodewes, whose tactile objects are to assist adults in talk therapy.

Photography is by Iris Rijskamp.

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With an incredibly diverse eco-system of snap-on modules that let you practically attach the camera anywhere you want, the DJI Action 2 is what you get when you create a camera after intense research and design-thinking… not by simply copying what the rest of the market is doing.

Drone and gimbal makers extraordinaire, DJI seems to be completely disrupting the non-smartphone consumer camera market. The OM, Osmo, and Pocket give you a set of really powerful stabilized on-ground recording capabilities, while DJI’s drones really speak for themselves… With the Action 2, however, the company hopes to conquer yet another market that was up until now dominated by GoPro.

“The blueprint of an action cam is a familiar one – tough, waterproof, in a compact body”, says the narrator in the video above… and in doing so, perfectly describes the pit into which most tech companies fall – the pit of the ‘template’. It’s easy to be the second or the third best company in any domain… simply follow your biggest competitor and provide ‘the next best option’ for consumers to consider. This is something most action cameras have been doing by simply recreating what the GoPro pushed out. Once you hacked the template, you could make your action camera cheaper, have more memory, have a better battery, or cloud storage, and voila… your product was a worthy competitor to the GoPro. What the Action 2 aims at doing is redrawing that template by asking itself “If the GoPro didn’t exist, what would an action camera in 2021 look like?”

What the Action 2 gets right with its design isn’t just the camera (after all, DJI’s cameras are pretty fantastic to begin with) but rather how the camera is operated. The company designed an exhaustive list of modules, holders, and even accessories to go with their camera, all of which affix themselves to the Action 2 using an incredibly powerful set of magnets (a la MagSafe). The modules simply snap on or snap off, and give you a variety of use-cases, from being able to hold the camera in your hand, fix it to your chest/arm/head, attach it to your helmet, handlebar, or dashboard, place it on a steady surface, or even go underwater with it. If there’s a place you could take your Action 2, or an activity you could conduct with your Action 2… DJI’s thought of it and designed a module/accessory for it.

In many ways, this holistic approach is GoPro’s undoing. The way DJI’s modules just magnetically snap on or snap off the Action 2 make it really easy to use the camera anywhere and anyhow… and the camera’s all-terrain + waterproof design, 155° Super-Wide lens, powerful digital stabilization algorithm, and the 4-microphone recording setup make the Action 2 an incredibly compelling purchase.

Perhaps the Action 2’s most defining feature (and you’ll see it practically all their images) is the snap-on touchscreen module. Traditionally, all action cameras have lenses on the front and displays on the rear… and that’s great for filming everything except yourself. DJI’s Front Touchscreen Module basically lets you turn the action camera into a wide-angle vlogging camera. The module snaps right on and lets you attach other accessories like the tripod, selfie stick, car-mount, etc. Moreover, snapping it on doesn’t just give you a front-facing extra screen… it gives you an extra battery pack too, doubling the Action 2’s recording time to 160 minutes, and also adds extra mics for crisper audio recording – a feature that vastly benefits vloggers and influencers who want to be in the spotlight.

The Action 2’s expansive list of modules and attachments simply equip the already powerful camera to do much more. You’ve got your standard Power Module which bumps up the Action 2’s battery life, along with the Remote Control Extension Rod that triples as a selfie stick, tripod, and detachable remote controller. For sportsters, DJI has the helmet mount, and also a ball-and-socket module that lets you position the camera in any angle, be it downwards, upwards, or even in a tilting format. If you’re taking the camera swimming, a magnetic headband lets you go swimming and surfing, while the waterproof case lets you dive deep and low.

DJI’s more creative attachments include the magnetic lanyard, which definitely beats the GoPro’s chest-harness. Instead of strapping the camera to your torso, the magnetic lanyard lets you simply clip the camera onto your shirt using magnets. The reliable magnets do a pretty good job of holding your camera in place, and DJI’s image stabilization algorithms really speak for themselves at this point of time. The company’s even unveiled a snap-on macro lens that turns the ultra-wide shooter into a macro photography beast (with 4K capturing abilities)… and if you intend on using the Action 2 for interviews, vlogs, carpool karaoke, or even recording livestreams and audio concerts, DJI even has a powerful set of wireless dual-channel recorder mics that let you use the action camera like you would the Osmo or the Pocket. Probably the only thing missing now is for DJI to release a drone mount that lets you clip the Action 2 to any of their mid-tier drones for high-speed, high-altitude, high-adrenaline 4K capturing on a shoestring budget!

The DJI Action 2 is up for preorder today on DJI’s website, with shipping starting early November. The Power Combo (camera, Power Module, Lanyard, and Adapter mount) costs $399. The Dual Screen Combo throws in the Front Touchscreen Module and the Magnetic Ball-Joint mount too, bringing the bundle cost to $519.

Designer: DJI