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.