tentative proramme 26 november 2012 (monday)

26-27 November 2012 Lecture Hall, Faculty Of Design And Architecture

TENTATIVE PRORAMME 26 NOVEMBER 2012 (MONDAY) 8.15am – 9.00am -

Registration

9.00am – 9.30am -

Welcoming Speech by Asso. Prof. LAr. Dr. Noorizan Mohamed Chairperson, SusTED’12 Organizing Committee. Conference Opening by Prof. Dr. Rahinah Ibrahim Dean, Faculty of Design and Architecture Universiti Putra Malaysia

9.30 – 10.00 -‐

MORNING REFRESHMENT

Paper Session 1 - Chairman: Asso. Prof. LAr. Dr. Noorizan Mohamed

10.00am – 11.00 am -

Special Paper 1 Water related projects presented in architecture and urban planning exhibitions at Aedes Architecture Forum Berlin Ulla Giesler Vice Director/Curator Aedes, Berlin, Germany

11.00am – 12.30pm

Special Paper 2 Details of Earth Hiroshi Sambuichi Sambuichi Architects, Japan

12.30pm – 01.00pm 01.00pm – 02.30pm

Q & A Session 1 LUNCH BREAK

Paper Session 2 - Chairman: Asso. Prof. LAr. Dr. Osman Mohd Tahir

02.30pm – 03.10pm

Special Paper 3 The economic dimensions of climate change: Vulnerability, impacts on agriculture and adaptation. Chamhuri Siwar Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia.

03.10pm – 03.30pm

Technical Paper 1 Potential application of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for oil palm plantation and environmental mapping. Laili Nordin, PhD Geometika College International, Malaysia

03.30pm – 03.50pm

Technical Paper 2 Climate change effects on historical forest and variability landscapes in Central Alborz protected area, Iran. Mohsen Goodarzi, Nafise Haghtalab & Majid Habibi Nokhandan University of Malayer, Iran.

03.50pm – 04.10pm

Technical Paper 3 Sustainable building project: overcoming the barriers through a sustainable planning process Nor Kalsum, M.I.,Mohd Yazid M.Y., Anuar,A. & Zulkiflee,A.S. Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

04.10 – 04.30

Technical Paper 4 Introducing the photo elicitation method in investigating climate change effect in kindergarten yard. Hosna Sadat Shams Dolatabadi & Nor Atiah Ismail, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

04.30 – 04.50

Technical Paper 5 Participatory city planning and a cultural dimension of climate change: Open space loss due to right of way encroachment in Sokoto, Nigeria. A. Bello and Kamariah Dola Universiti Putra Malaysia

04.50 – 05.10 05.10 – 05.30

Q & A Session 1 LIGHT REFRESHMENT / END OF DAY 1

TENTATIVE PRORAMME 27 NOVEMBER 2012 (TUESDAY) 08.30am – 09.30am

MORNING REFRESHMENT

Paper Session 3 - Chairman: LAr. Dr. Nor Atiah Ismail

09.00am – 09.30am

Special Paper 4 The role of urban planning and design in responding to climate change: The Brisbane experience. Marek Kozlowski, PhD. Urban Designer, Malaysia

09.30am – 10.10am

Special Paper 5 Green infrastructure for human wellbeing and sustainable urban development Kjell Nilsson, PhD University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

10.10am – 10.30am

Technical Paper 6 Textile membranes in housing – adaptation to tropical climates Paulo Mendonça & Mónica Macieira University of Minho, Portugal

10.30am – 10.50am

Technical Paper 7 Green façade as a method for reducing heat and energy consumption in buildings Mehdi, R. & Kamariah, D. Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

10.50 – 11.10

Q & A Session 3

Paper Session 4 - Chairman: Asso. Prof. Ar. Meor Mohammad Fared Meor Razali 11.10am – 11.40am

Special Paper 6 Seawater Desalination: A “sustainable solution?” Alain J. Poinard Suez Environment/Degemont (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd, France

11.40am – 12.10pm

Special Paper 7 A better tomorrow – The green metamorphosis Ar. Dr. Tan Loke Mun ArchiCentre Sdn Bhd., Malaysia

12.10pm – 12.30pm 12.30pm – 02.30pm

Q & A Session 1

02.30pm – 03.00pm

Science Film Festival “Water in the Environment” LUNCH AND REST END OF SusTED’12 Official Opening of Sustainable Tropical Environmental Design Exhibition 2012 (STEdex’12)

TABLE OF CONTENTS TENTATIVE PROGRAMES …………………………………………………..………….3 SPECIAL PAPERS 1. Water Related Projects Presented in Architecture and Urban Planning Exhibitions at AEDES Architecture Forum Berlin Ulla Giesler..................................................................................................7 2.

Details of Earth Hiroshi Sambuichi........................................................................................7

3.

The Economic Dimensions of Climate Change: Vulnerability, impacts on agriculture and adaptation. Chamhuri Siwar...........................................................................................8

4.

The Role of Urban Planning and Design in Responding to Climate Change: The Brisbane experience. Marek Kozlowski, Ph.D..............................................................................10

5.

Urban Forestry and Green Infrastructure for Human Wellbeing and Sustainable Urban Development. Kjell Nilsson, PhD......................................................................................11

6.

Is Seawater Desalination a “Sustainable Solution?” Alain J. Poinard..........................................................................................12

7.

A Better Tomorrow: The green metamorphosis Ar Dr Tan Loke Mun..................................................................................13

TECHNICAL PAPERS 1.

Potential Application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for Oil Palm Plantation and Environmental Mapping. Alias, M.S., Laili, N, and Choo C.M. …........................................................14

2.

Climate Change Effects on Historical Forest and Variability Landscapes in Central Alborz Protected Area, Iran. Mohsen, goodarzi & Nafise, Haghtalab & Majid Habibi Nokhandan..........15

TABLE OF CONTENTS TECHNICAL PAPERS 3.

Sustainable Building Project: Overcoming The Barriers Through A Sustainable Planning Process Nor Kalsum Mohd Isa, Mohd Yazid Mohd Yunos, Anuar Alias & Zulkiflee Abdul……………………………………………………...…………..16

4.

Introducing the Photo elicitation Method in Investigating the Effects of Climate Change in Kindergarten Yard. Hosna sadat Shams Dolatabadi & Nor Atiah Ismail..................................17

5.

Participatory City Planning and a Cultural Dimension of Climate Change: Open space loss due to right of way encroachment in Sokoto, Nigeria. A. Bello and Kamariah Dola.......................................................................18

6.

Textile Membranes in Housing – Adaptation to tropical climates. Paulo Mendonça & Mónica Macieira.........................................................19

7.

Green Façade as a Method for Reducing Heat and Energy Consumption in Buildings Mehdi Rakhshandehroo & Kamariah Dola................................................20

8.

Attaining Sustainability by Wastes in India Kishor P.Rewatkar and Priyanka K.Rewatkar...........................................21

PAPER COMMITTEE .……………………………………………………….………….22

International Seminar on Sustainable Tropical Environmental Design 2012 (SusTED’12) Faculty of Design &Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia: 26-27 November 2012

Water Related Projects Presented in Architecture and Urban Planning Exhibitions at Aedes Architecture Forum Berlin Ulla Giesler Curator Berlin, Germany

A.

Exhibitions: Mirrored Metropolis 2002 / What Makes India Urban? 2009

Sabarmati riverfront development project - Ahmedabad/India by HCPDPM, Bimal Patel, Ahmedabad The project is a huge neglected riverfront in the middle of the city with contaminated water, which posed health and environmental risks for the whole area. The riverbanks provided space for the poor, but were disastrously flood prone. A non-profit urban management firm stated the urgent challenges: Construction of embankments, retention of water, developing public promenades, laying main water supplies, trunk sewers and pumping stations, the development of informal markets with services for toilets and water supply. The Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project will transform Ahmedabad’s historic but neglected river into a vibrant focus for the city. The project consists of linked activities addressing many environmental and social problems of the riverfront. Interceptor sewers along both banks divert the sewage to two sewage treatment plants instead of letting it flow into the river. Diaphragm walls and retaining walls along both banks create a channel for the river, stop erosion, protect the city from flooding and allow some land to be reclaimed for development. The embankments on either side of the river have wide walkways for pedestrians close to the river’s edge. Foremost, suitable relocation housing sites have been identified within the city for people living in the riverbed slums. B.

Exhibition: Measure of Man - Measure of Architecture 2010

The reconstruction and rehabilitation of Kosi flood affected regions in Bihar, 2008 by the Owner Driven Reconstruction Collaborative (ODRC), the Hunnarshala Foundation, Bihar/India, Client: Government of Bihar In 2008, much of North India’s Kosi region was devastated after a levee breach. More than 200,000 homes were destroyed, and over one million people were homeless. The government saw the need for a fast way of supplying the affected families with housing, and began working with the Owner-Driven Reconstruction Collaborative to set up a Flood Rehabilitation Programme. 1


On the one hand the Collaborative developed a strategy to organize the rehabilitation, on the other hand they surveyed local construction and handicraft traditions. The gathered information was used to develop three construction prototypes and a guideline so that the residents could replicate themselves with reasonable technical and financial support. The prototypes were designed with maximum stability and resilience. Simple architectural features extended the building lifespan and made them more resistant to natural catastrophes. The materials, bamboo and earth, are easy to work with, and the building techniques used are well known in the region. Bamboo treatment was one of the improvements added to the traditional building methods. The single used tool is a sickle and to put together an entire house will last only 15-20 days. It was part of the concept to train local craftsmen as well as the future dwellers in adapted building techniques. The final aim was to build 210,000 houses by mid-2012. C.

Exhibition: Water - Curse or Blessing? 2011

1. Sunny Water Lilies, Thailand Sustainable energy through solar thermal collectors The Why Factory, Delft Location: Phuket, Design period: 2009 Construction/Realisation period: Unbuilt Size of project site: Variable The project uses water as a flexible, dynamic site. The challenge here is to provide sustainable energy in a way that does not spoil the delicate beauty of the coast. The sunny water lilies generate sustainable energy through solar thermal collectors. The technique is simple and effective, but it requires large surfaces. Today, solar thermal energy is mostly generated in deserts and unused land. The sea is a suitable location as well, providing cities along the coast with a reliable stream of clean energy. The large structures are not hidden but bravely exposed. The circular shape is efficient and beautiful at the same time. While the sunny water lilies pop up along the coast, the area grows increasingly sustainable, fascinating and beautiful. The giant solar thermal flowers power the city of Phuket while creating a new landscape and an important tourist attraction. The water lilies consist of a number of curved mirrors that reflect the sunlight towards a point in the middle of the structure. At the focus point, a liquid is heated up. The heat is transported into the core of the water lily. Here it can be used to generate electricity or can be stored. Salt is used as a storage medium: when heated it melts and can keep the heat for several hours. The natural intermittence of sun radiation is therefore largely compensated. The solar flowers can easily rotate and tilt their leaves to capture the sunlight efficiently.

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Underneath the flowers there are artificial beaches, hotels and restaurants, which are connected by barges. 2. A Post Diluvian Future A community prototype above water S+PBA, Bangkok Location: Bang Khuntien, Bangkok Metropolitain Area, Thailand Design period: January 2011 - August 2011 Construction/Realisation period: Unbuilt, Size of project site: Variable While most of the world follows the standard „from dust to dust, ashes to ashes “cycle, Bangkok prefers something wetter: from water to water. Almost 300 years after rising from the marshy banks, it appears Bangkok will return to its watery origins. A recent UN study estimates that much of the metropolitan area will be abandoned by the middle of the century. Bangkok’s population is growing by approximately 100,000 residents per year, just as the city itself is sinking below sea level 4 inches per year. While most cities could simply increase their urban density by building up, this would only hasten Bangkok’s subterranean slide. It is the blinding growth of Bangkok’s built environment combined with the over-used aquifers 2 metres below the city surface that is causing the city’s physical depression. With the city sinking 10 cm a year, whilst the sea level rises 40 cm annually, the safest place to create new architecture is above water. Bangkok is surrounded by fields of water: brackish water left over from the shrimp farming industry. Former farmers are currently selling their water-fields to developers who bury the water in housing tracts, or to the government, who hopes to restore the once thriving mangrove ecosystem. Each party is thus engaged in a win-lose proposition: suburbs will get in the way of government-protected mangroves, water will submerge the suburbs, and shrimp farmers will lose their livelihood. S+PBA plans to design a community prototype elevated above the acres of disused shrimp farms, bringing together the interests of shrimp farmers, urbanites, developers and the government by simultaneously sustaining mangrove restoration, modest shrimp farming, and a growing population in a sinking city that will be able to thrive unaffected by the impending floods.

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3. Beidaihe Eco City, China A water ecosystem as motor for sustainable development Synarchitects, Berlin/Beijing Location: Beidaihe, Hebei Province, China, Design period: 2009 – now Realisation period: Yet to be determined Size of project site: 2.5 ha Despite being located in a nature protection area, the fishermen’s village Beidaihe with a lagoon in the west and a sand dune in the south is characterized by environmental destruction, urban sprawl and poor water management. The use of water is the source of workplaces and the production of food, and as well it is the origin of its destruction. Huge damages to the marshlands were the result of aquacultures during the last decades. The soil is becoming salty and the water is being contaminated by antibiotics. The freshwater lagoon, once 20 hectare in size is reduced to only three hectares. The quality of the water in the lagoon is suffering additionally due to the discharging of untreated sewage into several feeding streams. Three dockyards in the fishermen’s village cause even more environmental damages by the improper disposal of oils and varnish, which contaminate the groundwater. In due consideration of social factors a sustainable economical concept was being developed, in which not only self-sufficient energy supply plays an important role, but also conservation and re-naturation. The goal is to generate a diverse city, which offers liveable housing space for 20,000 habitants and attractions for sustainable tourism. Local residents are encouraged to consider job opportunities in tourism to minimize the negative effects of aquacultures with the help re-naturation whilst cultivating and encouraging local characteristics. Prefabricated wooden components for residential buildings and for a houseboat marina can be manufactured in the local shipyards. Water conservation measures include rainwater usage, water recycling, separating water circulation systems for drinking water and industrial water. 4. Shanghai Houtan Park Landscape as a living system Turenscape China, Beijing Location: Shanghai, China Design period: January 2007 - October 2009 Construction period: Completed 2010, Size of project site: 14 ha Built on a former industrial site, Houtan Park is a regenerative living landscape on Shanghai’s Huangpu riverfront. The constructed wetland, ecological flood control, reclaimed industrial materials and urban agriculture are components of a restorative design strategy to treat polluted river water and recover the waterfront. The objective was to create a green Expo, accommodating a large influx of visitors and demonstrating green technologies. 4


The site has multiple challenges: The first challenge was restoring the degraded environment, including the highly polluted river water. The second was to improve flood control. The existing concrete floodwall should protect against a 1,000-year flood with a top elevation of 6.7 metres. The 2.1 metre daily tidal fluctuation creates a muddy and littered shoreline, inaccessible to the public. The third challenge was the site itself: long and narrow, locked between the river and an urban expressway with water frontage, which is over 1.7 km in length but very small in width. Regenerative design strategies were used to transform the site into a living system that offers comprehensive ecological services, including food production, flood, water treatment, and habitat creation in an educational way. Inspired by the Chinese agricultural landscape, terraces were created from the water‘s edge to the road to slow the run-off and a linear wetland as a living machine to treat contaminated water. Cascades and terraces oxygenate the nutrient-rich water, and reduce suspended sediments whilst creating pleasant water features. The wetland also acts as a flood protection buffer between the 20- and 1000-year flood control levees. Selected crops create an urban farm allowing visitors to witness seasonal changes. The paths, like capillaries of a sponge, absorb and pull people to circulate through the park. 5. Hathi Gaon, India Village for a hundred elephants RMA Architects, Mumbai Location: Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, Design period: 2006 – 2007 Realisation period: 2007 – ongoing Size of project site: 35.5 ha Hathi Gaon (Elephant Village) is a housing project for elephants and their Mahouts, an attempt to reconcile seemingly conflicting factors: waterloving elephants and the semi-arid climate of northeast Rajasthan. The formal brief for the architects failed to identify the fundamental challenge – how to retain water for a creature that cannot survive without 100 litres of water per day – in a land that receives less than 30 inches of rain per year, and that only in the 4-month monsoon period. Therefore, the initial role of the architect was to recognise the value of water for the eventual user, and to convince the Government of Rajasthan Tourism Department, that investment in the storage and collection of this essential resource was worthwhile. The master plan for the village uses contour variations on site, with the lowest lying areas sculpted into a series of natural bodies of water to harvest the rainwater runoff, a most important resource in the semi-arid climate. Rainwater collected in these basins remains throughout the dry season and, in addition to being used daily by elephants for bathing, creates an ecological framework in which landscape regeneration takes place. Naturally self-propagating and native species are further proposed along the edges of these bodies of water to stabilise and seed 5


the site. The aim is to create a tropical environment, the native habitat for elephants, within ten years. There are plans to feed the sewage system into a reed bed which functions as a natural treatment plant, resulting in the filtering of naturally purified water into the local water table. The housing units are situated on raised parts of the site that are not used for landscape regeneration or lakes. The importance of this project lies in the fact that water collection is the overall principle for the site. It is the focus of all activities, as well as the hub and image centre of the complex. 6. Sichang-Road Teahouse Practical experience in fluctuating water Miao Design Studio, Shanghai/Honolulu Location: Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China Design period: 2005 – 2006, Construction period: 2006 - 2007 Size of project: Site area: 3,700 m2, Building area: 300 m2 This project tries to address a problem on a micro scale – Chinese urban residents‘ increasing isolation from nature. Kunshan is in the Yangtze River Delta region, a flatland with heavy rainfall. Towns in the region have historically developed a unique landscape of crisscross canals and numerous ponds. Traditional buildings were built next to, or even overhanging, the canals. The rapid urban expansion of the past three decades have not only made cities bigger, but also transformed many urban water areas into six-lane streets and dense towers. Even though developers created some fountains in their projects, these features tend to be of dead water. Various regulations further keep people and buildings from any intimate contact with remaining rivers and lakes. As a result, today’s urban children forget the feeling of natural water, which are all symptoms of indifference toward nature in high-density cities. The architect Pu Miao tries to alleviate this by designing buildings that encourage people to develop intimacy with natural water so that they demand a more holistic urban environment. Located between an urban street and a preserved river in a new residential his teahouse allows users to be close to the water. The river level varies greatly. Therefore Miao Design Studio designed an intermediating pool that draws its water from the river. Viewed from the teahouse, the pool appears to merge with the river. A row of trees along the riverbank is continued into the pool. Private tearooms are surrounded by water and half-sunken into the pool. Users can open the windows and touch the water. Tiny fountains, drawing water from the river, bubble in the gaps between the pods.

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7. Bishan Park River Restoration Kallang river urban watershed masterplan Atelier Dreiseitl, Überlingen Location: Singapore, Design period: 2008 Construction/Realisation period: 2009 - 2011 Size of project site: Kallang River Watershed 140 km², Bishan Park 63 ha, restored section of Kallang River 3 km For Singapore the quest for drinking water autonomy is a top priority and the driving force behind an island-wide urban water management strategy. The tropical rainforest climate provides plenty of water, however, this falls in fierce downpours, which creates a challenging situation in terms of flood management and water quality in a highly populated city environment. Engineering in the past has left a legacy of concrete channels and rivers from by-gone eras. Empty most of the time, during a rainstorm these channels fill within minutes and unchecked torrents of freshwater race out to sea. This dangerous situation creates linear physical barriers, which disrupt local communities and create ecological wastelands, depriving citizens of much needed amenity space and wasting fresh water. Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) collaborated with Atelier Dreiseitl to create a visionary approach to water-sensitive urban design in the tropics. The ABC design guidelines stands for Active, Beautiful and Clean. Within the ABC urban watershed master plan developed for the 140 km² Kallang River basin, Bishan Park was a pilot project, which transformed the Kallang River from a concrete channel into a meandering river. Singapore’s busiest park has become a dynamic landscape subject to natural rhythms and with space for people, nature and fresh river water. The winding length of the river increases the storage capacity of the whole river system. Natural treatment systems improve water quality. The Kallang River has been crafted into a water management asset, a decentralized system, which will safeguard Singapore’s drinking water supply for the future. 8. Designs on a Delta Pilot project for dwelling units Khoj Kolkata Artists‘ Initiative, Kolkata Location: District North & South 24 Parganas, bordering the Sundarban Forests in West Bengal, India, Design period: September 2009 onwards Construction/Realisation period: September - October 2011 Size of project site: Pilot project of around 40 dwelling units The deltaic islands of North & South 24 Parganas, bordering the Sundarban forests, has been, and continues to be, an inhospitable terrain. Socio-political as well as economic policies have lead to the shrinking of the forest area – giving way to human habitation. These islands are lashed by severe cyclones and regular tidal floods. Silting up of the river network and dangerous predators add to the problems 7


of the inhabitants. The cyclone “Aila” left a devastation in its wake. There has been talk of rehabilitating whole villages in the northern parts of the districts, but it is easier said than done where land is scarce. Apart from which, whole villages and communities depend on the forests and the rivers for their livelihood. Resettlement would result in a loss of income for them. It is a simple fact that people will continue to live here despite the hardships. Reinforced mud banks and other temporary arrangements have failed to alleviate the problems of this area. Even well-intended human enterprise pales in the face of the ruthlessness of nature. Given this scenario, Khoj Kolkata’s workshop “Designs on a Delta” attempted to study and suggest design interventions that would benefit the local people. The workshop attempted the following: 1. Assessing local artisanship and skill levels. 2. Identifying locally available eco-friendly material. 3. Identifying probable areas that may benefit from design interventions. 4. Conceptualising and planning these interventions. 5. Translating these concepts into working drawings. 6. Exploring possibilities of implementation of the projects. 9. Han River Access Tunnel Project Flood defense infrastructure as public space Lokaldesign, Seoul Location: Jamwon-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea Design period: 2007 - 2010, Construction/Realisation period: 2008 - 2011 Size of project site: Hangang Park, connecting twelve Seoul districts on both sides of the Han River During Seoul’s rapid urban expansion in the 1970s and ‘80s, the formerly extensive flood plains of the Han River were contained by highways and minimised by large-scale embankments. Today, changing precipitation patterns and rising water levels are of great concern to urban planners and the city administration alike. The maintenance of the remaining flood plains, as well as the defence of adjacent neighbourhoods against flooding have become priorities. In 2007 the City of Seoul embarked upon the Han River Renaissance, a vast upgrading project to valorise the river bank as a public space and improve its ability to manage floods. Until then, access to the river was mainly provided by 48 tunnels, which burrow under the highways and through the embankments. Considered purely infrastructural, they had never been seen worthy of design input despite their heavy use by the public. In an unprecedented move, the City of Seoul administration tasked young architectural practices with the transformation of 25 of the riverbank access tunnels. Local design acted as a design coordinator and asked other architectural practices to join the project. Throughout the tunnel projects a new hybrid form of public space emerges out off an infrastructural framework. The Han River Access Tunnel Project sets an example in Korea of how urban strategies and the collaboration between architects and engineers can interact to create successful public spaces out of utilitarian infrastructures.

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Special Lecture for SusTED2012 Detail of Earth HIROSHI SAMBUICHI Sambuichi Architects

Abstract The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur is proud to introduce Special Public Lecture of one of Japanese top architect Hiroshi Sambuichi and his award winning works including Rokko Shidare Observatory and Inujima Art Project SEIRENSHO, museum renowned of its uni unique que history, location and architecture. Hiroshi Sambuichi, who strives to create architecture as “Details of Earth”, will share his ideas, past works and recent projects for the first time to Malaysian audience. 1.

Hiroshi Sambuichi

Born in 1968. In his first 10 years of independent practice about 25 projects have been completed, their conception emerging from meticulous studies of the specific local energy energyscapes, by using both inert and moving materials he strives to create architecture as detail detailss of Earth. Notable projects include Miwa Miwa-gama gama (2002), Sloping North House (2003), Stone House (2005), Base Valley (2007), Inujima Art Project Seirensho (2008) and Rokko Shidare Observatory (2010). He has received numerous awards including the ar+d awards (2003), the Shinkenchiku prize (2001), the Detail Prize, Special Prize (2005), and both the JIA Grand Prix and the AIJ Prize (2011).

Rokko Shidare Observatory (2010)

3. Inujima Art Project Seirensho Inujima Art Project Seirensho is a museum that preserves and reuses the remains of a copper refinery on the island. Based on the concept to use us what exists to create what is to be be,, the project brings together architecture by Hiroshi Sambuichi, which makes use of the existing smokes smokestacks tacks and karami bricks from the refinery and uses solar, geothermal, and other natural energies to reduce the burden on the environment, and art by Yukinori Yanagi, which uses Yukio Mishima, who sounded warnings over aspects of Japan's modernization, as a motif. The building also employs a sophisticated water purification system that makes use of the power of plants. The project truly embraces the concept of a recycling recycling-based based society as a model for a new type of regional revitalization through industrial hheritage, eritage, architecture, art, and the environment. www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/seirensho/index.html www.benesse artsite.jp/en/seirensho/index.html

2. Rokko Shidare Observatory (2010) This observatory is situated on Mount Rokko, facing the Seto Inland Sea,at an altitude of 900 meters above sea level. Nothing that cold, humid winds cover nearby trees with soft rime in winter, architects designed the building's exterior with porous dome (dubbed “sagging branches”) that promotes soft rime accumulation. Ice generated on shelves at the northeast of the building building is stored in an icehouse and used by the air conditioning system in summer. This system enables the building to harness natural energy cycles.

INUJIMA ART PROJECT SEIRENSHO Architect: HIROSHI SAMBUICHI Architect: rt: YUKINORI YANAGI Art: Operated perated by by:: FUKUTAKE FOUNDATION


Agricultural Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change Chamhuri Siwar1 and Md. Mahmudul Alam2 1,2 Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

ABSTRACT Climate change has mixed impacts on agriculture that differ among the areas, periods and crops. The changing factors of climate has been playing strong negative impacts on Malaysian agriculture, which is expected to result in long-term water and other resource shortages, worsening soil condition, disease and pest outbreaks on crops and livestock, sea-level rise, and so on. Due to climate change agricultural productivity and profitability is declining. Despite continuous increases of government subsidy, the paddy planting area is decreasing and the adaption practices are ineffective. As climate change is universal and its existence is indefinite, the farmers need to adapt to and find ways to mitigate the damages of climatic variation in order for them to sustain agricultural productivity and attain food security. Keywords: Climate Change, Agriculture, Food Security, Sustainability, Adaptation, Mitigation, Vulnerability, Malaysia.

1.

Introduction

The changing patterns of climate factors adversely affect the social, economical and environmental agents all over the world. The agriculture is fully dependent on the factors of climate as a consequence climate change play adverse impacts on agriculture and agriculture relevant stakeholders. Among all the stakeholders, farmer community is the most affected and risk group due to their full dependency on agriculture. The climatic factors as expressed by the amount of rainfall, sunshine hours, temperature, relative humidity and length of the drought period result in year-to-year and area-to-area variability of crop production. Variability of production unit causes indirect impacts on the social and economic status of the livelihood of farming community along with several direct impacts- e.g. health hazards, frequent sickness etc. The impacts of climate change are not limited to any geographical boundary or timeframe. Some of the aspects are long term and related to national or international security such as, soil erosion, chemical poisoning 1

Chamhuri Siwar, Professor, Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, E-mail: csiwar@ ukm.my; Tel: +603-8921 4154. 2

Md. Mahmudul Alam, PhD. Student, Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, E-mail: [email protected]; Tel: +601-6279 9091. 1


or nuclear waste (Daly and Cobb, 1990), and some issues are related to daily quality of life such as, water pollution, shortage of food or resources (Homer-Dixon, 1992; Alam et al., 2011d). The combined effects of these issues are difficult to predict such as, natural and environmental catastrophes in recent times- floods, landslides, long periods of drought etc (United Nations, 1997), which also causes vulnerability in terms of yield, farm profitability, regional economy and hunger (Reilly, 1999; Schimmelpfenning et al., 1996; Siwer et al., 2009). Several impacts of climate change affect various sectors, regions and actors in different ways (Klein et al., 2005). Agricultural sector dominates the economies of 25% of the world's countries, where half of the world's workforce is currently employed. Due to the climate change the agricultural sector is vulnerable in terms of productivity and economic benefits. This paper provides a brief review on the global and Malaysian perspective of climate change, and its impacts on Malaysian agriculture and relevant adaptation practices, and policy recommendations for better coping with the changing nature of climatic factors. 2.

Global scenario of climate change

Due to increasing atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and other trace gases, since the beginning of the 1980s, many climatologists predicted significant global warming in the coming decades. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to assess the scientific, technical and socioeconomic information relevant for the understanding of human induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for mitigation and adaptation. National Academy of Science (2001) found trends of increasing average temperature and more volatile rainfall patterns. IPCC report 2007 shows further scientific evidence that the world’s climate systems are changing faster than predicted, raising the likelihood of more rapid and damaging changes. It also motioned that 90-95% likelihood that changes in modern climate have been caused by human actions (Figure 1).

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Figure 1. Regional and Global Climate change from 1990 to 2000 (Source: IPCC 2007).

According to the Third Assessment Report of IPCC (2001), if the levels of emissions are not reduced, the global average temperature will increase by 1.4°C to 5.8°C between 1990 and 2100. Another projection said an increase in the average global temperature of 2.4ºC between 1990 and 2100, with a 95% chance that the change will be between 1.0ºC and 4.9ºC (Webster et al., 2002). Other studies have estimated that the average global temperature is likely to rise by between 0.3ºC and 1.3ºC during the next 30 years (Zwiers, 2002). Most of the warming during the next 30 years will be due to emissions that have already occurred. Over the longer term, the degree and pace of warming depends mainly on current and near future emissions. There is more than 50% chance that in the longer term the temperature rise would exceed 5oC. Due to the climate change impacts, the amount of 5% of the global GDP, which regionally going up to even 20%, is expected to annual loss in future (Stern, 2007: iv). Different behaviors of climate factors were found by different studies based on place and time differentiation. Average precipitation is expected to increase globally (IPCC, 2001), but the magnitude of regional precipitation changes varies among models: with the range 0-50% where the direction of change is strongly indicated, and around -30 to +30% where it is not. For some areas, it shows a positive trend in the daily intensity and a tendency toward higher frequencies of extreme rainfall in the last few decades (Houghton et al., 1996). Among them, the main areas where significant positive trends have been observed are USA (Karl et al., 1995; Trenberth, 1998; Kunkel et al., 1999), eastern and north-eastern Australia (Suppiah and Hennessey, 1998; Plummer et al., 1999), South 3


Africa (Mason et al., 1999), UK (Osborn et al., 2000), and northern and central Italy (Brunetti et al., 2000, 2001). Fuhrer et al. (2006) reviewed on Europe that both rain-day frequency and intensity during winter increases north (about 45°N), while the rain-day frequency decreases to the south. This is also consistent with increases of mean winter precipitation by 10 to 30% over most of central and northern Europe, and decreases over the Mediterranean. In summer, the most notable change is strong decreases in the frequency of wet days, for instance to about half in the Mediterranean, along with a 20 to 50% decrease of mean summer precipitation. In the tropics, models show an increase in Africa, a small increase in South America, but no change in Southeast Asia. Summer precipitation is expected to decrease in the Mediterranean-basin and in regions of Central America and north-western Europe. Bonaccorso et al. (2005) analyzed the trends of annual maximum rainfall series of Mediterranean areas and found different behavior pattern based on the different time scale, particularly shorter duration series show increasing trends and longer duration series show decreasing trends. Most cases when there is a positive trend in rainfall intensity, an increase in total precipitation has also been observed (Groisman et al., 1999). However this relationship is not universal. Observation shows there is an increase in heavy precipitation in some areas (i. e. Italy) with a tendency toward a decrease in total precipitation (Brunetti et al., 2001). The costs arising from climate change impacts have already been tried to point out by different institutions (WBGU 2003: 17; Stern 2007: iv). The joint research centre PESETA of the EC has calculated the costs in 1995 that arising from sea level rise with and without adaptation measures by 2020 and 2080 (Commission of the European Communities, 2007: 10). Oxfam estimates that adaptation in developing countries will cost at least USD $50–$80 billion each year, based on the estimation from the World Bank, Stern and IPCC (Raworth, 2007). The costs of adapting existing urban water infrastructure in Africa alone have been estimated at USD $1.05–$2.65 billion annually, excluding the cost of rehabilitating deficient infrastructure. In Africa, the costs of climate-proofing new development are also likely to rise by USD $1–$2.55 billion a year (Muller, 2007). The IPCC mentioned Africa as one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change (Boko et al., 2007). Very few parts of Africa will be benefited from a rising temperature, unlike some parts of the northern hemisphere (Canada, Japan, Russia). The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) identifies a list of 49 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which are at high risk from climate change, where 33 are located in Africa. A study analyzed that due to climate change, Southern Africa will lose more than 30% of its main crop, maize, by 2030, and Asia, especially South Asia and South East Asia will lose top 10% of many regional staples, such as rice, millet and maize (Lobell et al., 2008). 4


All of the projections of the future climate change are based on the extrapolation of current trends with logical assumptions about future emissions of greenhouse gases, prospective economic and industrial growth, population growth, technological progress etc., which is not a phenomenon for any particular country but global concern. 3.

