Ecological Design for Community Building

I had an enlightening experience during my group tasks for Ecological design module that took place between 2-7 June 2014 at the Sustainability Institute. 

For our group presentation we decided to re-imagine a corridor that runs between the station and Die Braak and this is my experience in pictures.

Arriving at the Stellenbosch station on a wet afternoon

The aim of the module is to enable module participants to describe, analyse, critically evaluate and apply the range of emerging techniques for designing and implementing sustainable communities. Central themes will include:
• overview of different conceptions of ecological design;
• implications of global agreements and policies for the design professions;
• review of the main international standards (e.g. ISO);
• trends in ecological urban design (“green urbanism”);
• trends towards “green architecture”;
• “zero waste” perspectives on sanitation and solid waste management;
• sustainable engineering solutions for energy alternatives (solar, wind, hydrogen) and car-dominated transportation systems;
• sustainable food and water supplies for local communities, towns and cities;
• decision-support systems for analysing and selecting building materials.

One of the many debates/disagreements between Phethang, Thendo and myself  during the group work sessions. It was a very long week :)

We imagined a pedestrian-only street filled with small retail shops like chesenyamas and a coffee shop.

We envisioned the walls to be broken down and that the pavements can be used to construct the shops on. The street will have to be narrower as well.

As the debate about sustainable development and the ecological crisis continue amongst policy-makers, social movements and researchers, designers linked to all these different actors have to make decisions on a daily basis about how to imagine, design and create more sustainable living environments. This poses a challenge to traditional concepts and approaches and requires a critical appraisal of why these practices are not sustainable and what alternatives are likely to be more sustainable. Furthermore, this challenge needs to be addressed within an African context where significant numbers of the urban population lives in slums. This course introduced us to the evolution of design thinking and how designers are now addressing the challenge of sustainable and liveable urbanism. Different design paradigms were reviewed, including the core debates between the 'minimizing damage' and 'restoration' approaches to design. How design relates to the challenge of community building will be addressed, with special reference to contemporary challenges of incremental upgrading of informal settlements and the emerging corporate-led SMART City agenda.

The spacious pavements along the road that is being underutilized.

This part of the corridor is very unsafe and many muggings have happened here. We want solar street lights installed as well as an organic vegetable farm on the adjacent empty plot.

Die Braak should be a fleamarket when it is not being used for special events. This will bring more vibrancy and socio-economic activity to the city centre.

 

 

 

 

Our Mozambican students that taught us to speak slower and listen more carefully.

 

Sustainable Development at the Sustainability Institute

After more than two weeks of mental and spiritual stimulation and challenges this is my picture blog of highlighting some of my experiences at the Sustainability Institute at Lynedoch ecovillage, Stellenbosch. I am disappointed that there were no play sessions in the mud or pillow fights scheduled in this period; maybe next time.



ENERGY: One of the most enjoyable and therapeutic sessions during our daily community work programmes was painting the guesthouse.

WORKING IT: Peeling carrots to feed the nation with my group members from left to right: Kelly, me, Michelle, Johann and Axl.

THE TEAM: After hard labour in the crèche garden. My group members surprised me by really getting their hands, hair and clothes very dirty.




DIGGING FOR GOLD:......Even my feet changed color from all the digging :)



MADAM & EVE:I was a bit overdressed to clean the guesthouse stoep.

HARVEST TIME:Harvesting pumpkins, a first experience that I'll never forget.

THE MAIN MAN:Stanley, posing in front of his off- the-grid house on which our group assignment was based on.

TEAR JERKER:Children from Lynedoch Primary School giving out plants to the class. A very endearing moment.

SPIER: Our field trip to the Spier Wine Estate. Eve Annecke explaining the impressive Waste Recycling system on the farm.

ART CLASS: van Gogh here I come.....watch this space!!



Our pumpkin harvest exhibition in the Green Café....I was so proud of myself and the team.



OVER-ZEALOUS: We went a little bit overboard on the Land art session and created a windmill with our legs. At least that is what it is suppose to represent. It just shows how much energy my group had.

Education for Sustainable Development

I attended the Education for Sustainable Development on Monday 5 August 2013. It was staged at a very impressive Bamboo Hall on the Unisa Main Campus.

The programme on Education for Sustainable Development is a joint initiative between Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Capacity Building International (on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation); South Africa and Mexico.

The purpose of the dialogue was to deliberate on sustainable practices and design strategies to document and share knowledge among international experts' network and all stakeholders, especially Universities, Government Departments, Civil Society, UN bodies and NGOs.

Professor Godwell Nhamo's presentation on 'Research for a sustainable future' was one of the presentations that caught my attention. He had a very impressive one graphic slide presentation which was out of the ordinary because all the other presenters used multiple slides. "Now we are taking economics into the environment" and "the global sustainability agenda is getting clearer and more streamlined" was two concepts the mentioned that still gets me thinking.

