Wk 4 - Food and Architecture

In conjunction with my previous blog entry of "Food and Urbanism". I came across this interesting image over the internet, that is placed outside a buffet restaurant.

It is to remind consumers not to take the luxury of food for granted whereby some are struggling to make ends meet in their daily lives.

So, what if the lack of understanding between food and urbanism continues to sink into the deep ends of our mind  due to the pluralistic culture of urbanisation and convenience fast food ?"  

By 2050, food population is going to be 60% urban and food access is going to be a primary issue. Therefore, in fact not only food production has to be doubled in order to meet global demand of 6.3 billion, food security would also emerge as a major global issue due to limited resources, climate change, economic and demographic lifestyle. 

What is food security ? 

" It is a complex sustainable development issue that is linked to health through malnutrition  but also to sustainable economic development, environment and trade." (World Health Organisation, n.d) 

The relationship between the urban food production & food security towards a sustainable urban development of a city.
(Source: http://www.foodsecuritynews.com/images/Food_System_Diagram.png)

Food security exists "when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life." It is defined by World Health Organisation (WHO) as the both physical and economic access to food that meets people's dietary needs. 

Global Food Security Levels in terms of Food Prices
(Source: http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2011/09/graph-of-day-global-food-security.html)

In Australia, food prices are inevitably controlled by the limited land and water resources. A research was done by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship reveals that by 2050, 430 000 hectares of agricultural land surrounding Melbourne and Sydney will be taken up by housing. With limited resource, a paradigm shift in demand and supply within the chain would lead to an increase in price in order to accommodate the market. Therefore, in this journal, I would take the opportunity in looking to what are the initiatives and preventive measures were taken by designers and their architectural role in combating food security issue. 

source : https://www.facebook.com/thingsplus111/videos/1006942379391649/

Starting from an individual level, the start innovation modular system addresses and initiative towards individuals to contribute towards sustainable food development. Not only it eliminate the need for backyard, it also incoporates technological advancement to help care takers throughout the process. Personally, I think this is a valid innovative idea at an individual scale to help in everyway possible towards creating more greenaries within an urban context as well as sustainable food production. 

Source : http://www.archdaily.com/245870/globehedron-rooftop-farm-conceptual-devices

Next, across the spectrum. the Hedron Rooftop Farm would be the oldest method in combating limited land and water resource in traditional agriculture. Through community participation, it is a bamboo greenhouse designed to organically grow fish and vegetable through aquaponics on top of a generic flat roof in the urban city. In fact, a single structure alone is able to feed 4 families of 4 all year by producing 400kg of vegetables and 100kg of fish.

Source : http://www.archdaily.com/783314/floating-fields-wins-shenzhen-uabb-award-and-is-set-to-continue-through-2016

Subsequently, through an architectural intervention, "The Floating Fields" in Shenzhen is a retrofitted  landscape installation from a former factory with the concept of "to return agriculture to the bay with floating agricultural fields" With a series of connected ponds that holds various kinds of aquatic function, it forms a complete ecological system to produce food. The installation not only educates the community about aquaponics through participation, food generated by the system was used to organise events. 

Despite these innovations into our fabric of urban farming, others have argued that the exponential growth in human population would still outgrow the food produced through these minor innovations without execution by the community as shwon by the video of modular planning system that is hassel free. However, I personally believe that by allowing communities to become more self-sufficient and operate locally rather than relying on international imports and rural farming is a keystone towards a new age of urbanisation in order to meet food demands of the population.

Resources :

http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story028/en/

http://www.archdaily.com/783314/floating-fields-wins-shenzhen-uabb-award-and-is-set-to-continue-through-2016

http://www.archdaily.com/245870/globehedron-rooftop-farm-conceptual-devices

Wk 4 - Cities for Low Carbon Living

In the decades to come, climate change means that 40'c weather will be the new norm. 

In March 2016, global temperature has its warmest record in history as average land surface temperatures reached levels deemed by scientists to constitute dangerous climate change when temperatures were 1.22 degrees above 20th-century average (US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) With this alarming indicator, it is time to seriously reflect upon global mitigation plans in greenhouse gas emissions, this responsibility not only falls within the community but also the roles of an architect upon writing this blog entry. 

