Richard Steven "Dick" Levine (born September 11, 1939) is an American environmental architect, solar energy and sustainability pioneer, and professor at the University of Kentucky. He is one of the early solar energy innovators in the U.S., a holder of U.S. patents on structural systems and solar energy applications, and the architect of a number of award winning solar buildings including his widely published Raven Run Solar House (1974). Levine is co-director of the Center for Sustainable Cities at the University of Kentucky. His contributions to sustainable urban planning are in both the theory and practice of the sustainable city-region. He has over 150 publications on solar energy and sustainability research, conducted in Italy, Austria, China and the Middle East.
Biography Richard Levine was born in Queens, New York. He attended Forest Hills High School. After spending a year in the chemical engineering program at the University of Rhode Island, Levine enrolled at the Rhode Island School of Design to study his true passion, Architecture. While a student at RISD, Levine invented the Coupled Pan Space Frame structural system, for which he later received a United States Patent. Levine holds a B.S.Arch from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) (1962), and an M. Arch from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1963).
Levine currently divides his life between international urban sustainability research projects through The Center for Sustainable Cities, its European Union partner institutions, and private architectural practice as principal of the CSC Design Studio.
The Solar Energy Movement
Levine has been a national and international advocate for solar architectural design, and was the Founding Chair of the Sustainability Division of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). Levine's Raven Run Solar House (1974) was the first to combine passive solar building design and active solar systems with earth tubes, an attached greenhouse, super insulation, "sundows," and a patented air collection system. Recognized as being ahead of its time, the house continues to be published today.Levine, R. S. "Raven Run: Integration Toward Sustainability," Space and Society, December 1983"The Raven Run Solar House," A + U (Architecture and Urbanism), February 1983, p. 101-105."Face to the Sun," (Raven Run), Progressive Architecture, April 1981, Annual Energy Issue, p.142-145Roaf, Sue., 2001, Ecohouse: A Design Guide, Oxford: Architectural Press, Reed Elsevier."Solar Architektur," Wohnbau, February 1983, Cover and p. 8 & 9.Levine, R. S. "Passive Systems" '78, ISES, American Section, p. 106-110, 1978 His Hooker Office Building (1978) with its double glass walls with insulated aluminum louvers between them, has become the prototype for numerous energy conserving commercial buildings in Europe."Glass Under Glass" (Hooker Office Building), Progressive Architecture, April 1983, Annual Energy Issue, p. 82-85"Progressive Architecture," April 1980, Annual Energy Issue, Hooker Building
Sustainability
Levine's academic work is notable in that he is concerned with the ways in which the form and process of architectural design can produce operational sustainability.Levine, R. S. "It Takes a Village: A Scientific Design Process for Generating Sustainable Cities in China," with Michael T. Hughes, Casey Ryan Mather and Ernest J. Yanarella – presented The 12th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference, Hong Kong, China, April 2006Levine, R. S. "The Sustainable City Game: Systems Dynamics Modeling Toward a Democratic Urban Design Process," with Michael T. Hughes, Ernest J. Yanarella, Casey Ryan Mather – presented at the CORP conference, Vienna, AustriaLevine, R. S. "Sustainable Scenario-Building: A Systems Dynamics Approach," with Michael Hughes and Casey Ryan Mather – presented at the International Symposium on Sustainable Development Strategy for Chinese Rural Communities, Beijing, China, April 2005 and The Research Center for City and Region, (SASS) Shanghai Academy for Social Sciences, Shanghai, April 2005 This scale of analysis is unusual for an architect, and even for an urban planner.Frenay, Robert "Chattanooga Turnaround," Audubon Magazine, Jan.-Feb. 1996 Levine's work has since encompassed the multi-scale nature of sustainability.
Center for Sustainable Cities
The Center for Sustainable Cities is an interdisciplinary academic and design think-tank co-founded by Richard Levine and Ernie Yanarella, a professor of Political Science at the University of Kentucky. The Center is housed in the College of Design. The Center supports research and projects both locally and internationally, developing both the theory and practice of the sustainable city-region. The Center for Sustainable Cities is closely associated with a partner European institution- Oikodrom: the Vienna Institute for Urban Sustainability, in Austria.