Climate change in Malaysia

According to the United Nations Development Report, carbon dioxide emissions in Malaysia increased by 221% during the period of 1990 to 2004, that is included in the list of 30 biggest greenhouse gas emitters. Curb Global Warming (2007) quoted from the Associated Press (AP) that rapid growth in emissions has been occurred even though Malaysia ratified the Kyoto Protocol and has taken several initiatives to use renewable energy as well as ways to cut emissions. Currently Malaysia ranks as the 26th largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world with a population of about 27 million, and it appears likely to move up the list quickly due to the growth rate of emissions. Due to high greenhouse gas emissions the temperature is projected to rise by 0.3oC to 4.5oC. Warmer temperature will cause to a rise in sea level about 95cm over hundred periods. The changes in rainfall may fluctuate from about -30% to +30%. This change will reduce crop yield and prone to drought in many areas so that cultivation of some crops such as rubber, oil palm and cocoa will not possible (MOSTE, 2001). Table 1 shows the projection of positive rainfall changes by 2050 in few areas of Malaysia. The projection shows maximum monthly precipitation will increases up to 51% over Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu, while minimum precipitation decrease between 32% to 61% for all over Peninsular Malaysia. Consequently, annual rainfall will increase up to 10% in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and North West Coast, and decrease up to 5% in Selangor and Johor (NAHRIM, 2006). This variation of climate factors will cause the agricultural system vulnerable in Malaysia. Table 1. Future Rainfall and Temperature Change Projections in Peninsular Malaysia by 2050. Projected Change* in Maximum Area Monthly Value Regions/Sub-regions/states Temperature (0C) Rainfall (%) North East Region -Terengganu, Kelantan, +1.88 + 32.8 Northeast- coast North West Region-Perlis (west coast), Perak, +1.80 + 6.2 Kedah Central Region-Klang, Selangor, Pahang +1.38 + 8.0 Southern Region-Johor, Southern Peninsula +1.74 + 2.9 * Difference = Average 2025-2034 & 2041-2050 minus Average 1984-1993 (Source: NAHRIM, 2006).

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4.

Climate change and Malaysian agriculture

The global effect of climate change on agricultural production is small to moderate, where regional impacts are significant for many areas. Regional variations in gains and losses result in a slight overall changes in world cereal grain productivity. Some studies addressed climate change impacts on rice yields, which vary greatly, in South and Southeast Asia (Matthews et al., 1994a, 1994b). Climatic impacts on agriculture span a wide range depending on the climate scenario, geographic scope, and study. While large changes were predicted for China, to a certain extent warming would be beneficial with yield increasing due to diversification of cropping systems. In case of Japan, the positive effects of CO2 on rice yields would generally more than offset any negative climatic effects (MOSTE, 2001). Under current climate change scenario, temperature above 25oC may decline grain mass of 4.4% per 1oC rise (Tashiro and Wardlaw, 1989), and grain yield may decline as much as 9.6%-10.0% per 1oC rise (Baker and Allen, 1993), where average temperature in rice growing areas in Malaysia is about 26oC. Singh et al. (1996) mentioned that the actual farm yields of rice in Malaysia vary from 3-5 tons per hectare, where potential yield is 7.2 tons. It also mentioned that a decline of rice yield between 4.6%-6.1% per 1oC temperature increase under the present CO2 level, but a doubling of CO2 concentration (from present level 340ppm to 680ppm) may offset the detrimental effect of 4oC temperature increase on rice production in Malaysia. In a recent study it is found that a 1% increase in temperature leads to a 3.44% decrease in current paddy yield and 0.03% decrease in paddy yield in next season; and a 1% increase in rainfall leads to 0.12% decrease in current paddy yield and 0.21% decrease of paddy yield in next season (Alam et al., 2010a). Tisdell (1996) mentioned that rainfall variability increases the level of environmental stress that affects the capability of the system to maintain productivity. The projection of paddy yield in the country showed that any positive or negative variation of above 0.4% in both rainfall and temperature will decrease the yield of paddy production by 2020 (Table 2). When considering a positive or negative variation of above 0.7% in both rainfall and temperature by 2040, paddy yield tends to decline further and this negative trend of paddy yield is expected to continue by the year 2060, considering the variation (±) of above 1%. These clearly indicate a very high level of vulnerability of paddy productivity to the climatic variation in the next couple of decades. This indicates that climate change has an adverse impact on agriculture in Malaysia.

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Table 2. Projection of Paddy Yield (Kg/Ha) with Different Variations of Temperature and Rainfall at Certain Level of CO2. Year 2020* Year 2040^ Year 2060~ Variati Variation in Variati Variation in Variation in Variati on in Temperature ( 0C) on in Temperature ( 0C) Temperature ( 0C) on in Rainfal Rainfal 0.3 0.85 1.4 0.4 1.4 2.4 Rainfall 0.6 2 3.4 l l 6,15 7,34 14% 5,806 5,586 23% 6,942 6,542 32% 8,619 8,059 7,499 6 2 6,64 8,20 7% 6,306 6,086 11% 7,800 7,400 15% 9,834 9,274 8,714 6 0 7,20 9,04 10,96 10,40 0.4% 6,862 6,642 0.7% 8,642 8,242 1% 9,842 2 2 2 2 7,20 9,04 10,96 10,40 0% 6,862 6,642 0% 8,642 8,242 0% 9,642 2 2 2 2 7,20 9,04 10,96 10,40 0.4% 6,862 6,642 -0.7% 8,642 8,242 -1% 9,642 2 2 2 2 6,69 8,04 -7% 6,382 6,177 -11% 7,691 7,335 -15% 9,318 8,842 8,366 8 7 6,19 6,96 -14% 5,901 5,712 -23% 6,654 6,346 -32% 7,454 7,073 6,693 4 2 *, ^, ~ indicates CO2(ppm) level at 400, 600, and 800 respectively (Source: MOSTE 2001).

Alam et al. (2011a) indicate that the yearly total rainfall is increasing and its monthly variation is too high. The adverse effects of lower rainfall can be reduced or averted by introducing proper irrigation system. But the effect of the opposite phenomenon of over rainfall especially at the end of the crop cycle or at the maturity period is absolutely uncontrollable. The climatic change causes change in several agricultural relevant factors that determine the sustainability of agricultural production. Farmers believe that vulnerability of some of the factors like injurious insects (supported by 42.9% of the farmers), temperature (supports by 58.6% of the farmers), soil fertility loss (supports by 49.5% of the farmers), cost of inputs (supports by 61.1% of the farmers), shortage of rainfall (supports by 45.5% of the farmers), excessive rainfall (supports by 35.9% farmers) increased over the last 5 years (Alam et al., 2011b). Due to the climate change impacts on agriculture the projections of NAHRIM of paddy yield in terms of climate change, in a given level of temperature and CO2 level, shows more than 0.4% variation of rainfall by 2020 will cause a fall in paddy yield in Malaysia (NAHRIM 2006). Therefore the agricultural sustainability in the future in Malaysia is projected to be vulnerable due to climatic changes. 5.

Agricultural adaptation

Farmers’ adaptation practices to cope with the agricultural vulnerability due to climatic change are not found adequate and satisfactory (Alam et al., 2011c, 2012a,c). Their adaptation methods are based only on their ideas or reactions. As a result, only 30.3% farmers 7


believe that they have been able to properly cope with climatic vulnerabilities (Alam et al., 2012d). On the issue of availability of external supports, most of the farmers were found not aware of the current supports provided by external parties to adapt to climate change. But, in order to support the farmers to increase productivity and increase income, government’s subsidy for agricultural sector is increasing each year (Table 3). Worth noting to mention that government of Malaysia currently provides huge amount of subsidy to the paddy producers to encourage paddy cultivation and to ensure more production for increasing the country’s self-sufficiency level. However, the types and contents of these subsidies have been summarized below:     

Input subsidy: 12 beg (20 kg each) compound fertilizer and 4 beg (20kg each) urea fertilizer per hectare – worth MYR 400 and pesticide incentive MYR 200 per hectare. Price Subsidy: Provided at the selling price – MYR 248.1 per ton. Rice Production Incentive: Land preparation/plowing incentive – MYR 100 per hectare and organic fertilizer 100kg per hectare – worth MYR 140. Yield Increase Incentive: Provided if producers (farmers) are able to produce 10 tons or more per hectare – MYR 650 per ton. Free Supports: Free supports for irrigation, infrastructure, and water supply. Table 3. Government Subsidy (in MYR) for Paddy Sector in Malaysia. Items 2004 2005 2006 2007 Subsidy For Paddy Price 476,628,30 443,218,04 445,749,89 3 2 8 444,000,000 Paddy Fertilizers 186,744,86 178,072,07 396,393,00 7 3 1 261,677,743 Paddy Production Incentive NA NA NA 67,563,904 Yield Increase Incentive NA NA NA 85,434,620 Paddy Seed Help NA NA NA 17,000,000 Diesel Subsidy Scheme NA NA 989,727,41 1,099,000,72 8 3 NA NA Petrol 45,413,959 69,461,384 663,373,17 621,290,11 1,877,284,2 2,044,138,37 Total Subsidy and Incentive 0 5 76 4 Note: NA for data which were not found available. (Source: Agriculture Statistical Handbook, 2008)

The subsidies for urea and compound fertilizer have been continuing since 1979. The incentive for land preparation and using organic fertilizer has been continuing since 2007. Providing urea and compound fertilizer and pesticide incentive was introduced in 2008 and these supports are still continuing. Still farmers expect several types of external supports to cope properly with the changes in climatic factors. Among several types of expected new supports, farmers significantly 8


believe moisture deficiency related innovations, crop development, cash incentive, infrastructural supports, and adjustment in wage, and leasing system are required to adapt to climate change (Alam et al., 2012a). 6.

Policy recommendation and conclusions

As climate change is a continuous and long term process, its effects and solutions are similarly time and effort consuming process. Most of the warming during the next 30 years will be due to emissions that have already occurred. Over the longer term, the degree and pace of warming mainly depend on current and near future emissions (Stern, 2007). To adopt with climate change, conventionally, mitigation has received more attention than adaptation, both from a scientific and policy perspective. Mitigation is the main way to prevent future impacts of climate change, and it will reduce the cost of adaptation. So, any delay in mitigation strategy to reduce emissions will increase the need and cost of adaptation, and increase the risk of global climate change. On the other hand, though adaptation is not a substitute of mitigation, there are arguments for adaptation to consider as a response measure. Mitigation actions never stop a certain degree of climate change due to historical emissions and the inertia of the climate system (IPCC, 2001). Moreover, mitigation effects may take several decades to manifest, where most adaptation activities take immediate effect. Adaptation reduces risks associated with current climate variability as well as addressing the risks associated with future climate changes, where mitigation only focuses on future risks. The measures of adaptation can be applied to a local scale or root level with the involvement of large number of stakeholders, where mitigation works in the decision making level. In the current world, climate factors are exogenous

variables that are immitigable in a quick manner and as a consequence adaptation is the most appropriate way to cope the system properly. It is therefore important to balance between measures against the causes of climate change and measures to cope with its adverse effects (Stern, 2007; Pielke et al., 2007). In recent years, adaptation has gained prominence as an essential response measure, especially for vulnerable countries due to the fact that some impacts are now unavoidable in the short to medium term. Mitigation is necessary but adapting to future risk is more important. Immediate and long term actions are essential for various actors including government, development partners, research organizations, and community organizations. In fact, adaptation is too broad to attribute its costs clearly, because it needs to be undertaken at many levels, including at the household and community level, and many of these initiatives are self-funded (Stern, 2007). Options for agricultural adaptation can be grouped as technological developments, government programs, farm production practices, and farm financial management (Smith, 2002). So, it has been suggested to prepare a planned and proactive adaptation strategy to secure sound functioning of the economic, social and environmental system. 9


Government as the policy and law making authority has to play most influential role to ensure climatic mitigation and adaptation at all levels (Alam et al., 2010b, 2012b). It is the main responsibility of government to give enough supports in order to enable farmers to adapt to different climatic situations and to make them self-sufficient rather than subsidy dependent. Appropriate authorities also need to carefully define government’s subsidy supports and incentive programmes to influence farm-level production, practices, and financial management. Hence, agricultural policies and investments need to be more strategic. But the government needs to define and ensure the compensation, minimum income protection, and insurance facility for the affected groups – individual farmer or farm. In the planning processes, policy makers need to account the barriers of adaptation including ecological, financial, institutional, and technological barriers, as well as information and cognitive hurdles. Other few important issues need to be focused, such as stakeholders may not sufficiently inform about the needs and possible strategies of climate change (Eisenack et al., 2006, 2007), farm level faces uncertain future and hinder the development process causes to obstacle for implementation of adaptations policy (Behringer et al., 2000; Brown et al., 2007), and the policy deals with different conflicting interest groups. To avoid the negative impacts of climate changes on agriculture and to control pollutions and emissions in the sector, however, proper mitigation policies are urgently required for Malaysia. Further, Malaysian agriculture sector also needs to include mitigation policies due to the emission of commercial farming. The issues of mitigation and adaptation to climate change concern all sectors as well as all levels of political, administrative, economic and everyday life. To better cope up, cooperation is necessary across countries, sectors and administrative levels. Relevant actors are needed to be aware of the benefits of cooperation to gain long-term benefits instead of focusing only on short-term and individual interest. The production practices of farm and the knowledge of individual farmer also need to be updated with the changes of climate factors. The agricultural farmers should understand the crop rotation, crop portfolio, and crop substitutions. They should also take all precautions and be aware about the uncertainty of low rainfall and heavy rainfall. The financial management of agricultural farms must be efficient and the farmers must secure for minimum two cropping seasons so that if crops damage in one season they will have the seeds for next season. This will help them bear the cost of another crop production and survive financially up to the time when new crops are collected. But this will require the farmers take initiative for crop sharing, forward rating, hedging, and insurance etc.

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Different new groups of stakeholders are also need to be engaged to ensure necessary facilities for the farmers. Financial institutions also need to be engaged more inclusively in order to provide supports of loan, insurance, saving schemes, hedging or future option, and so on to the agricultural farmers. Technological adaptation to climate change is also important to deal with the climatic problems in the long run. It is apparent that development of technology is a boundless area, but it is possible in several ways. The highest efficient method of technological advancement is expected to be able to solve the problem. Until gaining such level of technological advancement, there should be some alternative options which are expected to help the agricultural farmers in their effort to adapt to climate changes in the following ways:     

To solve the problem: controlling the pattern of rainfall, sunshine, and moisture level. To improve shielding resources: protecting crops from excessive rainfall or sunshine and solving water login problems. To develop defensive approach: development of verities of crops, development of rainfall and temperature tolerant plants, and finding alternative crops and hybrids. To find alternative approach: changing crop cycle and reducing the timing of crop cycle. To provide information: providing weather forecast and early warning system and ensuring delivery of proper information at the farm level.

The impacts of climate change on agricultural sustainability vary from country to country, region to region and time to time. The yield and productivity of agricultural crops in Malaysia are proven to have been heavily influenced by climatic variations. Malaysia is the 26th largest greenhouse gas emitter which causes the expected rise of temperature by 0.3oC to 4.5oC, and rise in sea level is expected to be about 95cm over a hundred years. The changes in the country’s rainfall fluctuate heavily from -30% to +30%. This change reduces crop yield and is prone to drought in many areas so that cultivation of some crops such as rubber, oil palm and cocoa becomes unfeasible. Current crop productivity is also affected by the climatic variations throughout the country as the actual farm yields of rice in Malaysia vary from 3-5 tons per hectare while the potential yield is 7.2 tons per hectare. The projection of climate change and its impacts on productivity and farmers’ profitability are thus considered as very alarming. 7.

Acknowledgement

We are thankful to Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of the Government of Malaysia for generously funding the research, under the Research University Grants (UKM-AP-PLW-04-2010, LRGS-TD-2011-UPM-UKM-KM-04 and UKM-GUP-PI-08-34-081). We would also like to thank Dr. Basri Talib, Dr. Mohd Ekhwan bin Toriman, 11


Prof Dr. Abdul Hamid Jaafar (National University of Malaysia), Md. Wahid Murad (University of Adelaide, Australia), and Prof. Dr. Rafiqul Islam Molla (Multimedia University, Malaysia) for their advices and supports at various stages of the study. References Agriculture Statistical Handbook, 2008. Paddy. Ministry of agriculture. Malaysia. Alam M.M., Siwar C., and Al-Amin A.Q. 2010b. Climate Change Adaptation Policy Guidelines for Agricultural Sector in Malaysia. Asian Journal of Environmental and Disaster Management 2(4):463– 469. DOI 10.3850/S1793924011000873 Cited 05 Nov 2012 Alam M.M., Siwar C., Molla R.I., Toriman M.E., and Talib B. 2011b. Climate Change and Vulnerability of Paddy Cultivation in North-West Selangor, Malaysia: A Survey of Farmers’ Assessment. Voice of Academia 6(1):45-56. Alam M.M., Talib B., Siwar C., and Toriman M.E. 2010a. The Impacts of Climate Change on Paddy Production in Malaysia: Case of Paddy Farming in North-West Selangor. Proceedings of the international conference of the 4th International Malaysia- Thailand Conference on South Asian Studies. National University of Malaysia, Malaysia, Mar 25-26. Alam M.M., Toriman M.E., Siwar C., and Talib B. 2011a. Rainfall variation and changing pattern of agricultural cycle. American Journal of Environmental Science 7:82-89. DOI 10.3844/ajessp.2011.82.89 Cited 05 Nov 2012 Alam M.M., Toriman M.E., Siwar C., Molla R.I., and Talib B. 2011c. The Impacts of Agricultural Supports for Climate Change Adaptation: Farm Level Assessment Study on Paddy Farmers. American Journal of Environmental Sciences 7(2): 178-182. DOI 10.3844/ajessp.2011.82.89 Cited 05 Nov 2012 Alam, M.M., Siwar C., Murad M.W., and Toriman M.E. 2011d. Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food Security Issues in Malaysia: An Empirical Study on Farm Level Assessment. World Applied Sciences Journal 14(3): 431-442. http://idosi.org/wasj/wasj14(3)11/12.pdf Cited 05 Nov 2012 Alam, M.M., Siwar, C., Mohd Ekhwan, T., Molla, R.I., and Talib, B. 2012a. Climate Change Induced Adaptation by Paddy Farmers in Malaysia, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 17(2): 173-186. http://www.springerlink.com/content/w443477600871315/ Cited 05 Nov 2012 Alam, M.M., Siwar, C., Molla, R.I., Talib, B., and Mohd Ekhwan, T. 2012d. Paddy Farmers’ Adaptation Practices to Climatic Vulnerabilities in Malaysia, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 17(4): 415-423. http://www.springerlink.com/content/31427ppr79l81715/ Cited 05 Nov 2012 Alam, M.M., Siwar, C., Talib, B., Jaafar, A.H., and Mohd Ekhwan, T. 2012c. Farmers’ Perceptions Study on Required Supports for Climate Change Adaptation in Malaysia, Asian Journal of Environmental and Disaster Management 4(1): 83-97. http://www.rpsonline.com.sg/journals/101ajedm/2012/0401/S179392402012001081.php Cited 05 Nov 2012 Alam, M.M., Siwar, C., Talib, B., Mokhtar, M., and Mohd Ekhwan, T. 2012b. Climate Change Adaptation Policy in Malaysia: Issues for Agricultural Sector, African Journal of Agricultural Research 7(9): 1368-1373. http://www.academicjournals.org/ajar/PDF/pdf2012/5%20Mar/Alam%20et%20al.pdf Cited 05 Nov 2012 Baker, J. T. and Allen, Jr. L. H. 1993. Contrasting crop species responses to CO2 and temperature: rice, soybean and citrus. Vegetatio 104/105: 239-260. Behringer, J., Buerki, R., and Fuhrer, J. 2000. Participatory integrated assessment of adaptation to climate change in Alpine tourism and mountain agriculture, Integrated Assessment 1: 331-338.

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Potential Application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for Oil Palm Plantation and Environmental Mapping Alias M.S.¹, Laili N.² and Choo C.M.³ ¹Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia ²Geomatika College International, Prima Peninsular 3 Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, SEGi University

ABSTRACT Remote Sensing technology has been acknowledged for being an efficient tool for oil palm and environmental monitoring and detection efforts. However, acquisition of satellite data is restricted by data recurrence, high data- collecting cost, weather impediment and resolution while aerial photography and LiDAR are too expensive for precision oil palm management and environmental management. Evidently, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) seems to be the most promising platform for spatial data capturing since it has the ability to quickly and inexpensively collect highly detailed data of oil palm plantation. The most recent UAV model introduced to the oil palm plantation in Malaysia is the Gatewing x100 model from Bel gium tested at Setiu, Terengganu and Bahau, Negeri Sembilan. This UAV can be mounted with ‘normal camera’, infrared camera, GPS and barometer. Data collected can be used for counting of oil palm tree, mapping of plantation infrastructure, and mapping of topography (contour, slope, aspect). The maximum accuracy of the data is 5cm for X and Y and 10cm for Z values. Topographic data is essential for redesigning replanting of oil palm plantation while infrared data is capable of detecting and mapping unhealthy palms. It is battery operated, mounted with 10 Megabites optical camera. It can fly 2000 to 3000 hectares per day and data delivery is very much faster than satellite remote sensing. Upon completion of data capturing, fast and automatic data processing allows quick end product deliveries (orthophotos and DSM). With these capabilities acquired ascertained that UAV has high potential to be the most practical real-time detail spatial data provider for oil palm plantation. UAV systems have also proven efficient in other applications such as forest fire and damage surveying after floods and storms, where time is a critical factor for decision making and measures implementation. In Malaysia, remote sensing or UAV system has been suggested as a technology that could provide assistance to environmental compliance activities. Keywords: UAV, remote sensing, contour, mapping, oil palm management, contaminated site assessment, climate change, and environmental management.

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1.

Background

Precision farming is an improved management system in oil palm plantation where technologies such as Geographic Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), and Remote Sensing are used to improve plantation practices. This system provides better management of resources that leads to higher potential of increasing yields and economic returns in oil palm production. Precision farming in oil palm plantation aims of optimizing returns on inputs while preserving resources. It is also aided by farmers’ ability to locate their precise position in a field using satellite positioning system like the GPS or other GNSS. In this system, the oil palm management is tailored to the variability of conditions found in each block which highly reliant on real-time and high resolution spatial information acquired from remote sensing (Wahid et.al., 2002). Today, precision farming is about three key elements: saving time, reducing cost, and environmental stewardship. Plantation managers will be informed on crop condition and development at key decision stages and on surface estimation that drives the estimated yield production. The potential of precision farming for economical and environmental benefits could be visualized through reduced use of water, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides besides the oil palm plantation equipment. Instead of managing an entire plantation based upon some hypothetical average condition, which may not exist anywhere in the plantation, a precision farming approach recognizes site-specific variations within plantations and adjust management actions accordingly (Goovaerts, 2000). Since the concept of precision farming being introduced and the high necessity to increase yield production, oil palm plantation managers were more concerned with detail high resolution data that able to exactly tally number of trees and to determine each tree health and yield status. Such information is vital for planning and management of the plantation. Consequently, management performs more intensively and real-time data is a prerequisite. The availability of the GPS, GIS, and RS technologies has eased field and agronomic data collection and their manipulation to improve efficiency in planning, implementing, and monitoring of oil palm plantation management. These improvements will be beneficial to the plantations both economically and environmentally (Wahid et. al., 2002). In Malaysia, precision farming has not been implemented extensively in the oil palm plantations albeit the tools and technologies associated with it have been widely utilised. The major obstacles to precision farming in oil palm plantations are probably capital expenditure, lack of quantification of cost-benefit and risk of the new practices and resistant to change, which can be expected at this early stage of development. Currently most of the research is on adapting the new tools and technologies to solve immediate problems with little thoughts given to strategic and tactical approaches.

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Remote Sensing technology has been acknowledged for being an efficient tool for oil palm plantation management particularly to aid oil palm monitoring and detection efforts. It also provides a cost-effective method to map oil palm and at the same time provides site-specific assessments of management practices and growth performance of the palms. Satellites imaging data of Landsat Thematic Mapper and SPOT have been successfully used to identify oil palm growing areas and to map differences in palm age at early stages of growth. The remote sensing technique using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image has been employed by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to improve the present methods of updating oil palm land use. (Wahid.et al, 2005). However, acquisition of satellite data is restricted by data recurrence, high data-collecting cost, weather impediment and resolution while aerial photography and LiDAR are too expensive for precision oil palm management. Furthermore, with the fast growing need for highly accurate and detailed observation data required in oil palm plantations monitoring, image quality and accuracy gained via satellites is far from adequate. Although manned aircraft offer sufficient resolution and accuracy, they are expensive and have a limited endurance of only a few hours. The limitation of satellites and manned aircraft are high launch/flight costs, slow and weather-dependent data collection, restricted maneuverability, limited availability, limited flying time, low ground resolution (Fransaer et al, 2004) As an efficient supplement to remote sensing data collection from satellites and manned aircraft, UAV image acquisition technologies have been developed. UAV system exhibits much potential for oil palm plantation management. From the application point of view, there are two kinds of UAV remote sensing technology need paying attention especially. One is high altitude remote sensing in stratosphere. Another is low altitude UAV photogrammetric survey. (Lin Zongjian, 2008). UAV application in oil palm plantation will changes the way managing the crops, fields or any part of oil palm plantation operation, by providing high resolution GPS based digital images for precision management. Documentation of environmental compliance assessment and enforcement are complex, due to the nature of assessment. The application of remote sensing in environmental assessment and environmental compliance enforcement remains in its infancy in Malaysia. Traditionally, remote sensing demonstrated a range of usage such as land cover mapping, urban analysis, water quality assessment, watershed characterization and habitat analysis. In Malaysia, environmental assessment mapping using GIS has not been implemented extensively in the industries although mapping is an important data to identify the source of pollution, migration pathway and receptor and sensitive area.

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2.

Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. Its flight is either controlled autonomously by computers in the vehicle, or under the remote control of a navigator, or pilot (in military UAVs called a Combat Systems Officer on UCAVs) on the ground or in another vehicle. There are a wide variety of UAV shapes, sizes, configurations, and characteristics. Historically, UAVs were simple remotely piloted aircraft, but autonomous control is increasingly being employed. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too "dull, dirty, or dangerous" for manned aircraft (Wikipedia, 2012). Although UAVs are today most commonly associated with military actions, UAVs are increasingly being used by civilian government agencies, businesses, and private individuals. In the United States, for example, government agencies use UAVs to patrol the nation's borders, scout property, and hunt down fugitives. One of the first authorized for domestic usage was the Shadow Hawk UAV in service in Montgomery County, Texas and is being used by their SWAT and emergency management offices (Wikipedia, 2012). 2.1

Types of UAV

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are remotely piloted or selfpiloted aircraft that can carry cameras, sensors, communications equipment or other payloads. UAVs are smaller than manned aircraft and therefore more easily and more cost-effectively stored and transported. To some extent, the ultimate goal in the development of autonomy technology is to replace the human pilot. It remains to be seen whether future developments of autonomy technology, the perception of the technology, and most importantly, the political climate surrounding the use of such technology, will limit the development and utility of autonomy for UAV applications. There are several types of UAV but mostly are military-driven such as target and decoy UAV, reconnaissance UAV and combat UAV. The type used for oil palm plantation falls under commercial UAV. In terms of flying range UAV can be categorized into three; (a) UAV close range (UAV-CR) up to 50km at altitude less than 1,000ft for ½ -2 hours flying, (b) UAV short range (UAV-SR) up to 200km at altitude less than 50,000ft for 8-10 hours flying and (c) UAV endurance (UAV-E) more than 200km at altitude less than 65,000ft for more than 24 hours flying. Most commercial UAVs are UAV close range (UAVCR). Meanwhile, according to Anon (2006), UAV can be group into four main categories: micro/mini UAVs (fly under 300m altitude), tactical UAVs (fly 3,000-8,000m altitude), strategic UAVs (fly 15,000-20,000m altitude) and special task UAVs (3,000m to more than 30,000m altitude).

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There are now many UAVs developed specifically for mapping and surveying and the most recent model that just operationalised in Malaysia is the Gatewing X100. It is supported with a software that integrates flight planning for easy operation, automated navigation and post- processing workflow for orthophotography & DTM production. It is light, compact but with simple fixed wing design, portable and have high endurance to cover large areas. With low altitude and line-of-sight operating conditions, it offers users absolute control of routine and adhoc flyovers granting timely delivery of results for quicker reporting (Anon-b, 2012). 2.1.1

Gatewing x100 UAV model

Gatewing X100 (Figure 1) is a fully automated aerial scan UAV that built with high accuracy sensors collecting raw digital images from between 100 to 750 meters altitude. This height is based on resolution needed. The flight planning created using Trimble® Yuma® tablet computer. During flight the UAV is monitored using ground control station (GCS). This will show the status and progress of the flight mission and also helps the operator to intervene or abort if needed. All the images have GPS positions and have high overlap percentage. This high overlap helps in creating high resolution orthophotos complete with georeference. This will simplify the usage in GIS applications. The strength of Gatewing X100 is that flights are conducted in a fully automated manner, from launch to landing. No piloting skills are required to fly the X100. Instead, you merely facilitate the aircraft’s operation, which includes selecting the area to be covered and indicating a takeoff and landing spot. Simply plan the area that needs to be scanned based on the easy-to-use software wizard, launch the device and let the X100 cover the pre- defined area (Anon-d, 2012).

Figure 1. Paper co-author Dr Laili holding and showing the Gatewing x 100 UAV model.