In doing my daily scroll through arch daily and built environment related web page, I came across an interesting article about the relationship between connecting cultures and low-carbon living. The architect then went into detail explaining the approach and attitude towards technologically-driven solutions. To him, sustainability is a means of reducing waste as much as possible to maximise resources for greater good. 

He believed that architecture is not about art, instead, it should be a form of a dialog between place and time to connect cultures of the past and present. The value of spatial quality between a community and urban connectivity are indirectly related to sustainability issues. For example, the connectivity between contemporary city dwellers to move freely without hindrance along the central elevated walkways in Hong Kong that promotes  interaction, emphasizing convenience and efficiency throughout the CBD without considering vehicular access. 

Subsequently, the sensitivity of scale towards the pedestrian domain encourages people to use and enjoy the space. By creating a sense of belong, communities tend to show a sense of responsibility towards the environment such as not damaging trees and littering - all these behaviors are essential in creating a low carbon living that is not dependent on some high tech technology. Therefore, the essences of low carbon living start from the appreciation of community towards resources and not just green it looks or how many square meters of trees. 

The architecture of HKSAR Government Headquarters that provides a sense of place instead of an object towards the pedestrian domain. (Source:  http://www.archdaily.com/644227/rocco-yim-reveals-the-key-to-developing-cities-for-low-carbon-living/5583a562e58ece09c20000ef-rocco-yim-reveals-the-key-to-developing-cities-for-low-carbon-living-image) 

Returning to the issue of sustainability, how a building interacts and portrays itself to the city influences the community towards a goal of  low carbon city.  I feel that there is a need to recognise that social justice towards the environment is inherently part of an architect's work because any decision by us inevitably becomes intertwined within the physical and social fabric of the city, regardless of it stylistic approach towards the design. 

Resources:

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/worse-things-in-store-steaming-hot-world-sets-more-temperature-records-20160419-goaf58.html

http://www.archdaily.com/644227/rocco-yim-reveals-the-key-to-developing-cities-for-low-carbon-living

Wk 3 - Recycling, A long run Perspective in Sustainability

While visiting a studio site at Blackwattle Bay in the Bay's Precinct when I came across a huge pile of styrofoams stacked at a corner of Sydney's Fish Market. So I questioned myself, why are these here instead of a proper storage space within the compound ready to be reused despite a strong recycling section by the Australian Government's waste policy "Less waste, more resources"? 

Photo source: Author. Unorganised pile of polystyrene boxes that is used to transport fresh fish in Sydney's Fish Market. 

Why recycle? Recycling is within a broad range of criteria in achieving the concept sustainable development. It is defined as " meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their needs" (United Nations Brundtland Commission, 1987). On top of that, it is also important to understand the prospects of recycling is vital towards a sustainable city growth,  in the sense of a non-deteriorating state of the environment by reducing the demand for raw materials and energy.

In fact, I came across an article that is intriguing about Janet Unruh, founder of  "The Institute for Material Sustainability, Portland" and the writer of the book " Recycle Everything- Why We Must, How We Can". She believes that everything can be recycled 100% - provided we learn how to design things properly.  To create materials that are fully recyclable, it is necessary to understand the fundamental of a product, from material extraction to method of processing and adapt the idea of cradle to cradle as illustrated by her below. 

Image Source :http://www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/2010/08/13/janet-unruh-recycle-everything-why-we-must-how-we-can/.

It illustrates by Janet that by understanding the fundamentals and design for deconstruction, materials would never need to leave the system but instead being passed from their intended role to be reused till the end of their life cycle.

So, I started researching on current recycled products made by polystyrene, particularly in the construction field. Stumble upon, a company manufacturing walls out of recycled styrofoam that has high insulation value. Not only it reduces the raw materials in conventional concrete, the high insulated performance would lead to huge energy saving in maintaining thermal comfort within a building.

