Future Cities and Sustainability
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Having had an interest in the Environment for a while now, I had always felt that nobody anywhere really cared about the future, pollution,natural resources etc. In school we learned about CFCs , deforrestation, oil spills etc and then rarely saw any practical implementation of counter measures to human careless activities.
When you did hear about anything like this it was on the news as some protesters were being portrayed as bad or evil for being angry……. we are still never really told why the protesters are angry, why they are protesting in the first place…., thats not important…… whats important is that these bad people must be stopped, shamed and ridiculed. why they are crazy all of them…. they even want us to recycle….. imagine… how nutty is that… lock em all up in the looney asylum.
For this reason I almost fear to show my interest in the ideas of sustainability, but i must say anyhow that i visited the recent sustainable housing exhibition in the new city quarter of Malmo in Sweden. I was so impressed with the wealth of ideas and information available i went there twice in the last week of the expo.
Rather than go into it I suggest you visit the website for a general overveiw.
Its http://www.bo01.com
Basically any aspect of ecology and sustainability that you can think of to do with cities and buildings has been dealt with somewhere in this housing area.
There are I think already 28 or 29 serious attempts at sustainable villages etc in sweden. Everybody recycles practically everything possible. Most of the aspects of the sustainable city (as discussed frequently by Frank McDonald) seem to apply in cities here most of the time.
I only know of two attempts at ECOvillages in ireland, and i think our attempts at recyling are something to laugh at.
Anyone have any ideas to why these issues are so difficult for irish people, designers, planners and politicians to understand or consider ????Maybe Paul Leech or one of very few other sustainable architects in the country could express their veiws here, and also tell how they deal with they sceptics, the apathics that they meet etc.
There is really not enough constructive disscussion and action about this kind of thing in ireland, id like to think a disscussion here might help matters in even the smalllest of ways.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the
rational mind is a faithful servant. We have
created a society that honours the servant and has
forgotten the gift.
Albert Einstein (?)[This message has been edited by quirkey (edited 06 October 2001).]
[This message has been edited by quirkey (edited 06 October 2001).]
[This message has been edited by quirkey (edited 06 October 2001).]
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NOt much practical or directly usefull info on the sustainable ireland site.
try this one though, looks like we might be able to follow the development of a sustainable village project as it progresses. http://www.thevillage.ie/ -
http://www.farmvillage.org/ http://www.gaia.org/
Two sites for things on a slightly larger or more international scope.
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People interested in this topic might be interested in the Greenwich Millenium ‘Village’ on the Greenwich Peninsula in London – yes the place where the millenium Dome is located.
Greenwich village is a British ‘Urban Village’ concept that is not meant specifically to be ‘sustainable’ but they do make a better crack at it then most developments.
Green vill. plans: – 6,500 workers, 7,500 residents, high residential densities, 80% reduction in primary energy consumption, 50% reduction in embodied energy, 30% reduction in water usage and construction waste, cycle lanes, new very large ‘Tube’ station, new large bus station , CHP (combined heat and power) for the village element for water heating and space heating in homes as well as electricity generation)
12,000 trees planted etc, etc, -
why is this issue considered something separate to REAL design ???
Are all of you designers, purchasers, parents, human beings out there not concerned ????
You are ok and dont feel in the least bit guilty about for example the vast quantity of plastics that go through your household ??
You buy you chicken nuggets, coke, milk and tins of spaghetti.etc throw the container in the bin and think no more about where that goes…… you just go and buy more…. meanwhile you complain about how long it takes to DRIVE to work, and your local corporation are doing nothing.
I bet you’ll all agree that all of these things area important, maybe even imperitive, but think about it……. what have you actually done to help…… really ???? -
Channel 4 had an excellent documentary on the other night- ‘A house is not always square’ where they showed a number of well designed houses and apartments (some self built, others commercially) which put a huge consideration into environmentally sound design – both from conservation of heat through placement of windows and insulation, down to the use of natural non toxic materials. As the presenter said, “environmentally friendly doesn’t always mean hairy jumper”
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YEP EXACTLY.
WE WENT TO VISIT AN ECOLOGICAL VILLAGE CALLED TOARP, NEAR MALMO LAST WEEK.
WE MET WITH SOME OF THE RESIDENTS, THEY WERE JUST NORMAL PEOLPLE ALL LIVING RELAVTIVELY NORMAL LIVES WITH THE SAME FEARS DREAMS, DAILY TROUBLES, SCREAMING CHILDREN AND A PET DOG AS ANYONE. (TEACHERS, CARPENTERS, JOURNALISTS, OLD, YOUNG, RICH AND LESS SO). THE ONLY THING REALLY THAT MADE THEM ANY DIFFERENT FROM ANYONE ELSE HERE IN SWEDEN, HOME IN IRELAND, ANYWHERE IS JUST A VARYING DEGREES OF INTEREST IN SUSTAINABLE ISSUES.
YEAH SOME OF THEM WORE WOLLY JUMPERS AND SPENT ALL DAY DIGGING IN THEIR ALLOTMENT GARDEN BUT SOME OF THEM ALSO ADMITTED THEY DROVE EVERYWHERE DESPITE A LOCAL TRAIN STATION AND NUMBEROUS BUS ROUTES WITHIN FIVE MINUTES WALK.
THE THINGS THAT MADE THEIR LIVES AND WAY OF LIVING FROM A LINEAR CONSUMPTIVE MATERIAL ONE TO AN EXTREMELY ECOLOGICAL WAY OF LIVING WERE JUST VERY SMALL THINGS.
