Inter-disciplinarity

This is a diagram shows one approaches to sustainability science from the landscape ecology as a transdisciplinary end(Wu, 2006,Landscape ecology, cross-disciplinarity, and sustainabiliy science).   He points out five basic reasons that landscape ecology contributes significantly on sustainability.  

1. Human landscape is considered as a basic spatial unit for studying and maintaining sustainability because it represents the smallerst scale where interaction between nature and society can be addressed.

2. Landscape ecology provide basis for dealing with biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in multiple scale.

3. landscape ecology already develop various approach to study nature-human interaction.

4. Landscape ecology offer method to study the effect of spatial heterogeneity and biophysical and socioeconomic configuration.

5. Landscape ecology procides both theoretical and methodological tool for dealing with uncertainty issue that are fundamental to most of the nature-society interaction. 

This is just an example of cross-disciplinary approach.  He brings landscape ecology as a one subject which incorporate various disciplines.

The lecture done by Dianne Moy was about cross disciplinary practice for sustinability.

However, It was bit difficult for me to summarize what she talked from this point of view, since she kind of talk many different projects for sustainability.  Also, issue about sustainability are always to do with cross disciplinary.  ( Nothing stands in one category once it is in society)

I guess that most of the people in our class understand this because many of us came from totally different backgrounds, which is kindda rare for master course.  I guess that we just need to understand nothing can be solved by yourself or within an profession rather than trying to be cross disciplinary so much.  We have to be open minded.

I will dig some issues from one of her lecture's keyword, Decentralization of infrastructure.

Decentralizing infrastructure, in my understanding, means self-sufficient way of life.

Off course, in the past, people live locally. However, as the time has gone, and technology developed, people take these technology advantage.  I remember that David Harvey talked about how development of transportation change our perception of time and space in his book, The Condition of Postmodernity. Bicycle, ship, car, train, airplane, rocket, and the internet, the development allowed traveling much longer distance in short time, and changed the distribution of product for its efficiency.  The efficiency is tricky term.  It is often efficient for certain person or purpose, but it is horrible way in different perspective.  Anyway, the current reality is quite centralized, for example, most of the product and food around us are produced in same places. 

 This is a diagram that I wrote before to show these situations.

   This film called "Corporation" examines nature, evolution, impact and possible feature of 

Business corporation.  This documentary film reveal some reality of centralized system in terms of place of production, power, and money.  It also disclosed how corporation externalize the harm.

   Main point of Urban Ecology is also not to externalizing the ecological foot print.  It is important to think they way to cope with their own waste within a city rather than sending everything in a one specific place for dump. It means that decentralizing the function and locally cycle energy, nutrients, and water as much as possible.     Landscape technology most of which recently came up are concerned to it; how to produce within a city, how to transform the waste, and hot to compromise the ecological footprint in situ. In fact many projects from the students that she talked in the class is also about production, and consumption.

These are some of landscape technology for those reason:Bio-remediation, energy production such as solar, water, wind,  biofuel etc, there are tons of research for energy production.

Eden Project is worthwhile to look at.

It is a large scale environmental complex in Cornwall, UK where it is reclaimed china clay pit. The complex includes two giant, transparent domes made of ETFE cushions, each emulating a natural biome, that house plant species from around the world.

(retrieved from wikipedia)

It is not only a ordinary botanical garden, but it emphasizes on art and education, organizing many events as it is seen in its website.

To sum up,

looking at recent research for those energy production, I feel bit strange and doubt it like is this solution for our energy???   Transforming large forest to monoculture for specific bio-fuel plant, and Creating a lot of pond for algae production in the middle of nowhere is solution for alternative energy production?  Off course, further investigation of technology for alternative resources;however, what is most important thing for sustainability, I think is in individual responsible behavior in everyday life.  Primatologist Jane Goodall said that the difference between human and chimpanzee is the communication skill.  Human has highly developed communication skill, or Language. Dian's  Veil, Corporation, and Eden porject that I mentioned today, share communicating what is sustainability to many people using various languages in common.  Landscape architecture have potential to communicate this issue and enhance one's responsible behavior to it, utilizing our highly developed technology, or Design languages.

Back to my original interest "learning from old technology", how can I relate this issue...??