Sustainable Landscape Water Management

Today, lack of water is one of the biggest issue in many places including Australia.  Landscape architects has a great role in saving water by design in various scale.

The lecture, Ruth talked about the water consumption of general household in urban and rural area of Melbourne, and pointed out three main issues that LS architect has to practice for water use reduction. They are mainly concerning to reduction of water use by designed irrigation system and  alternative water sources.

First point was that amount of water use should be dramatically reduced by an appropriate plant selection, irrigation design, and maintaining soil health that which are strongly interlocked each other.  Second point was that alternative water sources such as rainwater/stormwater, recycled water, and grey/black water has great potential in many different purposes.
Here, I found appropriate stormwater design/ management to be breakthrough to dig all the issues.  For example,rain garden is now commonly used to collect water through filteration, because the contamination of river is big problem. It means the water with high nutrients such as phosphorus and nitorogen has been directly discharged into river, and caused serious contamination both of river and ocean. For example, "In Melbourne every 1m 2 of surface area will collect around 0.2kg phosphorus and 1.5kg of nitrogen in a year" (Ruth).

Rain garden plays an important role in it but, has to be carefully design because rain garden is often suffered by some reason such as compaction, weed invasion, aesthetic connection with surrounding, etc.

The way rain garden/ swale works.

These are two example of how to treat edge.

Plants in rain garden are often suffered by the compacted soil by pedestrians.

This image shows the way concrete edge separates grass area and rain garden.  Without thinking about the edge treatment, either or both grass or/and plants in the rain garden are largely damaged.

This is a good example of rain garden design which integrates rain garden the with public amenity.   This external function of rain garden allows it to fit naturally into the environment.

Landscape architect also has to design water flow structure in which white/grey/balck water can circulate and be-recycled.  It has to be different scale from one house hold to national scale.

This is an example of water recycling flow chart, that was well considered how to reuse the high quality rainwater (rainwanter collected from roof).  However, it does not exaplin how to use the Low-quality rainwater(stormwater), as you see the simple flow in the circle of the diagram.

Especially in the arid region where anual rainfall is quite low, it is crucial to design the re-use of stormwater.  It does not only save the one household water bill but also, save the dried land in country scale.  It is significant to design the dry land which hold the rainwall as much as possible, rather than, just directly run off as hard surface do.

The use of swale will be a key here.  The previous paragraph explains the use of swale for the discharge of water and create urban habitat.  However the use of swale for holding water is more important because it allows water to soak into the entire soil, taking for a long term, which will be soil rehabilitation. 

This diagram shows how water soaked into soil in moderate slope area.  Water hang off from the just 30cm swale filled with water will end up reaches 18m deep and gradually go down along the slope.  (though it varies depending on soil offcourse)

It allows to have green on slope, avoiding soil erosion.

This principle is explained by Jeoff Lawton in the video here

Section of swales on the slope

Swales are perfectly lined on the contour so that it is almost flat.  It gradually flow and drop into next dam.  

It finally goes to wetland system.

This foam fully exercises its advantage in a large scale; however, the system should works in smaller scale.   How is this implemented when it comes to urban area??

This is a project done by Atelier Dreseitl that designed most of the space with permeable surfaces, integrating the surrounding environments in urban Portland.

Water park for downtown Portland with citizen participation by Atelier Dreiseitl

BIRD'S EYE VIEW

PLAN VIEW

The project to create usable urban openspace incorporated stormwater treatment with wetland system.  

"Water has to be a one of the primary concern when we design landscape in all scale.  

After understanding the basic system of water, we have to implement the design depending on each case."  (retrieved from their official website)  

Geographic Information System on Landscape Architecture

GIS

is the one of the landscape technologies that has been rapidly developing  and expanding its application recently.  It is not only used in various industry for its efficiency, but also it has has dynamically changed individual perception of the world, allowing one to virtually travel all over the world at a desk of your room.  As I sometimes notice the rapid improvement of resolution when I google earth the same area from just few month ago, its possibility seems like almost unlimited.... 

Landscape Architecture is one of the industries that should take ownership of  GIS for sustainability.  Following three points are major developments brought by new design process with GIS.

1: GIS drawings are precisely fixed on the earth.

2:GIS maps are linked to databases that is vast repositories of information.  

3:GIS  operator allow the userS to act upon the attributes on separate or interacting data themes.  

Interactive System Between Database and Users.

This system that each can both get input and output to database support bottom up system; however it requires the people who manages the database.

