tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/green-design-4819/articlesGreen Design – The Conversation2020-10-22T12:23:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1460652020-10-22T12:23:50Z2020-10-22T12:23:50ZDesigning batteries for easier recycling could avert a looming e-waste crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364563/original/file-20201020-17-1x28u8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C5%2C3494%2C2144&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What happens to millions of these?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Li_ion_laptop_battery.jpg">Kristoferb/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As concern mounts over the impacts of climate change, many experts are calling for <a href="https://www.rff.org/publications/explainers/electrification-101/">greater use of electricity</a> as a substitute for fossil fuels. Powered by advancements in battery technology, the number of <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_batteries.html">plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles</a> on U.S. roads is increasing. And utilities are generating a growing share of their power from renewable fuels, supported by <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=40072">large-scale battery storage systems</a>.</p>
<p>These trends, coupled with a growing volume of battery-powered phones, watches, laptops, wearable devices and other consumer technologies, leave us wondering: What will happen to all these batteries once they wear out?</p>
<p>Despite overwhelming enthusiasm for cheaper, more powerful and energy-dense batteries, manufacturers have paid comparatively little attention to making these essential devices more sustainable. In the U.S. only about 5% of lithium-ion batteries – the technology of choice for electric vehicles and many high-tech products – <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/07/f64/112306-battery-recycling-brochure-June-2019%202-web150.pdf">are actually recycled</a>. As sales of electric vehicles and tech gadgets continue to grow, it is unclear who should handle hazardous battery waste or how to do it. </p>
<p>As engineers who work on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pPgKUOEAAAAJ&hl=en">designing advanced materials</a>, including <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dD8UWYEAAAAJ&hl=en">batteries</a>, we believe it is important to think about these issues now. Creating pathways for battery manufacturers to build sustainable production-to-recycling manufacturing processes that meet both consumer and environmental standards can reduce the likelihood of a battery waste crisis in the coming decade.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iFchfHH0qzg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Spent batteries from electric vehicles can still power devices like streetlights, but there is not currently any requirement to reuse them. Recycling them is expensive and technically complex.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hazardous contents</h2>
<p>Batteries pose more complex recycling and disposal challenges than metals, plastics and paper products because they contain many chemical components that are both toxic and difficult to separate. </p>
<p>Some types of widely used batteries – notably, lead-acid batteries in gasoline-powered cars – have relatively simple chemistries and designs that make them straightforward to recycle. The common nonrechargeable alkaline or water-based batteries that power devices like flashlights and smoke alarms can be disposed directly in landfills. </p>
<p>However, today’s lithium-ion batteries are highly sophisticated and not designed for recyclability. They contain hazardous chemicals, such as toxic lithium salts and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/transition-metal">transition metals</a>, that can damage the environment and leach into water sources. Used lithium batteries also contain embedded electrochemical energy – a small amount of charge left over after they can no longer power devices – which can cause fires or explosions, or <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e/5/e5530917-434d-451c-8a6b-c5cdfad1b5ec/EED12407A6BF7DE6C86A4B39C25CF6A4.greenberger-testimony-07.17.2019.pdf">harm people that handle them</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1026491976722468865"}"></div></p>
<p>Moreover, manufacturers have little economic incentive to modify existing protocols to incorporate recycling-friendly designs. Today it <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e/5/e5530917-434d-451c-8a6b-c5cdfad1b5ec/EED12407A6BF7DE6C86A4B39C25CF6A4.greenberger-testimony-07.17.2019.pdf">costs more to recycle</a> a lithium-ion battery than the recoverable materials inside it are worth.</p>
<p>As a result, responsibility for handling battery waste frequently falls to third-party recyclers – companies that make money from collecting and processing recyclables. Often it is cheaper for them to store batteries than to treat and recycle them. </p>