In short, recycling may not be the key to sustainable development, but undoubtedly an important factor in en-route into a smart liveable city. What's more important is, government policy and public engagement should play their role not only as a responsible occupant of the city, also as an occupant of mother nature. As Kuhn describes the prospects for sustainable growth offered by recycling-promoting environmental policies where the main objective of the government is to assure for sustainability in the sense of a non-deteriorating state of the environment. (Kuhn. et al, 2003) 

Resources

http://www.uq.edu.au/sustainability/recycling-and-waste

http://sustainability.anu.edu.au/green-work-spaces/paper-and-recycling

http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/national-waste-policy/publications/australian-recycling-sector-reports

http://www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/2010/08/13/janet-unruh-recycle-everything-why-we-must-how-we-can/

T.Kuhn, K.Pittel, T.Schulz. (2003) Recycling for Sustainability. International Journal of Global Environmental Issue, IJGEVI, Vol 3. View on 15 March 2016. 

Wk 3 - Food in Urbanism

While I was recommended a reading regarding food and urbanism. I came to an understanding that food and  cities have an inextricable relationship since the dawn of humanity between its production and urban settlements in terms of physical, social and political aspects. The smell, texture and taste of food manifested into the city's cultural heritage, that defines the streets. As urban sprawl began, cities began to transform, as a paradigm shift between humanity and food seem to have significantly influenced the sustainability development within an urban context. 

How food influence the City ? 

The indistinctive relationship between food and cities starts from early settlements, where aboriginals built their homes along the river banks the main source of food and water. As industrialisation progresses, networks of transportation and community nodes started to form a determining relationship within a developing city; in which allows communities to build and live further inland due to the conveniences provided. Subsequently, from the social-physical point of view, consumers and producers would form a social interaction between each other because food necessity, in fact, it defines the streets by bringing vitality and joviality. 

Whilst,  food is still an intrinsic and defining aspect of the city's identity today. The majority of cities have become less singular in their taste and instead have become to embrace a pluralistic food culture. (Lim, 2014) The disconnection between the dialog of consumers and producers lead the creation of pluralistic culture whereby, communities care less about the information in procuring their food as long they find fit within their monolithic urban lifestyle such as fast food, pre-cooked food and so on. 

Sketch Diagram illustrating a pluralistic culture of today's food system. (Source : Author) 

Sustainability of Urban Growth 

In Australia, food production is challenged by several factors such as Land Degradation, Water Availability, GHG emissions and Climate Change. In fact, a recent report found that Australia is not as food secure as suggested by simplistic examinations of relevant data. Concurrently, with the estimated population reaches 9mil by 2050, food productions has to be doubled by then to ensure the stability of global food supply. Therefore, "To meet tomorrow's needs and address challenges under a changing climate, a second science-base Green Revolution is needed" - Dr. Bob Ziegler, International Rice Research Institute. 

Further reading, found that from the PMSEIC ( Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council), several recommendations in combating food issues that aligned with the Green Revolution mentioned. Such as :-

1. Oversee regulation & Research activities related to agriculture and food to address the lack of nationally- coordinated approach to food.

2. Established a well supported national and international research programs targeted to improve productivity in a low input of food production systems.

3.Better engagement of the community and partners organization to elevate and build cooperative commitment to further improve food value chain in combating the pluralistic culture of the urban city. 

In my opinion, the topic may not have a direct correlation with sustainable urban development. It is, however, important to understand the fundamental relationship between food and urban development.
The understanding of the urban food system consists of production till how food waste is manage by the community drives how food is accessible and provided could lead to extensive carbon reduction.





Resources:

Lim, C.J. (2014). Food City. New York: Routledge.

PMSEIC (2010). Australia and Food Security in a Changing World. The Prime Minister's Science Engineering and Innovation Council, Canberra, Australia.

Innies- Hughes C, Bowes K, King L, Chapman K, Eden B. (2010) Food Security : The What, how, why and where to of food security in NSW. Discussion Paper. PANORG, Heart Foundation NSW and Cancer Council NSW : Sydney.

