When one thinks of what a smart city or technology is, the natural inclination might be to imagine driverless cars or the use of ‘Big Data as big brother’. Such a utopian (or dystopian) vision is largely based on technology. However, it is easy to overlook the important roles governance, culture and citizen co-creation play in enabling smart practices to take place. Pomeroy continues to meticulously study smart cities / strategies from around the world; investigating their unique characteristics, key smart innovations and ultimately ask whether such environments and their technologies really enhance our daily lives.

Green leadership recognises the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and active listening to stakeholder values, as a means of creating more sustainable products and processes. Pomeroy articulates his process of investigating and identifying stakeholder’s value drivers across 4 spheres of influence (i.e. civil society, state, corporation, and academia). He reveals, through case studies, different perceptions of the value drivers for a process or product from the built environment; as well as the mechanisms that enable greater value for the stakeholders and the opportunities for leaders to influence the broader system.

We are living in challenging times: climate change is an imminent threat to the future of our planet. Population increase is causing unprecedented congestion in our cities. Transmigration has exacerbated social inequalities. Culture has been eroded in the face of globalisation. And whilst we have shifted from a technological to a digital age, we need to ask whether our quest for technological advancement is really enhancing our lives. Such environmental, spatial, social, cultural, economic and technological issues manifest in our daily lives and necessitates a new culture of resilience to bring about systemic change.

Culture is often overlooked in the discourse on sustainability, despite globalisation and modernisation often perceived to erode those time-tested rituals and traditions that are often associated with culture and heritage. He demonstrates how the principles of sustainability can be applied in the conservation, restoration and adaptation of historic structures and explores ways in which time-tested building and conservation techniques still meet emerging standards for sustainability and energy conservation; and provides an insight into how indigenous building materials and passive design techniques can help retain local cultural identity.

Pomeroy’s research offers a new perspective on Digital Twins by rethinking how socio-cultural practices found within the ‘social world’; and the natural and built systems of the ‘physical world’ should be equally reflected within the digital (virtual) world. Only then can the meaningful, quantitative and qualitative adaptations be made to cities, districts, buildings and software to improve people’s lives. In this highly material age, a data-enabled society is the gateway to a complex inter-dependency between the ‘hardware’ of the physical world; the ‘software’ of the virtual world; and the ‘heartware’ of the social world.

In modern times, Design innovation for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) has been associated with technological and material innovations. Yet it has its roots in many cultures from the past. Pomeroy’s research explores DfMA and modularization through the urbanism lens – explaining the process in relation to dense urban environments, its applicability and potential design opportunities across different sectors / disciplines. He aims to break the stigma that ‘modular is monotonous’, and demonstrate that being climate responsive and adaptable via best practices in industry is essential for a greener planet.

Population increase is leading to dramatic urbanisation, with an estimated 70 percent of people living in cities by 2050. Existing urban and architectural models struggle to accommodate the increased population or provide open/green spaces for recreation. Pomeroy’s research has led to his much publicised ‘vertical urban theory’ of future cities that starts to consider the qualities of the traditional city, but rotated in 90 degrees and explored vertically. Such futuristic visions are carefully mapped across social, economic, environmental, spatial, cultural and technological parameters for a greener future for cities.

Achieving zero net emissions and seeking to stabilise the climate change-related impact of the built environment requires long-term planning, as well as a contextual sensitivity to people and place. Zero-carbon systems in the built environment have the ability to balance operational consumption and clean energy generation whilst considering the climate, culture, people and place. Pomeroy has researched time-tested design principles and new technologies for implementing zero carbon strategies in different climatic zones, and how such strategies can be scalable from the micro-scale of homes to the macro-scale of cities.

Prof Pomeroy offers a ‘primer’ to creating super low-energy to net-zero emissions for retail, F and B and hospitality interiors. In particular, he advocates for the importance of ‘process’ before ‘product’, careful consideration of the value chain, stakeholder engagement and collaboration before the due considerations of the ‘hardware’ and active design strategies to achieve environmental targets. The presentation will conclude with a Q and A before participants receive a ‘primer’ as a prompt for onward thinking and application. Prof Pomeroy is also available for onward ‘net-zero clinics’ (by appointment only).