   Mcharg's overlay method was strongly sophisticated with GIS, and possibly applied in various scale. Selecting and extracting appropriate layers from the database that is endlessly expanding for each specific design project allows to input more NEEDS from scientific to individual voices.  Thus, designers are able to respond more to what is necessary rather than thier own aesthetics (that is often egoistic and irrelevant from the needs of local people).  It means that GIS contributes on bottom up design system such as public participating design process. For example local people might access and output to the database that designer manage them to add those collective data as a different layers.  Other than that, its possibility are largely expected in site planning of emergency facility such as hospital and even distribution of ambulances by real time GIS.

Limitation 

Having said that GIS is very useful tool, there are limitations as any other technology has.

1. GIS does not provide design, but data.   It only can create framework for design.

2. Many of the GIS data that One can actually implement are not publicly accessed.

3. GIS provides coded data, so that one should not totally trust one tiny data.  One should have more relative perspective into the data.

Barrier

is concerned to issues that who own this data, or economics and politics.

Cost to have GIS software and data is currently so expensive in Australia.  As a matter of it is almost not used at all in landscape architecture industry except public domain like council, though it is obvious that GIS should be involved most of the project as it is used in the US.

Private firm cannot afford to get GIS data for all the project, unless the project is very large with high budget.  

Ownership

Landscape architect has to contribute on the improvement of environmental issue not only by designing but also by implementing the various format of GIS data and spread into public, which is possible under the current limited circumstance that general public cannot access the data and cannot understand those data.

Visualization of the data such as graph, map, and 3d modeling does not only help design process but also it enhance public concern to the project when it is accessible to all.  The recent sudden concern for global warming, for example, are brought because various media express the data in different way.  People who was suspicious about the invisible change became concerned due to the visualization. 

I believe this process enhance the bottom up design system, by getting more public voice in interaction among people from many different status through databases.

These are recent project using GIS technology:

"Mobile landscape Graz in real time harnesses the potential of mobile phones as an affodable, ready-made and ubiquitous medium that allows the city to be sensed and desplayed in real-time as a complex, pulsating entity"( M-City exhibition).  

Plan view of cell phone activity:

The real-time city map will register and visually render the volume and geographic source of cell phone usage on city Graz, thus showing a diferent layer in the use and experience of the city.

Handovers:

The map shows origin and destinations of cell-phone calls passing through the cit of Graz.The trace, represented as orange lines, start and end in the corresponding geographic areas of he cell phones were used to make and receive calls.

Traces: cell phone tracking

The-Real-Time city map registers and visually renders the volume and geographic source of cell phone usage in Graz. The record of this movement has been collected, processed and finally displayed as set of dynamic traces showing thier path through city. 

This is a visualization using GIS technology, which will change perception of city, environment in people.   

Also, the difficulty of using software may be overcome by using tangible media, removing boundaries between real and virtual life. 

Tangible Disaster Simulation System:

"Build on the Sensetable platform, Tnagible-DSS allows multiple users to directly input parameters such as the scale of disasters and the capacity of a shelter the disaster and the evacuation of people to shelter, under any conditions inputted by users" (Tangible Media Group).

In this way, GIS should be commonly used in Landscape Architecture in Australia.

Sustainability vs. Consumption

A few month ago, I went to camera shop in city to ask fixing my fairy new digital camera because it was broken just by faling down. It costs 80 dollers to ask them and couldnt fix. I mean they can but, it cost extra 200 dollers to fix it.     stupid........It jut costs about $100~ to buy new one.

I remember that Darko talked about Cowboy economy in lecture today. It describes the linear system from production to consumption, which are concerned to the issue that I mentioned above.

In fact, computer products are especially fast in developing, and people often buy new one, but actual differences between new and old one often one tiny piece of entire computer. But computer compan make new type of computer with only little different shape so that people cannot change only the pieces by themselves. One of the issue Sustainability concerning to recycling are shown here.  It means that environmental issue (that are in long term process and rythms) are drawn by Economics and Poliotics ( that are in shor term cycle) .

This cowboy economy( in which the process are often from developing to developed country as production moves to consumption) has been endangered the various sustainable way of living that people from developing countries that people established adopting thier own culture and environment.

Here, I will introduce some of the old ways of living that can be implemented in the contemporary society. I may further investigate the detail one or a few of them later as my research topic.

