"Participate to the HOPUS event : "Beauty and Energy - Contemporary ideas for sustainable new residential areas in Europe""

"Housing development in the context of climate change has recently become one of the main issues of the European town planning policy. Cities are the biggest consumers of energy produced in Europe. Carbon dioxide emission reduction policy in the European Union is forcing revision to local approaches towards the increase in energy efficiency of urban structures. Succeeding directives are an announcement for further regulations. EU members are being obliged to increase technical demands of individual building. The general trend towards Energy Use Reduction calls for rise of European standards in holistic and far-reaching approach, balancing energy consumed during construction, utilization and removal of a building. How and where should we build residential areas in order to create energy efficient housing resistant to social and technical degradation?

The problem raised above sets urban planning and planning policy in a primary position. The complex functional circumstances of European cities followed by deep cultural, demographical and economical changes are raising yet another question: what is the contemporaneous model of living in the city and what are the up-to-date design methods of urban housing development?

HOPUS project aims at promoting  and implanting the use of design coding and other forms of "smart" project guidance for the development of sustainable housing stock in European Cities.

The aim of the conference is to present selected, interdisciplinary examples of the best practice in planning of new housing development. Tendencies introduced during the conference should open a discussion about the implementation of foreign experiences in the reality of Polish suburban areas.
The conference consists of three main sessions, starting at 2 p.m. on 16 April 2009 and ending at 5:30 p.m. on 17 April 2009. The first session will be preceded by a bus tour around chosen residential areas in Gdynia.There will also be an exhibition related to URBACT II HOPUS project, coinciding with the Conference Days.

All lectures will be held in English, with general Polish translation.

To register, please contact Gabriela Rembarz (grem@pg.gda.pl) by April 1, 2009. Read more:

• Download gdansk_conference.pdf (131.75 KB) – PDF

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