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The post processing of the image is handled by Gatewing’s Stretchout desktop software. The software uses advanced computer vision technology which automates raw image processing to deliver georeferenced orthophotos and accurate DSM. This LIDAR-quality with a pixel resolution of five centimeters at default altitude with 12-centimeter elevation accuracy orthophotos can be turned into terrain maps. However, this will need a high performance laptop/desktop but this will provide full control on processing time. There are alternative on processing the raw image by using Gatewing Cloud solution. This will alleviate the need to have high performance processing hardware, but this will need broadband internet for high volume data transfer and uncertainty of cloud service reliability. 2.2

Types of application using UAV

UAV can be remotely controlled, semi-autonomous, autonomous or a combination of these, capable of performing as many tasks as you can imagine, including saving your life. Nowadays, UAVs performs a variety of tasks in both military and civil/commercial markets. Indeed many different type of UAVs exist with different capabilities responding to different user needs (Bento, 2008). UAVs perform a wide variety of functions. The majority of these functions are some form of remote sensing; this is central to the reconnaissance role most UAVs fulfil. Less common UAV functions include interaction and transport. The next paragraphs describe some examples of various UAV applications. 2.2.1

Military

UAV has numerous significant applications in military, and one example is the Predator used by USA. Since 2007, Predator drones and the larger, more powerful Reapers — reinforced by Ravens and Scan Eagle UAVs and Fire Scout robot helicopters plus a small number of huge, high-flying Global Hawks have hunted Somali jihadists on scores of occasions. In all, air raids by manned and unmanned U.S. aircraft have killed at least 112 Somali militants and fifty-seven innocent civilians also died in the raids. The dead jihadists have included several senior members of al-Qaeda or the affiliated al-Shabaab extremist group. In January 2012, a drone launched three Hellfire missiles at a convoy near Mogadishu and killed Bilaal al- Barjawi, the mastermind of the 2010 bombing in Kampala, Uganda (Axe, 2012). 2.2.2

Quarry and mine site surveying

According to Steve Talbot (2012), a surveyor with Sibelco Australia, the Gatewing x100 UAV has provided a cheaper and safer way to ground survey and aerial survey at a number of its sites around Australia. He added that the Gatewing X100 UAV can be used at any time whereas with traditional aerial surveying, they can't fly over the area if there are clouds in the way, and they can only fly at certain times when they are in the area. In terms of safety, mine and quarry managers today are really minimising people walking around pits, around machinery and 6


so forth. Using Gatewing x100 minimises the danger of getting hit by a truck or falling over a face, or tripping or falling anywhere in the quarry, so it is a very safe way of surveying. 2.2.3

Topographic survey

DSM and orthophoto mapping are incredibly useful tools to mining companies in view of internal progress reporting, environmental issues, volume calculation and planning. When opening up new land in coastal areas, it is absolutely necessary for the surroundings to be surveyed continuously. Dredging companies spend a great deal of time and money on conducting terrestrial survey work, often on a large scale. According to Armin Weber (2012), the Gatewing X100 is a perfect addition to a total station, a GNSS receiver or a scanner. He used it to produce very accurate orthophotos of gravel pits and to determine digital terrain models and do volume calculations with it in a very short time. The X100 follows the preprogrammed flight path very precisely. Due to the difficult and rugged topography of Switzerland this is very helpful, especially to avoid human errors during the final approach and the landing. 2.2.4

Oil, gas and mineral exploration and production

UAVs can be used to perform geophysical surveys, in particular geomagnetic surveys, where the processed measurements of the differential Earth's magnetic field strength are used to calculate the nature of the underlying magnetic rock structure. A knowledge of the underlying rock structure helps trained geophysicists to predict the location of mineral deposits. The production side of oil and gas exploration and production entails the monitoring of the integrity of oil and gas pipelines and related installations. For above-ground pipelines, this monitoring activity could be performed using digital cameras mounted on one, or more, UAVs. The In View Unmanned Aircraft System is an example of a UAV developed for use in oil, gas and mineral exploration and production activities. 2.2.5

Transport

UAVs can transport goods using various means based on the configuration of the UAV itself. Most payloads are stored in an internal payload bay somewhere in the airframe. For many helicopter configurations, external payloads can be tethered to the bottom of the airframe. With fixed wing UAVs, payloads can also be attached to the airframe, but aerodynamics of the aircraft with the payload must be assessed. For such situations, payloads are often enclosed in aerodynamic pods for transport.

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2.2.6

Cemetery mapping and redevelopment

Recently, Avetics - Singapore-based aerial mapping company conducted aerial mapping of Bukit Brown, oldest cemetery in Singapore. During redevelopment of the cemetery, it could not be possible to recognise graves of about 2 metre on satellite images. So, the Singapore Government selected Avetics. It contributed to this project by providing accurate aerial maps of the cemetery. The company used UAVs to provide 10 times higher resolution images than satellite images. Now, it was easy to identify graves on images. Spatial arrangement of the graves was documented and archived for future reference. It uses a 1.4 metre wingspan plane that can withstand high crosswinds. The UAV flies at 250 metre and can map 1 to 2 square kilometre per flight. Every flight takes about 40 minutes and images produced are at 5 cm Ground Sampling Distance (GSD). Since images are in GEOTIFF format, it is directly compatible with GIS used (Anon-f, 2012). 2.2.7

Mapping of building property

Unmanned aircraft are uniquely capable of penetrating areas which may be too dangerous for piloted craft. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began utilizing the Aerosonde unmanned aircraft system in 2006 as a hurricane hunter. AAI Corporation subsidiary Aerosonde Pty Ltd. of Victoria (Australia), designs and manufactures the 35-pound system, which can fly into a hurricane and communicate near-real-time data directly to the National Hurricane Center in Florida. Beyond the standard barometric pressure and temperature data typically culled from manned hurricane hunters, the Aerosonde system provides measurements far closer to the water’s surface than previously captured. Further applications for unmanned aircraft can be explored once solutions have been developed for their accommodation within national airspace, an issue currently under discussion by the Federal Aviation Administration. UAVSI, the UK manufacturer also produce a variant of their Vigilant light UAS (20 kg) designed specifically for scientific research in severe climates such as the Antarctic. 2.2.8

Mapping of building property

Gatewing x100 UAV was also used by a spatial data provider company Sky Future Company, United Kingdom, to obtain proprietary recent images. According to them, the raw images are digitally processed into high-quality, true orthophotos using the digital surface model (DSM) as ground truth data. The orthophotos are seamless and display lively colours as they do not suffer from atmospheric haze effects. Full-resolution end products were available within hours or days following the survey, depending on the computing power and the size of the project. Using CIR camera, they created orthophotos in composite infrared (CIR) light, which is based on near infrared, red and green light as opposed to red, green and blue light (called visual or RGB imagery). This data is then used for creating maps with soil types based 8


on IR and colour reflection to create maps of a certain vegetation index that links colour to vegetation quality such as stress, disease and crop yield (Anon, 2012). 2.2.9

Mapping of environmental project

The majority of environmental laws and regulations were enacted prior to the emergence of a mature science of remote sensing, establishing roles and purpose becomes a challenge; a factor that may account for the continuing reliance on field inspection as the primary mode of enforcement. An example might involve the regular monitoring of a hazardous waste facility that detects a change in the reflectance characteristics of surrounding vegetation (Lein, 2009). Remote sensing technology enables to observe the features where access may be difficult, or where the resources to support on the ground inspection are limited. Satellite-based technologies can support routine review of performance criteria for a feature where these criteria can be resolved by the sensor. It can review the characteristics such as the storage materials physical placement, the location and flow of discharges into receiving bodies of water, the on-site containment of waste, the form and arrangement of design features (Lein, 2009). Remote sensing can be used for long term assessment to track the progress related to land use or land cover trends. It can be used to characterize rehabilitation and remediation or preservation activities. The long term assessment might include tracking of cumulative environmental impacts, surface mining reclamation, replace wetland, restore habitat and repair human induced environmental damage. Long term assessment can be used to provide critical information to ensure the success of remediation and restoration program implementation. It includes early warning of policy failure to mitigate strategies to enhance the effectiveness (Lein, 2009). 2.2.9.1 Contaminated site assessment

UAV can be used to collect the data and used for contaminated site assessment. The main industries sites, that could cause soil and groundwater contamination, including of agricultural land, landfill site, petroleum industries, railway yard and mining processing area. The contaminated site assessment activities comprises of a desktop study, conceptual site model (CSM) development and field investigation. UAVs is used to generate the aerial view map which could be used to collect the real time information as described below. The following information is specified in the “Contaminated Land Management and Control Guidelines No.2: Assessing and Reporting Contaminated Sites” published by Department of Environment Malaysia in June 2009:

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          

Location of above ground chemical and fuel storage tanks one the site. Present zoning of the site and zone categories of the properties at the surrounding site. Surrounding land uses. Contour or topographic maps. Information to establish whether the adjacent properties are, or have been, potential sources of contamination. Locations of surface water bodies (streams, rivers, estuaries) that these area potentially adversely affected by contaminated groundwater or surface drainage from the site. Location of human receptors within at minimum 500 meter radius from the site, especially receptors who located at the down gradient of the site. Site topography and surface run off patterns. Location of buildings. Site ground surface covering. Condition of nearby vegetation.

With the information collected using UAV, an initial CSM can be developed. A CSM is a system diagram identifying contaminant sources, routes of exposure (pathways), and receptors that affected by contaminants moving along those pathways. Once the CSM has been developed, a detailed investigation activity can be designed to refine the CSM and fill the data gaps (DOE, 2009). UAV may be used to conduct a research to develop a methodology to simulate subsurface water fluxes in complex urban environments using high resolution satellite data. High resolution satellite data was needed to obtain detailed information on land cover in urban areas. The gathered land cover information was used as input to determine the groundwater recharge and flow. Once the flow and fluxes have been characterized they can be used to identify the flow direction and fluxes from pollution sources on contaminated site (Dujardin et al). 2.2.9.2 Environmental Impact Assessment

With refer to the handbook of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines published by Department of Environment Malaysia, 5th edition, in October 2009, one of the important EIA findings is project description. The project description finding including of a maps and diagrams or photographs might also be useful to describe the scenario. By using the UAVs application, the details of aerial view could be generated to identify the physical condition of the pollution impacts, environmental receptors and sensitive area. By using the UAVs data, it could avoid any data gaps while collecting the site information during site walk activities.

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2.2.9.3 Climate Change and Air Quality Assessment

The projected influence of climate change on the timing and volume of phytomass production is expected to affect a number of ecosystem services. In order to develop coherent and locally effective adaptation and mitigation strategies, spatially explicit information on the observed changes is needed. Long-term variations of the vegetative growing season in different environmental zones of Europe have been derived by analysing time series of GIMMS NDVI data (E. Ivits et al). Because of the large areal coverage and continuous temporal sampling, remotely sensed data provide a picture of vegetation growth in space and time and thus have a great potential for monitoring vegetation dynamics from regional to global scales. Combining satellite derived phenology with climate data for climate change impact assessment (E. Ivits et al). Another example has demonstrated the application of a global BVOC (Biogenic Volatile organic compounds) emission model to a tropical landscape using high resolution remote sensing and site-specific field data. Unlike most previous BVOC modelling studies, the modelled results were validated using concentrations measured in the field, at precise locations and precise times corresponding to the computed model estimates (Nichol et al). 3.

UAV application in oil palm plantation

According to Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, Malaysia is working towards a national average crude palm oil fresh fruit bunch (FFB) output of 35 tonnes per hectare by 2020 from the current production of 20.2 tonnes per hectare (Anon, 2010). However, increase of output should be aligned with insignificant production cost increase if actual productivity is the concerned. Nevertheless, the current production cost of oil palm plantation is still high mainly due to high overhead and cost of inorganic fertilizer which consist of up to 60% of the production cost. Hence, Joo and Shaharuddin (2012) suggested to improve the efficiency of fertilizer use in the plantations by using the ‘4Rs’ of fertilization (i.e. right rate, right time, right method and right frequency), specialty fertilizers (e.g. controlled release fertilizer, vermiculite) and soil fertility. Besides that, ganoderma fungal invasion is also one of the most serious biological threats and a concern to the oil palm industry. It causes the basal stem rot in oil palm trees, threatening the life-span of the plant and significantly affecting both fruit quality and yield. According to Felda president Datuk Sabri Ahmad, generally, 30% to 70% of oil palm trees were lost due to the disease, causing major impact on planting resources and revenue. With a total oil palm area of 4.85 million hectares, the disease threatens the sustainability of the industry in Malaysia and

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could affect national revenue from palm oil which is estimated at RM70bil a year (STAR, 2011). Indeed, detecting plant health condition is of primary importance to agricultural field management (Bryant and Moran, 1999). In agriculture, the ability to delineate nutrient deficiency and disease infected areas in agricultural fields will improve the efficiency of prophylactic methods, which might consist of targeted agrochemical applications. Traditionally, nutrient deficient and disease damage assessment in plantation, have been done by using laboratory analysis and visual approach. However, these methods are time- consuming, labor– intensive, and costly for monitoring in large-scale plantation (Lucas, 1998). Therefore, there is a need to develop different approaches that can enhance or supplement conventional techniques. Detecting stress due to nutrient deficiency or ganoderma disease in oil palm plantation can be done by retrieval of spatial and spectral variability within crop field and is one of the major factors influencing farming management decisions making. Satellite imagery has been widely utilized to address this problem due to its capacity to provide the large spatial and temporal scales. But there are some basic limitations in this perspective. The first is the lack of timely imagery during the critical time of crop actively growing season when cloudy weather makes little chance of image acquisition window available. The second is the difficulties to reach a favourable trade-off among spatial and spectral resolution and data cost (Tao Goa, 2012). Comprehending this, a Malaysian spatial data provider company named Braintree Technology Sdn Bhd engaged the latest UAV model, Gatewing x100 to capture real-time spatial data. This is for the purpose of plantation mapping, plantation evaluation, plantation design and planning, plantation database development and analysis for production and fertilizer application towards precision farming and also planning for plantation development in accordance with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Principles & Criteria (Anon-e, 2012). The palm tree inventory is been carried out by using automatic counting on high resolution of value added remote sensing data. A pilot project using Gatewing x100. UAV conducted at Bahau oil palm plantation found out that the accuracy of tree counting is found to be 99.9%. Besides that it had also successfully conducted road and infrastructure oil palm mapping as well as 3D profile of the plantation as shown in the pictures below (Geomatika Beyond, 2012).

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Figure 2. Example of UAV raw image of natural color taken at Bahau oil palm plantation, Negeri Sembilan showing road pattern and road density of newly cleared plantation for replanting.

Figure 3. Example of digital surface model (DSM) and contour derived from raw UAV image taken at Bahau oil palm plantation, Negeri Sembilan.

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Figure 4. Example of UAV close-up raw image of natural color taken at oil palm plantation Terengganu showing high resolution of palm canopy.

Figure 5. Example of UAV raw image of natural color taken at oil palm plantation Terengganu showing polygons of palm canopy for automated enumeration.

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Figure 6. Example of UAV raw image of composite Infra-red taken at oil palm plantation Terengganu, showing stress palm.

On the whole, applying UAV as a platform for real-time spatial data provider in oil palm plantation have several advantages over satellite based image acquisition systems (Anon-c, 2012), including:  





Acquire imagery below the cloud canopy allowing for imagery acquisition even on cloudy days. Satellite based systems may go months before your area of interest has imagery acquired for it. Increased temporal resolution means UAV can be deployed to acquire imagery where you need, when you need. Conventional satellite based systems may only acquire imagery for your area of interest every 12-16 days. Spatial resolution of 15 cm is 40,000 times better than that of some of the most widely used satellite systems and has 44 times more resolution than the most advanced satellite based systems currently in operation. Satellite based systems have a lag between when the imagery is acquired and when you can purchase it. With UAV you will have the imagery within minutes of it landing and within a few hours if more complex image processing is required.

15


4.

Conclusion and recommendations

Knowing exactly how many palms in a plantation and its health status is the most important basic information influencing farming management decisions making. This information can be acquired by the retrieval of spatial and spectral variability within crop field for enumerating palm and identifying its stress. Since acquisition of satellite data is restricted by several factors, the most reliable mechanism to acquire this information precisely at real time is by using UAV as the platform. Hence, it is highly recommended that all oil palm plantations in Malaysia to utilize this safe cost and efficient newly developed technology in acquisition of spatial information to enhance crop management and production. Environmental compliance assessment and enforcement are complex, labor intensive tasks that would benefit from some form of decision support. Remote sensing has been suggested as a technology that could provide assistance to environmental compliance activities. However, applications beyond land cover mapping have not been reported in day to day operational settings. In many respects a gap exists between the remote sensing research community and environmental professionals engaged in data collection and analysis activities that remote sensing technology can support.

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References Anon (2006), “UVS-International-“UAV System producers & Models: All UAV Systems Referenced,” 2006. Anon, (2010), Malaysia Aims for Oil Palm FFB Output Of 35 Tonnes Per Hectare By 2020, PalmOilHQ-Market Intelligence News and Market, February 2, 2010. Anon-a (2012), Retrieved from http://www.sky-futures.com/managed-service/farming.html Anon-b (2012), Aerial Mapping In Your Hands With The Revolutionary – Gatewing x100. Anon-c (2012), Crop Cam brochure, Retrieved from http://www.cropcam.com/products.htm Anon-d (2012), Gatewing-A Trimble Company, Retrieved from http://www.gatewing.com/X100 Anon-e (2012), Retrieved from http://braintreekl.blogspot.com/p/oil-palm-info.html Anon-f (2012), UAVs for cemetery mapping and redevelopment, Geospatial World Digest, September 2012. Armin Weber (2012), Topographic surveying, Gatewing-A Trimble Company - Retrieved from http://www.gatewing.com/references Axe D. (2012), Hidden History: America’s Secret Drone War in Africa, Danger Room, Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/08/somalia-drones/all/ Bento M.D.F (2008), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles : An Overview, Insidegnss January/February 2008 pp 54-61. Bryant RB, Moran MS. (19990, Determining crop water stress from crop temperature variability. Proceedings of the Fourth International Airborne Remote Sensing Conference and Exhibition/21st Canadian symposium on Remote Sensing, Ontario, Canada, 1999, 289–296. Contaminated Land Management and Control Guidelines No. 2: Assessing and Reporting Contaminated Sites, DOE Malaysia, June 2009. E. Ivits ., M. Cherlet, G. Toth, S. Sommer, W. Mehl, J. Vogt, F. Micale (2012). Combining satellite derived phenology with climate data for climate change impact assessment. Global and Planetary Change 88-89, 2012, 85-97. Handbook of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Guideline, Department of Environment Malaysia, 5th edition, in October 2009. Fransaer D., Lewyckyj N., Vanderhaegehen F., Everaerts J., (2004), Pegasus : Business Model For A Stratospheric Long Endurance Uav System For Remote Sensing Proceedings Of The International Society Of Photogrammetry And Remote Sensing XXth ISPRS Congress Technical Commission II July 12-23, 2004, Istanbul. Goovaerts, P. 2000. Estimation or simulation of soil properties? An optimization problem with conflicting criteria. Geoderma 97:165–187. James K. Lein (2009). Implementing remote sensing strategies to support environmental compliance assessment: A neural network application. Environmental Science & Policy 12 , 2009 , 948 – 958. Janet Nichol, Man Sing Wong (2011). Estimation of ambient BVOC emissions using remote sensing techniques. Atmospheric Environment 45 (2011) 2937-2943. J. Dujardin, O. Batelaan, F. Canters, S. Boel, C. Anibas, J. Bronders (2011). Improving surface– subsurface water budgeting using high resolution satellite imagery applied on a brownfield, Science of the Total Environment 409, 2011, 800–809. Joo K.G. And Shaharuddin J. (2012), Challenges To The Plantation Division, University Of Nottingham Global Research Workshop, 23 – 27 April 2012. Lin Zongjian A (2008), UAV For Mapping—Low Altitude Photogrammetric Survey, Proceedings Of

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st The International Society Of Photogrammetry And Remote Sensing (ISPRS) XXI Congress At Beijing, China 3-11 July 2008 Pp 1183-1186. Lucas J.A., (1998) Plant pathology and plant pathogens. Blackwell, Oxford. Singh A.K., (2012), Precision Farming, Indian Agriculture Statistic and Research Institute (IASRI) ebook, http://www.iasri.res.in/ebook/EBADAT/ STAR, (2011), Felda creates world’s STARonline, Friday December 16, 2011.

first

marker

to

detect

ganoderma

disease,

The

Steve Talbot (2012), Quarry and Mine Site Surveying, Gatewing-A Trimble Company Retrieved from http://www.gatewing.com/references Wahid, O., Nordiana A. A , Tarmizi, A M, (2005), Satellite Mapping Of Oil Palm Land Use, MPOB Information Series , June 2005, MPOB TT No. 255 Wahid O., Xaviar A., Tarmizi A.M., and brahim S. (2002), Precision Agriculture: Fertilizer Management Map Part 1: Spatial And Correlation Analysis Of Yield And Leaf Nutrient, MPOB Information Series, May 2002, MPOB TT No. 128. Wikipedia (2012), Unmanned aerial vehicle, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Unmanned_aerial_vehicle

18


Climate Change Effects on Historical Forest and Variability Landscapes in Central Alborz Protected Area, Iran Mohsen Goodarzi¹, Nafise Haghtalab² and Majid Habibi Nokhandan³ ¹, ²Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Malayer, Iran [email protected], [email protected] ³Head of Climatological Research Institute, Mashhad, Iran [email protected]

ABSTRACT Central Alborz protected area in northern Iran includes the unique Caspian forests. But, last years, climate change caused by human activities, has reduced area and density of that. Quantifying the historical forest and variability of landscape composition and structure using simulation modeling is becoming an important means of assessing current landscape condition and prioritizing landscapes for ecosystem restoration. However, most simulated time series are generated using static climate conditions which fail to account for the predicted major changes in future climate. In this paper, climate change was modeled by using a stochastic weather generator (LARS-WG) and determines future climate change has an effect on landscape dynamics. Thus, factors such as precipitation, minimum and maximum daily temperatures in 1985-2005 entered and climate change during 2010 to 2039 has been modeled. On the other hand, by using remote sensing tools, the destruction of the protected area and landscape variability in this period is measured. Consequently, the reduction in winter rainfall, increasing in heavy floods and rising temperature, lead to a reduction in forest landscape, and pastures and residential areas is increasing dramatically. Forest landscape has changed to grasslands and arid areas. Keywords: climate change- landscape- forest- modeling.

1.

Introduction

The Earth's climate has changed many times during the planet's history, with events ranging from ice ages to long periods of warmth. Historically, natural factors such as volcanic eruptions, changes in the Earth's orbit, and the amount of energy released from the Sun have affected the Earth's climate. Beginning late in the 18th century, human activities associated with the Industrial Revolution have also changed the composition of the atmosphere and therefore very likely are influencing the Earth's climate (NRC1, 2006). Alcamo et al. (2000) found that between 1995 and 2025, the areas affected by severe water stress will expand and intensify, growing globally from 36.4 to 38.6 million km2, and this is especially true in Southern and Western Africa and South Asia. The population of these areas will also grow 1

National Research Council 1


from 2.1 to 4.0 billion people. In river basins under severe water stress, there will be strong competition for scarce water resources between various stakeholders. The average increase in global temperature will lead to changes in the amount, type and distribution of the spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation and have different consequences in different scales; on top of that they get influenced by natural and artificial ecosystems, critical boundary displacement fields and different biome and imbalanced biological diversity of the population. Humidity and temperature changes in the components as input devices in systematic nature in different geographical areas with different intensity, this means that under current conditions it should be called the period of rapid change, have to waiting for dire consequences for the manipulation of human in the nature (Andersen, H.E, 2006). Natural resources in the country are very important. There is a valuable resource in our lives such as land, water and soil that if not protect them may go away forever. Protected areas as genetic resources and natural heritage of the country have effective role Recreational and spiritual needs of people. The concept of protected areas as a key mechanism in storage systems is essential for the survival and life of material and spiritual needs of human beings is considered. Moreover, the increasing economic importance of them in tourism as a major factor of rational management of resources has found their proper place. The role of parks and natural resources as effective tool in preservation of genetic diversity and conservation of endangered species in the natural sequence is so obvious that there is no need for arguments and reasons (Majnoonian, H. 2001). Water, soil, forest, atmosphere and organisms organize foundation for studies of land use. Changes and climatic fluctuations affect on the local and regional patterns of agricultural production and land use, and will follow changes in the economic systems. Climate change also has a large impact on form factors so that affects all physical, biological and man-maid aspects. Explore models and scenarios for the feasibility of providing new biophysical and socio-economic conditions is necessary (Roter, R. and Geijn, S.C., 2002). In this paper, the climate of Central Alborz Protected Area in Iran is studied with respect to changes in the precipitation and temperature data. The study is based on the data from synoptic stations in this protected area, and a statistical weather generating tool, Long Ashton Research Station Weather Generator (LARS-WG), is used to downscale the climate change based on the Echo-G (the Hamburg atmosphere-ocean coupled circulation model with the resolution of 50,000 km2)model. Thus, factors such as precipitation, minimum and maximum daily temperatures in 1985-2005 entered and climate 2


change during 2010 to 2039 has been modeled. On the other hand, by using remote sensing tools, the destruction of the protected area and landscape variability in this period is measured. By examining the correlations of various factors the damage is estimated in the next. 2.

Study area

Study area includes the Central Alborz Protected Area. This area is located in the Middle East and Iran. With an area about 412,819 ha in northeast Iran is located in Mazandaran and Tehran province (Figure 1). That is among the geographic lengths 51: 02 to 52: 00 East and latitude 47: 35 to 40: 36 North (EPA report, 2002).

Figure 1. Location of Central Alborz protected area in Iran and Mazandaran and Tehran provinces.

3.

Methodology

Racsko et al. (1991) and Semenov and Barrow (1997) provided a downscaling method of LARS-WG that uses the lengths of wet and dry day series, daily precipitation and daily solar radiation as inputs. It does not directly use large-scale atmospheric variables, and the local station climate variables are adjusted proportionally to present the climate change (Sajjad Khan et al., 2006). This version includes the data for different GCM models, including the Echo-g, which will be implemented in this study. To verify the results of the simulations, the LARS-WG implements a number of statistical tests to compare the synthetic data that are produced by the weather generator to the observed data in the baseline period; this comparison tests how well the downscaling process performs in reporting the characteristics of the observed data. The means, variances and distributions of wet and dry series, the precipitation, the minimum and maximum temperatures, and the solar 3


radiation are compared, as are the hot and frost days. The test values were considered to be significant at the 5% significance level. The monthly means for the precipitation, minimum temperature, maximum temperature and solar radiation were compared using the t-test. For each month, F-tests were conducted on the variances of all of the daily values for the month across all of the years and on the variances of the monthly mean values for the different years. The distributions of hot and frost spells, as well as wet and dry periods, were compared using the Chi-2 test. These tests are based upon the assumption that the observed and synthetic weather data are both random samples from existing distributions, and they test the null hypothesis that the observed and generated distributions are the same. Each test produces a pvalue that measures the probability that both sets of data come from the same distribution. On the other hand, the map of land use changes in protected area, with using satellite images for 1985, 1995 and 2005 and ArcGIS, ArcView, Ermapper , Erdas software, was built and changes calculated. Finally by using SPSS software Correlations between different variables Such as forests with population or forests with an annual rainfall has taken place. The parameters with correlations between variables with more than 90% were selected for further analysis and the effect of each on the other has account. So, the results are 3 functions in following: forest =f(-1.5pop, -0.03t-max-abs, 0.45t-min-abs, 0.9t-min, -0.55t-max, 0.48t-mean, 126rain, -14.12 res, -19 agr) Grassland =f (0.4pop, 0.2t-max-abs, 0.1 tmin-abs,-0.16tmin,-0.8tmax,0.7tmean,-41rain, 0.4 res, 6.3 agr) Poor Range =f (0.9pop,-0.2tmin, 0.25 tmax, 0.2tmean,-57rain, 8.6 res, 10.3 agr) (Population =pop ، Annual Absolute Maximum Temperature = t-max-abs ،Absolute Annual Minimum Temperature = t-min-abs ،Annual Temperature Minimum =t-min ،Maximum Annual Temperature = t-max ،The Mean Annual Temperature = t-mean ،Residential Area = res and Agriculture = agr)

4.

The results of the study

In this study, data from meteorological stations in Mazandaran and Tehran province have been modeled and assessed of climate change in the central Alborz Mountains. Climate modeling results show that in the period 2010-2039: 

Decrease in rainfall in the Mazandaran province, So that about 4% lower and 8% increases is expected in the summer. Tehran province also 4


reduces rainfall in the next period, approximately 11% increase in winter and will be reduced about 33% in summer.  The mean monthly temperature in Tehran province with the highest increase in January 0.8 ° C and in April, about 0.8 ° C will decrease. In Mazandaran province, it is predicted to increase in winter about 0.7 degrees and fall about 0.3 ° C.  The average number of hot days is likely decrease in Mazandaran, The greatest loss is in August 3 days per each year. In Tehran, reducing hot days in June to its highest value is about 1.5 day per year. While, in September, the number of hot days increase 0.5 days per year.  The average number of frost days will decrease in future. The greatest loss in Mazandaran is in February for about 1.4 and in Tehran in January about 0.7 day per year. According to the results, in general, the Central Alborz Protected Area, monthly rainfall will decrease about 4.8 mm at 2020 compared to 1985-2008. However, the reduction is much greater and remarkable in the south than in the north region. Very heavy rainfall and floods in the region will increase. The mean monthly temperature will increase 0.2° C approximately. The maximum annual absolute temperature increase 0.7° C and absolute annual minimum temperature reduce 0.3° C. The colder winter and warmer autumn is predicted. The temperature variation between the seasons is increased. But the hot and freezing days in this region decreases. Torrential precipitation generally increases in early 2020. Rainfall in this region can be found more showery. Very heavy rainfall, as heavy rains increase, so would have increased about 11%. But very heavy rainfall in the southern region will decrease, So that the threshold shall be decrease from 69 to 65.3 mm and decrease about 5.35%. It is possible that the storm rainfall and floods over the past decade, 2020, show a significant increase in the northern part. Rains and floods in the southern part in compare with southern part, with less intense but with shorter return period will happen.

5


Figure 2. Changes in land use area in Central Alborz Protected Area (land sat images 1985, 1995, 2005).

Rain has the greatest effect on forests, so that by decreasing the rain the forest area has decreased during the study time. The next important thing is increase in agriculture and horticulture and residential area. So forest has been destroyed. By the loss of forests, pasture, wooded areas and poor will increase. As can be seen in the respective functions, rainfall and pasture have the greatest effect on wooded area and agriculture and horticulture. In other words, by decreasing rainfall the forest area loss and pasture and wooded area will be added. With increasing population, higher rates of forest conversion to pasture, wooded residential area occur. Increasing temperature in the region has a negative impact on forest and causes loss of vegetation in the area. With increasing mean annual temperature in the study area during the period of 30 years forests and wooded area reduced meadows and pastures has increased. 5.

Conclusion

In this study by using Lars-WG and satellite images effects of climate change on forest landscapes in northern Iran Hyrcanian unique period 1985 to 2005 is estimated. Based on the results of the precipitation has the greatest effect on forests, as by decreasing rain, the forest area also is increased. In the second level is decrease in agriculture and horticulture and residential areas that cause to destroy in forest. With decrease in forest area, wooded lands area increase. According to the results, by changing in climate land use area of the protected area has changed. According to the formula, in the future, with the current trend continues landscape change will occur and the destruction continues. Gradually landscape will change from forest to pasture.

6


References Alcamo, J., Henrichs, T., & Rosch, T. (2000). World water in 2025, global modeling and scenario analysis for the world commission on water for 21st century. University of Kassel, Germany: Report A0002, Center for Environmental System Research. Andersen, H. E., Kronvang, B., Larsen, S. E., Hoffmann, C. C., Jensen, T. S., & Rasmussen, E. K. (2006). Climate-change impacts on hydrology and nutrients in a Danish Lowland river basin. Science of the Total Environment, 365: 223-237. IPCC. (2007). Climate change 2007. The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning (Eds.)]. National Research Council (NRC). (2006). Surface temperature reconstructions for the last 2,000 years. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Racsko, P., Szeidl, L., & Semenov, M. (1991). A serial approach to local stochastic weather models. Ecological Modeling 57, 27–41. Sajjad Khan, M., Coulibaly, P., & Dibike, Y. (2006). Uncertainty analysis of statistical downscaling methods. Journal of Hydrology 319, 357–382. Semenov, M. A., Brooks, R. J., Barrow, E. M., & Richardson, C. W. (1998). Comparison of the WGEN and LARS-WG stochastic weather generators in divers climates. Climate Research 10, 95-107. Semenov, M. A., & Brooks, R. J. (1999). Spatial interpolation of the LARS-WG stochastic weather generator in Great Britain. Climate Research 11, 137–148. Majnoonian, H. (2001). Strategies and international treaties protect living resources and nature. EPA. Roter, R., & Geijn, S. C. (2002). Climate change effects on plant growth, crop yield. Jurnal of Climate Change 43:133-138. Environmental Management Plan of the Central Alborz. (2002). EPA.