Wk 2 - Taking Technology for Granted

While scrolling through websites, I stumble upon this video whereby in the near future perhaps, we don't need to leave our vehicles in order to do grocery shopping. Convenient it maybe, from an architectural standpoint of view, it tends to cut off all social interaction, the interaction between humans, between materiality. A serious disadvantage towards a sustainable goal, in fact, it encourages us to use vehicles for mobility that creates the additional output of Green House Gas Emission. 

Source : https://www.facebook.com/GIGadgets.Fans/videos/1003438176402138/

By the year 2050, two-third of the world population consist of  6.2 billion people would be living in dense urban cities. Today, 54% of the world's population is already living in urban areas and projections suggested this will keep increasing (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2014). As city planners, we face the challenges of creating a sustainable, healthy and resilient city, in order to thrive with the increase in basic necessities. Imagine the detrimental effect towards the environmental and social life towards wider humanity with the concept as a means of grocery shopping. The uprise of notoriously clogged highways, building and widening roads is not a solution towards sustainable, instead, it only promotes more congestions and carbon emission. 

From my personal opinion, technological advancement is not to be taken for granted. More importantly, reducing greenhouse gas emission as well as increase public transportation such as cycling, walking and smart growth planning to promote social interaction between humans and nature is the key. 

Resources:

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/implementing_sustainable_pract.html

http://www.scidev.net/global/cities/feature/transforming-cities-sustainability-facts-figures.html

Wk 2 - Interconnection between Man & Nature

Not long ago, when I first stepped foot in  Sydney, I came across an unusual building from afar. It was "One Central Park" designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and PTW Architects as a compelling contribution to the city. Given the a large cantilever canopy hover across the building along the skyline of the city, it is hard not to take noticed.

 
Image Source : http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/realisations/sydney/one-central-park-sydney

" A flower for each resident, and a bouquet to the city"(Bertram Beissel, n.d). One central Park is a statement in redefining urban green living and a striking reminder that nature could thrive within a bustling city of Sydney. It comprises of 623 apartments in two adjoining towers linked by a recreation podium as a center for social activities. Despite being homed to 623 apartment units, it is also home to 38,000 indigenous plants that is estimated to save the equivalent of 136,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emission over 25 years.

Being an addition towards the Opera House, the external green wall creates a landmark for Sydneysiders and tourist as a transition towards the solidity of the monolithic glass city. To my concern, it is an absolute welcome towards the 21st-century materials catalog that brings materiality into a hold new dimension at an urban scale. Being a part of a passive design strategy, regular planter boxes are placed around the 2 towers to reduce solar heat gains during the day. I'm actually amazed by the overall management system maintaining the vertical greens, as  vertical green walls tend to generally fail over a period of time at this scale. Subsequently, not only the cantilevered heliostat acts as a design feature, it is doubled as a solar reflector that reflects towards the overshadowed portion of the park and the vertical greens. The use of natural daylight filtered through a large glass atrium into the building below not only reduces electrical demand but also enhances the overall spatial quality of the interior.

Image Source: http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/realisations/sydney/one-central-park-sydney. Illustrated by the author. 

Image Source : http://www.jakob.com/download/attachments/7406864/G6-13_2_Central-Park_Sydney.jpg?version=1&modificationDate=1421829828689&api=v2

Although in general, K.Jordan stressed that many failed to acknowledge the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of social and environmental issues, and sustainability requires a "transformational" approach. However, from my personal opinion, the masterminds behind one central have outdone themselves in providing a 'beyond functional convenience' that acknowledges the important relationship between the social and environmental needs, between human and nature. In which, being passionate architecture students should draw upon in order to design a building not only for the present but for the future of sustainable development. 

Resources :

http://www.centralparksydney.com/live/one-central-park

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/11/sydneys-one-central-park-wins-international-best-tall-building-award

http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/features/features-articles/one-central-park-sydney-ateliers-jean-nouvel-and-p

K.Jordan, n.d. Sustainability, Virtue ethics, and the virtue of harmony with nature. 

http://siteenvirodesign.com/content/high-rise-homes