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| research_report_sanjeev-shankar [2008-04-01 08:40] – 81.188.78.24 | research_report_sanjeev-shankar [2008-04-01 10:15] – sanjeev | ||
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| “The different branches of science combine to demonstrate that the universe in its entirety can be regarded as one gigantic process, a process of becoming, of attaining new levels of existence and organization, | “The different branches of science combine to demonstrate that the universe in its entirety can be regarded as one gigantic process, a process of becoming, of attaining new levels of existence and organization, | ||
| - | {{: | + | {{: |
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| Plants are the centre of the web of life. The growth of urban centres around the globe has had a critical impact on ecology. In recent years there has been a growing interest and public movement to bring ecology out of the bush and into the urban and suburban environments where most people spend their time. Whereas traditional ecology is mainly about connectedness within the natural world,the new focus lies on having a holistic and inclusive approach to build deeper links with ecology in our midst beyond doing conservation in isolated national parks. Some of the questions at the core of this research were: Do we have the right to consider human beings as more valuable than other life forms? Can we be perceptive enough to see our planet in a way that tells them that they too are part of nature? Is there an option to treating forests as sacrifice zones for urban growth ? Is there an ecological limit to economic growth? What is the future of our cities? Can there be a differentiated green identity of a future city? This research documents the current status of urban permaculture and explores ways in which we can transform our cities into productive, healthy, edible and playful green visions: visions which go beyond parks, manicured lawns, horticultural imports, bonsai and ' | Plants are the centre of the web of life. The growth of urban centres around the globe has had a critical impact on ecology. In recent years there has been a growing interest and public movement to bring ecology out of the bush and into the urban and suburban environments where most people spend their time. Whereas traditional ecology is mainly about connectedness within the natural world,the new focus lies on having a holistic and inclusive approach to build deeper links with ecology in our midst beyond doing conservation in isolated national parks. Some of the questions at the core of this research were: Do we have the right to consider human beings as more valuable than other life forms? Can we be perceptive enough to see our planet in a way that tells them that they too are part of nature? Is there an option to treating forests as sacrifice zones for urban growth ? Is there an ecological limit to economic growth? What is the future of our cities? Can there be a differentiated green identity of a future city? This research documents the current status of urban permaculture and explores ways in which we can transform our cities into productive, healthy, edible and playful green visions: visions which go beyond parks, manicured lawns, horticultural imports, bonsai and ' | ||
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| * //brief summary of the cultural/ | * //brief summary of the cultural/ | ||
| - | This research would find direct use in India and other nations which have had a strong tradition of agriculture_especially | + | This research would find direct use in India and other nations which have had a strong tradition of agriculture, |
| * // | * // | ||
| - | This project explores aspects of human environment, | + | This project explores aspects of human environment, |
| - | + | ||
| ==== Problem/Aim ==== | ==== Problem/Aim ==== | ||
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| * //concise summary of the problem domain/s that the research explores, or the specific aims of the research undertaken.// | * //concise summary of the problem domain/s that the research explores, or the specific aims of the research undertaken.// | ||
| - | As stated before the intent of this research is to explore the urban gardening and permaculture trends at a global level and to further explore new ways to establish links between urban realms, its inhabitants and ecology. In the process, the project aims at redefining our relationship with the city and our vision for its future. It attempts to question our prevailing belief system which places nature as an object to be //viewed, manipulated, | + | As stated before the intent of this research is to explore the urban gardening and permaculture trends at a global level and to further explore new ways to establish links between urban realms, its inhabitants and ecology. In the process, the project aims at redefining our relationship with the city and our vision for its future. It attempts to question our prevailing belief system which places nature as an object, to be //viewed, manipulated, |
| This phase of the project has the following objective: | This phase of the project has the following objective: | ||
