This topic emerged through a screening of emerging issues in science, technology and society in the context of the FET CSA OBSERVE.

http://www.horizon-observatory.eu/radar-en/index.php

The big picture

Several emerging topics relate to sustainable living spaces both in urban and rural areas:

Sustainable Housing

Advanced concepts of sustainable and practicable housing are fast emerging. Espe-cially themes like natural materials, zero impact living, safety, movability, environmental fitting, gentrification and social housing are addressed by highly interdisciplinary teams of developers. Examples are the "Energy Positive" house in Wales, sustainer homes and urban campsite in Amsterdam, the future box in Berlin, the Ultra Light Construction Systems developed by MIT POPlab, the movable skip-garden in London and efforts in Indonesia towards buildings that withstand natural disasters.

Source: Aggregation of several;

Urban catalysts

Architects and designers around the globe are adopting a new mode of intervention into urban development called tactical urbanism. At the core is the use of micro interventions that function as catalysts for change. A creative and resourceful appropriation of the city's conflictual conditions expressed in terms of informal urban objects and habitats.

Source: Vienna Biennale/MoMa;

Urban system design

It seems that humanity now faces a watershed challenge: to find a new basis to gener-ate creative economies and quality of life, without destroying the resources on which life ultimately depends. Cities are bound to play an essential role in this transition. They are complex, adaptive systems with their own characteristic dynamics. Several ideas for novel transdisciplinary approaches to urban system and infrastructure design are emerging ranging from citylabs via "tactical urbanism" to urban warfare concepts and low energy urbanization. The issue is emerging with the same intensity in research, web debate and art.

Source: Aggregation of several

Cycling Futures

The bicycle is emerging as a central component of urban and avantgarde lifestyles. Several of the most advanced concepts in city planning and mobility are centering on the bicycle. Highly interdisciplinary research is exploring ways to establish cycling cen-tred city transport systems.

Source: Monocle and several;

Moss walls for air cleaning

To clean and filter the air from nitric oxide and fine dust within cities, moss walls are tested in Oslo (Norway). The so called “city trees” transform the pollution to biomass.

Source: CITYTREE

Bee highway

The city of Oslo is in the process of developing a "bee highway" for the pollinating in-sects, offering them a safe route through the city complete with food sources, resting spots, and places to live.

Source: The Verge;

Wooden material on the rise

Wood as a renewable resource becomes a more and more popular eco-friendly mate-rial to build things and houses.

Source: Aggregation of several;

Personal Heating

One way to keep warm is to focus heating on people rather than expending energy heating empty buildings. Several systems are possible. Source: The Economist Technology Quarterly;

Mobility futures

There is plenty of discussion on disruptive changes in human mobility. The most discussed development is the self-driving vehicle and its interaction with the human. Other emerging concepts are improved solar-powered vehicles, personal bal-ance-vehicles (like segways), vacuum hyperloop-tube for transport and hypersonic-flights. For ships the old approach of wind powering is explored afresh.

Source: Aggregation of several;

Rise of the drones

Science fiction novels envision a world where drones of all shapes and sizes will take over a vast diversity of functions such as monitoring, scanning, surveying, transport and spying. Smarter and smaller drones with more functions are one of the most popular areas on Kickstarter.

Source: Science Fiction Novels

Work to be done

Many sources stress the neeed to combine novel approaches from archiotecture and design with cutting edge research and innovation in domains like ICT and new materials for built environment and infrastructures with innovations in social practices like, heating, living and moving. Often experimental modes of collective innovating such as e.g. in open living labs are called for in order to tailor solutions to local contexts. Art is bound to play a key role.