Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the phenomenon urban wind energy, its visual effect on built environment and the factors that affect the opinion towards new elements in the city. A place study of the city Gävle serves as a complement to the theoretical part of the paper.

The theoretical discussion opens with an account for the technical and economical conditions of urban wind energy. It presents the technical basics, different types of turbines and a discussion occurring wind related techniques in built environment. Today, the knowledge of how the wind moves and acts in the rural landscape is quite good. Yet there are no more reliable facts on how wind acts in the city then that buildings and other elements leads to more turbulence. The development of urban turbines advances and there are, already today, turbines that manage wind in built environment better than their forerunners.

Regarding the economical aspects, profits today are low. Expensive turbines, technical faults and the cost for connection to the electrical grid are all contributing factors. Despite these problems there is still an interest in urban wind energy, an interest that must have its cause in other values than the economical profit. These values have been given the name “soft values” in this paper. Example of these could be the reduced discharge of carbon dioxide or the commercial values for the developer.

The paper handles further the concept of landscape and cityscape, the latter being mentioned numerous times in the discussions. The version of the concept cityscape that is used in this paper has its base in a definition of landscape made by The European Landscape Convention. According to this, the city can be regarded as a part of a greater landscape and also as a landscape itself.

How man perceives the landscape and changes in it is also a part of the paper. The perception takes place through three different aspects, a social, functional and esthetical aspect. These aspects also form the foundation for the creation of meaning in the landscape. You can also find different values through these aspects that should be mapped before a change in the cityscape take place, fore example the construction of wind turbines. What these values could be is described in the theoretical discussion as well as in the place study.

The paper also accounts for the role of the planning process and how it can give an effect on the attitude towards urban wind energy. The theoretical discussion illustrates the importance democracy in the process of change that the construction of urban wind turbines means.

The last part of the paper consists of a discussion based on the experiences of giving form to turbines in the rural landscape. These experiences are thereafter discussed from an urban point of view. Some of the conclusions from the discussion are applied and exemplified through montages from three different places in Gävle.

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This paper aims to explore the phenomenon urban wind energy, its visual effect on built environment and the factors that affect the opinion towards new elements in the city. A place study of the city Gävle serves as a complement to the theoretical part of the paper.

The theoretical discussion opens with an account for the technical and economical conditions of urban wind energy. It presents the technical basics, different types of turbines and a discussion occurring wind related techniques in built environment. Today, the knowledge of how the wind moves and acts in the rural landscape is quite good. Yet there are no more reliable facts on how wind acts in the city then that buildings and other elements leads to more turbulence. The development of urban turbines advances and there are, already today, turbines that manage wind in built environment better than their forerunners.

Regarding the economical aspects, profits today are low. Expensive turbines, technical faults and the cost for connection to the electrical grid are all contributing factors. Despite these problems there is still an interest in urban wind energy, an interest that must have its cause in other values than the economical profit. These values have been given the name “soft values” in this paper. Example of these could be the reduced discharge of carbon dioxide or the commercial values for the developer.

The paper handles further the concept of landscape and cityscape, the latter being mentioned numerous times in the discussions. The version of the concept cityscape that is used in this paper has its base in a definition of landscape made by The European Landscape Convention. According to this, the city can be regarded as a part of a greater landscape and also as a landscape itself.

How man perceives the landscape and changes in it is also a part of the paper. The perception takes place through three different aspects, a social, functional and esthetical aspect. These aspects also form the foundation for the creation of meaning in the landscape. You can also find different values through these aspects that should be mapped before a change in the cityscape take place, fore example the construction of wind turbines. What these values could be is described in the theoretical discussion as well as in the place study.

The paper also accounts for the role of the planning process and how it can give an effect on the attitude towards urban wind energy. The theoretical discussion illustrates the importance democracy in the process of change that the construction of urban wind turbines means.

The last part of the paper consists of a discussion based on the experiences of giving form to turbines in the rural landscape. These experiences are thereafter discussed from an urban point of view. Some of the conclusions from the discussion are applied and exemplified through montages from three different places in Gävle.