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| * On-line and literature survey of state of the art in urban gardening and permaculture (global perspective) | * On-line and literature survey of state of the art in urban gardening and permaculture (global perspective) | ||
| * On-site research and comparison of urban gardening in the Benelux and India | * On-site research and comparison of urban gardening in the Benelux and India | ||
| - | * On-site research Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary, focusing on preserving and increasing biodiversity | + | * On-site research |
| * Design for urban gardening prototypes and kits | * Design for urban gardening prototypes and kits | ||
| * Article for the Luminous Green publication on the [[Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary]] | * Article for the Luminous Green publication on the [[Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary]] | ||
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| * Participation in the groWorld design session in April 2008 | * Participation in the groWorld design session in April 2008 | ||
| * A written report in the prescribed format | * A written report in the prescribed format | ||
| - | |||
| * // | * // | ||
| | | ||
| - | * The growth of cities has had a devastating impact on ecology. | + | * The uncontrolled |
| * By the end of 2008, half the world' | * By the end of 2008, half the world' | ||
| * Cities are becoming increasingly polluted, sterile, unhealthy and disconnected with other life forms, especially plants which have been an integral part of human survival and existence. | * Cities are becoming increasingly polluted, sterile, unhealthy and disconnected with other life forms, especially plants which have been an integral part of human survival and existence. | ||
| - | * We have more people hungry every day, more unemployment, | + | * We have more people hungry every day, more unemployment, |
| - | * Cities are facing new challenges related to health care, rise in food prices and other basic services every day. Nature | + | * There has been a sharp increase in desert area, in urban sprawl and number of cars on the road ! |
| + | * Cities are facing new challenges related to health care, rise in food prices and other basic services every day. | ||
| + | * Natural | ||
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| * //concise description of the way the research has been developed from establishing the problem definition to the final results// | * //concise description of the way the research has been developed from establishing the problem definition to the final results// | ||
| - | The research started with preliminary discussions between the producer and the design researcher to define the project scope. Thereafter the design researcher shortlisted a series of core topics and questions which were used as triggers to inform him and in the discussion between him and the users. These directly | + | The research started with preliminary discussions between the producer and the design researcher |
| - | + | This was followed by a visit to the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam, one of the oldest botanic gardens in the world. A living museum, the hortus is a green oasis in the middle of a bustling urban setting. Thereafter the design researcher shortlisted a series of core topics and [[questions]] which were used as triggers to inform him and in the discussion between him and the users, which in this case were inhabitants of a city. These discussions | |
| - | Some of the questions discussed with the inhabitants of Delhi and their initial responses are listed below: | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | _ Why are you staying in a city? | + | |
| - | * Need for money, ' | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | _What do you like most about your city? | + | |
| - | * Tall buildings, cars, super markets, electricity, | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | _ What do you dislike about your city and why? | + | |
| - | * We miss home and there is too much noise, pollution, dirt and congestion. Sometimes there are too many people and the //queues are very long//! | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | _ What is the importance of plants in your life? | + | |
| - | * We worship ' | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | _ Which are the plants that you grow? | + | |
| - | * Tulsi, mango, marigold, rose, money plant, chilis, guava, banana, tomatoes, chiku, grapes, neem, jamun, coriander, spinach, mushrooms, brinjal. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | _ What do you miss about your village/ | + | |
| - | * Our family is there, it is more peaceful, our roots are there, we go every six months. But now even our villages are becoming very dirty and noisy. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | _ In the last few months, Delhi has lost 30,000 trees. What are the reasons for this and could this be avoided? | + | |
| - | * Reasons: greed, real estate developers and increase in population. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | _ Can a city and a forest coexist? | + | |
| - | * No. | + | |