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Sustainable Building Project: Overcoming the Barriers through a Sustainable Planning Process Nor Kalsum Mohd Isa1, Mohd Yazid Mohd Yunos2 Anuar Alias3 and Zulkiflee Abdul Samad4 1 Faculty of Human Science, Sultan Idris Education University 2 Faculty of Design and Architecture, University Putra Malaysia 3,4 Faculty of the Built Environment, University of Malaya

ABSTRACT Sustainable building projects are naturally different from conventional projects due to the requirement of special materials and building practices, as well as the management commitment to sustainability. Therefore, a sustainable building project requires additional considerations on many aspects more than the conventional project. Although there are many researches on the paybacks of a sustainable building, nevertheless, huge numbers of barriers also contributes to the multiple failing of the projects within the market. There are five (5) main categories of barriers of sustainable building project deliveries that were reported, which are; (1) knowledge gaps, (2) communication shortfall, (3) ownership structure and operating cost responsibility, (4) funding issues and risks, and (5) process issues. Most researchers believe that the planning process holds the strategic position in overcoming the barriers all together. Modifications should be made to the traditional planning process and practices of the project in order to minimize risks and improve the chances of delivering the project successfully. Thus, this paper offers ideas and recommendations on the principles that should be considered throughout the project planning process towards delivering a successful performance of a sustainable building project. Keywords: Sustainable Building Project; Construction Project; Planning Process; Barriers

1.

Introduction

The growing awareness of a sustainable development’s potential and benefits result in dramatic increases in the demand of a sustainable construction project (Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011; Zainul Abidin, 2009). There are many researches to show that sustainability in construction projects would improve their performance (Zainul Abidin, 2010; Kamara et al., 2001), such as, increasing the quality of the output, productivity and profitability, whole life cost reduction and business enhancement (Hayles, 2004; The Economist, 2004), yet sustainable building construction projects are still dealing with heightened perceptions of the risks related to sustainability, especially the need for managing the project with tighter budgets, profit margins and schedules (Doyle, 2009; Choi, 2009). The sustainable building projects are claimed to carry the risk of a higher first cost associated due to the requirement of more time to design and the need to bring together appropriately skilled professionals (Doyle et al., 2009), the need to study sustainable buildings and become familiar with research reports, the preparedness to take risks in developing new building prototypes, the need for a proper understanding of the relationship between capital and the running costs in financial, energy and environmental terms (Francis et al., 2009), personnel hours (Korkmaz et 1


al., 2010) and the use of innovative materials and technologies (CBRE, 2009; McKee, 1998). Additionally, the risks become higher, especially in this uncertain business of property development (CBRE, 2009). Even if it is widely held that the longer term cost savings in the operation and maintenance of a sustainable building enables a recovery of the initial cost, unfortunately, the benefits of operational savings are no longer important, especially to speculative developers who have no long term interest in operating or leasing a building (Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011; Choi, 2009). There are several major categories of barriers that should be overcome in order to encourage the development of a sustainable building project and gaining full benefits from them, which are: i. ii. iii. iv. v.

Knowledge gap in sustainable construction among the stakeholders (Choi, 2009). Communication loss among the stakeholders (Choi, 2009; Mochal & Krasnoff, 2010). Funding issues (Robichaud and Anantatmula, 2011; Korkmaz et al., 2010; Choi, 2009 and Francis et al., 2009). The risks of developing a new building approach (CBRE, 2009; Choi, 2009; Francis et al., 2009; McKee, 1998). The process issues due to the lack of expertise and resources for a sustainable building project which cause delay (Doyle et al., 2009, Choi, 2009).

To surmount the barriers, there is a need to search and introduce effective ways to deliver a sustainable building project. Significant adjustments to the conventional project planning process should be explored. This paper offers ideas and recommendations that are summarized from various sources of sustainable building projects’ studies and experiences on how to plan the project in a sustainable manner within the timeframe and with reasonable cost, having excellent quality and fulfilling the stakeholders’ satisfaction. This paper is very useful for the construction project stakeholders, especially for those who are directly involved in the planning process of a sustainable project. 2.

Planning process for a sustainable building project

Most sustainable building projects do not meet their targets due to the failure of a planning process and practice in dealing with the barriers (Choi, 2009). A sustainable project is frequently regarded as a sustainable product such as a sustainable design and a sustainable building only rather than the process of completion of the projects whole life as it is completed (Wu & Low, 2010). Consequently, a common practice in determining the costs and benefits between a traditional development and a sustainable project is a comparison of the costs of comparable features. Thus, it is not surprising that sustainable building projects are usually seen as the more expensive option than a conventional building (Wu & Low, 2010; Choi, 2009). Regrettably, the implicit benefits which are formed by the sustainable building project, such as an integrated design, reduce change, and positive impacts on the community are usually not realized. As 2


building expenses are never limited to just initial material and service costs, these implicit benefits using life cycle analysis are seen as a fairer assessment. Planning takes the longest time of the process in project management, approximately 35% of the project manager’s time over the life of the project (Clark, 2002). It is also the most important process conducted in managing the whole life of construction projects (Kerzner, 2006; Zwikael et al., 2005; Turner, 1993). Hence, the planning process holds the strategic position to ensure a successful sustainable building project delivery. As proclaimed by Zainul Abidin (2009) and Hayles (2004), raising sustainability awareness early in the planning process of a project is very important in order to optimize the influential potential in determining the course of the project. The planning stage also brings together the relevant stakeholders early during and throughout the planning and design process of the project which allows everyone involved to understand and perform their part in the project (HRDC, 2003). Incorporation of a sustainable development concept after the planning stage will be a burden and increase cost to the budget (Zainul Abidin, 2009). 3.

Project planning

A project plan is a set of detailed directions for project team members on what must be done, when and what resources are needed in order to produce project deliverables successfully (Meredith & Mantel, 2006). There are several definitions of a planning process listed by Ritz (1994, p. 88) as follows: i. ii.

iii.

Planning is a bridge between the experience of the past and the proposed action that produces a favourable result in the future. Planning is a precaution by which undesirable effects or unexpected happenings can be reduced and thereby eliminate confusion, waste, effects and loss of efficiency. Planning is the prior determining and specifying of the factors, forces, effects, and relationships necessary to reach the desired goals.

These definitions and practices ensure an efficient planning process is the best place to start toward delivering a sustainable building project successfully. 3.1

The project planning process

Several planning processes should be executed when developing a project plan. There are various different sources of project planning processes that exist. However, the main processes that are discussed by most of the sources still focus towards the same main principles of a planning process. For instance, Rusell & Taylor (2003) identify seven (7) planning processes which include defining project objectives, identifying 3


activities, establishing precedence relationships, time estimates, determining project completion time, comparing project schedule objectives and determining resource requirements to meet the objectives. Meanwhile, Clement & Gido (2006) list the planning process as defining project objective, determining work elements or activities to be performed, developing a responsibility matrix, defining activities, developing the network plan, cost and resource planning and time estimates. Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) has listed sixteen (16) commonly used project planning processes as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Project plan development Scope planning Scope definition Activity definition Activity sequencing Activity duration estimating Schedule development Resource planning

9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Cost estimating Cost budgeting Quality planning Organizational planning Staff acquisition Communications planning Risk management planning Procurement planning

For the purpose of this study, PMBOK guide is chosen as the main source as this body of knowledge is recognized as a standard by the American National Standard Institute and continuously updated by project management practitioners, as well as used by most of the large organizations all around the world (Zwikael, 2009). 4.

Overcoming the barriers of sustainable building project through a sustainable planning process

It is very difficult to achieve a high level sustainable outcome without a proper planning process. Recent researches agree that there are four (4) main principles of a sustainable project planning process that should be considered towards facilitating the development of a sustainable building project successfully which are as discussed in section 4.1 to section 4.4 below; 4.1

Sustainable project orientation

Planning process of a sustainable building project is different from the conventional ones due to its complexity and holistic approach. It is a sustainable development oriented planning process which held responsibility toward delivering sustainable goals (Molenaar et al., 2009). To deliver a sustainable project, sustainability goals and project priorities must be set since the strategic planning stage of the project as they establishes the framework in which all future project decisions are made (Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011). The early planning of the project generally includes a group discussion about the needs and requirements for the project. At this stage, the level of understanding and commitment to sustainability may vary with different parties. They should be involved in a planning process which is the starting point of achieving sustainability to realize the goal of sustainability (Wu & Low, 2010). Thus, sustainability 4


principles should be introduced to the team members as early as this stage so that they are able to improve the end result by ensuring that all building systems work cooperatively in the most cost effective manner (Glavinich, 2008). There are several requirements that need to be considered and applied throughout the planning process of a sustainable building project, such as create sustainable development requirements in planning, contract and construction drawing, prepare a project quality management plan focused on sustainability and stakeholders expectation (Mochal & Krasnoff, 2010), prepare energy used forecasting, a site specific sustainability plan, post occupancy evaluation and a corrective action plan if the overall occupant is dissatisfied with the overall comfort of the project or building (GBI, 2009). The process can be further improved by improving communication among the stakeholders (The State of Minnesota, 2009; Mochal & Krasnoff, 2010). 4.2

Integrated design process

The traditional project management process runs linearly and usually has minimal input from engineering disciplines, operation and maintenance groups or the outside during the planning and design stage (Doyle et al., 2009; Choi, 2009). Unlike a conventional project, a sustainable building project works best when the expanded group of stakeholders work together to concentrate the majority of their creative efforts very early in the planning process (Riley et al., 2004; Prowler, 2011; Muldavin, 2010; Department of Health & Human Services, 2008). A sustainable building project is delivered successfully by applying an integrated design process through the planning process which incorporates six (6) main concepts as follows; a.

Committed and collaborated project team members

An integrated design approach of a sustainable building project requires all stakeholders who are involved and influenced at every cycle of the building’s whole life (Muldavin, 2010; The State of Minnesota, 2009; Department of Health & Human Services, 2008) based on the suitability of the project, to be committed and collaborated. The team members who are involved early on and throughout the project in the planning and development stages to address project goals, needs and potential barriers in order to optimize the whole construction project (Muldavin, 2010; Choi, 2009). However, depending on the developer’s goals and the type of project, an integrated design team will include different combinations of professionals to accommodate the project’s specific skills and service needs. It is crucial for all members of the integrated design team to share their knowledge and work together throughout the planning process to ensure that the systems they put in place are complementary. It is also vital to include market representatives and local authorities who may financially support or approve the project in the planning phase so that the approval process can go smoothly, or offer perks and incentives that are exclusive to sustainable projects.

5


On contrary, the linear and split processes of traditional construction management methodologies can cause rework later in the project and add further costs for features that are unnecessary for the whole building system (Choi, 2009). It is less expensive to address sustainable issues in the planning stage of the project than to work them in during the implementation stage (Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011; Doyle et al., 2009). Hence, an integrated design approach which involves multidisciplinary project team members can be a very effective tool to understand the clients’ needs and requirements, evaluate and correct design errors, determine proper sustainable material usage and installation, and foster communication among all of the stakeholders (Choi, 2009). b.

Early involvement during the planning and design stage

Bringing all of the stakeholders together as early as possible during the planning and design stage allows the project team to take a whole building approach towards achievement of a sustainable building at lower costs (Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011; Beheiry et al., 2006). The team will also have more influence on some of the most significant and important project decisions, such as site selection, strategic planning, and the preliminary design concepts. Early involvement also allows the project team to create a highly effective analysis of the project and to leverage synergies between various building functions and site characteristics (Zainul Abidin, 2009; Bogenstätter, 2000). Inputs from their collaboration are able to minimize sustainable building costs throughout all phases of a building’s lifecycle. Using this approach can organize priorities to align with a project’s budget. It can also help in avoiding cost overruns, minimize delays, and decrease the change orders during construction. In addition, it can streamline operations and the maintenance of the building in the post-occupancy phase, also provide lower utility and maintenance costs because of its superior planning and design from the onset. A welldesigned sustainable building benefits from full recognition of its features as well as a smooth approval process from the local planning or buildings department (Choi, 2009). c.

Project documentations, strategic and comprehensive plan

It is important to incorporate the requirements for a sustainable building project and an integrated design process into the project documents in the strategic and comprehensive plan. The cost, benefits and the performance of a sustainable building and sustainability issues must be documented and communicated to expand the market for a sustainable development (The State of Minnesota, 2009). To support a sustainable building project, all professionals, customers and other stakeholders, will need to be educated on sustainable buildings including the expected performance of sustainable building features (Choi, 2009; Mochal & Krasnoff, 2008) so that they can better gauge the value of their investment and purchases.

6


d.

Whole building design and system analysis

Recent researches show that whole building designs or the holistic approach is very important towards a successful sustainable building project (Prowler, 2011; Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011). It requires an integrated design team and all affected stakeholders work together to evaluate the design for the life cycle cost analysis, quality of life, future flexibility, efficiency, overall impact, productivity, post-occupancy evaluation and how the occupants will be enlivened (GBI, 2009). It draws from the knowledge pool of the stakeholders across the life cycle of the project. A whole-systems analysis that treats the building as a system and takes into account the interactions and synergies between the different components also needs to be done (Glavinich, 2008). Besides, a commissioning process should be added during the design process and is described in a specific commissioning section (Muldavin, 2010) e.

Reflect user community and the project stakeholders

Planning should reflect the user’s community and all the project stakeholders for the ultimate excellent performance and satisfaction (Mochal & Krasnoff, 2010). This can be achieved by involving at least a representative of the end user and a local community representative, including a local planner in support of the project (Department of Health & Human Services, 2008). f.

Effective communication and charrette

A common challenge in conventional construction projects is a lack of effective communication among various technical experts who tend to use their own tools, protocol, and industry standards for making decisions and tracking information (Sappe, 2007). This situation makes it difficult to manage changes, mitigate risks, and contain costs with a holistic view of the project (Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011). This inhibits the project from taking advantage of system optimization, which can save time and money (Reed & Gordon, 2000). Buildings not only affect their immediate users but also impact a broad range of other people, land use and communities (Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011, Kibert, 2005). Therefore, communicating with stakeholders early during the planning stage of the project assures that key groups understand and support the project’s sustainable goals. Thus, the most effective way to gather input from a broad range of stakeholders, and to ensure that they are fully informed, is the incorporation of charrette at the beginning of the project, this is seen as very significant. This involves regular progress meetings and a multiday charrette since the planning process has to be applied in this sustainable building project for effective communication and exchanging ideas among the project stakeholders group. The level of communication and an inclusive design charrette process across the project team and careful project planning, needs to be enhanced to minimize or 7


eliminate the extra cost of the sustainable building project (Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011; The State of Minnesota, 2009). The adoption of these six (6) concepts in an integrated design process ensures the lowering of overall building costs by the promotion of synergies between building systems that may minimize or eliminate the need for certain building features. Early incorporation and the modelling of design features may minimize change orders during later stages where costs may be much higher and enable the production of a more efficient, durable structure, which will lower long term operating and replacement costs (Choi, 2009; Doyle et al., 2009). 4.3

Integrated project team

To plan for a successful sustainable building project, the stakeholders who are involved in the planning process must fully understand the issues and concerns of all parties and interact closely throughout the planning processes of the project. Each project shall have a core integrated project team that shall be cross-functional to accomplish the various tasks of the project. Stakeholders from the operation and maintenance group, financial, environmental, health and safety, security, information technology and facilities, or space planning, also should be included and are involved and maintained during the whole process of project planning and delivery (The State of Minnesota, 2009; Department of Health & Human Services, 2008). They have to be committed and having core knowledge of sustainable development and sustainable buildings design (Mochal and Krasnoff, 2010; Department of Health & Human Services, 2008). The sustainable development education needs to reach beyond designers and architects for the acceptance of the sustainable building construction. The project personnel should be educated to ensure they focus on sustainability in their work for the projects (Halliday, 2008). Besides, the market representatives, such as lenders, appraisers, and brokers also should be educated on sustainable development issues because they determine property value and viability (Choi, 2009; Glavinich, 2008). Moreover, to the marketing and finance fields that support these projects, the development of a sustainable building education is most urgent in the engineering, construction, maintenance, vendor and operations fields (Mochal & Krasnoff, 2010). The project team members should be informed and fully understand sustainability issues. Without a sustainable building project knowledge base, they will not be able to evaluate and deliver such projects accurately and effectively (Choi, 2009; Mochal & Krasnoff, 2010). Sustainability quality and capability should be considered during the selection of the team members during the feasibility and planning stage. They are selected based on their familiarity with the product type and market, and will have exposure to all phases of the sustainable building project (Doyle et al., 2009; Bogenstätter, 2000). Continual communications and training for all project personnel are essential during the planning phase to ensure the accomplishment of 8


sustainable project goals in a cost effective manner (Mochal & Krasnoff, 2010). The lack of understanding of a project’s characteristics will lead to a defective delivery process and increased cost for many developers (Smith, 2003). 4.4

Regulations and code compliances

Regulatory processes and codes that meet the sustainability goals can help to promote sustainable building construction practices (Muldavin, 2010; Choi, 2009) for example, government policies can heavily influence the development of a sustainable building construction. Codes and ordinances can be used as a regulatory tool to encourage a sustainable development by setting clear criteria that developers need to meet. Meanwhile, regulatory guidelines and processes are areas where incentives or allowances can be adjusted to encourage sustainable practices. Monetary or process-oriented incentives can be offered such as to ease the initial cost differential or difficulty factor. Monetary incentives can offset any cost differential or provide savings for choosing a sustainable building, making the adaptation to a sustainable development more feasible for property owners and developers (Choi, 2009). It can also be used to fund an integrated design or bring in expertise for consultation. Additionally, a well-advertised or marketed incentive can bring positive publicity to the practices, offering developers an alternate design where the developers and the community may both benefit. 5.

Conclusion

An efficient planning process can significantly improve the ability of a sustainable building project to be delivered within acceptable cost constraints and schedules. Therefore, the stakeholders who are directly involved in this process should strive to continuously improve their sustainable capabilities. The sustainable project planning process is successful in overcoming challenges and barriers of a sustainable building construction for many projects with experts and stakeholders who are communicating and collaborating as a team. However, it requires stakeholders who are sympathetic to this idea and, as a team, evolve the planning and design with a sustainable outlook (Edward, 1998). Without proper planning, the sustainable building construction projects carry a lot of risks. Therefore, careful planning is needed where the integrated project team members apply an integrated design process with strict focus on the sustainable development orientation and are guided by sustainable regulations and code compliances.

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References Beheiry, S. M. A., Chong, W. K., & Haas, C. T. (2006). Examining the business impact of owner commitment to sustainability. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 132(4), 384392. Bogenstätter, U. (2000). Prediction and optimization of life-cycle costs in early design. Building Research Information 28(5), 376-386. CBRE (CB Richard Ellis). (2009). Who Pays for Green? The Economics of Sustainable Buildings: CB Richard Ellis. Choi, C. (2009). Removing market barriers to green development: Principles and action projects to promote widespread adoption of green development practices. JOSRE, 1(1), 107-138. Clark, T. A. (2002). Project management for planners, a practical guide. United States: Planners Press, American Planning Association. Clements, & Gido. (2006). Effective project management. Canada: Thompson South-Western. Department Of Health And Human Services. (2008). Sustainable buildings implementation plan. USA: Department Of Health And Human Services. Doyle, J. T., Brown, R. B., De Leon, D. P., & Ludwig, L. (2009). Building green-potential impacts to the project schedule. International Transactions, PS.08.01-PS.08.11. Edward, B. (1998). Green buildings pay. Oxford: Alden Press. Francis T., F. E., & Price, A. (2009). A social ontology for appraising sustainability of construction projects and developments. International Journal of Project Management, 27, 313-322. GBI (Green Building Index). (2009). Green building index for non-residential new construction (NRNC). Malaysia: Greenbuildingindex Sdn. Bhd. Glavinich, T. E. (2008). Contractor’s guide to green building construction: Management, project delivery, documentation and risk reduction. New York: Wiley. Halliday, S. (2008). Sustainable construction. Stoneham, Mass: Butterworth-Heinemann. Hayles, C. (2004). The role of value management in the construction of sustainable communities. The Value Manager, 10(1). HRDC (Human Resources Development). (2003). Introduction to project management principles [Electronic version]. Retrieved 16th October 2011. Retrieved from http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/hip/lld/olt/resources/toolkit/intro_project_management.pdf Kamara, J. M., Anumba, C. J., & N. F. O., E. (2001). Assessing the suitability of current briefing practices in construction within a concurrent engineering framework. 19, 337-351. Kerzner, H. (2003). Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling and controlling (Eight Ed.). New York: Wiley. Kibert, C. J. (2005). Sustainable construction: Green building design and delivery. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Korkmaz, S., Riley, D., & Horman, M. (2010). Piloting evaluation metrics for sustainable highperformance building project delivery. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 136(8), 877-879. Mckee, W. (1998). Green buildings and the UK property industry. In B. Edward (Ed.), Green Buildings Pay. Oxford: Elden Press. Meredith, J. R., & Mantel, S. J. (2006). Project management-A managerial approach (Sixth ed.). New York: Wiley.

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Mochal. T., & Krasnoff. A. (2008). A ten step white paper [Electronic version]. Retrieved 10th June 2010. Retrieved from http://www.green.p.m.com/greenarticles.html Molenaar, K., Sobin, N., Gransberg, D., McCuen, T., Korkzmaz, S., & Horman, M. (2009). Sustainable, high performance projects and project delivery methods: A state of practice report. United State of America: The Charles Pankow Foundation & The Design-Build Institute of America. Muldavin, S. R. (2010). Value beyond cost savings, how to underwrite sustainable properties. USA: Muldavin Company Inc. Project Management Institute Inc. (2000). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK Guide). Newtown Square, PA: PMI, Inc. Prowler, D. (2011). Whole building design [Electronic version]. Retrieved 7th October 2011. Retrieved from http://www.wbdg.org/wbdg_approach.php Reed, W. G., & Gordon, E. B. (2000). Integrated design and building process: What research and methodologies are needed? Building Research and Information, 28(5-6), 325-337. Riley, D., Magent, C., & Horman, M. (2004). Sustainable metrics: A design process model for high performance buildings [Electronic version]. 16th CIB World Building Congress. Retrieved from http://www.irbnet.de/daten/iconda/CIB9702.pdf Ritz, G. J. (1994). Total construction project management (International ed.). Singapore: McGrawHill, Inc. Robichaud, L. B., & Anantatmula, V. S. (2011). Greening project management practices for sustainable construction. Journal of Management in Engineering, 27(1), 48-57. Rusell, R. S., & Taylor, B. W. (2003). Operations management (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Sappe, R. (2007). Project management solutions for building owners and developers. Building, 101(4), 22-22. Smith, A. (2003). Building momentum: National trends and prospects for high performance green buildings. Washington D.C: U.S Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S Green Building Council. The Economist. (2004). The rise of green building. The Economist, 373, Special section 17-23. The State of Minnesota. (2009). The State of Minnesota sustainable building guidelines version 2.1 [Electronic version]. Retrieved 2nd August 2011. Retrieved from http://www.msbg.umn.edu/guidelines.html Turner, R. K. (1993). Sustainable environmental economics and management: Principles and practice. London and New York: Belhaven Press. Wu, P., & Low, S. P. (2010). Project management and green buildings: Lesson from the rating systems. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 136(2), 64-67. Zainul, A. N. (2009). Sustainable construction in Malaysia - Developers’ awareness. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 53, 807-814. Zainul, A. N. (2010). Environmental concerns in Malaysian construction industry. Pulau Pinang, Malaysia: Universiti Sains Malaysia. Zwikael, O. (2009). Critical planning processes in construction projects. Construction Innovation 9(4), 372-387.

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Introducing the Photo Elicitation Method in Investigating the Effect of Climate Change in Kindergarten Yard Hosna Sadat Shams Dolatabadi1 and Nor Atiah Ismail2 1 Master of Landscape Architecture 2 Department of Landscape Architecture Faculty of Design and Architecture, UPM [email protected]

ABSTRACT In last couple of decades Climate Change has been a public health issue with special impacts on young children which has caused less outdoor activity among them. Literature review revealed that problems like chronic diseases, obesity and mental health disorders are substantial predicted effects of Climate Change in early childhood. Improving young children environmental and health issues therefore, can be ensured by increasing their outdoor activities. This research aims at introducing the preferred sustainable outdoor activities and element that could help to reduce the abovementioned children’s chronic diseases and stimulate them to grow healthily. This study investigates young children’s in three age groups namely 3-4, 5 and 6 years old preferred elements and activities in their outdoor kindergarten area. This study is conducted in a Health Promoting child care facility (HPS), University Putra Malaysia kindergarten (FACE) through a qualitative method, including photo elicitation and interview approach. Findings of this research revealed that natural elements which encourage the creative play are above children’s list of interests. Results of this research is importance of providing sustainable outdoor kindergarten design that links with health promotion and that adopts a practical approach to engaging children in these important public health and environmental issues. Keywords: Healthy outdoor environment for children, Outdoor kindergarten landscape, Children perception in design, Visual research methods, Photo elicitation with children.

1.

Introduction

In young children’s lives, playing and moving have the crucial importance and they are associated with one another (Azlina & Zulkiflee, 2012). According to Moore and Wong (1997) social, physical and cognitive children’s abilities will increased if they have been given opportunities to be active in outdoor environment with natural or manmade elements. Relatively, the numbers of researches related to outdoor play have significantly risen in recent years due to both need and right of the children (Aziz and Said, 2012). It has been reported that play experiences in outdoor environments have been influenced by the high speed of urbanization which resulted in factors influencing Climate Change like the increase in street traffic, pollution, badly planned urban environments. Other factors are related to pressures of study, indoor play equipments and a “lack of awareness about the importance of play for children’s development and well-being” (Kernan, 2010). As a result of these negative environmental issues, it is increasingly uncommon to see groups of children walking, running or playing in the outdoor environments without adult’s supervision. Playgrounds also become more structured in modern cities (Fjørtoft I, Sageie J, 2000). It’s not surprising 1


to mention that the number of overweight children in Malaysia rose from 4% to 8.7% among preschool-aged, in last couple of years. Moreover, increasing in range of working mothers in developing countries like Malaysia has caused the young children to spend the average of 35-55 hours a week in out of home care centers (kindergartens). Unfortunately the current design of the playgrounds is mainly consist of pieces of equipment in a grass covered area and this “equipment base design” does not fulfill the requirements of being outdoor (Herrington & Studtmann, 1998). The study contributes to identify children’s perception toward their outdoor kindergarten environment for assessing healthpromoting outdoor environments. The primary aims of this study were to investigate: (1) the landscape elements which are preferred by children in their outdoor kindergarten environment. (2): the preferred children’s activities in their kindergarten yard. Drawing on international evidence and Malaysian case example, researcher argue that children’s active involvement in such processes is not only physically engaging and rewarding; it also contributes to human and environmental resilience and health promotion. Further, kindergarten outdoor area can play an important ecological public health role, incubating and amplifying the socially transformative changes urgently required to create pathways to healthy, just and sustainable human futures, on a viable planet. 2.

Literature review

2.1

An attempt to understand children’s perspective

Understanding children’s interest and wishes provide the opportunity to identify their needs and aspirations in playgrounds (Keeble, S. 2001). According to Francis and Lorenzo (2002), the needs to have maximum participation of children in recreational planning and design have increased interest of the policy makers, designers and researches. They suggested that play areas are best planned with participation of children. Cook and Hess (2007) and Scott (2000) believed that there is a large gap between “adult observation about child's understandings of a situation and the child’s own perceptions” (Cook & Hess, 2007). Adult’s point of view is varied from children and that makes it difficult to experience the world from children perspective. However, the need to understand young children’s perspective has forced researcher to put this understanding into practice. 2.2

Children’s perception of the environment

Understanding the environment starts from childhood. The relationship between the child and the environment is based on sense of place (topological). They understand place based on sense of symmetry and centricity, paths based on a sense of continuity and intersections based on surfaces (Memarian, 2005). As an example, when a child sees a tree in 2


a yard; his understanding is based on local position of the tree in their surrounding environment not its proportions (Oloumia & Mahdavinejad Namvarrad, 2011). According to Soltani, (2005) some of the qualities of outdoor environment which are recognizable by children are: uniformity, complexity, mysteriousness, readability, familiarity, being crowded or quiet. Studies on children behavioral activities such as Models Learning and Developing, Children Sensory Understanding of Surrounding Area, Place Preferences and Emotions, Restoration in Favorite Places and The concept of affordances many different factors are considered to be influencing the child use of outdoor environment. Some of these factors have been measured in literature review. 2.3

Factors influencing the selection of photographs

Different designs with different elements in playgrounds introduce various kinds of play (Barbour, 2000). Thus, some physical factors which influence children’s use of outdoor environment have been extracted from various sources. Considerations of physical elements have helped the researcher to investigate design elements which are one of the main concerns of this research. This information plays an important role in the process of choosing the most efficient photograph for the purpose of photo elicitation. Table 1. The table below summarized some of the main physical factors. No

Physical Factors that influence children’s use of outdoor environments

3.1

Challenging play

3.2

Various elements

Related Journal

Hart &Sheehan, 1986 Veitch et al., 2008 Veitch et al., 2006

Applicable in kindergarten outdoor environment YES

Heusser et al.,1986 Dyment et al.,2009

YES

3.3

Complexity, variety

Heusser et al.,1986

YES

Diversity in affordances

Castonguay & Jutras, 2010 Moore and Wong ,1997 Weaver, 2000

YES

3.4

3.5

Multisensory Stimulation

Fowler, 1993 Play For All Guidelines, 1992

YES

3


3.6

Use of natural environment

Fjørtoft & Sageie, 2000 Ozdemir & Yilmaz (2008) Wilson, Kilmer & Knauerhase, 1996

Blakely 1994; Prezza, 2007 Veitch et al, 2008 Castonguay &Jutras, 2010 Valentine& McKendrick,1997

YES

3.7

Safety concerns

YES

3.8

Increasing degree of urbanization

Kytta,2004

NO

3.9

Grid-style street

Holt et al., 2008

NO

3.10

Living in low-walkable neighborhood

Castonguay & Jutras,2010

NO

Challenging play, complexity, variety, Diversity in affordances, Multisensory Stimulation, the use of natural environment and safety concerns are the main concerns for finalizing the photographs. To address both elements and activities in the playground, there are specific considerations for each. In case of the activities, physical, social sensorial and creative plays have been identified as the most influential kind of activities in the playground (Malone & Trater, 2003) for this study. In terms of elements the assumption of the study is based on manmade or natural tropical landscape in the playground area. 2.4

The importance of natural environment as play area

Its children’s need to play with nature every day and playgrounds should change in a way to intensify children’s contact with outdoor environment (Rivkin, 1995; Seefeldt, 2000 & Strickland, 2001). Children’s natural play needs, behavior patterns, and certain requirements of age and gender groups are the important basis of designing playground as young children spend considerable playtime there (Malone & Trater, 2003). Research by Hart (1979) and Moore (1986) emphasized on children’s preference for unbuilt and natural environment. They believed that kindergarten without natural environment is not complicated and exciting enough for children to play with. Vegetation, soils, water, animals and contact with such natural aspects help children to develop a sense of place (Orr, 1992). According to Titman (1994) “Children need green playgrounds including places to play on, trees for climbing and bushes for shelter and hiding”. It seems that green structures are highly important in children’s play area. In addition, a diverse and variable playground encourages creativity in children. Frost (1992) believed that learning could broadly happen by the help of natural features. As a result, a crucial point for designing playground is “to focus on which environmental features are available for play (Moore, 1985). The 4


possibilities to choose their own activities and create their own play area in the environment are important elements in children's play” (Ingunn Fjørtoft & Jostein Sageie, 2000). Fortunately in Malaysia, nature has always been a part of culture. The landscape has been a source for outdoor life and leisure activities. However in today’s developing countries the rate of city growth and their demands is to high, natural environment recede (Girardet, 2000). by interacting with natural environment children learn the pattern of life and children has a better chance to use this opportunity in the kindergarten as they perceive it as pleasant and comfortable (Sanoff, 1993). 3.