THE BIGGEST THING I NOTICED WAS A KIND OF COMMUNAL OR SHARING ATTITUDE, THEY HAD A COMON BUILDING IN WHICH THEY HAD A LAUNDRY, A LARGE KITCHEN AND DINING/MEETING SPACE, A SAUNA, STORAGE ROOMS AND A GUEST ROOM. HERE THE VILLAGERS COULD MEET AND INTERACT, FORM BONDS AND A SENSE OF COMUNITY. SHARING THE LAUNDRY ROOM, LAWN MOWERS, CAR TRAILERS ETC MEANT PEOPLE COULD REDUCE PERSONAL AND HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES TOGETHER WITH REDUCING THE MATERIAL/EMBODIED ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF THE VILLAGE.
SOME FAMILIES SHARED A CAR, SCHOOL RUNS, A CHICKEN COUP, OTHERS DID NOTHING LIKE THIS.
ABOUT 80% + OF THE HOUSEHOLD WASTE THERE IS RECYLED. THE OGANIC COMPOSTED FOR USE BY THE PEOPLE WHO USED THE PLOTS OF GROUND THEY WERE ENTITLED TO USE. THEN THE USUALL METALS GLASS CARTONS ETC WERE ALL COLLECTED IN A SMALL SHED ON THE EDGE OF THE VILLAGE. HERE THOUGH THATS NOT REALLY A BIG OR NEW FEATURE. EVERY REGULAR HOUSING AREA HAS THESE RECYLING CENTRES …. AND THE THING IS .. THEY REALLY ARE USED
AS FOR THE ARCHITECTURE, SO MANY THINGS ONLY BECAME OBVIOUS TO YOU IN TOARP UPON BEING TOLD THIS WAS AN ECOLOGICAL VILLAGE. THE HOUSES, MATERIALS, LANDSCAPING, PUBLIC PRIVATE SPACES SEEMED JUST LIKE A REGULAR VILLAGE.
AS NANCY SAID, THIS DOESNT HAVE TO BE ABOUT WOLLEY JUMPERS, THIS IS ABOUT SMALL THINGS, ORDINARY PEOPLE WITH ORDINARY LIVES. SMALL CHANGES IN ATTITUDES, EDUCATION AND PLANNING ARE ALL THATS REQUIRED.
MAYBE ALL OF THIS HAS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED, SOMETIMES ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO THINK ITS POSSIBLE… BUT IT IS , IT REALLY IS. -
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ok here’s a question. (just to see what the phsyche – asumption – knowledge – opinion etc etc things are like)
What do you all consider to be a SUSTAINABLE city ?
Here are some possible starting points:
definitions
ideals
practical measures
small scale
large scale
society
planning
human activity
economy
comunicationssay (type) what you think. We can all learn from this !!
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Yep thanks for the reference, but everyone in architecture should do like wise then. Every architectural debate / lecture / talk / writing /discussion seem to have a strangely wide and varied idea of what this is.
You see so many of the specifics of all these things as i’ve seen and read about to date more often than not contradict each other.
Take one of the most basic arguments of all for example, do you have a building with natural ventilation only ???? or do you have a mechanical ventilation with heat recovery ??? Natural ventilation has certain advantages such as reducing material imput etc but latter mechanical option can help save vast quantites of energy lost in ventilation heat loss (even when the minimal energy use of the fan is taken into account)
We know about the whole embodied energy issue how re-using building materials is more effective in terms of lifecycle costs……… but what about when you re-use windows, the total cost including heat energy lost through the old windows far exceeds total costs that would occur by using new (thermally efficient) windows.
It’s a huge complex issue….. some of the people reading this are experts in this field, yet some also know absolutely nothing.
Do we not talk about the small things, yes we can talk about things in W/m2/°k or sky radiance / daylight factors, dead (-) and live (+) heating loads and what ever else. But anyone who knows these things is already on the right path.
I assume this forum is a means of disscussion, spreading ideas, information, ideals, and maybe even stretch as far as ethics and how things should be, how they can be better and what is the way forward from this point in time. -
we could discuss this point between all the architects/designers in the country but unless there is a big drive to get developers to understand or even embrace the aspect of sustainability then we are going nowhere execpt frustrating ourselves… i would love to see some sustainability options at plan expo this weekend..only by increased exposure will we see some changes.
however due to the tree hugging image of anyone who tries to discuss this it will be difficult to convince developers that it doesn’t cost much more to have some consideration. -
TRUE the emphasis should be on informing the public…. but the thing is too many architects are either misinformed, too interested in magazine arch to let sustainability GET IN THE WAY or more often are just apethic about it. Architects are regular people too (underneath their black polo neck jumpers). If all architects understand and are interested, then thats quite a percentage of change from the current situation.
as i asked before (but then as general questions)
DO YOU RECYCLE YOUR OWN MILK CARTONS ? DO YOU HAVE A COMPOST PIT IN YOUR GARDEN ? DO YOU KNOW WHAT SOURCE YOUR ELECTRICITY COMES FROM ? DO YOU CYCLE OR TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORT TO WORK ?
DO YOU WILLINGLY DESIGN A HOUSING SCHEME, OR INDUSTRIAL PARK FOR ANY GIVEN CLIENT (COS HE PAYS YOU LOTS OF MONEY) DO YOU SAY NO IF HE ISNT WILLING TO COMMIT TO ANY OF THESE THINGS THAT YOU ARE SO KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT.
(oops just noticed lots of lines in big text again, sorry)
But anyway how people change is by being shown, having a leading example. The average Joe of course isnt going to listen to some other mick or tom ranting on about this and that, future, polution bla bla bla if it isnt going to be easy for him to change or to do these things that are required.
What we really need are architects, , planners, politicians etc that have the balls (excuse the french) to stand for what they believe to be right ?????
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