| - | * Isn't a city yet another forest !! (answered by an 8th grade student at the Indian High School, Dubai) | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | + | ||
| - | The research in New Delhi was preceded by visit to the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam, one of the oldest botanic gardens in the world. A living museum, the hortus is a green oasis in the middle of a bustling urban setting. In New Delhi, the focus gradually | + | |
| * // | * // | ||
| - | The subject of this project demands a sensitized and practical approach. The methodology was crucial to help the design researcher develop empathy for the cause and also become aware of the complexity of the problem at hand. Visiting the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Kerala and subsequent visits to other centres | + | The subject of this project demands a sensitized and practical approach. The methodology was crucial to help the design researcher develop empathy for the cause and also become aware of the complexity of the problem at hand. Visiting the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Kerala and subsequent visits to other sustainable enterprises |
| ==== Solution/ | ==== Solution/ | ||
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| ’PERMACULTURE’ was originally coined in the mid seventies by two Australians, | ’PERMACULTURE’ was originally coined in the mid seventies by two Australians, | ||
| - | For many, the Permaculture focus on land and natural resource management is complimentary to the industrial focus of the "green tech" optimists, but there are differences. | + | For many, the Permaculture focus on land and natural resource management is complimentary to the industrial focus of the "green tech" optimists, but there are differences. Permaculture: |
| - | Permaculture: | + | |
| * gives priority to using existing wealth to rebuilding natural capital, especially trees and forests, as a proven storage of wealth to sustain humanity into a future with less fossil fuel. | * gives priority to using existing wealth to rebuilding natural capital, especially trees and forests, as a proven storage of wealth to sustain humanity into a future with less fossil fuel. | ||
| * emphasises bottom-up " | * emphasises bottom-up " | ||
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| The assumptions on which permaculture was originally based were: | The assumptions on which permaculture was originally based were: | ||
| - | | + | * The environmental crisis is real and its magnitude and impact directly threatens our survival. |
| - | * The ongoing impact of golbal industrial society and human numbers on biodiversity would be far greater than has ever been. | + | * The ongoing impact of golbal industrial society and human numbers on biodiversity would be far greater than has ever been. |
| * Humans are subject to the same scientific laws which govern the entire universe including the evolution of life. | * Humans are subject to the same scientific laws which govern the entire universe including the evolution of life. | ||
| - | | + | * The inevitable depletion of non-renewable fuels will see a return to general pre-industrial systems dependent on renewable energy and resources. |
| Further, insofar as permaculture is an appropriate response to limitations on use of energy and natural resources, it will move on from its current status as " | Further, insofar as permaculture is an appropriate response to limitations on use of energy and natural resources, it will move on from its current status as " | ||
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| Permaculture is a wholehearted adaptation to the ecological realities of decline and offers us a graceful and ethical descent. The process for providing for people' | Permaculture is a wholehearted adaptation to the ecological realities of decline and offers us a graceful and ethical descent. The process for providing for people' | ||
| - | 1. Observe and Interact | + | 1.Observe and Interact |
| - | 2. Catch and store energy | + | 2.Catch and store energy |
| - | 3. Obtain a yield | + | 3.Obtain a yield |
| - | 4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback | + | 4.Apply self-regulation and accept feedback |
| - | 5. Use and value renewable resources and services | + | 5.Use and value renewable resources and services |
| - | 6. Produce no waste | + | 6.Produce no waste |
| - | 7. Design from patterns to details | + | 7.Design from patterns to details |
| - | 8. Integrate rather than segregate | + | 8.Integrate rather than segregate |
| - | 9. Use small and slow solutions | + | 9.Use small and slow solutions |
| - | 10. Use and value diversity | + | 10.Use and value diversity |
| - | 11. Use edges and value the marginal | + | 11.Use edges and value the marginal |
| - | 12. Creatiively use and respond to change | + | 12.Creatiively use and respond to change |
| Now, in a situation of descent, //ethics// become indispensable and through their culturally evolved systemic nature lead us to create a more inclusive view of who and what constitutes " | Now, in a situation of descent, //ethics// become indispensable and through their culturally evolved systemic nature lead us to create a more inclusive view of who and what constitutes " | ||