Methodology

In research with young children, there are concerns about the interpretation of their responses as the result analysis by adults and also children’s verbal skills are not developed enough to explain their actions. To overcome these problems, in some researches the method of behavioral studies have been applied. Using behavioral mapping tools with the help of GPS system or by observing children in their context of the study for a long period of time. However, the abovementioned methods were not really appropriate to help to answer the objective of this study. 4.

Photo elicitation method

A kindergarten in Serdang in UPM campus is selected. The selection was based on availability and easy access. The kindergarten does not contain a designed outdoor area or play ground however its unique condition of locating in university provide the opportunity to interview children with different perception of the outdoor environment as they are not living in the same neighborhood (it’s not a neighborhood kindergarten). A quantitative method is used to elicit children’s perspectives on and responses to landscape design elements and activities related to the playground. The children are aged between 3 to 6 years. Data is collected in group, structured interviews using photo elicitation interview with around 15 kindergarten’s children in 3 different age groups (Group one: 3,4 _Group two: 5 _Group Three: 6). The format of the questions were designed to be simple and coherent enough for young children to be able to response. Therefore the children only been asked about whether they liked or disliked an element or activity and the reason for their answers. The whole process was divided to two parts; activities and elements and the result from each part were analyzed independently. Interviews were administered with two teachers from each grade that helped to clarify the findings from the first step. The questions were made to be based on two constructs of design, manmade and tropical natural with consideration of landscape elements and activities within those playgrounds as the following procedures.

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4.1

First procedure: Choosing photographs as instrument

Children are considered less experienced, less rational, more dependent, and less competent than adults therefore until recent years; proxy research was the main way to obtain information about children. In contrast, “new” social studies of childhood, emphasizing on a shift to conceptualizing children as active persons .There have been attempts to interviews with children “to hear” children’s thoughts, not in traditional verbal interviews in which many researches indicate Images to evoke deeper elements of consciousness (which words cannot reach) some researcher like; Taylor (2002) found that participants are more engaged and more interested in, as photos trigger deeper emotions in children. Photo elicitation; Among different terms of Photo-interviewing in qualitative research such as, Photo-elicitation, Auto driving, Reflexive photographs, Photo novella and Photovoice; photo elicitation is chosen to be the most relevant method for this research (Rosalind & Eileen Clark, 2005). This understanding is supported by Burke (2009). He asked the children to take photos from their favorable landscape elements by the help of disposable cameras. In his other research, he adopted photoelicitation method on children with cancer in a specialized summer camp. The overall purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which children describe the landscape of the camp ground. However there are some concerns for instance; there is a chance that the chosen photos are from researcher perspective and not children which is called “Visually arresting images” (Harper, 2002). The other concerns are related to what is called “breaking the frame” as there might not be a deep evoke of emotion among children. In other word, they might not even response to the photos (Sluis-Thiescheffer, Bekker, Eggen, Vermeeren, de Ridder, 2011). 4.2

Second procedure: Interview

In research, the photographs themselves are tools that alone may not be sufficient for addressing research questions. When combined with other data sources, image-based research can improve qualitative research. The informal interviews with teachers – provides better understanding of children’s behavior and preferences or even their responses in photo elicitation sessions. Teachers’ perceptions of the playground and their insight into their students’ view of the landscape are another point which should be taken into consideration (Oware, E, Diefes-Dux, H.A. and Adams, R, 2007). Finally; A qualitative research that includes interviewing with teachers alongside the photo elicitation with children has helped the researcher to understand children’s’ perception towards playground in this kindergarten. These methods are important to reduce the imbalance implication between adults and children which may result in an intimidation and inaccurate results. The photo -elicitation method is 6


suitable for research that requires engagement with children rather than on children and ensures the children-centered study. This method reflects upon special consideration on the groups being studied, ensuring children’s participation in research by identifying children’s needs and factors that influence their decisions to play outdoors. At the same time interview with teachers makes the whole study credible as there are concern relating the mental development of children and their process of decision making. Combination of both approaches; offset the weakness of each method and is more comprehensive evidence for studding a qualitative research problem than either the tools alone. 5.

Results and discussions

Study on children’s’ preferences towards outdoor play activities and elements in FACE kindergarten provides interesting findings when the results show that there is no relationship between the indoor and outdoor learning environment. That is to say outside spaces have not been designed to facilitate children’s’ need for learning and health. Indeed, kindergarten outdoor areas in this kindergarten, typically been seen as area for play and sport, and not for education and the serious stuff of learning. However teacher had visions for developing the elements in this outdoor area as the elements and management of them in playgrounds were the other focus of the study and it largely determine what children do in the playground. According to the teachers, interesting and diverse elements increase the children’s interest for play and the range of play behaviors which they have observed it more in case of children playing with natural elements. All at once, bland or crowded manmade play spaces limit behavior; restrict opportunities for social interaction and ecological experience. Teachers believed that even the most social and imaginative child find it difficult to be creative and sociable in a bleak, sterile and largely tarmac place and maybe that was the reason, for not seeing much of interest toward social play among photo elicitation with children. This kind of activity was at the end of children’s’ favorite list, contradicted with a study by Broto (2012) who believed that outdoor social play is the main requirements of 3-6 years old children. The grounds need to provide diversity of places and habitats so those children have the maximum opportunity for interaction with others and the environment. Teachers’ observations have been proofed by the outcomes from photo elicitation. Children showed the great interest of children in physical plays. Creative, sensorial and finally social plays were relatively in second, third and forth position. On the other hand, free physical activities and structured play had the same value for teachers and they repeatedly talk about sensorial and creative plays but it seems that children respond to some of their restriction by choosing the physical activities as their favorite activity. Teachers also emphasized on the existence of a places which encourage this kind of play and mentioned that children can and do respond to restrictive rules by deliberately playing prohibited games behind the teachers' backs. Structured and traditional plays are the other important part in children that teach them discipline and cultural values. In this regard, they suggested to have alternative plays; free play, or traditional or structured in Alternative days. In addition, the 7


teachers believed that physical activities should be increased to address the problems of obesity, and increase children’s level of intelligence. Play area with natural elements provide unique affordance for play thus helped to support the teachers intention. As children's psychological and physical characteristics change developmentally, the resources the natural environment offers also change. For example, an environment that contains natural features like sand or water, is perceived, used and transformed in different ways at different stages of the child's development. Therefore, there is a developmental dimension to the natural environment, just as there is for the individual child because they mainly provide the opportunity for children to engage in creative and sensorial play. At the same time, the outcome from photo elicitation have supported the interviews and clearly indicated that utilization and understanding of the outdoor environment increases with the child's age, alongside their cognitive, affective and behavioral capacities. The environment should be designed to facilitate, support and encourage this developmental growth for different age groups. Since this is the first time for the researcher to conduct study using photo-elicitation method, the researcher requested for suggestions that she can used for her future research. The teachers gave constructive comments and suggestions, although they were very happy with this research. For example, to shortened the length of time with the children as they could not concentrate for a long period of times. They also mentioned that applying comparative pictures will help them to have better understanding especially for 3-4 years old children. 6.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this research reveals that photo-elicitation method is one of the best tools to be used for types of research that requires data collection and engagement with children in kindergarten. The findings of this research also suggested that children have their own preferences towards outdoor activities and play elements. Natural play environment that incorporated sustainable elements with natural composition helped to increase their desire for outdoor activities and at the same time, can addressed the Climate Change issues. Having more time spend with cognitive and psychomotor activities in natural play area will then, promoted better health and learning condition of the children.

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References Aziz, N. F., & Said, I. (2012). The trends and influential factors of children’s use of oudoor environments. Barbour, A. C. (2000). The impact of playground design on the play behaviors of children with differing levels of physical competence. Burke, J. (2009). Children’s perceptions of accessible playgrounds. University of Ballarat: School of Education. Broto, C. (2012). The complete book of playground design. Cook, T., & Hess, E. (2007). What the camera sees and from whose perspective: Fun methodologies for engaging children in enlightening adults. Childhood, 14(1). Fjørtoft, I., & Sageie, J. (2000). The natural environment as a playground for children landscape description and analyses of a natural playscape. Landscape and Urban Planning. Harper, D. (2002). Talking about pictures: A case for photo elicitation. Visual Studies, 17. Hurworth, R., & Clark, E. (2005). The use of photo-interviewing: Three examples from health evaluation and research. Evaluation Journal of Australia, Vol. 4. Keeble, S. (2001). Children’s play council. Retrieved from http://www.playlink.org.uks Francis, L., & Lorenzo, R. Seven realms of children’s participation. Journal of Environmental Psychology. Lorenzo, R., & Francis, M. (2002). Seven realms of children's participation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 22. Herrington, S., & Studtmann, K. (1998). Landscape interventions: New directions for the design of children's outdoor play environments. Landscape and Urban Planning, No 42. Kernan, M. (2010). Outdoor affordances in early childhood education and care setting: Adults' and children' perspectives. Children Youth and Environments, 20(1). Memarian, G. (2005). Study to architectural theoretical foundation. Tehran, Iran: Sooroosh Publication. Moore, R., & Wong, H. (1997). Natural learning: Rediscovering nature’s way of teaching. Berkeley, CA: MIG Communications. Oloumi, S., Mahdavinejad, M., & Namvarrad, A. (2011). Evaluation of outdoor environment from the viewpoint of children. Oware, E., Diefes-Dux, H. A., & Adams, R. (2007). Istanbul, Turkey: Global Colloquium on Engineering Education. Soltani, B., & Kambiz. (2005). Architecture frames of urban green spaces. Tehran: Did Publication. Sluis, R. J. W., Thiescheffer, Bekker, M. M., Eggen, Vermeeren, & de Ridder. (2011). Development and application of a framework for comparing early design methods for young children. Taylor, E. W. (2002). Using still photography in making meaning of adult educators' teaching belief. Studies in the Education of Adults.

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The Role of Urban Planning and Design in Responding to Climate Change: The Brisbane Experience Marek Kozlowski Urban Design and Planning Consultant, Visiting Lecturer and Urban Researcher

ABSTRACT The phenomena of climate change can be defined as a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. The impacts of climate change in urban areas can result in the increase of the urban ‘heat island’ effect, heatwaves and colder periods, flooding, intensified storm frequency and storm surge, draught and increased bushfire risk. Climate change has already affected large urban agglomerations. Unexpected heatwaves in Paris and Moscow, unusual intensity of Hurricane Katrina and the Queensland Floods of 2011 are only a few examples of adverse impacts of climate change. The Australian continent has been regarded as one of the most affected regions of the world in terms of climate change implications. The recent 2011 Queensland floods of historic proportion, which came after a decade of extreme draught, raised many questions about the future development of cities and urban areas. For the past decades Queensland’s economy was largely based on property led development. The flood plain land situated along Brisbane River has been developed and overburdened with building infrastructure contributing to the magnification of the flood events. This paper will discuss the responses from the urban planning and urban/architectural design professions in Brisbane to the implications of the 2011 Flood. The reaction varies from a pragmatic approach in the form of a set of design guidelines for buildings and structures in flood prone land, to more cutting edge solutions recommending a complete retreat from the flood plains, progressively restoring the creeks and developing natural landscapes. There is no doubt that the 2011 Flood in Brisbane has caused severe implications on the economic, social, cultural values which have been long embedded in the Brisbane’s urban environment. Keywords: adverse impacts of climate change, urban planning and design

1.

Climate change in urban areas

Over the past years there has been an on-going discourse on whether climate change and global warming are a natural phenomenon or a product of human induced activities. However, a large majority of scholars and scientists believe that the humankind has changed the environment radically and factors such as globalisation and urban growth accelerate the pace of global warming (Savage 2010, Gore 2009). The last decade has witnessed a spate of extreme weather patterns which had an impact on the major urban centres around the world. Severe draughts have taken place in Texas, Australia, Russia and East Africa. Deadly heatwaves have hit Western Europe in 2003 and Russia in 2010 and hundreds of tornadoes have swept across the United States. Nashville, Tennessee has recently experienced a ‘millennium flood’ bringing twice as much rain as any recorded figure. Extreme rains have caused 1


flooding in Pakistan, Thailand, Queensland and the Philippines submerging parts of Bangkok, Brisbane and Manilla. In July 2011 the biggest dust storm ever recorded rolled into Phoenix Arizona, reducing visibility to zero and creating a mile high wall of dust. In 2011 the cost of weather disasters were estimated at $150 billion worldwide a 25 percent jump from the previous year. The amount of the weather disasters recorded in the 15 year period (19962011) has doubled in comparison with an identical 15 year long period (19801995) (Miller 2012). Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has shown how little resilience a city the size of New Orleans has when confronted by extreme weather. The resilience of New Orleans to withstand winds and waves from Katrina was reduced by the loss of wetlands and mangroves around the Gulf shores and by inadequate infrastructure provided by the levees. New Orleans was one of the first modern cities to be destroyed by climate changed induced phenomenon (Newman, Beatley and Boyer 2009). The heatwave experienced in Western Europe in 2003 killed 35,000 people and the agriculture loses were estimated at $15 billion (Newman et al. 2003), However, the heatwave that hit the Russian capital Moscow in July 2010 was absolutely unprecedented. In this city, known for its cold and severe winters, the temperatures soared to 40 degrees Celsius triggering hundreds of forest fires on the fringes of the urban footprint. As a result the unprepared city was in chaos for over a week (BBC News, Bloomberg News 2010). The mega heatwave of 2010 broke all the previous records by exceeding the 2003 heatwave by spatial context and amplitude. The estimate death toll in Russia as a result of the 2010 heatwave was 55,000 and the annual crop failure covered an area of 1 million hectares. The overall economic loss were assessed at 15 billion US dollars (1% of Russia’s GDP). According to regional multi-model experiments the probability of a summer experiencing 'mega heat waves' will increase by a factor of 5 to 10 within the next 40 years (Barriopedro, D., Fischer, E., Luterbacher, J., Ricardo M. Trigo, R., HerreraGarcia, R. 2011. 2.

Response from urban planners and designers

Although slowing the growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions and then reversing it in the next decade will require a concentrated global effort, urban planning and design will play a key role in combating climate change. Addressing the impacts of climate has become one of the major challenges for professionals’ urban planners and designers, architects, landscape architects as well as scholars and academics in design and planning. Development and planning of cities in the age of climate change requires innovative thinking and holistic approach to policy making (Droege 2010, Brown 2010). Based on literature review, primary and secondary data sources the response from urban planners and designers can be split into three following categories: 2




 

Preparation of urban policies, strategies and guidelines for government agencies and the private development industry that endure constructive transformation of the energy, transport and urban infrastructure, promote water sensitive projects, encourage the re-use of building materials, propagate compact and diversified development, give preference to physical, economic and social urban regeneration schemes and promote the greening and landscaping of cities (Droege 2010, Cheesbrough 2010). Taking direct action as a response to natural disasters resulting from climate change and delivering a set of design guidelines and policies for affected areas (Mississippi Renewal Forum 2008). Providing advocacy role in government panels and initiating and conducting research at universities and research centres (Lehman 2010, Andersen and Francis 2010, Nolon 2008).

Preparation of policies guidelines and strategies addressing climate change and convincing public and private clients of importance to introduce a more intelligent and sustainable approach to urban development has been high on the agenda for the past decade. According to Farr (2008) the challenge for global architecture is to ensure that all new buildings and major renovations be designed to meet a energy performance standard of 50 percent of the regional average of fossil fuel derived. Farr argues that by 2030 all buildings should be carbon neutral. In terms of urban planning and design the major focus should be placed on delivering ‘high performance infrastructure’. High performance infrastructure refers to core best management practices (BMPs) applicable to typical section of the public right of way, encompassing street and sidewalk, underground utilities, stormwater infrastructure, landscapes and streetscape elements. The BMPs can be implemented incrementally through the upgrade of individual infrastructure components over time. Local municipalities must maximise benefits in employing best practices in all public works projects (Farr 2008). Renowned Malaysian architect Ken Yeang has introduced an innovative approach of ecological master planning based on the ecological concept of urban planning and design as environmentally benign and seamless bio-integration of four infrastructures. The four infrastructures comprise, the green infrastructure including all the green natural areas, the blue infrastructure including sustainable drainage and water conservation system and the overall hydrological management, the grey infrastructure including roads, drains and sewerage utilities and the red infrastructure including the built environment, the enclosures, and hardscapes as well as the basic human activities. The integration of these four infrastructures provides the basis for eco-masterplanning and for designing ecological urban environments.

3


A good example of a direct response from the design and planning profession to climate change generated disasters is the case of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. As a response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the Governor of Mississippi established the Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal. One of the first initiatives of the Commission was to organise a week long charette where prominent architects, urban planners and designers and engineers met with community leaders and local developers and produced a set of policies, strategies and smart design codes for future development in coastal towns ravaged by Katrina. The design codes were also prepared for immediate-housing for workers and the displaced residents. A Planning Framework for the Mississippi Gulf Coast was based on a Transect concepti (Mississippi Renewal Forum 2008). Universities, research centres and institutes have provided sufficient ground and stimulus for research into the field urban planning and design for climate change. Substantial research into field of eco-design and introduction of the term ‘ecomimcry in design’ has been conducted by Ken Yeang. Ecomimcry is the practice of designing socially responsive and environmentally responsible technologies. Ecomimcry is a new paradigm for architecture and urban planning and design that asks a designer/planner to create a building or group of buildings or even a whole built environment that are ‘living structures’ and, which in their conception bring together all the interwoven systems that provide ‘life support’ for the inhabitants (Yeang 2010). 3.

Case study: Southeast Queensland, Australia

Throughout the 20th century Australian cities has been growing rapidly. Suburbs have sprawled into the former bushland areas significantly increasing the chance of bushfires and residential development has been encouraged along waterways and canals raising the vulnerability of new neighbourhoods to floods, wave surges and sea storms. For the last two decades management of the urban environment in Australian cities has been on priority list for all levels of government including the federal, state and local (Smith and Scott 2006). In the recent years much attentions has been given to climate change and its possible implications on major Australian urban centres. The Australian federal election of 2007 was the first election ever to be held in which climate change was the main topic. The victory of the Labour Party under the leadership of Kevin Rudd led directly to the new cabinet signing the Kyoto Protocol and addressing major issues concerning climate change (Newman, Beatley and Boyer 2009). The significance of climate change was recently accelerated in the last years as a direct response to the tragic bushfires that swept the outskirts of Melbourne and the devastating Queensland floods of 2011. All major Australian cities are adopting a variety of planning instruments to promote sustainability and address climate change. These planning 4


instruments include regional plans, structure plans and various strategies (Beatley and Newman 2009). The Federal Australian Government also established the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) in early 2008. The Facility is hosted by Griffith University in partnership with seven other universities and the Queensland Government Queensland, among Australian states is the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (Garnaut 2008). This has been accentuated in recent years by natural phenomenons such the seven year long drought in the southeast corner of the state, the 2011 Flood and Cyclone Yasi in the northern coastal regions (Department of Natural Resources and Water 2007). Since 1994 sustainable development principles have been included into a range of Queensland legislative and planning instruments (Department of Infrastructure and Planning 2009). Southeast Queensland is the fastest growing region in Australia attracting an average of 55,000 new residents per annum. The population of Southeast Queensland is around 2.5 million covering an area of 22,000 km2 and including 11 regional and city councils. The current climate in SEQ is sub-tropical and typically features hot rainy summers and mild, dry winters (Department of Infrastructure and Planning 2009). The coastal zone of the region is characterised by sandy beaches and sand islands scattered across Moreton Bay. The region also features 18 river catchment areas and mountain ranges in the western part. Major cities of the region include Brisbane with a population of 1.6 million (Brisbane Statistical Division) and Gold Coast with a population of 500,000. This rapid growth and the impacts of climate change require sustainable urban development which responds to local climatic conditions and character. Urban policies addressing climate change and promoting low energy urban form and low energy building design, requiring an integrated approach to urban planning and design, have been adopted at regional, municipal and local levels (Centre for Subtropical Design 2010). The Southeast Queensland Regional Plan contains a whole section dedicated to sustainability and climate change. One of the priority objectives of the Regional Plan is to reduce Southeast Queensland’s carbon footprint by one third by 2020 mainly through reduced car and electricity use. Regional policies addressing the impacts of climate change focus on strict development control of areas exposed to flooding, storm tide, coastal erosion, bushfires and landslides. The policies also require the preparation of local strategies aimed at minimising vulnerability to heatwaves and high temperatures, intensive rainfall, cyclones, severe winds and storms. (Department of Infrastructure and Planning, Queensland Government 2009). The Southeast Queensland Climate Change Management Plan provides an integrated framework for implementing regional policies to reduce greenhouse gases and build resilience to natural hazards. The main objective of the SEQ Climate Change Management Plan is to align and 5


coordinate the implementation of regional policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience to, and reduce risks from, natural hazards, including the projected effects of climate change. Direct actions deriving from the SEQ Climate Change Management Plan include transport and settlement pattern, energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon storage, waste emissions and community awareness (Department of Infrastructure and Planning 2009). Local and regional councils across the Southeast Queensland have responded to requirements of the Regional Plan and Climate Change Management Plan by addressing climate change in planning schemes and local planning instruments and by drafting local climate change strategies. For example, Gold Coast City Council, the second largest municipality in Queensland, has prepared a Climate Change Strategy. The Strategy has identified key actions for governance and leadership, urban infrastructure, advocacy and awareness, and planning regulations. Responsibilities and timings have been allocated to each action. The actions listed under the planning regulations component call for the incorporation of climate change considerations in the Transport Plan, provision of carbon sinks into the new Gold Coast Planning Scheme and developing a scoping study for a local food production centre. (Gold Coast City Council (2009). Brisbane the capital of Queensland has developed a peak oil and climate change strategy that could be a benchmark for similar studies. The strategy was developed by a taskforce comprising university scholars, business representatives and NGO leaders. The Taskforce conducted a series of community engagements before presenting its final report. The final report includes thirty one recommendations across eight strategy areas including leadership and partnering, decision making, communication, planning, sustainable transport, preparedness for change, diversification of natural resources and research. It sets a goal of zero greenhouse emissions by 2050 with households being carbon neutral by 2020. Steps to achieve this include strong regulations on energy efficiency, investment in renewable materials, very strong emphasis on transit oriented development (TOD) (Newman et al.2009, Brisbane City Council). A number of research studies addressing the impacts of climate change have been conducted at research centres and universities across Queensland. One of the most successful studies has been prepared by the Centre for SubTropical Design at the Queensland University of Technology. The major objective of the research was to identify the local subtropical character of the region and based on the major findings develop a set of design and planning guidelines for subtropical design of buildings and spaces between buildings. The guidelines take into consideration issues such as topography, open space diversity, local building traditions, and the use of native vegetation. The major findings of the research were published in form of a handbook design manual targeting local planners, designers; developers and decision makers (Centre for Subtropical Design 2010). 6


4.

Response to the Brisbane flood of 2011

The Floods of 2010-2011 that ravaged the entire state of Queensland were unprecedented creating a multi-billion dollar infrastructure catastrophe. According to a report prepared by Price Water Coopers (2011), the 2011 Floods in Queensland, impacted around 70% of the State and affected almost 60% of Queensland’s population. The total damage to the State’s public infrastructure, businesses and buildings was estimated at around 5 billion dollars. Many urban areas were inundated including the central parts of Queensland capital city Brisbane (Price Waters Coopers 2011). Brisbane has experienced major floods in 1893 and 1974. The Brisbane River flows directly through the central parts of the city, so any flooding has a profound impact on the central city urban environment. As a result of the 1974 Flood, the Wivenhoe Dam was built in 1984 and located s 80 km upstream from Brisbane. Wivenhoe dam was constructed to mitigate future severe floods and prevent smaller ones (Barry 2011). According to Barry in 2008 the dam's reservoir bottomed out at 17 per cent at the height of a prolonged, almost seven year long drought. As a result of the intense rains that followed the drought, brought about by a strong La Niñaii, in the final days prior to the Brisbane Flood the water deluged up to 1 million mega-litres, twice that of Sydney Harbour. The 2011 Brisbane Flood could have been partially mitigated if SEQ Water (government agency managing distribution and storage of water in the Southeast Queensland Region) would be quicker in response and gradually release the water downstream. Large amount of water were released only a few days before the flood which only contributed to its magnitude (O’ Brien 2011). According to Brisbane City Council (2012a) the 2011 Flood in Brisbane had affected 22,000 homes, 7600 businesses, damaged the infrastructure, transport, assets, waterways and community facilities. The total recovery costs were estimated at $ 400 million (Brisbane City Council 2012a). Brisbane City Council responded quickly to the devastation of floods by preparing an Action Plan for the Flood Recovery and drafting Temporary Local Planning Instruments (TLPI) to guide development and building on flood prone land as well as for providing directions for repairing and renovating houses destroyed by the flood (Brisbane City Council 2012b). The TLPI also covers the inconsistency and inadequacy of the current Planning Scheme regarding flood affected areas. The interim town planning regulations allow owners and developers to increase the height of their houses by raising the ground level above the designated Interim Residential Flood Level. The new provisions require the location of essential services (electricity, telecommunications and fire services) to higher sections of the building to avoid interaction with water. The Temporary Local Planning Instruments also address the construction of retaining walls and impose, where necessary, the use of resilient building materials (Brisbane City Council 2012b). 7


The response from Brisbane City Council by introducing interim planning regulations and building design guidelines was effective but superficial and short term. A city battered by a natural phenomenon that caused severe implications on the economic, social and cultural scales needs more comprehensive long term and bold solutions, strategies and policies that address the natural setting and features, specific local conditions, the unique topography and scenic amenity of the city. The current neighbourhood plans such as the Taringa-St Lucia Neighbourhood Plan and the review of the City Centre Master Plan do not sufficiently address the implications of climate change and emphasis on the possible implications of another flood event (Brisbane City Council 2012c, Brisbane City Council 2012d). An ambitious research attempting to identify the optimal future vision of the subtropical city of Brisbane in context of climate change was conducted at the University of Queensland by Andersen and Francis (2010). The aim of this project called Sedimentary City: Brisbane was to search for the natural environment of the city and determine the future image of the subtropical Brisbane of tomorrow. The entire process included preparation of map layers to undertake an analytical view of today’s city environment and its future based on the trajectory of the current city planning scheme. The next step was unfolding the city’s development chronology and finally producing an optimal vision of sub-tropical Brisbane of tomorrow. The project was divided into three stages Envisioning One, Two and Three. Selected scientists, artists and poets were invited to contribute in mapping the identity of the city. In Envisioning One Stage the city’s green public spaces were identified, by excluding from the aerial view of the city’s perceived green environment all private areas, cemeteries, sports ovals, etc. The outcome resulted in a map of today’s green public spaces visually and physically fragmented, unconnected to the city and to the wider ecology of the natural environment (refer Figure 1 and 2).

Figure 1. The aerial view of the city’s green environment (Source: Andersen and Francis 2010).

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Figure 2. The fragmented green public spaces (Source: Andersen and Francis 2010).

The next step was to identify future image of the city by following the recommendations of the current Brisbane’s Planning Scheme promoting unlimited heights for the buildings in the Central Business District, tall buildings along the River, urban consolidation, infill development and an expanded urban infrastructure. The outcomes were two future scenario visions of the city centred around two alternative weather cycles El Nino and La Nina: 



The inferno city which is a direct result of an extensive El Nino period characterised by a long drought. The city is illustrated as a scorched and radiant city layer where the subtropical green landscaping has been replaced by a concrete jungle (refer Figure 3). The flood city which is direct result of the extensive La Nina period characterised by heavy downpours, frequent storms and wave surges. Major parts of central city and urban areas along Brisbane River are inundated by a series of major floods (refer Figure 4).

Figure 3. The inferno city. (Source: Andersen and Francis 2010)

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Figure 4. The flood city (Source: Andersen and Francis 2010).

In the Envisioning Two Stage an attempt is made to find the natural environment of the first indigenous settlement by analysing and unfolding past historical maps. The analysis and superimposition of various map layers helped to draft a map of the first settlement where the watershed of the River was remain intact and residents lived in a symbiotic relationship with the natural environment (refer Figure 5). It should be added that the first township of Brisbane established by the British in 1824 was above the flood plain in order to avoid direct confrontation with the forces of the nature. However, throughout the 19th and the 20th century this natural floodplain was transformed and overburdened with buildings and infrastructures. The streams and creeks, once part of natural watershed, were buried in pipes or covered by hard surface concrete.

Figure 5. The Floodplain of the first settlement (Source: Andersen and Francis 2010).

In the Envisioning Three Stage the map layer of the first indigenous settlement is superimposed on the future inferno and flood city. The result is an optimal subtropical city of the future where the former watershed of Brisbane River is reinstated. Citizens of the consolidated city live within easy range of the creek side pathways and of the riverside greenways. The reinstated flood plain landscapes and the public green open spaces offset the intensity of the consolidated city (refer Figure 6). 10


Figure 6. The optimal sub-tropical city of the future (Source: Andersen and Francis 2010).

The Sedimentary City Project finds an alternative solution to future flood security by promoting green-space amenity in the ancient river floodplain of the first settlement of Brisbane. The research and recommendations by Andersen and Francis set the grounds for a new innovative thinking characterised by in-depth analysis of the city’s layers, identifying the natural features that govern the eco-system and providing sustainable outcomes for future development. Integrating the natural and the built environments is a good response to the impacts of climate change and a step forward in achieving a more resilient city. The major findings of this research should be considered in any planning strategies and policies for the city. Recently Brisbane City Council has embarked on the River’s Edge Strategy that will guide Council’s planning for enhancing the river’s recreational and economic development opportunities for the next 10 years. The River's Edge Strategy catchment area includes the stretch of the Brisbane River from the University of Queensland at St Lucia through to Northshore Hamilton, encompassing both sides of the river. The community has been invited to provide their opinions and ideas and contribute to the final version of the Strategy (Brisbane City Council 2012). If successfully endorsed, this strategy can become another milestone in creating a more sustainable and climate responsive built environment.

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5.

Conclusions

Climate change is a global issue requiring an urgent response from all levels of government, the design and planning professions, scientists and researchers, the development industry and the community. Internationally, it is recognised that human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and dispersed land uses are responsible for a continuing and rapid increase in the level of greenhouse gases. Recent research on climate change in urban areas exposed that the amount of weather related disasters is on the rapid rise. With current and often uncontrolled development some cities are headed for collsapse. The lessons learned from Brisbane indicate that promoting fast-track development for economic gains and ignoring the natural features and local climatic conditions can result in grave consequences. The short terms economic gains are often out weighted by much higher recovery costs. The case of the 2011 Brisbane Flood and the response to a natural disaster revealed that mediocre design and planning measures may be effective short term but urban environments located in climatically vulnerable settings require long term solutions. These long term solutions have to be supported by in-depth analysis of the local conditions and comprehensive studies of the natural settings and local climate. Effective and climate responsive urban planning and design must ensure that all environments including the natural environment are considered in the process. A flawless bio-integration of the urban development and the natural habitats are a recipe for creating more resilient cities to the impacts of climate change. Climate responsive solutions to our cities must start from wider regional and municipal strategies. Addressing the adverse impacts of climate change should be a fundamental precept of all regional, city-wide municipal and local plans as well as neighbourhood plans and larger site master plans. Regional and city-wide municipal plans must address climate change by identifying preferred land uses, transport corridors, interconnected network of green spaces. Strategies for areas sensitive to climate variations should be formulated at this scale. Local and neighbourhood plans must respond to regional and municipal plans by listing implementation actions aimed at greening the city and enhancing the public realm. Smart form based codes for development addressing issues such as thermal comfort, energy efficiency and water conservation must be included. Separate detailed master plans should be prepared for areas susceptible to extreme weather conditions.

