Joan Rieradevall advises the Parliament on policies for sustainable and resilient cities
ICTA-UAB researcher Joan Rieradevall and collaborator of the Sostenipra group appeared before the Parliament of Catalonia on Thursday 3 March. Rieradevall participated in the Commission of Digital Policies and Territory to give his opinion on the document of the proposed law on urban, environmental and social improvement of neighbourhoods and towns.
Joan Rieradevall, who valued the document as excellent in general terms, contributed some ideas from a global point of view, encouraging the parliamentary representatives on the committee to go even further and tackle the improvement of neighbourhoods and towns by incorporating measures that contemplate the nexus between water, food and energy "as is currently being promoted by the European Union", he said.
Rieradevall pointed out that 50% of the surface area of neighbourhoods is on roofs, and that these are underused spaces for obtaining water, food and energy. He therefore proposes improving the levels of rainwater harvesting and food production in urban areas. In this sense, future regulations on the rehabilitation of buildings should require owners to commit to a greater use of roofs, whether by installing gardens, rainwater harvesting systems or solar panels.
In order to make cities more resilient and sustainable, he says it would be necessary to take more advantage of rainwater, becoming water exporters rather than importers. This implies a change of vision that would start with the implementation of municipal regulations that advance towards this end. "Between La Tordera and Cubelles, the rainwater falling in the urban environment is greater than the water consumed", he said.
He indicated that it is necessary to tend towards the edible renaturalisation of cities. Studies carried out by the Sostenipra group in municipalities such as Badia del Vallès and Rubí show that the roofs of buildings would allow a greater level of urban food self-sufficiency, covering up to 20% of the needs for horticultural products.
Sostenipra (Sostenibilidad y Protección Ambiental) es un grupo de investigación en el campo multidisciplinar de la ecología industrial. Tiene como objetivo desarrollar, adaptar y aplicar herramientas para promover la sostenibilidad y la protección del entorno con un enfoque sistémico de ciclo de vida. El grupo de investigación está organizado en 4 áreas principales: Gestión de recursos para una economía circular; Sostenibilidad en sistemas agrícolas; Análisis de sistema integrado de soluciones urbanas basadas en la naturaleza y Transferencia de conocimiento universidad-empresa.