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| == Urban Permaculture == | == Urban Permaculture == | ||
| - | A permaculture garden is not a garden seen in nature. Though it might have a configuration like a forest in terms of stability and efficiency, it is rich in functional plants which have a strong relationship with each other and result in high yields. In urban situations, space is limited, there may be little or no access to land, and various regulatory restrictions exist when it comes to gardening or having backyard animals. Some of the concepts that people have used in urban settings which have allowed them to circumnavigate these obstacles are discussed below. They are a mix of approaches, ranging from gardening to co-parenting, | + | A permaculture garden is not a garden seen in nature. Though it might have a configuration like a forest in terms of stability and efficiency, it is rich in functional plants which have a strong relationship with each other and result in high yields. In urban situations, space is limited, there may be little or no access to land, and various regulatory restrictions exist when it comes to gardening or having backyard animals. Some of the concepts that people have used in urban settings which have allowed them to circumnavigate these obstacles are discussed below. They are a mix of approaches, ranging from gardening to co-parenting, |
| - | + | ||
| - | * Rooftop gardens: Rooftop gardens are a specific urban agriculture niche set within a broader system of city gardens, enjoy their own set of distinctive benefits. Rooftops are underutilized and rarely-considered urban spaces with great potential for creative development. There are essentially three options for rooftop gardens. The first is container gardening, a less formal, highly flexible, cheaper form of roof gardening. In container gardening, few to no modifications are made to the existing roof structure; containers – anything from plastic swimming pools to recycled-wood planters – are placed on a rooftop and filled with the desired soil type and plants. One of the problems here is the soil in rooftop containers might thaw on a warm winter day. Further roof container gardens dry out quickly and often require daily watering unless a mulch cover such as straw, wood chips or even a sub-soil layer of newspapers and compost is used to slow down evaporation. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | The second type of roof garden is green roofs in which the rooftop actually becomes the planting medium. This involves more intensive investments(upto two times the cost of a normal roof), but comes with its own set of advantages, including greater storm-water retention, building insulation, and the formation of patchwork urban ecosystems, which work to reverse the fragmentation of ecosystems that follows urbanization by offering temporary habitats to fauna such as birds and butterflies during their long migrations. Green roofs are constructed using a special root and water-proof membrane for the base layer, then a root barrier, a retention/ | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | The third rooftop garden possibility is rooftop hydroponics, | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | * http:// | + | |
| - | * http:// | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Rooftop gardens: | + | |
| - | * Cool and shade buildings reducing the 'heat island' | + | |
| - | * Retain and utilize rainwater, provide wildlife habitat and enhance the roof membrane life | + | |
| - | * Have an aesthetic appeal creating a private haven | + | |
| - | * Remove heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, and lead from runoff. | + | |
| - | * Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the air quality by trapping and absorbing nitrous oxides, volatile organic compounds and airborne particulate matter | + | |
| - | * Overcome the problem of restrictive land prices and with other vertical sufaces of a building infact create more land. | + | |
| - | * Are better off with respect to pests, vandalism and theft as compared to community gardens on land. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Some interesting developments: | + | |
| - | * In Switzerland and parts of Germany, this kind of mental shift – resulting in imagining buildings as displacing and not destroying land surface – has become federal law: developers must either improve the biodiversity of existing land, or transfer the green space that they displace to their rooftop or other building surface. | + | |
| - | * Rooftop gardens are a billion dollar industry in Germany | + | |
| - | * One clause of the Russian law states that authorities are obliged to help gardening associations with roads construction and repair, as well as water drainage and supply. | + | |
| - | * Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, both used roof gardens extensively in their architecture | + | |
| - | * New York has established a green roof task force, which is exploring direct government support of green roofs, including tax credits and other | + | |
| - | incentives. | + | |
