SUNDAY, FEB 5, 2023: NOTE TO FILE
Module 5-12
Sustainable Design Integration
Thus far, this Module has presented sustainable building (3-D) and sustainable spatial strategies (2-D), which are now presented in the form of some case study examples to highlight the application of whole systems thinking for the built environment under the following topics;-
· Permaculture design in the built environment
· Ecological Economics applied to the built environment
· Retrofitting Suburbia
Permaculture design in the built environment
The Permaculture design principles are not only limited to agriculture but can also be extended over the built environment. In particular, the canvas of Permaculture Zones can extended from a typical homestead across a whole village and town as expressed in Case Study No.3, A Permaculture inspired town planning concept, Marikana, South Africa. In particular, Zone 5 was designed as a meandering stream (maximizing edge) that would collect the water drained from the centre of a water-logged development area in such a manner that the earthworks dug out for the stream would in turn establish an earth mound with natural vegetation, thereby screening the unsightly mine dumps (the problem is the solution). The draining of the site would make way for the other inner zones comprising passive open space (Zone 4), agricultural allotments (Zone 3), dwellings and homestead gardens (Zone 2), social self-sufficiency, commercial, public and entertainment facilities (Zone 1), and, a village green and town centre (Zone 0) for the people of this community (Zone 00). The Zone 1 area would form an activity corridor providing access and integration with an adjacent developed area.
Case Study No.3: A Permaculture inspired town planning concept, Marikana, South Africa
Another application of Permaculture in combination with Yeomans’ Scale of Permanence (also known as Keyline Design) was used for the Ndumo case studyproject as shown in Case Study No.4. This case study was compiled in order to facilitate debate towards a more sustainable town plan, and also, to validate that sufficient water could be harvested from the landscape to supply all the town’s needs instead of the more expensive planned bulk water supply from 30kms away. The debate for a more sustainable town plan was done by juxtaposing an ideal concept layout plan, as derived from Permaculture principles, against the current development reality (see Figure 5.29). The ideal layout plan conceived a robust framework by following the Keyline design process of rainwater harvesting, access roads and forest belts, which in turn, delineated the Permaculture zones for the town development. A closer scrutiny of this comparison was done to facilitate debate to re-align, re-design and retrofit the current reality towards a more sustainable layout plan for the overall development. Moreover, the landscape-based rainwater harvesting plan was calculated to be sufficient to meet the town’s future estimated population of 2 000 homes or 12 000 people instead of relying on a 30km bulk water supply, which source was questionable. |
Redesign / Retrofit methodology towards a more sustainable layout
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Case Study No.4: The Ndumo case study
Module 5, lesson 13