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Future design solutions must be flexible and be able to adapt to the pressures of climate change ensuring stability and robustness in the environmental, economic and social infrastructures. Combating climate change with planning and design measures must be conducted through consensus, mutual understanding and cooperation among all stakeholders including the community and the development industry. References Andersen, B., & Francis, M. (2010). Sedimentary City. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press. Australian Bureau of Meteorology. (2012). http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/glossary/elnino.html

Climate

glossary.

Retrieved

from

Barriopedro, D., Fischer, E., Luterbacher, J., Ricardo, M. T. R., & Herrera-Garcia, R. (2011). The hot summer of 2010: Redrawing the temperature record of Europe. Science Express 2011, Vol. 332, no. 6026, pp. 220-224. Barry, C. (2011). Brisbane floods: Did the dams work in ‘The Australian Geographic January 2011’. Retrieved from http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/brisbane-floods-did-the-dams-work.htm BBC News. (2010). Death rate doubles in Moscow Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10912658.

as

heat

wave

continues.

Beatley, T., & Newman, P. (2009). Green urbanism down under: Learning from sustainable communities in Australia. Washington: Island Press. Bloomberg News. (2010). Russia heat wave may kill 15,000; Shave $15 billion of GDP. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-10/russia-may-lose-15-000-lives-15-billionof-economic-output-in-heat-wave.html Brisbane City Council. (2012a). 18 month flood recovery report. Retrieved from http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/downloads/community/community_safety/18_month_flood_recovery_p rogress_fact_sheet_july12.pdf. Brisbane City Council. (2012b). Temporary local town planning instrument. Retrieved from http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-building/current-planning-projects/ temporarylocal-planning-instrument-tlpi/index.htm Brisbane City Council. (2012c). Taringa-St Lucia neighborhood plan. Retrieved from http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-building/current-planning-projects/ neighbourhood-planning/neighbourhood-plans-in-your-area/taringa-stlucia/index.htm Brisbane City Council. (2012d). New City centre master plan. Retrieved from http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-building/current-planning-projects/city-centremaster-lan/index.htm Brisbane City Council. (2012e). River’s edge strategy. Retrieved from http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-building/current-planning-projects/ riversdge/index.htm Brisbane City Council. (2011). Councils January 2011 flood action plan.

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Retrieved from http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/community/community-safety/disasters-andemergencies/types-of-disasters/flooding/flood-response-review/index.htm Brown, J. (2010). The emerging direction: Revolution of practice in climate design: Design and planning in the age of climate change. Berkley, CA: Publishers Group West, pp. 10-16. Cheesbrough, H. (2010). Urban regeneration and climate change in climate design: Design and planning in the age of climate change. Berkley, CA: Publishers Group West, pp. 10-16. Centre for Sub-Tropical Design. (2010). Subtropical design in Southeast Queensland: A handbook for planners, developers and decision makers. Australia: Queensland University of Technology. Retrieved from http://www.subtropicaldesign.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task =view&id =38&Itemid=41 Department of Infrastructure and Planning, Queensland Government. (2009). Southeast Queensland Regional Plan 2009-2031. Retrieved from 2009-2031.html

http://www.dsdip.qld.gov.au/regional-planning/south-east-queensland-regional-plan-

Department of Infrastructure and Planning, Queensland Government. (2009). Southeast Queensland climate change management plan: Draft for public consultation. Retrieved from http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source= web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eianz.org%2Fsitebuilder%2Faboutus%2F knowledge%2Fasset%2Ffiles%2F223%2Fdraft-climate-change-management plan.pdf&ei= hOx7UJjoHInMrQermIH4BQ&usg=AFQjCNF1j4f39rfGJIgzt-pj2OpBNkl50g&sig2=0eBpPq8UxjVtuhp1I6GHQ Department of Natural Resources and Water, Queensland Government. (2007). Southeast Queensland drought to 2007. Retrieved from http://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/about/publications/pdf/seq_drought_2007.pdf Droege, P. (2010). Design and planning in the age of climate change: Context and assumptions in climate design: Design and planning in the age of climate change. Berkley, CA: Publishers Group West, pp. 4-10. [1] Farr, D. (2008). Sustainable urbanism: Urban design with nature. London: Wiley and Sons. Gaurnaut. (2008). Gaurnaut Climate Change Review: Interim Report to the Commonwealth, State and Territory. Retrieved from http://www.garnautreview.org.au/ca25734e0016a131/webobj/ garnautclimatechangereviewinterimreport-feb08/$file/garnaut%20climate%20change%20review% 20interim%20report%20-%20feb%2008.pdf Gold Coast City Council. (2009). Climate change strategy. Retrieved from www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au Gore, A. (2009). Our choice: A plan to solve the climate crises. London: Bloomsberry. Lehmann, S. (2010). The principles of green urbanism: Transforming the city for sustainability. Earthscan: Washington. Michael, O. B. (2011). Brisbane flooding 2011: An avoidable disaster. Retrieved from http://resources.news.com.au/files/2011/03/22/1226025/997481-aus-news-file-obrien-report-replace.pdf Miller, P. (2012). Weather gone wild in National Geographic. Vol. 222, No. 3 pp. 30-52. Mississippi Renewal Forum. (2008). Governor’s recovery rebuilding and renewal: Final report. Retrieved from http://www.mississippirenewal.com/info/plansreports.html

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Newman, P., Beatley, T., & Boyer, H. (2009). Resilient cities: Responding to peak oil and climate change. Washington: Island Press. Nolon, J. (2008). Shifting ground to address climate change: The land use law solution in Birch, E (Editor). The Urban and Regional Planning Reader. New York: Routledge, pp. 371-383. Price Water Coopers. (2011). Economic impacts of Queensland’s natural disasters. Retrieved from http://www.pwc.com.au/about-us/flood-support/assets/Economic-Impact-Qld-NaturalDisasters.pdf Savage, V. (2010). Sustaining cities with climate change: Is there a future for human livelihoods in Ling, G., and Yuen, B. (eds) ‘World Cities: Achieving Liveability and Vibrancy. Singapore: Mainland Press. Smith, G., & Scott, J. (2006). Living cities - An urban myth: Government and sustainability in Australia. Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd. Yeang, K. (2009). Eco-master planning. London: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. Yeang, K. (2010). Ecodesign: A manual for ecological design. London: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

i Transect is a geographical cross section of a region that reveals the sequence of environments ii Nowadays, the term El Niño refers to the extensive warming of the central and eastern Pacific that leads to a major shift in weather patterns across the Pacific. In Australia (particularly eastern Australia), El Niño events are associated with an increased probability of drier conditions. In contrast To El Nino the term La Niña refers to the extensive cooling of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. In Australia (particularly eastern Australia), La Niña events are associated with increased probability of wetter conditions. (Bureau of Meteorology : Climate Glossary) http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/glossary/elnino.shtml

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Urban Forestry and Green Infrastructure for Human Wellbeing and Sustainable Urban Development Kjell Nilsson Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, University of Copenhagen [email protected]

1.

Urban sprawl - an introduction

During the ten year period from 1990 to 2006 urban areas and associated infrastructure throughout Europe increased their territory with approximately 1000 km2 per year, equivalent to the entire area of the city of Berlin. An important driving force behind urban expansion is, of course, population growth. But this is not a sufficient explanation. Since the mid 1950s European cities have expanded on average by 78 %, whereas the population has grown only by 33 % (EEA 2006). This is not a surprise in densely populated regions like the Randstad in the Netherlands, but even in regions where the population is decreasing, urban areas are still growing. Leipzig-Halle is an example of a region which suffers from both the problems of a shrinking city and urban sprawl. In the United States cities like Detroit, Atlanta and Nashville has been named doughnut-cities because of expanding peripheral parts while the central parts turn into slum. The same trend – that urban areas expand approximately two times faster than the population – can be seen in the United States and China. Between 1990 and 2000 the ratio between growth of urban land / population growth in Europe was 2.3. The same ratio, 2.3, was found for China (2002-2006), and in USA (1992-2001) it was 1.9. There are many impacts of such rapid expansion. In the EC document “Towards a strategy for the urban environment” (CEC 2004) urban sprawl is recognised as the most urgent of urban planning and design issues. Most of the urban expansion takes place in so-called periurban areas, i.e. areas with discontinuous built environment, containing settlements with less than 20,000 inhabitants and an average density of at least 40 persons per km2 (Loibl et al. 2011). The hot-spot regions with a large share of peri-urban areas are concentrated in the central Pentagon area between London, Paris, Mila, Munich and Hamburg. 2.

Consequences of urban sprawl

Consumption of agricultural land will continue in all parts of Europe. In large parts of Scandinavia, UK, Central Europe, the Mediterranean coastal areas, but also in parts of Romania more than 5 % of the currently used agricultural area will be turned into sealed surfaces (N.B. in Northern Scandinavia the loss of agricultural land is mainly 1


caused by afforestation, and not peri-urbanisation). Amongst the areas of major agricultural importance The Netherlands, Belgium and the Mediterranean coast of France suffer the highest loss of agricultural land (Piorr 2011). Effective Mesh Size measures landscape continuity indicating the probability of individuals (mostly animals) to meet other individuals of the same species in a landscape fragmented by infrastructure and human settlements. Landscape fragmentation is concentrated to central Western Europe, where only small patches of open landscapes remain. With increasing welfare, changing lifestyle and consumption pattern, urban growth is likely to continue, especially in the convergence regions of South and central Eastern Europe and in the Iberian Peninsula (Zasada & Berges 2011). A similar pattern can be seen when it comes to recreational capacity. This might have serious implications on people’s health and well-being. Society today is faced with increasing incidence of various forms of poor health related to modern lifestyles, such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and stress. Natural outdoors and natural elements such as forests, parks, trees and gardens provide opportunities to enhance public health (Nilsson et al.). If people are finding longer distances between their homes and accessible spaces for outdoor recreation and exercise, they are likely to use them less. Urban sprawl and low-density peri-urbanisation leads to longer commuting and encourages car use, which tends to exclude poor and carless people, as well as promoting an unhealthy lifestyle Helminen et al. 2009). In Warsaw Metropolitan Area: GDP per capita in Warsaw 4 to 5 times that of rural areas in Poland. But the residents with high incomes find the capitol noisy, busy, and supplied with too little green open space. So they prefer buying their own house in one of the many small municipalities in the urban fringe, which causes huge traffic problems caused by all people commuting to the workplaces in central Warsaw. The example from Warsaw shows that, at a certain point spatial concentration of population and economic activity in metropolitan areas leads to an increase of their functioning costs above the level of aggregated benefits. When this point is reached, many cities experience a counter-urbanisation, where people move from urban to peri-urban or rural areas in order to achieve better living conditions and life quality. Similar arguments, i.e. that Kuala Lumpur due to overcrowding and congestion had lost its attractiveness, law behind the shift of the seat of the Malaysian government to Putrajaya in 1999. In many European cities, when such an out-migration happens, an inflow of migrants from low-income countries is occurring mainly to low status districts in the inner-metropolitan periphery leading to a growing social and spatial segregation.

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To summarize, based on the results of the PLUREL project the most important negative consequences of peri-urbanisation / urban sprawl are: • Consumption of land, loss of high-productive agricultural land. • Destruction of biotopes and fragmentation of landscape structure and ecosystems. • Less open space, longer distance to attractive recreational areas, unhealthy lifestyles. • Increase in the dependency of private car, traffic congestion, longer commuting times and distances, climate change emissions and air pollution. • Decay of downtown areas; social segregation and larger gaps between rich and poor areas. 3.

Strategies for growth management

The main reason, especially for young families, for moving from urban to peri-urban areas is that they want fresh air, clean water, green surroundings and a safe milieu for their children to grew up in. How can sprawl be avoided while these opportunities can be realised? Six European and one Chinese case study regions in the PLUREL project, funded within the 6th Research Framework Programme of the European Union, co-ordinated by University of Copenhagen, and carried out by 35 partners from 14 European countries and China, show examples of how these conflicts and the pressure towards peri-urban areas can be strategically managed in different development and regulatory contexts. The six European case studies were: Warsaw (PL), Leipzig (DE), The Hague Region (NL), Manchester (UK), Montpellier (FR), and Koper (SI). As a Chinese reference study Hangzhou, a rapidly growing, dynamic rural – urban region of 6.6 million inhabitants was chosen. 3.1

Better coordination between transport, land use and open space planning

Copenhagen’s master plan of 1947, the so-called Finger Plan, is a classic example of combined urban transport, land use and open space planning. The development has taken place along the transport corridors, “the fingers”. An important part of this strategy is the near-to-stationprinciple, meaning that new working places, if possible, should be located close to public transport. In between the fingers open spaces are preserved as green wedges forming an overall green infrastructure. Although, the hand through the years has got some swimming web between the fingers, the original vision behind the Finger Plan is still the principle for future development of Greater Copenhagen. The plan has an iconic value, but is moreover a relatively detailed and binding plan for urban development zones, infrastructure, localization of office space and green space protection (Jørgensen et al. 2010).

3


The Regional Structure Plan of the Hague Region and the Scheme of Territorial Coherence of Montpellier Agglomeration are examples of modern advanced strategies for better coordination of transport and land use planning. The Regional Structure Plan of the Hague Region shows the region’s main strategies that is strengthening the relation between Spatial Planning and Traffic / Transportation, coordinates sectoral ambitions and goals, and is the basis for long-term politically backed-up agreements (Aalbers et al. 2010). In the Scheme of Territorial Coherence (SCOT) of Montpellier Agglomeration, a highly attractive region, there is a political willingness in both speech and action to develop the region into a sustainable dispersion of land use and high quality urban development (Aalbers & Eckerberg 2010). 3.2

Good governance and integrated policy approaches

“How can you govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?” complained the past French president Charles de Gaulle. In most European countries, the formal powers and tasks of the region with respect to spatial planning are limited, since the municipalities have planning autonomy. Therefore, a key issue is that the Rural-Urban Region is split up in many local municipalities, while integrated territorial policy approaches are a prerequisite for better coordination. As examples of successful governance attempts in order to lay an overall strategy for protecting agriculture and green space in the urban fringe the Regional Structure Plan of the Hague Region and the Scheme of Territorial Cohesion of Montpellier Agglomération has already been mentioned. On the contrary is the situation of Warsaw, which is characterized by hard pressure on high-value nature and agricultural areas due to high growth rates and uncontrolled peri-urbanisation both in the area directly surrounding the city and in the whole Mazovian region (Groschowski & Pieniazek 2010). Of course, coordination of the wills of 72 independent municipalities in the Warsaw Metropolitan Area is more difficult than the 9 of the Hague Region, but, on the other hand, the Hague Region is part of larger agglomerations as the province of South Holland, and the Randstad. And Montpellier has succeeded in joining the ambitions of, for the time being, 31 municipalities in a strategy for more equally distributed development. 3.3

Urban containment and densification

Urban containment is an important instrument regarding growth management for sustainable development. The Green Belt Policy of the UK and the Green Heart in the Netherlands are policies that have proven to be successful in quantitative terms, but we can also find negative consequences as observed in the Greater Manchester Area. A certain proportion of the development, which would have taken place in the green belt is merely pushed further out, leapfrogging the belt itself, and leading 4


to a greater impact on the countryside and longer travel distances, a problem that may become more acute as people are increasingly prepared to accept longer commuting distances and with the growth in tele-working (Ravetz 2009). When such policies do not help, you can always use more radical methods as they did in Mexico City. Urban densification is another common strategy for avoiding urban sprawl. Conclusively, the EC Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment (CEC 2006) besides better coordination between urban transport and land use planning recommends more compact settlements. This has been taken seriously by the Hague Region – 80 % of all urban development should take place within the existing urban fabric (Westerink et al. 2010). But, a compact city with a lot of sealed surface and lack of green space is more vulnerable for the effects of climate change. For example, the increasing number of heavy rainstorms will cause even bigger problems with flooding, if there are no areas left over for the water to infiltrate into. Also temperatures will change in the future and the socalled Urban Heat Island effect will strengthen the effects of climate change. Results from the city of Manchester show that an increase of green space of 10 % in residential areas will compensate for even the worst case temperature scenario in 2080 (Gill et al. 2007). 3.4

Development of the compact garden city

The issue of urban density vs. green space is an example of the potential conflict between mitigation and adaptation concerns (Carter 2008). An international survey of transport practices and urban structure by Newman & Kenworthy (1999) showed that American cities are much more dispersed than European and Asian cities, and that their energy consumption is significantly higher. But if increasing density, in order to reduce energy by lowering travel demand and heating requirements, leads to the loss of green space, one consequence will be the loss of a vital adaptation resource. The answer could be “the compact garden city”. The idea of the garden city originates from a utopian vision by Ebenezer Howard who initiated the garden city movement in Great Britain. A common misunderstanding is that Howard advocated low-density development, but according to Peter Hall his garden city would have densities similar to inner-city London (Hall 2002). Though the idea of the garden city comes from Britain it is especially in Scandinavian planning and building tradition that we find the best modern examples of garden city development, such as Pilestredet Park in Oslo, a former hospital site transformed into an eco-friendly residential area in 2000, the Western Harbour area, Malmö, Sweden, built in 2001, and another former harbour are transformed to an attractive living environment, Hammarby Seastad in Stockholm.

5


In Leipzig, due to outmigration and suburbanisation, there is a variety of vacant buildings and brownfields, so the urban core can be described as perforated rather than compact. The overall strategy is to counter suburbanisation processes by enhancement of the city and improving quality of life in order to retain residents in the city (Sinn et al. 2008). Kuala Lumpur has the ambition to become a world class garden city. But even if the city has a number of beautiful parks and gardens, such as KLCC garden at the Petrona Twin Towers, the Lake Garden – Taman Tasik Perdana, and the green space area increased from 600 to 1600 hectares from 1984 to 2000 it is still only 6.5% of the urban area. Compared to European cities this percentage places KL in the same group as Athens, Bratislava and Tirana, while cities like Brussels, Frankfurt and Stockholm lies around or a little above 50%. 3.5

Preservation of blue and green infrastructure

Another way of integration of transport and open space planning is to develop the green and blue corridors for energy-saving means of transport such as walking and cycling, biodiversity and human health and well-being. Cycling as the means of transport to and back from work has, for example, a positive effect on people’s health status, since it significantly reduces the risk of e.g. heart diseases. A fairly new initiative to preserve the green infrastructure is the establishment of National Urban Parks. The first NUP in Europe, the Royal National Park or the Eco Park in Stockholm was protected in 1994, but it is in Finland that the idea has been most fruitful. As mentioned before, KL has a lot of beautiful green areas and even a tropical forest – Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve – in the middle of the city. But the potential of the green structure is, however, not fully realised because of the lack of green corridors or greenways to connect the various areas, and to make safe, non-motorised traffic to the areas possible. The key to the development of a green infrastructure lies in the network of rivers that flow through the city in a well ramified grid system. A green infrastructure based on the riverbanks also has the advantage that it connects some of the areas where the poorest part of the population lives, and where the supply of green space is especially low, with the city’s parks and gardens. A vision for such a development was in a so-called twinning project between Denmark and Malaysia from 2003 to 2006 (Jensen et al. 2007). Occasionally the peri-urban zone contains areas of certain natural values, which thanks to their localisation give the urban population easy access to areas of high natural quality. An example is Skocjanski Nature Reserve –the largest brackish wetland in Slovenia in the urban fringe of Koper. The area was severely damaged in the 1980s, when the local authorities planned to fill up the lagoon in order to develop the area as an industrial and commercial zone. In 1993, the NGO BirdLife Slovenia 6


initiated a public campaign to protect the area, and after five years of persistent work the area was officially declared as a nature reserve by the Slovene government (Pintar et al. 2008). Xixi area, situated northwest of the West Lake District in Hangzhou, used to be a plain with a large network of ponds and rivers. The area, known for its beauty and rich ecology, was dominated by farmland and fishing with only few dispersed settlements. Despite the proximity to central Hangzhou hardly any urbanisation took place before 1990, but in 1996 Jiangcun Village was incorporated in the West Lake District of Hangzhou and a large-scale urbanisation process took shape. In less than ten years, the area had become one of the largest residential districts in Hangzhou, whereas the wetland area had decreased from 60 to 10 km2. At the same time, the city authorities experienced a growing demand for new recreational areas due to the expansion of the city westwards. The authorities reacted promptly, in November 2001 they passed the planning program for “Xixi Wetland Cultural and Ecological Tourism Area” and in 2004 the Xixi Wetland Reserve Master Plan was approved (Ying et al. 2008). 3.6

Provision of ecosystem services

The surrounding landscape provides a lot of other goods beneficial for the urban community. We call these common goods as “ecosystem services” and economists have tried to put monetary values on them: 

Biodiversity



Air quality



Ground water

  

Recreation Health Social inclusion

since 70 % of the European population live in urban areas, the experience of nature and wildlife close to where people live is important (30-90 EUR/ha) forests and trees clean the air from particles and gaseous pollutants (80-320 EUR/ha) they also protect groundwater – fresh water is a perishable (130 EUR/ha) 0.5-1 EUR per visit in the urban forest 100 EUR for every saved absence day 755 EUR for every prevented theft

The possibilities for financial compensation to farmers for providing ecosystem services in the peri-urban areas are noted as important. In The Hague Region farmers are rewarded for their improvement of the landscape, so-called Green and Blue Services (Aalbers & Eckerberg 2010). The system was instituted by a fund that was created by a number of municipalities from their revenues of housing projects. The Green Blue Service strategy provides an alternative to land purchase since the farmers gain extra income. The positive aspects include that the strategy contributes to maintaining agriculture, but it also contributes to biodiversity, recreation and tourism. 7


A study of Ayer Hitam forest reserve carried out by Danish economists and colleagues from Universiti Putra Malaysia showed that preservation of green infrastructure often is a good investment. The result of the study showed that preservation of the 1200 hectares of forest, which was under hard urban pressure, would give an economic benefit consisting of increased real estate values, recreational values and products from the wood that was worth more than the double of the value from forest harvesting and exploitation of the area. 4.

Future perspectives

Finally, urbanisation is a global phenomenon - the World Resources Institute has estimated that urban areas in developing countries will account for nearly 90 % of projected world population increases between 1995 and 2030. Therefore, managing urban population change will be one of the most important challenges over the next few decades. In developing countries, where 80 % of the world’s population lives, central issues will be how to cope with an unprecedented increase in the number of people living in urban areas, and with the growing concentrations of these urbanites in large cities with millions of residents and declining availability of natural resources. Urban sprawl in Europe and America is a small problem compared to the size of the problem in the rest of the world. References Aalbers, C., & Eckerberg, K. (2010). Governance patterns and performance of regional strategies in peri-urban areas. Comparative analysis of seven case studies in Europe and China. PLUREL Deliverable 3.3.8. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/D338.pdf Aalbers, C., Van Dijk T., Van Der Jagt P. D., Westerink J., Rodenberg, J., & Velinova, T. (2010). Analysis of regional spatial planning and decision making strategies and their impact on land use in the urban fringe. The case study of the Hague Region. The Netherlands: PLUREL Deliverable 3.3.1. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/D331.pdf Carter, J. (2008). Climate change: A rural-urban region perspective. PLUREL Newsletter No 3, April 2008, Copenhagen, pp. 4-5. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/PLUREL_%20Newsletter_No%203_screen.pdf CEC. (2004). Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, towards a thematic strategy on the urban environment. Commission of the European Communities. Brussels. CEC. (2006). Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on thematic strategy on the urban environment. Commission of the European Communities. Brussels. European Environment Agency (EEA) & European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC). (2006). Urban sprawl in Europe. Copenhagen: EEA Report No 10/2006. Gill, S., Handley, J., Ennos, R., & Pauleit, S. (2007). Adapting cities for climate change: The role of the green infrastructure. Built Environment 30(1), 97-115. Groschowski, M., & Pieniazek, M. (2010). Analysis of regional spatial planning and decision making strategies and their impact on land use in the urban fringe. Case study: Warsaw Metropolitan Area, Poland. PLUREL Deliverable 3.3.4. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/D334.pdf Hall, P. (2002). Cities of tomorrow. Third edition. Malden/Oxford/Victoria: Blackwell.

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Helminen, V., Ristimäki, M., Kontio, P., Rita, H., & Vuori, M. 2009. Response function for commuting. PLUREL deliverable D2.3.7. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/D237.pdf Jensen, M. B., Hjortsø, C. N., Schipperijn, J., Nik, A. R., & Nilsson, K. (2007). Research capacity building through twinning: Experiences from a Danish-Malaysian twinning project. Public Administration and Development 27:381-392. Ying, J., He, Y., Pauleit, S., Spiekermann, M., & Burkhardt, I. (2008). Analysis and assessment of regional and local government and planning strategies. Hangzhou case study. PLUREL Deliverable 3.3.7. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/D337.pdf Jørgensen, G, Nielsen, T. S., Grunfelder, J., & Jensen, J. M. (2010). Urban growth management. Effectiveness of instruments and policies. PLUREL Deliverable 2.4.1. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/D241.pdf Loibl, W., Piorr, A., & Ravetz, J. (2011). Concepts and methods. In: Piorr A et al., Periurbanisation in Europe: Towards a European policy to sustain urban-rural futures, pp. 24-29. Newman, P., & Kenworthy, J. (1999). Sustainability and cities: Overcoming automobile dependence. Washington DC: Island Press. Pintar, M., Udovic, A., Istenic, M. C., Zupan, M., Prus, T., Pirnat, J., Hladnik, D., & Glavan, M. (2008). Analysis of regional spatial planning and decision-making strategies and their impact on land use in the urban fringe - case study Koper. PLUREL Deliverable 3.3.5. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/D335.pdf Piorr, A. (2011). Food and farming. In: Piorr A et al., Peri-urbanisation in Europe: Towards a European policy to sustain urban-rural futures, pp. 65-71. Piorr, A., Ravetz, J., & Tosics, I. (2011). Peri-urbanisation in Europe: Towards a European policy to sustain urban-rural futures. University of Copenhagen: Academic Books. Ravetz, J. (2009). The city-region in time and space. Analysis of regional spatial planning and decision-making strategies, and their impact on land use in the urban fringe. PLUREL Deliverable 3.3.3. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/D333.pdf Sinn, A., Haase, D., & Walde, A. (2008). Analysis of regional spatial planning and decision making strategies and their impact on land use in the urban fringe. PLUREL Deliverable 3.3.6. Retrieved from http://www.plurel.net/images/D336.pdf Zasada, I., & Berges, R. (2011). Environment and landscape. In: Piorr A et al., Peri-urbanisation in Europe: Towards a European Policy to Sustain Urban-Rural Futures, pp. 72-75.

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Textile Membranes in Housing - Adaptation to Tropical Climates Paulo Mendonça1 and Mónica Macieira2 1 Architecture School, 2 Centre for Territory, Environment and Construction, University of Minho [email protected]

ABSTRACT Construction industry is responsible for a great portion of the environmental impacts in the world; some authors refer that these can be as high as 50% of the global impacts. The research for lower environmental impact constructive solutions, namely by the weight reduction is thus a main concern when the objective is to reduce the footprint of buildings, especially in urban areas. Textile membranes are usually used to cover big spans with complex geometries, using the special properties of the Hypar (Hyperbolic paraboloid). However it is possible to use membranes on small external façades and coverings, with low spans, as a junction of small Hypar modules, with still their mechanical special properties well explored, allowing a very small weight and thus a low environmental impact when compared to conventional façade and covering solutions, even those considered as lightweight, such as glass façades. Apart from this, the research on membrane materials for thermal regulation allows extending its possibilities in order to fulfil contemporary demands of comfort, and these are especially adequate to tropical climates, where thermal mass is not a requirement for passive comfort. In the outer skin, architectural membranes are very appropriate to be used as passive systems for cooling (i.e. for shading or ventilation). A prototype based on this concept was developed in the School of Architecture, on Azurém Campus of the University of Minho, using small span membranes on facades and roof. This solution is presented in this paper from its mechanical and structural concept, as well as its embodied energy and thermal/lighting performance potentialities. Keywords: Lightweight buildings, Passive cooling, Test-cells

1.

Membranes and sustainability

Low cost, self construction and environmentally sustainable buildings demand is increasing significantly in the last years. This paper presents a prototype of a lightweight membrane housing building concept. The aim of this study is to prove that membranes can be used for passive cooling strategies in the summer season in temperate climates and to all the year in tropical climates. In hot arid climates, these strategies are commonly used on vernacular architecture, such as in the black tent of North Africa deserts or the yurts in Mongolia, or the Tipi in North America. All these dwellings include shading and natural ventilation for passive cooling.

1


1.1

Lightweight means sustainable

The minimum use of materials in buildings implies a minimum overall weight of buildings and so smaller environmental impacts due to the extraction of raw materials and to their transformation processes. It also allows the reduction of energy consumption during the construction and a proportional reduction on loss factors and transport energy. We should have in mind that a road transport by truck implies 440kWh/kg/km, and this is the most used way of transport for construction materials. With a lightweight membrane solution, the reduction of weight can easily be of more than 90%, with consequent reduction on embodied energy and transport energy that allow an overall energy cost reduction of approximately 60%, although maintaining the functional performance in equivalent levels, even in temperate climates, as concluded in previous studies by Mendonça (2005). The use of membranes and polymeric foils in lightweight façade and coverings can be a sustainable option regarding their embodied energy, even when comparing them to glass. Even if it is considered that their life span could be half of glass, their significantly lower specific weight makes these solutions very competitive in terms of thermal and lighting performance indicators and embodied energy, what can be seen on Table 1. An ETFE foil can weigh 40 times less than any transparent glass alternative and uses approximately 15 times less embodied energy per square meter. Table 1. Relevant properties of some translucent and transparent materials. Visible Light Embodied Thermal Transmission Weight Energy Resistance (%) (kg/m2) (kwh/m2) (m2.oC/W) Clear glass 6mm 85 14.40 73.6 0.16 Double glass 6(10)6mm 70 28.80 147.2 0.35 Polycarbonate clear panel (10mm) 83 2.00 48.4** 0.32 PVC coated polyester 26 0.84 18.3** 0.17 idem, two layers with air gap of 100mm 13 1.68 36.6** 0.37 PTFE coated fiberglass 21 0.81 14.4** 1.03* idem, two layers with air gap of 100mm 4–6 1.62 28.8** 1.21 3 ETFE foil (0,2mm) 1710Kg/m 95 0.34 4.83 0.16 idem, two layers with air gap of 100mm n.a. 0.64 9.66 0.35 * R.E. Shaeffer (1996) ** Deduced values by Mendonça (2005) (considering just the embodied energy to make the two components of the material and excluding manufacture)

Polymer producing technology also allows a higher recycling potential (88%), but of course this is more truth with thermoplastics. New technologies for recycling thermo fixed polymers are now under research and application, promising high expectations for the future. Apart from this, the energy saved by using recycled plastic is much higher than the energy saved by using recycled glass, as it can be seen on Table 2.

