The news announcing the reduction of energy supplies returns like a boomerang, reminding us of how recklessly we consume it. The sense of unease is intensified by the clock ticking ever louder, marking the time when we must definitively move away from environmentally degrading non-renewable energy sources, and the awareness of our dependence on the politically complex energy supply chain. How do we measure up to this challenge?
The complex process of energy transition will be the topic of the 3rd edition of the Congress Regeneration of Cities, organized by the intellectual and social movement Open Eyes Economy and the City of Lodz under the theme Good Energy. The event will be held on May 30-31 this year in a hybrid formula - on-site, in the building of the former EC1 Łódź thermal power plant, and online, on the live.oees.pl streaming platform. Registration is free, and Architecture & Business is the event's main media partner.
The Energy Urban Regeneration Congress will look at the topic from a number of perspectives, addressing issues such as energy poverty in Poland, migration due to energy costs, developer activity, fifteen-minute cities, infrastructure and transportation, financing of investments in the energy sector, the European Green Deal, the closed loop economy, spatial conflicts in wind power or prosumer energy systems, among others.
Despite the fact that technological progress promotes decentralization of renewable energy supply and its economical use, we observe strong national and international pressure to maintain the monopoly of energy suppliers and carriers, notes Professor Tadeusz Markowski, Head of the Interdisciplinary Center for Urban Studies at the University of Lodz, Vice Chairman of the Program Council of the Urban Regeneration Congress. - This threatens to slow down the inevitable process of transformation towards RES and squander Poland's energy potential, which in the long run will lower our country's economic competitiveness. Current spontaneous decisions in the energy field, based on short-term and populist considerations, only confirm this risk, adds the moderator of the 1st Lodz Energy Roundtable scheduled for May 30.
We want to live in healthy spaces, work in healthy buildings, breathe healthy air, meanwhile as many as 60 percent of us live in gated and polluted cities. How, then, to realize our aspirations to live in a friendly environment? What actions and changes do we need immediately, and which in the long term? Participants in the Lodz congress, representing various industries and sectors, will seek answers to these questions.
The effects of the energy transition will be felt most strongly precisely in urbanized structures. Cities are the largest generators of the greenhouse effect, and it is in them that the greatest potential for change lies through appropriate regeneration and adaptation processes. At the same time, cities are also the greatest sources of innovation and good practices," says Professor Jerzy Hausner, Chairman of the Program Council of the Urban Regeneration Congress. - Appropriate global, regional and local policies can improve and accelerate these processes. Therefore, the aim of the event is to point out the key interdependencies of the process of energy transformation of cities, to formulate recommendations in terms of energy problems, to raise awareness of innovation, as well as to exchange national and international experiences, announces Professor Hausner.
The program will include, among others, lectures on new nuclear technologies (Dr. Krzysztof Meissner prof. UW), the state, prospects and challenges of the Polish energy sector (Dr. Janusz Steinhoff), a debate whose guests will seek ways out of the polycrisis (this is how the phenomenon of overlapping crises was defined at this year's Davos Economic Forum), sessions on urban planning in the energy transition and the priority of energy resilience in urban and architectural design, and a DiverCITY panel led by Małgorzata Tomczak, editor-in-chief of A&B, focusing on the need for diversity in cities. The full program of the International Congress on Energy Urban Regeneration is available here.
The event will traditionally be accompanied by A&B's Open Architecture Studio Festival (online broadcasts will take place on May 29, June 1 and 2 at 1 pm, details coming soon!).
You can read an account of last year's congress here.
