Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Woody Plant Encroachment and the Sustainability of Priority Conservation Areas

The current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic and its social, economic and environmental impacts has brought to the fore the importance of design and placemaking in creating infrastructure, places and buildings that will allow us to be prepared for, and make us less vulnerable to, future pandemics or crises. As the built environment sector innovates to overcome these challenges, there will be a remarkable number of opportunities when creating new buildings or retrofitting those that we already have, creating new places and rebuilding the economy. This has been reflected in the new Programme for Government, with a £100m Green Jobs Fund, the investment of £275m for the regeneration of communities and town centres and £500m to be invested in Active Travel infrastructure over 5 years (£100m to be spent in 2020/21) and the Infrastructure Investment Plan which amounts to £24bn over 5 years and includes investment to decarbonise business, industry and buildings, the provision of new health facilities, schools and homes. With this level of investment currently available, it is the perfect time for leaders and innovators in these fields to share their experiences, knowledge and best-practice with each other and with organisations that are perhaps less experienced in some of these fields. This event is an ideal opportunity for architects, planners, placemaking professionals, local and national government officers, elected representatives at local and national level, infrastructure providers, engineers and all other relevant stakeholders to engage with other thought leaders and potential partners to forge solutions to the challenges and explore what opportunities may be presented by the current situation. Event Agenda: 10:00 Introduction from the Chair – Christina Gaiger, President, RIAS Understanding the implications of covid-19 and lockdown measures for the future of the built environment – Prof. Ashraf Salama, Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde A planning and…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched the National Automobile Scrappage Policy and said the initiative will promote a circular economy and make the process of economic development more sustainable and environment-friendly. The policy, aimed at recycling old and unfit vehicles, will give new identity to India’s mobility and auto sector, Modi said in his address while virtually launching the initiative during ‘Investors Summit’ organised in Gandhinagar. The summit, which saw participation of potential investors and industry players, was organized to attract investment for setting up vehicle scrapping infrastructure under the Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernization Programme, an official release said.

The circular economy offers OEMs in the enterprise technology market new revenue streams, improved sustainability and enhanced brand protection. By outsourcing downstream processes, including reverse logistics, repair services, de-manufacturing, warehousing and IT asset disposition, manufacturers can maximize product value and free up their resources to focus on new innovations. Today’s technology manufacturing landscape is one of balance between meeting consumer hyper-demands for “the next big thing” and carefully managing finite resources. The circular economy is a global movement that attempts to strike that balance through reverse logistics, repair strategies and sustainable reuse. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) participating in the circular economy are leveraging sustainable practices to extend product lifecycles and capture value long after the initial product sale.

The UK currently exports two thirds of plastic collected for recycling and only recycles 9% of all plastics domestically.But new analysis shows the government could be developing secondary material markets that encourage an additional 2m tonnes of plastic to … Continue reading →…