2


Table 2. Embodied energy savings by recycling materials (MUMMA,1995). (%) Aluminum 95 Plastics 88 Glass 5 Source: Roberta Forsell Stauffer of National Assistance Service, published in Resource Recycling, January / February 1989.

1.2

Membranes as thermal performance regulators

The fact of being the most lightweight constructive solution for facades and coverings used in buildings and nowadays having a life span that easily exceeds 25 years, especially when fluoro polymers are used as coatings, architectural membranes are becoming extremely competitive solutions, not just in mechanical and economical terms, but also in environmental aspects. Conventionally, the external façades of a housing building are understood as “barriers” that separate the interior from the exterior, with well-defined areas of openings, the windows. Translucent and open weave textile based membranes can be interesting solutions to substitute conventional façades and roofs and can cover the all building envelope. Membranes can actuate as diffusers of solar radiation, filtering it and limiting overheating and glare problems. Homogeneity of the envelope, in terms of radiant sensitive heat and lighting, imply a better control of thermal and optical comfort in all points where might be occupants (MENDONÇA, 2010). Membranes can take several roles on the thermal control of buildings, as shown on Figure 1. Thermal control membranes

One-layer membranes Common membranes (passive)

Reactive membranes (active)

Multi-layer membranes

“Sandwich” filled panels

Static Mobile systems Physical changes Chemical membranes (blinds, of the woven changes of the Figur convertible opening and (most common) covering layer structures) permeability

With air gap (passive or active)

Passive (with insulating material)

Figure 1. Classification of Thermal control membranes (MENDONÇA, 2005).

The need to save energy resources has brought a revaluation of the envelope’s role. It is being increasingly conceived as a dynamic boundary, interacting with both external natural energy forces and the internal building environment. Membranes can be open weave and allowing both translucency and filtered ventilation. Nowadays membranes can be 3

Active (with PCMs)


transparent and present solar factors similar and even more favourable than extra clear glass; can be intelligent (reactive); integrate insulation in sandwich systems; integrate PCM’s (Phase Change Materials) for lightweight thermal mass; and so they are encouraging new approaches to building design. Projects like - “Lake Weyba house”; “Private House Lyon Vaise”; “Small Peaks – Longitude 131º”; “Wall house” and “Raum auf Zeit - Zeit im Raum”– are examples of membranes’ contemporary applications in passive cooling strategies.

Figure 2. “Lake Weyba house” (1986) designed by architect Gabriel Poole (POOLE, 2012), Australia.

Figure 3. “Private House Lyon Vaise” (1987) designed by architects Jourda &Perraudin (JOURDA, 2012), France.

Figure 4. “Small peaks – longitude 131º” (2002) designed by architect Cox Richardson (COX, 2012), Australia.

4


Figure 5. “Wall house” (2004-2007) designed by architects Frohn & Rojas (2012), Chile.

Figure 6. “Raum auf Zeit - Zeit im Raum” (2005), designed by architects Kalhoefer & Korschildgen (2010).

There are several types of membranes’ applications in buildings. In the classification proposed by Mollaert et al (2004), the types are as following: independent, exterior, interior, roof and facade. Each of the referred types can present three variations: closed (fixed), open (mobile) or open (fixed). Fechada (Fixa)

Aberta (Móvel)

Aberta (Fixa)

Table 3. Analysis of the case studies projects - type of membrane application. Independente

Project

Fechada (Fixa)

Independente Exterior “Lake Weyba house”

Year Aberta (Móvel)

Type of membrane application

Aberta (Fixa)

1986 Fechada (Fixa)

Exterior Interior “Private HouseIndependente Lyon Vaise”

Aberta (Móvel)

Open (fixed) and exterior Aberta (Fixa)

1987

Open (fixed) and exterior Fechada (Fixa)

Aberta (Móvel)

Aberta (Fixa)

Cobertura Interior “Small peaks –Exterior longitude 131º”

2002Independente

Open (fixed) and exterior

“Wall house”

2004Exterior 2007

Closed (fixed) and exterior

Fachada Cobertura Interior

Fechada (Fixa)

Fachada

“Raum auf ZeitCobertura - Zeit im Raum”

Independente 2005Interior

Fachada

Exterior Cobertura

Interior Fachada

5

Cobertura

Fachada

Aberta (Móvel)

Aberta (Fixa)

Open (movable) and independent; Open façade (movable)


1.3

Cube prototype in University of Minho

For this study, a Lightweight Membrane Test Cell (LMTC) was built and instrumented. In this test cell, made almost entirely in membrane, it was tested a proposed design using passive cooling by ventilation and shading. This test cell represents one module of a one bedroom housing dwelling that comprises 9 modules with the same dimensions as the compartment built [Figure 7(a)].

Kitchen HALL W.C.

Living Room

Room

N

built module of membrane prototype

(a) (b) Figure 7. Floor plan of .the proposed housing dwelling (a) and exterior view of the built module prototype (b).

A test cell where the environmental and structural potentialities of low span membranes can be explored is constructed on University of Minho, on its Campus de Azurém, Guimarães. This prototype is a modular cube with 2,5 x 2,5 x 2,5 m (Figure 7(b)). Its main structure is made of aluminium profiles of 70x70mm. The west and east façades, as well as the roof are made of an opaque white polyester/PVC membrane of 2,5 x 2,5m attached to aluminium profiles. Its structural stability (Figure 8(a)) is assured by four poles of steel with 20 cm long tensioned against the membrane by two crossed steel cables fixed to the corners (Figure 8(b)), that also assure the cross stabilization of the panels. Its detailed structural concept is described in a previous publication by Mendonça (2010).

(a)

(b)

Figure 8. Opaque membrane façade on module prototype - computer stress analysis for form finding optimization (a) (MENDONÇA, 2010) and internal view during the assembling process (b).

6


2.

Proposed membrane concept

The proposed membrane concept for the dwelling in a tropical climate will include the following strategies (Figure 9): opaque and insulated layer that assures waterproof in the roof; ventilated roof space; ceiling insulation; shading devices to block solar radiation and control natural lighting; cross ventilation assured by opposite north/south façade openings; lightweight construction; stilted house. Shading should be a major concern during daytime. Passive cooling ventilation should be explored, especially during night. It’s the south and north façades that should be used to implement solutions of dynamic ventilation (ventilated facade operated by user). To avoid overheating there are no openings to east and west. When dominant winds are predominant to other solar orientations, some openings to these orientations should be pondered, but shading should be especially considered. Waterproof layer.

Waterproof layer.

Ventilated roof space.

Ventilated roof space.

Ventilation through roof joint.

Ventilation through roof joint. Open mesh membrane for sunshading and allowing view.

Ceiling insulation.

Fully opnable windows allow ventilation at body level. Lightweight construction use low thermal capacity materials keep house cool.

Lightweight construction use low thermal capacity materials keep house cool.

Stilted membrane house catches wind of higher velocity.

Ceiling insulation.

Fully opnable windows allow ventilation at body level. Stilted membrane house catches wind of higher velocity.

Figure 9. Passive strategies on Module Prototype (from left to right) night time performance and daytime performance.

2.1

Translucent/transparent waterproofing layer

Generally, membranes are translucent, but not transparent; they are in most cases composites with a textile based structure (such as polyester and fiberglass) with a polymeric covering, such as Polyvinyl chloride PVC, Polytetrafluoroethylene - PTFE or Silicon. Open weave membranes are adequate to achieve a good protection from excessive solar radiation in tropical climates during daytime, so they are appropriate to be used as shading devices. Common membranes (such as the Polyvinyl chloride PVC coated Polyester) are characterised by a low visible light transmission and a low thermal insulation. Juxtaposition of two or more membranes with an air gap can increase thermal resistance to equivalent or higher values than double pane glasses, especially when the air gap between layers is filled by translucent insulating materials (such as fibreglass), but losing its translucency. This means that these solutions are especially adequate to be used in the ceiling in tropical climates or in east and west façades. The roof should also include a ventilated space protected by an external waterproof opaque membrane layer. 7


In the north and south façades, transparency and controlled waterproofing is a requirement to allow natural lighting. The conventional material that is used to respond to these demands is glass. One of the first plastic materials that can be comparable with glass in terms of transparency was PMMA - Polymethyl methacrylate, brought to market in 1933 and commonly called acrylic glass. Apart from its good mechanical and chemical resistance, PMMA present an equivalent refraction to clear glass. One of the first relevant and famous uses of acrylic in membrane construction was made in the covering of the Munich Olympic Stadium from Günther Behnisch and Frei Otto. But this was really a cable net structure, as this material was not suitable to be used as structural membrane. A recent material is now capable of solving this problem, the Ethylene-tetrafluorethylene (ETFE), used in membranes. It presents a great translucency and a good Thermal Resistance in relation to its thickness. As it is a fluoropolymer, ETFE has a long durability, is selfcleaned by rain and weights much less then glass. It is made of homogeneous polymer foils and it is being largely used nowadays, especially in double layer cushion solutions, such as in the “Water Cube”, the Swimming pool constructed for the Beijing Olympic games.by PTW Architects and Ove Arup. This material can be as transparent as extra-clear glass but at the same time exhibits excellent mechanical toughness and a chemical resistance that rivals Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). In addition, ETFE exhibits a low conductivity and can withstand moderately high temperatures for a long period of time without losing significant mechanical resistance, what makes it an ideal material for membrane structures where high transparency is needed with mechanical resistance in hot climates. The introduction of more efficient then glass translucent materials permit, not just the reduction of weight in transport, but also in embodied energy cost per square metre of façade, when compared with glass, as it can be concluded from the analysis of Table 1, previously shown. 2.2

Shading

High insulation in roof is not, by itself, effective, and can even be problematic on tropical climates. Shading is the essential strategy for cooling. The characteristics of the shading devices should obey to certain rules, namely to have in mind solar charts for each location. Shading can be made naturally, using vegetation that can even have an active role. It can also be artificial, by the relative position to other constructions or by the volumetric form of the construction. Shading should also be pondered and can be made with membrane materials, as awnings, with the additional advantage of a reduced weight and being possible to obtain several transparency and air permeability degrees. The efficiency of shading devices depends on its position in relation to the translucent waterproofing layer.

8


3.

Conclusions

This paper show the potentialities associated with the use of membranes in order to achieve a good compromise between economical cost, thermal performance and materials’ environmental impacts, as well as allowing self construction and ease deconstruction. The optimized weight results in a better overall environmental profile, and is suitable to be applied in tropical climates where cooling needs are relevant. Architectural membranes with just a few millimetres thickness constitute a self-portable material and either can be translucent for natural lighting gains, as well as can be used as shading devices that protects from excessive solar radiation, or from ultra-violet rays. This paper shows the concepts, illustrated with real case studies, which are behind a membrane construction. These are implemented in a prototype existing in Campus de Azurém of the University of Minho. In spite of the increasing evolution that membrane materials achieved in the recent past, there is still a long way to go through, before these can be accepted and can be considered as sustainable, especially regarding social and cultural resistance when it regards to housing dwellings. In spite of the fact that these lightweight materials and solutions are environmentally suitable to be used in tropical climates, these are only being timidly implemented and their possibilities are not completely and positively explored. 4.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Portugal) and COMPETE (Programa Operacional de Fatores de Competitividade - Portugal) for supporting the ADjustMEMBRANE project with the reference PTDC/AUR-AQI/102321/2008.

9


References Cox, R. (2012). project/10297

Longitude

131º.

Retrieved

from

http://www.coxarchitecture.com.au/#/

Frohn, M., & Rojas, M.. (2012). Wall house. Retrieved from http://www.f-a-r.net/projects2.html Jourda, A. (2012). Private house: Lyon Vaise. Retrieved from http://www.jourdaarchitectes.com/index.html Kalhoefer, & Korschildgen. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.kalhoefer-korschildgen.de/de/ projekte/ mobile_architektur/raum_auf_zeit.html Mendonça, P. (2005). Living under a second skin - Strategies for the environmental impact reduction of solar passive constructions in temperate climates. Civil Engineering Department, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal: PhD Thesis. Mendonça, P. (2010). Low-span lightweight membranes in housing - environmental and structural potentialities. Guimarães: Proceedings of the International Conference Structures and Architecture. CRC Press, 21-23 July. Mollaert, M., Haase, J., & Hollander, S. (2004). Designing tensile architecture, tensile membrane buildings and buildings components. Tensinet: Tensinet Symposium. Mumma, T. (1995). Reducing the embodied energy of buildings. In Home Energy Magazine Online, January / February. Poole, G. (2012). Lake Weyba house. Retrieved from http://www.gabrielpoole.com.au/ philosophy. html Shaeffer, R. E. (1996). Tensioned fabric structures, a practical introduction. New York: Task Committee on Tensioned Fabric Structure; American Society of Civil Engineers.

10


Participatory City Planning and a Cultural Dimension of Climate Change: Open Space Loss due to Right of way Encroachment in Sokoto, Nigeria A. Bello¹ and Kamariah Dola² ²Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia

ABSTRACT In spite of the controversial nature of the phenomenon and difficulty in reconciling it with other (economic) development indicators, sustainable development has been, and continued to be a focal terminology in cities’ planning and development strategies. Linking sustainability in urban planning and design with participatory urban governance, this paper examines the challenges of participatory city planning and management as well as open-space loss to urban development (which according to UN Habitat contributes 50% of global greenhouse emissions) through residents’ attitude of hiding behind traditions. This is achieved by focussing on the spill-over effects of right of way encroachments through construction of mosques on different categories of urban roads in Sokoto metropolis, North West Nigeria. The study first categorizes the different urban road hierarchies in the city and examined the occurrence of the phenomenon as well as observed and potential implications on adjacent uses, using cross-sections, interviews and time series images. The study revealed that about 44% of urban road right of way is lost at the point of encroachments which also provide a pretext for extension of adjacent developments. Similarly, in addition to the weakness of urban management institutions, there is also a low level of community awareness on the use of road right of ways and consequences of its encroachment which is reflected in the residents’ readiness to encroach should an opportunity becomes available. This also indicates a picture of poor participation particularly in plans implementation. As a by-product of the socio cultural and economic context, this phenomenon (although requires a radical development control approach to correct) can be mitigated through adoption of proper participatory techniques in urban planning and development. Keywords: Road right of way, Participatory city planning, climate change, development control, Encroachment

1.

Introduction

Being one of the greatest global challenges, climate change has since been seen to reflect the repercussions of man’s actions. The way people have lived since the industrial revolution is catching up with humans in the form of global warming or global climate change1. The average temperatures of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans has been on an increase for the past 150 years and according to Public Agenda1 the top 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1990. Efforts have historically been made by various studies to disaggregate the important causes of climate change (towards formulating its mitigation strategies) within man’s quest for survival as well as “better living”. According to UN Habitat (2011), urban development contributes 50% of world’s greenhouse 1

Facing the challenges of climate change – Public Agenda, http://www.publicagenda.org/files/pdf/globalwarming_guide.pdf 1


gas emissions. Planning for urban development again, is an issue that is faced with a big challenge of balancing between individual and public interests particularly if the intent is to make plans that matter (Burby 2003). A closer look at the strength and weaknesses of various approaches to mitigate resultant effects of climate change will point more towards its complexity and sometimes lead one to ponder whether or not the approaches are only paper works to keep some people busy. The notions of local, national and international action, adaptation by vulnerable communities as well as “free market” for instance will always present a challenge of whether one is ready to give up his interest or how far we can actually agree with trade-offs for public interests. Here comes yet one of the greatest challenges of urban governance to ensure a possible balance between policies, their implementation and public freedom to make choices. This is evident in the position of urban planners as intermediaries between built environment and people that lived in it (Delvin 1991 and Hubbard 1997). Studies on open space loss to urban developments have conventionally focussed on urban sprawl and resultant consequences of this succession on future of cities (Bengston et al, 2004, Broussard et al, 2008 and Schmidt 2008). Within already built up areas however, reservations are equally made serving the purpose of open spaces and easements for public utilities and facilities as the need arises. A good example of this is the road right of way reservation. This paper presents an attempt to highlight the challenges of “hiding behind traditions” reflected in open space loss through encroachment of road right of way by construction of mosques in Sokoto north western Nigeria. The intent is to show from the perspective of global campaign on climate change the challenges of participatory city planning and management in a society where the dominant culture is used as a scape goat to justify “individual” interests against long term collective good. 2.

Urban open spaces and challenges of conservation

Open spaces occupies important position in city development and planning. This is reflected in a variety of studies available on how much of it is needed (quantitative) as well as for instance how people use it (qualitative) (Maruani 2011). Schmidt (2008) argues that open space has been utilized by local planning practice for numerous and sometimes contradictory reasons that have reflected the shifting concerns of the planning profession since the nineteenth century. According to Schmidt, open spaces have been utilized by planners initially reflecting a health and sanitation concern through provision of parks. Later, the focus shifted to exclusionary ends through suburban zoning as suburban areas grew at the expense of cities. Much recently, the focus has been on protecting ecological functions and guide urban development. The work of Noor Amila and Alias (2011) in Kuala Lumpur demonstrated the difficult challenge of conservation in the midst of a demand for highest and best use of land through urban redevelopment. Also, the 25 open space development vs. conservation court cases studied by Maruani (2011) showed that 50% of the ruling accepted development oriented planning decisions against conservation oriented decisions. This is another 2


indication of how challenging conservation of open spaces can be in an era of intense demand for urban land and that as much as it is a design issue it is equally one that somehow need to be enforced. 3.

Location and physical characteristics of Sokoto metropolis Sokoto state

Figure 1. Location of Sokoto state in African and global context (Sources: National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria). http://www.ryderscott.com/Experience/Intl-Experience/Africa.php#top http://www.wnd.com/2011/05/297357/

Sokoto metropolis is currently the capital city of Sokoto state, which is located in the North-West geo-political zone of Nigeria within latitude 13° 3’ 49’’N, longitude 5° 14’ 89’’E and at an average elevation of 272 m above sea level. Sokoto metropolis comprised of a number of local administrative units (local governments): Sokoto North and South as well as some parts of Kware, Dange-Shuni and Wamakko local government areas.

Figure 2. Sokoto metropolis.

3


Sokoto is in the dry Sahel savannah vegetation pierced by loam to sandy terrain, dispersed shrubs and isolated hills. The rainy period is usually from June to September or sometimes October. The average annual rainfall is 550 mm with peak in the month of August (SRRBDA, 2007). The highest temperatures of 45 to 47°C during the hot season are experienced in the months of March and April. The prevalence of the tropical continental air mass (North east trade winds) is experienced between the months of November and February which brings about cold, dry, windy and dusty conditions in the city. 4.

People and culture

According to 2006 census, Sokoto metropolis is estimated to have a population of 427,760 people. Local inhabitants comprises mostly of Hausa/Fulani and other groups such as Gobirawa, Zabarmawa, Kabawa, Adarawa, Arawa, Nupes, Yorubas, Ibos and other migrants. The predominant language is Hausa. Occupation of city dwellers includes trading, commerce, domestication of animals with a reasonable proportion of the population working in private and public sectors. Population of farmers is on a decline (Bello, 2006).

Figure 3. Domestically raised cattle and a seasonal irrigated crops market.

Majority of the city’s population are muslims. It is therefore not uncommon to observe several mosques located around the entire city. Historically, Sokoto used to be the centre of the established political empire after the 1804 “Jihad” of Shehu Usmanu bin Fodiyo.

Figure 4. The Sultan's palace and an open market environment. 4


Common local entertainment sports (although not very active nowadays) include dambe, Kokawa and sharo. The nearby Argungu town is also famous in the annual fishing festival on the Rima River which passes through Sokoto metropolis. Because of the semi-arid nature of the city, a number of dry climate animals can be raised. Camels are still a common mode of transport particularly at the time of crops harvests.

Figure 5. Kokawa and Dambe traditional sports.

5.

Urban design characteristics

A common feature of cities in northern Nigeria is a defensive wall and a number of city gates denoting entry points from other neighbouring areas. In Sokoto, the wall is presently non-existent. However, almost all the known gates have been preserved at their original locations which show a good indication of how rapid the city sprawls: the old city centre surrounded by the gates only represents a small proportion of the city at present.

Figure 6. Kofar Aliyu Jedo: one of the (rebuilt) city gates.

The predominant architecture in the city is currently a mixture of modern buildings in a traditional context, reflecting the prevailing physical and economic conditions of the residents. Privacy in housing is important to the city dwellers. As such therefore, even the modern or semi-modern houses reflect the traditional concept of privacy.

5


Figure 7a. An example of the traditional architecture and a grain storage silos.

Figure 7b. Some of these houses are still available in some parts of the city.

Figure 8. A view of part of the city's centre.

6.

Tradition as a potential

Many cities world over have recognised the potential of preserving their historic traditions. This not only provides such cities with economic opportunities to be visited by tourists, but also created an interest for digging and therefore preserving their histories. Examples of such cities include Timbuktu (in Mali), Roma (in Rome) and Melaka (in Malaysia). Sokoto is also one of such cities as it is still an attraction city to several visitors from within and outside Nigeria particularly to the famous Hubbare of Shehu Usmanu bin Fodio. The political history of the city as 6


the centre of the then caliphate also attracted the attention of a number of historical writers (example, Jean Boyd).

Figure 9. The Sokoto caliphate (1820 AD) Jean Boyd (1995).

7.

Urban management challenges of hiding behind traditions: A right of way case

While urban planning is concerned with the systematic (future oriented) arrangement of physical development to achieve efficiency, aesthetics and convenience, urban management ensures the realization and sustainability of the planning efforts. Issues of governance have inherently been controversial particularly when frictions become apparent with prevailing local traditions. A good example is the conflict between science and early Christian monarchs in Europe (Healey 1992) and that of monarchically initiated public projects with the need to involve the ‘public’ in deciding on public investments. In this section, we will be examining the encroachment of road right of way in sokoto metropolis through mosques’ construction. This phenomenon is linked with urban governance in the sense that even if urban planning officials decided to intervene (probably via development control) in restoring the lost right of ways, the likelihood is high that resistance will follow which is linked or deliberately attached to tradition. Also, the fact that substantial proportion of open space is in the process being lost to urban development, denotes some support to the urban land use that contributes 50% of global greenhouse emissions (UN Habitat, 2011). The following figure shows location of the seven sites that have been selected to exemplify the phenomenon.

7


C6

C7 C2

C5 C1

C4 C3

Figure 10. Location of the selected sites in the urban fabric (C1 - C7).

Although a restricted usage is allowed on right of ways to persons with occupancy permits, in Nigeria, permanent or semi-permanent structures are not allowed (NURPL2, 1992). However, it is indeed common to see a number of mosques constructed either attached to (mostly low density) residential buildings or just hanging within a right of way.

Figure 11. Encroachment at a low density residential area and expressway ROW.

2

Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law (Decree no 88 of 1992) 8


Why the connection between this phenomenon and low density residential areas become an issue is that low density residential units are mostly occupied by the influential elites – often within the decision making circle. If the zonal town planning officer or a superior officer orders a demolition of an illegally constructed mosque, special bad-will prayers can be organized for him/her even in a ‘neutral’ case. Table below summarizes the description of encroachment at the different locations. Table 1. Right of way encroachment at the different locations. Location

ROW width (m)

Carriage way (m)

Median kerb (m)

Encroachm ent (m)

Existing ROW (m)

Distance of the structure to the metal portion (m)

Eastern by pass (C1) Sultan Abubakar Rd (C2) Sama Road (C3) Kaduna Road (C4) Dallatu Road (C5) Sakaba Road (C6) Mai kahon karo (C7)

42

6

-

43.5

12

0.5

16.5

27

1.5

37 104

7 12

2

15 38

22 66

4 7

17

5

-

5.5

11.5

0.5

36

6

-

11

25

1

34

6

-

9

25

1.5

313.5

8.

176.5

Open space loss to urban development: Temporal analogy of selected cases

As highlighted earlier, about 40% of road right of way space is lost to urban development at the point of encroachment. In this section we examine temporally, some permanent constructions that followed mosques’ encroachment of road right of way using time series Google images. This is shown in figures 12 – 17 below.

9


Case 1: Sultan Abubakar road

Figure 12. Sultan Abubakar road – 2005. A = 56.86m (existing ROW)

Figure 13. Sultan Abubakar road 2010. A = 38.8m

By 2005, it can be seen that the road right of way at the point of present PDP (People’s Democratic Party) office along Sultan Abubakar road was 56.86m even though the Abubakar as-siddiq mosque was there (M). By 2010 when the party office construction was completed to align with already encroaching mosque, the road right of way shrank to 38.8m.

10


Case 2: Sakaba road

Figure 14. Sakaba Road, 2005. A = 36m

Figure 15. Sakaba road, 2010. A = 25m

In this second location, 36 meters of road right of way in 2005 becomes 25 meters in 2010 at the point where the mosque is constructed (M). One common feature of these constructions is that they are usually carried out outside property boundaries. A commensurate 9 meter loss is therefore envisaged along Sakaba road if other property occupants decided to align with the mosque’s encroachment.

11


Case 3: Sama road

Figure 16. Sama Road, 2005. A = 37m

Figure 17. Sama Road, 2009. A = 22m

At the third selected location (Sama road), 37 meter ROW in 2005 became 22 meters in 2005 at the point of a mosque constructed beyond property boundary of a house in a low medium-low density residential area. Spill over effect is also noticeable downward where new developments also came up. The figure below shows a comparison of right of way spaces at points of encroachment in 2005 and 2009/2010 at the three locations discussed above.

12


60

ROW space (m)

50 40 30 2005 20

2009/2010

10 0 Sultan Abubakar road

Sakaba Road

Sama road

Selected cases

Figure 18. Right of way width at points of encroachment: Sultan Abubakar, Sakaba and Sama roads in 2005 and 2009/2010.

9.

Planning and urban management implications

In general, the seven cases revealed that a total of 137meters (43.7%) of right of way space is lost at the point of encroachment. Similarly, encroachment by the structures usually provides a pretext for extension of adjacent uses towards the metal portion of the roads. A good example of this is the sultan Abubakar road case, where a political party office was extended to reconcile with the encroachment by an existing mosque. Existing distances of structures to the roads’ metal portion means that should a motorist lost control, in certain instances less than one meter of space is available for possible manoeuvre. Another implication is that since the encroached right of ways are Spill over effect of ROW encroachment on adjacent lands meant for future expansions of utility lines and/or their maintenance, expansion or maintenance becomes very hard to carry out when the need arises. In the same vein, people do demand compensation on encroached land when the need arises for road expansion for example. This becomes more problematic in instances where transfer of occupancy right occurs. This phenomenon manifested during the 2010 Sultan Abubakar road rehabilitation. The response from the policy makers to please the citizens in paying compensation on encroached lands had serious negative effects on the state governments’ reserve.

13


Figure 19. Abubakar Siddiq mosque along Sultan Abubakar road.

10.

Conclusion

In conclusion therefore, although the phenomenon of ROW encroachment through mosques’ construction is a reflection of weak planning and development control institutions, its relationship with prevailing traditions makes it more complex than simply a governance issue. The need to involve people in planning decisions is increasingly being recognized by local authorities globally. Therefore, outreach programmes on public enlightenment should also focus on highlighting the resultant effects of hiding behind traditions as well as the need for open spaces particularly in the context of urban road right of ways. References Abdullahi, K., Abubakar, U., Adamu, T., Daneji, A. I., Aliyu, R. U., Jiya, N., Ibraheem, M. T. O., & Nata’ala, S. U. (2009). Malaria in Sokoto, North Western Nigeria. African Journal of Biotechnology, 8 (24): 7101-7105. Bello, A. (2006). Planning for flood prone areas in the Sokoto Rima river basin. An unpublished M.sc thesis. Nigeria: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. Bengston, D. N., Fletcher, J. O., & Nelson, K. C. (2004). Public policies for managing urban growth and protecting open space: Policy instruments and lessons learned in the United States. Landscape and Urban Planning, 69 (2): 271-286. Boyd, J. (1995). The caliph sister: Nana Asma’u 1796 – 1865: Teacher, Poet and Islamic leader. Wiltshire: Anthony Rowe ltd. Broussard, S. R, Washington, O. C., & Miller B. K. (2008). Attitude toward policies to protect open space: A comparative study of government planning officials and the general public. Landscape and Urban Planning, 86 (1): 14-24. Burby, B. (2003). Making plans that matter, citizen involvement and government action. APA 69 (1): 33–49. Devlin, K. (1991). An examination of architectural interpretation: Architects versus non-architects. J. Archit. Plan. Res. 7 (3): 235–244. Federal Government of Nigeria. (1992). The Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law (NURPL), Decree no 88 of 1992. Healey, P. (1992). Planning through debate: The communicative turn in planning theory. Town Planning Review, 63(2): 143–162.

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Hubbard, P. (1997). Diverging attitudes of planners and the public: An examination of architectural interpretation. J. Arch. Plan. Res. 14 (4): 317–328. Maruani, T. (2011). The role of courts in open space conservation: Lessons from the Israeli experience. Landscape and Urban Planning, 100(4): 364-368. Noor, A. W. A. Z., & Alias, A. (2011). Evaluating stakeholders’ preferences: Reconciling heritage and sustainability in Kuala Lumpur traditional areas. Journal of Malaysian Institute of Planners, 9 (1): 37-50. Sokoto Rima River Basin Development Authority (SRRBDA). (2007). Hydrological year book. Nigeria: Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development. Schmidt, S. J. (2008). The evolving relationship between open space preservation and local planning practice. Journal of Planning History, 7 (2): 91-112. UN Habitat. (2011). Cities and climate change-Global report on human settlements 2011. London, Earthscan: United Nations Human Settlement Programme.

15


Green Façade as a Method for Reducing Heat and Energy Consumption in Buildings Mehdi Rakhshandehroo¹ and Kamariah Dola² ¹PhD in Landscape Studies, Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia [email protected] ²Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia [email protected]

ABSTRACT Global climate change is a long-term weather patterns change that affects the entire world. Human activities, especially the burning of coal and oil and clearing the forests, have partly contributed to the warming of the earth and the impacts of warming can already be observed and felt such as the rise of sea-level and temperature, warming of the oceans and declining Arctic sea ice.Although climate change cannot be avoided entirely, the most severe impacts of climate change can be mitigated by fundamentally reducing the amount of heat-trapping gases released into the atmosphere and this can be achieved by reducing energy consumption in buildings.Within the challenges of energy crisis and climatic changes,sustainable architecture could address the issue of global warming. This paper is intended to explore the potential ofusing vegetation to reduce temperature in built environment which is termed facade greening. Although it is not a new innovation, it provides promising results for the issue. Vertical greening can provide a cooling potential on the building surface, which is very importantduring summer periods in hot climates. The cooling effect of green facades has also an impact on the inner climate in the building by preventing warming up the facade. The mechanisms by which green facades can be used as passive energy saving systems are: shadow produced by the vegetation, the insulation provided by vegetation and substrate, evaporative cooling by evapotranspiration, reducing heat absorption and reflection and the barrier effect of the wind. The contribution of plants on building facades is essential for the improvement of the sustainability ofthe built environment. Their implementation is also ecologically and aesthetically acceptable as an adequate architectural feature that upgrades facades. Their exploitation leads to an energy conscious design approach that prevents densely populated urban areas from transforming into a greenhouse area. Keywords: climate change, architecture, green façade

1.

Introduction

For various reasons, sustainability today is producing an important and interesting approach to provide linkage between architecture and the environment. Within the challenges of energy crisis and climatic changes architects started to develop new approaches to address the quest of energy demands in buildings. (Sheweka and Mohamad 2012).In response to the growing awareness of the environmental impact of buildings, there is an emerging trend in architectural design aims to regulate a building’s indoor environment by making use of the local climate and natural renewable resources. Such kind of design is often referred to as ‘bioclimatic’ as its 1


principles are inspired by the nature. One of the bioclimatic design options is to grow vegetation on buildings to reduce the summer heating load and to improve the surrounding air quality. On the negative side, although this kind of vegetative building design could be successfully been implemented in masonry buildings, it is unsuitable for modern buildings that use light weight metal or glazed external claddings( Miller 2007). The consideration of green roofs and facades,requires proper planning and study on the material, structure and skin of the building to support different types of vegetation and design (Köhler 2008). Vegetation can play an important role in the top-climate of towns and the microclimate of buildings. Significant climatic effects could be made by combining green cover on walls, roofs and open spaces in the vicinity of buildings (Wilmers 1990).