1. Agricultural landuse in Be, northern Cameroon.-------Crop culture related to the river levels, soils, rainfall and the distance of crop from the sare(compound)

From the left side this section, plot of manioc was situated close to the sare fenced against gots, and a short distance away sweet potatoes were growing in ridged fields, the crop alternated with groundnuts, sorghum or beans. Further afield on the hill-slopes rice was growing in hollows among the sorghum fields, and below the sare, neare to the river, red millet was planted. Rice was grown at the flood limit and quick- growing maize corn, or sorghum seedlings transplanted from the upper nursery beds were sown as the waters of the Mayo-Kebbi fell. Flooded in the summer and manually irrigated in the winter, the alluvial banks of the river were used for growing variety of vegetables-aubergines, calabashes, marrows and pumpkins.

2. Moulded in Clay

Mud is often principal material for structure. Soils are decomposed rocks, occuring over much of the world's land surface, and are used for building in a variety of conditions. Some soils are alkaline and some clay cannot be turned on a potter's wheel. It is this variability that makes it possible for multi storeyed building constructed by earth in some place such as Yemen.

Podzoic soils that covers much of the N.europe, Russia, and Canada are highly acid and not suitable for buidling but soils formed under deciduous forest and grassland soils of the pariries and steppes of Na are suitable. In thinkly watered area, desertic soils of broken rock and sand have resulted in some of the most notable uses of earth for construction, as have the laterites and red soils of India, Africa, and south America. Laterites are low in fertility- paradozicall, for they occur beneath tropical rain forest- and rapidly leach out when the tree cover is felled. They retain many of the characteristics of rock, becoming hard and encrusted when exposed to air, which makes them good for building, but poor for agriculture, except when carefully nurtured.

I need to stop with only these two examples... not sure how its gonna be applied for contemporary landscape issue yet, but there are a lot depending on the interpretations....

Anyway, it is obvious that we need to have the way those recycling idea of system (Circulation economy ) replaces to the current cowboy economy system in Landscape architecture.

Landscape technology

Technology?
In contemporary society, it often means more high tech (electronic technology) to many people, but I understand it as more broader sense. Technology, according to McLuhan, is an extension of our own natural faculties. In this way, I live with tons of technology. Just looking on my desk now, I found the computer, the cup, pens and notebook etc: depending on interpretation, but everything can be technology.....  Then, what is the difference between tool and technology....?

(left)The moment apes started using a tool.

(Retrieved from 2001 Space Odyssay by Stanley Kubrick)



Anyway, here I probably focus on a certain purpose that is sustainability(though it is tough term again).
What are the valid landscape technology for sustainability that has to do with Economy, Culture, Environment? Personally, I am interested in "Learning from the old" rather than searching for innovative technology in which is often the case people notices some kind of side effect later on.
Whenever I travel, I excited the old (but new to me) technology in their traditional living system, which is often in underdeveloped country. They always try to fit in their specific environment, especially if they are in the harsh environment. Rice terrace in Bali, cave-like temple and house in India, and Tibet, high floor building house shaped like ship, and the village composed of those houses lined up in specific composition etc. They are not only perfectly functioning for certain role, but it minimize the side-effect ( ecological foot print).
I like to learn from old/ tradition, because it continues for long time- it has sustainable system.
I can say that I am taking more Deductive approach to it--- What continued for long time must have some kind of sustainable system in it.

This is my sketch of rice terrace in Bali.  The system well utilizes the environmetal condition for production.  The water flows into entire land with gravitiy.

Aztec agricultural system
"Chinampas"---- (floating gardens), of draining swamps and building up fields in the shallow Basin of Mexico lakebeds was used to feed the population.







The question coming up is how to apply what I learn from old into the current landscape/ urban design under the circumstance that people's sense of value largely changed from that time. Landscape architect need to implement the ancient wisdom for it ownership.
For example, I am interested in composting--- generating healthy soil. (it is one of the ancient knowledge for production). For example, what design and how it contributes on common system of composting in our life today? Physical design of bin, desining system for institionalizing recycling activity, and Designing urban landscape for people o visualize the soil recycling system with aesthetic.... etc

Constructed wetland system in Shopcreek designed by Wenk Associates of Denver.  Wetland with the six drop structure which are embedded in the creek and act as energy dissipaters. The wide crescent structure that turn the stormwater against itself slows the velocity.

To sum up, I mentioned three significant elements that I believe in landscape technology (esp. learning from old).

1. Learn the specific living tecnology, and find its essence or system.

2. Look at the current problem or difficulty that 1. can be applied to resolve. (1 & 2 can be opposite order)

3. Extract and manipulate its essence/ system from the old technology for its application to current problem in a specific site.