| - | * The Earth Pledge Foundation in New York strives to address sustainability at the local level – its programs include the Green Roof Initiative, which | + | |
| - | encourages initiatives to green New York City’s rooftops, and the Waste=Fuel program, | + | |
| - | * Hydroponics is found to be way too complex and expensive in lot of eastern countries and some of african countries too. In these places, roof gardens build out of local materials are most suitable. They are repair and maintained by the communities themselves. This is seen in places like India, St. Petersburg and Senegal. Infact, in Senegal people have devised a local solution using bricks and wooden box beds. In India too, the use of locally available cheap materials to create roof gardens is most successful. The “Doshi System” is offered as the most suitable method. It uses sugarcane stalks, collected from sugarcane juice vendors outside of his house, as biomass. This is lightweight, | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | The most significant challenges facing roof top gardens in all its forms are issues of access and roof load capacity. These barriers are especially problematic in liability-obsessed countries like the United States, although concerns for safety and building protection are certainly valid. Lack of | + | |
| - | knowledge or incentives, funding, water supply, safety, and the harshness of rooftop environments are also major barriers. Still, rooftop agriculture is slowly becoming more common, particularly in the developing world, where rooftop food production may have a significant impact on food security and income, solutions are creative and site-specific, | + | |
| - | For more details and case studies about rooftop | + | * Rooftop gardens: Rooftop gardens are a specific urban agriculture niche set within a broader system of city gardens, |
| - | | + | * Vertical gardens: Commonly seen in many western cities, vertical gardens act as good insulators and a source of food. They also increase the life of the structural wall behind. Vines are one of the most common plants used to create vertical green facades. |
| * City farms: In New york, numerous vacant plots have been converted into city farms where communities grow there own food. These range from apples to pears. Further, by using graftign techniques, fences can be made entirely out of such plants. In Melbourne, the city farms also play the role of community education centres, which is a brilliant way to introduce kids to aspects of food production. In Davis, California, through the allocation of areas for directing rain water into catchment basins, //swail areas// have been created which over the years have now transformed into productive fruit farms. | * City farms: In New york, numerous vacant plots have been converted into city farms where communities grow there own food. These range from apples to pears. Further, by using graftign techniques, fences can be made entirely out of such plants. In Melbourne, the city farms also play the role of community education centres, which is a brilliant way to introduce kids to aspects of food production. In Davis, California, through the allocation of areas for directing rain water into catchment basins, //swail areas// have been created which over the years have now transformed into productive fruit farms. | ||
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| * Cooperative Arrangements: | * Cooperative Arrangements: | ||
| - | | + | * Co-Ownership of Assets: In Albuquerque, |
| - | | + | * Grafting Fruit Trees: In limited spaces one can still get a variety of fruit, when using a technique of grafting. A desirable variety (early ripening, or developed for storage, etc) is grafted onto an existing rootstock, resulting in trees that bears several types of fruit (now, apples don’t become oranges, but there can be several different apples on the same tree!). |
| - | | + | * Worm Composting: A plastic bin with holes can house a family of red wiggler worms, who will be happy to eat your kitchen waste (eliminating it from the urban waste stream), and these critters will make it into good odor-free compost. |
| - | | + | * The BackYard Forester, Los Angeles: A nonprofit organization, |
| - | | + | * The Citizen Pruner, New York: People can get trained in tree care and pruning, and be able to take care of trees, whenever and whereever needed. |
| - | | + | * Chickens in a City: Depending on the location, people may be allowed to keep chickens in their urban yard! The City Chicken - a website, which includes every answer plus city by city listing of regulations for keeping chickens makes this possible! |
| === Orient vs Occident_ traditional farming === | === Orient vs Occident_ traditional farming === | ||
| - | see [[tradition | + | see [[traditional |
| === Possibilities for urban permaculture kits === | === Possibilities for urban permaculture kits === | ||
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| * http:// | * http:// | ||
| - | | + | * //media used in the research (film, audiovisual media, photographs...)// |
| 1. Power of community: Produced by the community solution organization, | 1. Power of community: Produced by the community solution organization, | ||
sanjeev