Figure 1. Two projects of Dr. Ken Yeang who is the world's leading architect in ecological and passive low energy design. He is best known as the inventor of the Bioclimatic skyscraper as a genre of low-energy skyscrapers based on bioclimatic design principles (Source: www.jbdesign.it).

2.

Climate change and green house effect in urban areas

The absorption of thermal radiation from a planetary surface by atmospheric greenhouse gases, is called the greenhouse effect. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface and the lower atmosphere, it results in an elevation of the average surface temperature above what it would be in the absence of the gases. The increase in radiativeforcing from human activity( such as fuel burning and tropical deforestation) is attributable mainly to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution began about 150 years ago, man-made activities have added significant quantities of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere. An increase in the levels of GHGs could lead to greater warming, which, in turn, could have an impact on the world’s climate, leading to the phenomenon known as climate change. This fast speed problem has various dimensions like: economic, health and 2


safety, and food production security. For instance, food production has been threatened even by the slightest change in temperature beside other elements such asthe unpredictability of precipitation, rising sea levels that contaminate coastal freshwater reserves and increase the risk of catastrophic flooding. A warming atmosphere helps the pole-ward spread of pests and diseases once limited to the tropics (Vijaya 2012). The most important mitigation measures include carbon sequestration, clean development mechanism, joint implementation and most importantly the use of renewable and non-polluting sources of energy like solar, wind and geothermal energy sources, furthermore increasing energy productivity will lead to decreasing energy consumption, this ambition can be obtained by using passive systems in buildings like green facades.

Figure 2. Primary school in Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan. Green wall which is made by bitter melon plant that shade sunlight so room temperature dropped by as much as 6°C. Operation of air conditioning was reduced, achieving an energy saving of 600kWh. Electricity charges in July and August were cut by around 7,500 yen per month. (Source: en:ja:ファイル:Midori no katen)

3.

Green façade

Green façade refers to a wall, either free-standing or part of a building, which is partially or completely covered with vegetation is called green wall. Exterior Vegetation has been used for centuries, primarily in the form of various climbing plants with or without the support received spread over facades to give a green appearance to the environment (Dunnett and Kingsbury, 2006). The concept of the green wall dates back to 600 BC with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The green wall was first recorded being invented by Stanley Hart White at the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign in 1931. White holds the first known patent for a green wall, or vertical garden, conceptualizing this new garden type as a solution to the problem of modern garden design(Hindle 2012). Green facades are facade systems in which climbing plants or hanging port shrubs are developed using special support structures, mainly in a directed way, to cover the desired area. The plants can be planted directly in 3


the ground at the base of the structure, or in pots at different heights of the facade. Green facades can subsequently be divided into three different systems. Traditional green facades, where climber plants use the façade material as a support; double-skin green facade or green curtain, with the aim of creating a double-skin or green curtain separated from the wall; and perimeter flower pots, when as a part of the composition of the facade hanging port shrubs are planted around the building to constitute a green curtain (Perez 2011).

Figure 3. California Academy of Sciences is a modern green roof. Constructed for low maintenance by intentionally neglecting many native plant species, with only the hardiest surviving varieties selected for installation on the roof. Source: California (magazine of the University of California Alumni Association), Sept/Oct 2008, cover and pp. 52–53.

Vertical greening offers an outstanding number of public and private benefits such as: aesthetical, social, ecological and environmental, and fits in the principle of ecological engineering (Odum 1995). Simply due to the sheer amount of building walls, the widespread use of vertical greenery systems not only represents a great potential in mitigating the UHI effect through evapotranspiration and shading, it is also a highly impactful way of transforming the urban landscape (Newton 2007). The façade greening of building walls, which known as vertical greenery systems (VGSs), leads to an energy. Conscious design approach that prevents densely populated urban areas from transforming into a greenhouse environment (Krushe 1982). These green forms like roof gardens are essential for dust control, for humidification and the cold air generation and hence to the promotion of human health.

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4.

Evaporation impact

The evapotranspiration process of plants requires energy. This physical process generates the so-called ‘‘evaporative cooling’ ’which represents 2450 J for every gram of water evaporated. This solution is one of the most inexpensive and effective to cool a building. a meter cubic consumes 680 kWh of water evaporated. Vegetating facades of a building provides result in significant additional evapo-transpiration, which represents a high potential for reducing temperatures of the surfaces of buildings and improving the environment inside and around the building. The evapo-transpiration is the most important environmental benefit of vegetated roofs and facades in urban areas. This influences the urban hydrology, in reducing the temperature of the surfaces and improves the management of runoff rainwater (Stec 2004). The cooling effect due to evapo-transpiration of plants (trees), resulting in decrease in temperature around the building although water evaporated by trees can increase the humidity. 5.

Wind impact

Green vertical systems of buildings act as wind barrier and consequently block the effect of wind on the facades of the building. The degree of wind protection offered by a green barrier depends primarily on the speed and wind direction, the dimensions of the barrier (height, width and length), the density and penetrability of the material that is finally on its way. In considering the use of vegetation as a modifier of the effect of wind on buildings, space must be careful not to obstruct the ventilation in summer, and not encourage drafts in the winter (Ochoa 1999).

Figure 4. Green facade in Golmés 2008. Green façades are made up of climbing plants either growing directly on a wall or, more recently (as shown in this photo), growing on specially designed supporting structures (Source: Perez 2011).

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Figure 5. BegrüntesHaus in Gießen 2008. In this photo the plant shoot system grows up the side of the building while being rooted in the ground (Source: www.flickr.com).

Energy consumption in winter increases because of the shadow produced in the building, but substantial reductions in energy consumption are finally obtained due to the effect of change in the climate in the space between the wall of the building and the green facade and the wind speed reduction (Bass 2007). 6.

Shading and insulation impact

Vertical green façade have a great potential to be used as a blocker of solar radiation, the shadow is directly possibly most obvious benefit of the vegetation. Traditional materials like metal, concrete and aluminum absorb heat from sunlight and radiate this heat back into the buildings and theirsurroundings, while the vegetations do not. The facades vegetationprovides shade and aesthetic use. In a research titled “Bioshader” in the University of Brington, United Kingdom,a window covered with vegetation was compared with another without any vegetative cover. It was recorded thatthere were reductions in the internal temperature of 3.5 º C, with highs of up to 5.6 ° C. They also measured the solar transmittance of the foliage, which ranged from 0.43, with a single layer leaves, up to 0.14 with five layers of leaves, corresponding to a reduction in radiation solar crosses 37% for a layer, up to 86%, with five laers of leaves (Miller 2007). This provides proof that vegetative cover could successfully reduce the internal temperature of the building.

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Figure 6. Plan showsthe locations of monitoring equipment (Source: Miller 2007).

Figure 7. A vertical section through the bioshader system (Source: Miller 2007).

Figure 8. The Virginia Creeper trained onto the framework and the plant containers (Source: Miller 2007).

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Figure 9. This graph represents the temperature in test room which facilitated with bioshader was constantly under control room’s temperature and this distinction significantly increased on peak hours. Sobioshaderreduced room temperature to comfort range (Source: Miller 2007).

7.

Suggested vegetation

For selection of plants should consider their natural supporting mechanism and adaptability harsh environment, furthermore on the vertical plane in the urban area, plant species should be consideredas they will need sufficient watering and also regular trimming. Plants and vegetation implemented on the urban façade should be located accordingly in order to receive full sunlight in the highest amount of time possible or high relative humidity will dominate thermal comfort especially when there is no sufficient wind. Some suggested suitable plant species for green façade are: 



   

Actinidia: is a genus of woody and, with few exceptions, dioecious plants native to temperate eastern Asia, occurring throughout most of China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and extending north to SoutheastSiberia and south into Indochina. Aristolochia: is a large plantgenus with over 500 species. Collectively known as birthworts, pipevines: or Dutchman's pipes, they are the namesake of the family (Aristolochiaceae). They are widespread and occur in the most diverse climates Campsis: (trumpet creeper, trumpet vine) is a genus of flowering plants in the familyBignoniaceae, native to woodland in China and North America. [1] staff vines: also known as staff trees or bittersweet, genus Celastrus, comprise about 30-40 species of shrubs and vines. They have a wide distribution in East Asia, Australasia, Africa and the Americas. Clematis: is a genus of about 300 species [3] within the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. They are mainly of Chinese and Japanese origin Cotoneaster: is a genus of woody plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to the Palaearctic region (temperate Asia, Europe, north Africa) 8


 

     

 

Euonymus fortune :also commonly known as winter creeper or wintercreeper and Fortune's spindle is a species of Euonymus native to east Asia.[1] Ivy, plural ivies (Hedera): is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia Heuchera:includes at least 50 species of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Saxifragaceae, all native to North America. Humuluslupulus (common hop): is a species of Humulus in the Cannabaceae family. It is native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Honeysuckles: are arching shrubs or twining vines in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. Nephrolepis: is a genus of about 30 species of ferns in the family Nephrolepidaceae or Lomariopsidaceae (included in Davalliaceae in some classifications) Parthenocissustricuspidata: is a flowering plant in the grape family (Vitaceae) native to eastern Asia in Japan, Korea, and northern and eastern China. Pyracantha:is a genus of thorny evergreen large shrubs in the family Rosaceae, with common names Firethorn or Pyracantha. They are native to an area extending from Southeast Europe east to Southeast Asia, Selaginella:is a genus of plants in the family Selaginellaceae, the spikemosses. Many workers still place the Selaginellales in the class Lycopodiopsida Wisteria (also spelled Wistaria or Wysteria): is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, that includes ten species of woody climbing vines native to the Eastern United States and to China, Korea, and Japan.

8.

Example of successful projects

8.1

Green Market, Abu Dhabi

It is a food market hall that grows its own food which called green market. The concept of the structure is to utilizesolar energy as efficiently and completely as possible to grow crops, while providing shade, shelter,lighting, ventilation, and cooling to an enclosed space that is dedicated to other uses. Hydroponic growing trays can be configured horizontally (as in traditional greenhouses), vertically, or at otherorientations, and can be stacked in one or two layers. In our building-integrated approach, the growingassembly forms a double skin enclosure for the space.

9


Figute 10. Combination ofshading and evaporative cooling provided within the greenhouse layer will provide a conditioned space, and a enough daylight will penetrate through plants provide abundant natural light within (Source: www.cityfarmer.info reasonable thermal envelope).

8.2

Bronx High School of Science

As part of a proposal to make this high school carbon neutral and energy positive, it has been proposedadding a large facade farm and enclosing the outdoor entry plaza into an all season student lounge area. The area of façade farm is adequate to supply all the students’ recommended vegetable intake as shown in figures.

Figure 11. New enclosed entry with facade farm to right and openings to horizontal rooftop greenhouse above.Figure. Section through a proposed double skin facade at source: http://www.cityfarmer.info. Bronx High School of Science. A facade farm is proposed for the southern facades (Source: http://www.cityfarmer.info).

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9.

Conclusion

The use of vegetation so well designed and managed, can be a useful tool for passivethermal control of buildings with the consequent energy saving. The integration of vegetation architecture in recent years has evolved conceptually from a primarily aesthetic design, gardening, or of artistic expression by the designer or the manifestation of economic power by the promoter, no a "vegetated architecture" in which the vegetation is another element of the building, with specific functions to develop the building as well as its relationship with the environment (Sheweka and Mohamed 2012). Green vertical systems of the buildings follow basically four fundamental mechanisms when are used as a passive system for energy savings. These mechanisms are the interception of solar radiation by the effect of the shadow produced by the vegetation, the thermal insulation provided by vegetation and substrate, the evaporative cooling that occurs by evapotranspiration from the plants and the substrate, and finally, through the variation of the effect of the wind on the building. The measurements of the ambient temperature and humidity confirm that the green facade creates a microclimate in the intermediate space, characterized by lower temperature and higher humidity. This fact verifies that the green facade acts as wind barrier and shows the effect of evapotranspiration of plants (Perez 2011). Green façade is a key component of living architecture and they will become increasingly importantfixtures in our cities in the years to come. Extending the plant or greenery onto the building façade has shown potential in improving air quality and reducing surface temperature in the built environment. The changes of carbon dioxide, carbonmonoxide, temperature and relative humidity are found to be significant according to area with and without green walls.

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References Bass, B., & Baskaran, B. (2003). Evaluating rooftop and vertical gardens as an adaptation strategy for urban areas. Institute for Research and Construction. NRCC-46737, Project number A020, CCAF report B1046. Ottawa, Canada: National Research Council. Ip, K., Lam, M., & Miller A. (2010). Shading performance of a vertical deciduous climbing plant canopy. Build Environment 2010;45:81–8. Johnston, J., & Neuton, J. (2004): Building green a guide to using plants on roofs, walls and pavements. Major of London 2004. Miller, A., Shaw, K., & Lam, M. (2007). Vegetation on building facades: ‘‘Bioshader’’. Case Study Report. Pérez, G., Rincón, L., Vila, A., González, J. M., & Cabeza, L. F. (2011). Green vertical systems for buildings as passive systems for energy savings. Applied Energy, 88 (12), 4854–4859. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.06.032. Richard, L. H. (2012). A vertical garden: Origins of the vegetation-bearing architectonic structure and system. (1938). Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes: An International Quarterly, 32:2, 99-110. Sailor, D. (2008). Energy and urban climate benefits of green roofs. World Green Roof Congress London, 16-17 September 2008. Sheweka, S. M., & Mohamed, N. M. (2012). Green facades as a new sustainable approach towards climate change. Energy Procedia, 18, 507–520. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2012.05.062. Stec, W. J., Van Paassen, A. H. C., & Maziarz, A. (2004). Modelling the double skin façade with plants. Energy and Buildings, 37 (2005) 419-427. Verne, (i.e.) quoted in Lambertini & Leenhardt, 2007:9, (Dunnett, N., & Kingsbury, N. (2008). Planting green roofs and living walls. London: Timber Press. Vijaya, V. R. S., Iniyan, S., & Goic, R. (2012). A review of climate change, mitigation and adaptation. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16(1), 878–897. Wilmers, F. Effects of vegetation on urban climate and buildings. Energy and Buildings 1990;15:507 14.

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Attaining Sustainability by Wastes in India Kishor P. Rewatkar¹ and Priyanka K. Rewatkar² Priyadarshini Institute of Architecture and Design Studies,Nagpur,India ¹[email protected] ²[email protected]

ABSTRACT The waste implies something useless or unwanted. But as a famous saying goes ‘Waste is a resource in the wrong place!' it is necessary to realize the application of waste in appropriate place and in appropriate manner. Construction of building involves use of numerous materials for basic structure, finishing and interior. If we look around we may notice that there is substantial quality of material around which is waste from various sources and could be directly or with necessary processing in construction of buildings. It is often found that due to careless attitude, people indulge in wastage of resources, material as well as energy resources due to unnecessary greed to create large spaces, volumes and external facades in the name of grandness. There is also scope to minimize the use of energy intensive materials by using appropriate technology, material, and design. It is a proven fact that climate responsive buildings using passive and active solar heating and cooling techniques save a large amount of energy. The adaptive reuse is another way to avoid waste of building and infusing a new life by reusing. This paper discusses the examples which demonstrate the saving of energy in different contexts and ascertain that it is certainly possible to achieve sustainability through waste. Keywords: Waste, recycling, sustainability, embodied energy, multifunctional, adaptive reuse.

A.

Understanding wastes

The waste has the following meanings as per dictionary:  

Waste (v)-To use, to consume or expend thoughtlessly or carelessly, to cause to lose energy, strength or vigor ,exhaust, tire or enfeeble. To fail to take advantage or use for profit To destroy completely Waste (n)-A place, region or land that is inhibited or uncultivated, a devastated or destroyed region, town or a building a ruin, a useless or worthless byproduct as from a manufacturing process, garbage, thrash.

After understanding the meaning of waste,a wide horizon of ‘dealing’ wastes in architecture opens up. There are six diiferent ways to deal with the waste/wastage with reference to buildings and achieve sustainability as given below:

1


1.

Wastage of space, material and resources

Mahatma Gandhi aptly quoted "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed". It is often found that due to careless attitude, people indulge in wastage of material resources as well as energy resources. Thus wastage of our precious resources to construct a building more than ones actual need is in reality against sustainable development. Many a times wasteful spaces and material use is result of client’s greed or designers neglect of his work in design or due ot wrong assumptions and calculations. These days all the paraphelia around the status is a major concern in sustainable development. Status as misunderstood by many is having a outsized construction. This is a wastage is in terms of built space and volumes. The wastage in terms of space can be minimized by design of multifunctional space and space optimization. A social N.G.O. created an activity centre Manavsadhana Activity Centre and Creche,Ahmedabad. Designed by Ar. Yatin Pandya, it is located in the middle of squatter settlement. The centre also operates as an informal school in the morning. In the afternoon it trains the youth with vocational skills for better employability and in the evening it transforms into a community centre with sports, leisure, gymnastics as well as social gathering facility. This multi use character gives maximum utilization if the structure. Such adaptability of any structure for multi use saves on creation of another structure to accommodate activities of different nature and user group (1a). Ar. Laurie baker in many of his projects has used Built in furniture. It is made of brick or rubble masonry raised above floor level with finished surface which acts as sitting space, tables or even beds. This brick or rubble furniture is generally finished with a red or black oxide layer or tiles. Recesses in the walls can very well be used as wardrobes or cupboards. These kind of furniture are cost effective and also optimize the space.

Figure 1a. Manavsadhna Activity Centre and Creche, Ahmedabad. Figure 1b. Built in furniture of Ar.Laurie Baker’s House ‘Hamlet’. 2


Space optimization makes a small room look large while making use of empty space and elimination of bulky furniture .There are many types of furniture with dual purpose which can be used to create an optimized space. 2.

Wastage of oprational energy

Its is often seen that buildings which do not respond to the climate has high operational cost to cool or heat the building. These buildings allow solar radiation directly or indirectly inside and to lower down or increase the temperatures inside as the case may be we use air conditioners or heaters consumin enormous energy. The green buildings are misunderstood as to buildings with high tech materials but with solar panels and wind turbines. "Why, I must ask, does being 'green' mean building with glass and steel and concrete and then adding wind turbines, solar panels, water heaters, glass atria - all the paraphernalia of a new "green building industry" - to offset buildings that are inefficient in the first place? Says Prince Charles on modern "Green" Architecture. He further states People "need to resist the urge to seize on slick, highly marketed techno-fixes...."We must act now by using traditional methods and materials to work with Nature rather than against Her"(1b). This is a typical scenario in many cities. We as architects should think as to where we are leading. One of the ways to avoid wastage in terms of energy for running the building is also daylighting in architecture. The Energy and Research Institute, Bangalore designed by Ar. Sanjay Mohe serves as a model for day lighting in architecture. Daylight is due to intelligent fenestration design, maximum openings on the north and creating atrium spaces with ample skylights which bath the interiors with light. The architect has designed the building to allow the cascading of light form roof to all the floors. Intelligent lighting systems like energy efficient lamps, luminaries and control devices further reduce the lighting load.

1 Figure 2. Section showing the system of daylighting in TERI, Bangalore.

We can save energy using passive solar design systems. Buildings responsive to climate, sun ,wind orientation e.t.c. brings down energy consumed for cooling, heating and ventilation to achieve sustainability. 3


3.

Wastage of energy resources

There is a scope to minimize the use of high embodied energy materials by using approporiate technology, material and design. This saves the energy and in turn use of natural non renewable resources contributes to sustainability. Using low embodied energy materials or minimizing the use of high embodied energy materials is one of the strategies to achieve sustainability by energy saving. Ar. Laurie Baker was a rare architect who built low cost, energy efficient, climatically suited and aesthetic houses for people’s real needs. He was deeply sensitive to the environment and seldom used energy grizzling steel and cement. He made minimum use of glass and steel-both energy grizzlers. He often laid bricks in rat trap bonds which gave 25% on bricks and added insulating property to the wall preventing heat gain inside. His designs of brick jails and ventilation system brought in cool air from outside and rood vents pushed hot air. He replaced steel and reinforced his slabs with split bamboos at one fifth of the cost. Mud was his favourite material which used no fuel, could be found closely and was free. It was also reusable. Water is a valuable resource which needs to be conserved for sustainability. One of the techniques is by rain water harvesting. In India, all forts had water and wells and one of the finest example in rain water harvesting is fort at Chittorgarh. Here one can see that at those times too rain water was properly harvested and used at war time. Ground water harvesting structures like wells and stepwells were built wherever possible especially below storage structures like tanks to collect clean seepage for use as drinking water (3). The fort once hosted eighty four water bodies including artificial ponds having a natural catchment, step wells and wells. All the lakes have a natural catchment. The fort consists of forty percent of its area for water bodies. The reservoirs can store about 4 billion liters of water (4). Another example of medieval India is the enginnnering work at Burhanpur, Madhyapradesh. Here the Mughal ruler tapped the underground springs of water based on gravity from the Satpura hills towards the Tapti river. The flow was stopped at three underground tanks which supplied pure water to the city. For ventilation of the underground flow ventilating shafts were built of bricks and lime mortar. All wells were interconnected by a canal and the three points supplied water to the kund (water tank) palace and in the centre of the sity. A unique water supply system of the world, this is still functional. A Holcim acknowledgement winner Asia Pacific 2011 Primary Health Care Centre at Dharmapuri designed by Flying Elephant Studio Bangalore further displays the contemporary way to harvest rain water. Its butterfly shaped roof with a concrete gutter in the middle ease water collecting into a water body 4


and tank made for storing rain water. The surface water body as well as the tank is connected to a recharge pit. These kind of innovative solutions can be relevant now and also in urban areas.

Conceptual section

Chittorgarh

Figure 3, 4 & 5. Drawings and views of Primary Health Care Centre at Dharmapuri.

Inspired from the traditional Ladakhi dry toilets, Drup White Lotus School the multi award winning building at Ladakh, Arup associates introduced ventilation improved traditional Ladakhi dry pit larine with dark south facing façade with a solar flue. The double chamber along with solar flue avoids odour and at the same time allows composting which can be used as a fertilizer.

5


Figure 6. Traditional Ladakhi pit latrine. Figure 7. Improved Pit latrine at Drup White School. Figure 8. Section through a typical Ladakhi house.

4.

Wastes in architecture

Cow dung which is a waste in India is even not thrown off. Cow dung in India is used in many number of ways as fuel - cow dung patties for cooking, as a fertilizer as a floor coating - used mixed with mud and water on floors in mud houses as a mud brick additive which improves resistance to disintegration, as a Skin tonic when mixed with crushed neem leaves smeared on skin - good for boils and heat, to keep away mosquitoes. The ash which we get out of cow dung is used for cleaning utensils and many more uses. In India, materials are utilized to their fullest (10).

Figure 9. Cow dung cakes used as fuel. Figure 10. Sun dried cow dung cakes.

The use of these waste matter is not only cost saving giving direct advantage for the user but due to its recycling the energy used for its production is saved as it substitutes the new material which would have been used otherwise. This ultimately leads to the cause of sustainability by saving embodied energy. 6


Two examples are selected wherein the creator’s vision is lauded: i. Rock garden a sculpture garden in Chandigarh - creative mind of Mr. Nek Chand Rock garden a sculpture garden in Chandigarh India is a unique example of creative use of waste for human recreation and amusement. It is a creative insight of one man Mr. Nek Chand. A rock garden spread about forty acres is completely built of industrial waste, home waste and thrown away items. It is situated near Sukhna lake and consists of manmade interlinked waterfalls and many other sculptures that have been made of scrap and other kinds of wastes, bottles, glasses electrical sockets, broken mosaic tiles, glass, broken bangles, ceramic pots e.t.c. collected by Nek Chand which are placed in walled paths. A complex of interlinked artificial waterfalls each embellished with hundreds of pottery covered concrete sculptures of dancers, musicians and animals. This vast enclosure stands as a symbol of its creator’s brilliance.

ii. Manavsadhana Activity Centre and Creche, Ahmedabad Again in Manavsadhana Activity Centre and Creche, Ahmedabad - the centre demonstrates use of indigenously developed and locally produces building components created by recycling the domestic and muncipal waste. This meant reduction in waste thrown, thereby reduce environmental threat to sustainability and saving of embodied energy, transportation energy. Architect Yatin Pandya has successfully demonstrated the use of waste materials in buildings. The walls are made out of fly ash, non burnt bricks which are stronger and cheaper. Recycled mosaic tiles are used for flooring with variety of residual stone strips as well as terrazzo. Filler slabs with infill sporadic glass bottle cluster, sun dried clay bowls, and computer key boards were the materials experimented for ceilings. Door shutters create an interest due to diverse parts of broken bicycles, rotary blades of stone cutter which have a steel frame and these composed metal parts as infill. Thence, this project effectively demonstrates a very different interpretation of sustainability.

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“The Hamlet” Laurie Baker’s home in Thiruvananthapuram is an example of his design philosophies in architecture. This his house one can find iron gates made of salvaged iron, entrance with a built in seating and a mural created with a colourful surface of broken mosaic. His bathroom used bits and pieces of waste glass as tiles. He embedded several hundred broken roof tiles every 30 cm in his building’s concrete roof with a specific technique of filler slab to save steel and cement. The checkerboard broken tiles reduced the amount of concrete by 30%. He successfully demonstrated ways to minimize use of cost intensive and high embodied energy material which is a major step towards achieving sustainability through recycling and preventing waste.

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2 2 Figure 11. Image of Hamlet,Laurie Baker’s house showing grill, entrance with colourful mosaic created by waste ceramic tiles.

Filler slab technology is a technique wherein the concrete from the tension zone is replaced partially by concrete using light weight and low cost filler material. Ar. Laurie Baker in South India promoted and propagated in many of his projects. 4 2

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Figure 12. The filler slab in Nisha’s Plat school at Goa, consists of thermacole and liquor bottles as fillers.

Ways in recycling of waste: i. ii.

iii. iv. 5.

Filler slabs -use of waste materials to fill up with waste like thermacole, broken tiles, cocunut shells e.t.c. Wall consisting waste made up of glass and plastic bottles, fly ash bricks (fly ash-affluent from thermal power stations), bricks made out of debris. Floor out of waste broken marble granite kota stone and ceramic tiles. Window grills out of scrap iron. Wastage of building

If a building at one time was a landmark, vibrant and full of activities. But now it turned into a building which is dull dialapated. One cannot demolish because of its cultural and historic value on the society. There here this building is wasted because of lack of sustainable activities. Wastage of a building cane be successfully avoided by restoring and by its adaptive re use. Adaptive reuse is a very good option in securing the cultural vibe, heritage at the same time the so called unused buildings turn into usable spaces. Instead of standing in neglected and dilapidated state these buildings instead can be designed to adapt into the existing contemporary fabric with nostalgia of the time it belongs and the contemporary function at the same time. Thus, the building is recycled and used. This can give enormous savings in embodied energy, natural resources like water, save flora and fauna and fossil fuel due to transportation e.t.c. Rajasthan is sprinkled with many Rajput forts of 14-15 centuries. Many of these forts are well designed and converted into heritage hotels and resorts. One of these well designed resorts is the Raas 9


at Jodhpur, the winner of World holiday building of the Year 2011-World Architecture Festival 2011. This resort is located at the base of the Mehrangarh Fort. Old and new buildings co exist. Old buildings and new buildings were restored with traditional craftsmanship and materials while creating a spatial linkage between the old and the new. Locally available material, building techniques and elements like jails were infused with eco friendly building techniques like rain water harvesting.

Figure 13. Plan and views of Raas at Jodhpur.

INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) Pondicherry has done lot of work in successful heritage conservation. Its activities range identification, listing, documentation, adaptive re-use and finally design and implementation of the projects. The Hotel de l’Orient designed by INTACH heritage architects Ajit Koujalgi and Renate Hach is awarded the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Award 2000 as an outstanding project. The citation of the project mentions that this projects is successful in heritage conservation which require minimal intervention done relatively inexpensively while maintaining the integrity of both the exterior ane interior architecture. The design element s are given admirable care and attention to maintain its charm and authenticity while enhancement in its cultural value.

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Figure 14. 1-Before restoration, 2,3,5-After restoration The Hotel de l’Orient.

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Conclusion

The impact of these architectural designs might be quite meager but they will get better with every architectural example. As building consume thirty percent of energy, in the present global scenario where the whole world is focused on preventing green house gases and reducing the carbon foot print, the saving of energy by any means could be the first step ahead to achieve the cause of sustainability. The above techniques when used in public buildings will give a wide platform for public awareness for sustainable architecture. Some incentives in terms of providing subsidies for people incorporating waste and energy saving methods in buildings shall be given. This shall surely encourage people to use sustainable design strategies. References Yatin Pandya, Lessons of Architectural sojourn as Encounters of Time Space and Existence, Indian Architect & Builder, Emerging Trends of Architecture, Sept 2011(Pg.no-68-79). Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3353008/Prince-Charles-attacks-architectsfor-making-green-gestures.html Retrieved from www.rainwaterharvesting.org/Solution/History_tour3.html Lesson 5 Traditional Water Systems and Minor Irrigation Schemes Module 3 Irrigation Engineering Principles Version 2 CE IIT, Kharagpur. Retrieved from http://www.travelinforajasthan.com/forts-and-palaces-of-rajasthan/chittaurgarh-fort-chittorgarh.html Water Harvesting our age old tradition, Retrieved from http://megphed.gov.in/knowledge/RainwaterHarvest/Chap2.pdf Retrieved from http://www.holcimfoundation.org/T1568/Primary_healthcare_center_near_Dharmapuri_India.html Retrieved from http://www.holcimfoundation.org/T1404/A11APacINdharmapuri.html Retrieved from http://www.sustainable-buildings.org/files/WarmHumid_NishaPlaySchool.pdf Retrieved from http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/ayurveda-health-wellbeing/35710-good-uses-cowdung.html Retrieved from www.icycooldubey.blogspot.com Retrieved from www.mirjamletsch.photoshelter.com

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Retrieved from www.washingtonpost.com Retrieved from www.costford.com/architecture_technology_7.html Retrieved from www.thiruvananthapuramupdates.wordpress.com Retrieved from http://ncict.net/Examples/Examples1.aspx Retrieved from http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/17438/lotus-praxis-initiative-rassjodhpur.html Retrieved from http://4.bp.blogspot.com/qySLW3_4X20/UG0htE_M76I/AAAAAAAADUE/AjoRZta20xI/s1600/ldrj27 .jpg Retrieved from http://www.intachpondicherry.org/English/about_us.aspx Retrieved from http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=2127 Retrieved from http://www.sustainable-buildings.org/files/WarmHumid_NishaPlaySchool.pdf Arvind Gupa,Indian National Science Academy INSA Platinum Jubilee. Marila Albanese, Architecture in India Ilay Cooper, Barry Dawson,Traditional Buildings of India, Thames and Hudson.

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CONFERENCE PAPERS COMMITTEE

ADVISOR PROF. DR. RAHINAH IBRAHIM

CHAIRMAN PROF. LAr. DR. MUSTAFA KAMAL BIN MOHD SHARIFF

MEMBERS ASSO. PROF. DR. NORSIDAH UJANG DR. MURAD A GHANI DR. MOHD FAIRUZ SHAHIDAN DR. MOHD. JOHARI MOHD YUSOF ROSLINA SHARIF MOHD FABIAN HASNA AINI JASMIN GHAZALLI AZLIANA ZAKARIA NUR FATIHA SAPRAN FAIZUL RIZAL