Operational Sustainability In developing the Operational Definition of Sustainability, Levine and his colleagues recognized the need for approaches to ecological balance that embrace local needs and work within the needs and signals of culture and natural resources, requiring feedback at a quantifiable and appropriate scale. It is among the earlier operational definitions of sustainability.Levine, R. S. "Beyond Sustainability Indicators: The Sustainable Area Budget," Regional Sustainable Development: Making Sustainable Development Visible: Indicators for Regional Sustainable Development," Graz, Austria, November 2000
Sustainability is a concept that has many definitions, the United Nations definition of sustainability is the most widely used. It defines sustainable development as: "development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Because sustainability is expected to achieve many things, the UN definition is not universally-accepted and has undergone various interpretations.International Institute for Sustainable Development (2009). What is Sustainable Development?. Retrieved on: 2009-02-18.]EurActiv (2004). "Sustainable Development: Introduction." Retrieved on: 2009-02-24Kates, R., Parris, T. & Leiserowitz, A. (2005). "What is Sustainable Development?" Environment 47(3): 8–21. Retrieved on: 2009-04-14.Levine, Richard S., and Ernest J. Yanarella. "Does Sustainable Development Lead to Sustainability?" Proceedings of the American Solar Energy Society. Austin, TX, meeting. Boulder: ASES, 1990.Yanarella, E. & Bartilow, H. "Beyond environmental moralism and policy incrementalism in the global sustainability debate: case studies and an alternative framework" Sustainable Development 8(3) 123-134 Sustainability has been called an essentially contested concept. What sustainability is, what its goals should be, and how these goals are to be achieved, is open to interpretation and manipulation.Jacobs, M., "Sustainable Development as a Contested Concept", pp.21-45 in Dobson, A., Fairness and Futurity: Essays on Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice, Oxford University Press, (Oxford), 2006. As a result, international policy in sustainability has largely come to be a reactionary means by which unsustainability is mitigated.Levine, R. S. "Does Sustainable Development Lead to Sustainability?," with Ernest J. Yanarella, 15th National Passive Conference, March 1990, Austin, Texas
The Operational Definition of Sustainability is a guideline for a proactive approach to negotiating ecological, cultural, and civic balance, while providing for concrete measures of accountability that preclude a simple "greening" approach. Through years of interdisciplinary collaboration between ecologists, social scientists, and urban planners, the Center for Sustainable Cities has developed the only interdisciplinary operational definition of sustainability:
Sustainability is a local, informed, participatory, balance-seeking process, operating within its Sustainable Area Budget, exporting no harmful imbalances beyond its territory or into the future, in so doing opens spaces of opportunity and possibility. –Levine, Dumreicher, Yanarella
This definition has been recognized as a concrete basis for local sustainable development by negotiating resources within a Sustainable Area Budget (SAB)(see below), using the Sustainable City-As-A-Hill(see below) as its urban form. The Operational Definition provides a strong basis for both theoretical and operational integration with the emerging fields of: Ecological Economics, Industrial Ecology, Sustainability science, Stakeholder Analysis, Material Flow Analysis, Environmental Justice, Life Cycle Analysis, Complexity Science, Biomimicry, Social policy, Public Policy, Systems modeling, Ecology, and Ecological Design.Levine, R. S. "The Sustainable City Game: Systems Dynamics Modeling Toward a Democratic Urban Design Process," with Michael T. Hughes, Ernest J. Yanarella, Casey Ryan Mather – presented at the CORP conference, Vienna, Austria http://pubget.com/paper/17854975?title=Generating+sustainable+towns+from+Chinese+villages%3A+a+system+modeling+approach .Newman, Peter W. G. "Sustainability and cities: extending the metabolism model" Landscape and Urban Planning 44(1) 1999Levine, R. S. "The Proto-Sustainable Chinese Village as Generator of the Future Chinese City," with Michael Hughes, Casey Ryan Mather, Heidi Dumreicher, Lv Hongyi – presented at the XXII UIA World Congress: Grand Bazaar of ArchitectureS in Istanbul, Turkey, July 2005Levine, R. S. "Cities and Regions: Co-Evolution Toward Sustainable Development," with E. Yanarella and H. Dumreicher, at the Regions - Cornerstones for Sustainable Development Conference in Graz, Austria, October 1998Levine, R. S. "What Does Sustainability Mean? - an Ecosystem approach to Urban Management," Keynote Address, The European Conference of Cities and Towns Towards Sustainability, Aalborg, Denmark, May 1994.Levine, R. S. "Sustainability and the Three Realms of Discourse," 18th National Passive Solar Conference, Washington D.C., April 1993Levine, R. S. "From Here to Sustainability: Montenero - a Gift from the Past to the Future,"19th National Passive Conference, ASES, San Jose, California, June 1994Levine, R. S. "Engineering, Design and Sustainability," EUROSOLAR '93, European Congress on Architecture and Solar Energy, May 1993, Florence, ItalyLevine, R. S. "A Strategy for Negotiating a Sustainable Future: Sustainable Village Implantations," First International Conference on Global Integrated Village Environments, GlobalVillage ' 93, June 1993, Vienna, AustriaLevine, R. S. "Don't Pick the Low-Lying Fruit: Sustainability from Pathway to Process," 19th National Passive Conference, ASES, San Jose, California, June 1994
Aalborg Charter
Richard Levine was the principal author of the Aalborg Charter, ratified at the First European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns, which took place in Aalborg, Denmark in 1994. The charter is part of the United Nations Agenda 21 framework for the delivery of local sustainable development put forward in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit), held in Rio de Janeiro on June 14, 1992. The program calls on local authorities to engage in Local Agenda 21 processes that take a holistic view of the sustainability process.Levine, R. S. and Ernest J. Yanarella "A Complete Local Agenda 21 Process: The Appropriate Relationship of People, Design, and Science", HDP-A Symposium, Human Dimensions Research in Austria and in Central European Countries, Graz, Austria, 2001.
Sustainable Area Budget
Levine's main contribution has been to unite the fields of sustainability, urban design, and sustainable development with a scale-based proposal integrating urban form with computational rigor. The Sustainable Area Budget (SAB) is a land-based aggregate from which a city-region can draw its resources and negotiate those resources on a regenerative basis.