He stressed that the 'polluter-must pay-principle' should apply to developed countries only. I couldn't resist asking him during the Question and Answer session why he believes that a developing country such as South Africa, who has one of the highest carbon emission levels in the world, shouldn't take responsibility for releasing greenhouse gases that causes global warming. Nhamo, the Exxaro Chair on Business and Climate Change, passionately defended his view saying that as a developing country South Africa's carbon emission can't be compared to that of developed countries who are polluting on a much bigger scale. I was not convinced about his argument. I am of the opinion that every country and business who pollutes should pay whether you are in the North or the South......take responsibility!



Mr Thillo Thormeyer, Head of Capacity Building GIZ, explained the training process that participants in the ESD Young Leader's Change Project undergo. It is a multi-disciplinary curriculum taught in South Africa, Germany, Mexico and India. Their first intake was all school teachers but they have started to broaden the intake to civil servants and  other interested parties. The Alumni of the Young Leader's Change project's roles are to promote systems change and cultivate networks. Alumni member, Mr Thamsanqa Nkosi, left us with some 'green nuggets of wisdom'

• Use social networks to effect change
• work at multiple levels of change
• make space for self-realisation.

Youth and the Green Economy

It was a perfect sunny Friday morning, 26 July 2013, as my colleagues and I made our way to Sandton Convention Centre. The traffic from Pretoria was playing along so we managed to get to the Youth and the Green Economy Seminar just after 9am.

Mr Malusi Gigaba, Minister of Public Enterprises, did the opening speech.He raised a lot of relevant issues that aspiring 'greentrepreneurs' have to deal with like access to funding.

Mr Pandelani Dzughudza, Deputy Director within the sector Education, Training and Development at the National Department of Environmental was next to take the podium. The Youth Strategic objectives of the Department is:

• To strengthen the capabilities of young people to realize their potential through skills development.
• To strengthen the culture of patriotic citizenship through rendering of services in disadvantaged communities.
• To ensure that the young people play a part in the development of the country.
• Provide environmental education and awareness in schools and communities.
• To contribute to conservation and protection in the environment.

One of my highlights was listening to a highly informative presentation by Dr Mbileni who is responsible for Green and Sustainable Development Projects at the Innovation Hub. The Innovation Hub's intelligent community has become a regional centre of innovation and knowledge creation, linked to the fast-moving world of global interconnectivity. The Innovation Hub has created a unique space for high-tech entrepreneurs, world-class businesses, academics, researchers and venture capitalists to meet network and prosper. It's value-adding business support services contribute to the growth and globalisation of technology-rich enterprises in an environment that promotes innovation and enhances competitiveness for knowledge-based businesses.

I so look forward to working with the Hub in the not too distant future.

Ella Bella looking at the world through green lenses. She delivered an engaging talk.

Some of the nuggets of wisdom and challenges that Ella Bella, co-founder of Miss Earth SA and Generation Earth, left us with are the following 'green nuggets'.

1. "How are we gonna bring together people,planet,profit?"
2. "African solutions for African problems."
3. "The youth are not the future; they are the present."
4. Solution:"Miss Earth SA planted over 20 000 trees"
5. "There is no Planet B", the final worlds of the moving documentary, outlining the disastrous impact of humans on the natural environment, that she started her presentation with.

Lunch with my colleagues at Sandton Convention Centre after the seminar

I took so much knowledge and inspiration from the day's speakers. However, enough inspiration it is time to apply all the knowledge and make it work for all of us.

Sustainable Energy Seminar

On 25 July I attended the Sustainable Energy Seminar at the Sandton Convention Centre that formed part of  Sustainability Week 2013.

The seminar stimulated debate and creative thinking among practitioners, consultants and corporations on the subject of sustainable approaches to energy in South Africa.

Large-scale energy consumers in South Africa are the mines(18%), all of industry(48%) and most of commerce (10%), domestics and agriculture making up the remaining. However the available energy for these consumer sectors are 14%, 35% and 10% respectively. There is thus a shortfall, particularly in the mining industry.

The seminar sought to advance common sense steps and explored radical rethinking of approaches that may be taken by large cities, and by industries.

Other interesting questions that were debated were

1. Can alternative energy generation onsite contribute meaningfully to reducing dependence on the grid?
2. To what extend can renewable energy feed into the distribution network?
3. How are we progressing towards innovative concepts such as rooftop solar PV?

A common thread through out the conversation was that the key to fast tracking these developments lies in creative, accessible and packaged finance.

As we reconvened after the tea break the venue experienced a power outage for 20 minutes. This incident was a light-bulb moment for Renewable Energy detractors and a reminder for many attendees that have been advocating for cleaner energy sources to increase our effort.

Part of my outfit during the Winter Pledge photo shoot

I took the Winter 2013 Pledge to cut down on using my heater and to be an energy saving champion.