<p>Recycling technologies that can break down batteries, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/pyrometallurgy">pyrometallurgy</a>, or burning, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/hydrometallurgy">hydrometallurgy</a>, or acid leaching, are becoming <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s41918-018-0012-1">more efficient and economical</a>. But the lack of proper battery recycling infrastructure creates roadblocks along the entire supply chain. </p>
<p>For example, transporting used batteries over long distances to recycling centers would typically be done by truck. Lithium batteries must be packaged and shipped according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=83659c6aca8187cdb60b38763b2ffbb8&node=se49.2.173_1185&rgn=div8">Class 9 hazardous material regulations</a>. Using a <a href="https://www.anl.gov/egs/everbatt">model developed by Argonne National Laboratory</a>, we estimate that this requirement increases transport costs to more than 50 times that of regular cargo.</p>
<h2>Safer and simpler</h2>
<p>While it will be challenging to bake recyclability into the existing manufacturing of conventional lithium-ion batteries, it is vital to develop sustainable practices for solid-state batteries, which are a next-generation technology expected to enter the market within this decade. </p>
<p>A solid-state battery replaces the flammable organic liquid electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries with a nonflammable inorganic solid electrolyte. This allows the battery to operate over a much wider temperature range and dramatically reduces the risk of fires or explosions. Our <a href="http://zhengchen.eng.ucsd.edu/">team of nanoengineers</a> is working to incorporate ease of recyclability into next-generation solid-state battery development before these batteries enter the market.</p>
<p>Conceptually, recycling-friendly batteries must be safe to handle and transport, simple to dismantle, cost-effective to manufacture and minimally harmful to the environment. After analyzing the options, we’ve chosen a combination of specific chemistries in next-generation all-solid-state batteries that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1557/mre.2020.25">meets these requirements</a>. </p>
<p>Our design strategy reduces the number of steps required to dismantle the battery, and avoids using combustion or harmful chemicals such as acids or toxic organic solvents. Instead, it employs only safe, low-cost materials such as alcohol and water-based recycling techniques. This approach is scalable and environmentally friendly. It dramatically simplifies conventional battery recycling processes and makes it safe to disassemble and handle the materials. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram showing steps to recycle an all-solid-state battery." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364347/original/file-20201019-15-3uirm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A proposed procedure for recycling solid-state battery packs directly and harvesting their materials for reuse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1557/mre.2020.25">Tan et al., 2020</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Compared to recycling lithium-ion batteries, recycling solid-state batteries is intrinsically safer since they’re made entirely of nonflammable components. Moreover, in our proposed design the entire battery can be recycled directly without separating it into individual components. This feature dramatically reduces the complexity and cost of recycling them.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Our design is a proof-of-concept technology developed at the laboratory scale. It is ultimately up to private companies and public institutions, such as national laboratories or state-run waste facilities, to apply these recycling principles on an industrial scale.</p>
<h2>Rules for battery recycling</h2>
<p>Developing an easy-to-recycle battery is just one step. Many challenges associated with battery recycling stem from the complex logistics of handling them. Creating facilities, regulations and practices for collecting batteries is just as important as developing better recycling technologies. China, South Korea and the European Union are <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/d/c/dc43cdc9-ef56-4f8c-b442-d325aa8acf72/D775B276380B37ABF9A49BFD581DD1A5.sanders-testimony-07.17.2019.pdf">already developing battery recycling systems and mandates</a>.</p>
<p>One useful step would be for governments to require that batteries carry universal tags, similar to the internationally recognized standard labels used for plastics and metals recycling. These could help to educate consumers and waste collectors about how to handle different types of used batteries.</p>
<p>Markings could take the form of an electronic tag printed on battery labels with embedded information, such as chemistry type, age and manufacturer. Making this data readily available would facilitate automated sorting of large volumes of batteries at waste facilities.</p>
<p>It is also vital to improve international enforcement of recycling policies. Most battery waste is not generated where the batteries were originally produced, which makes it hard to hold manufacturers responsible for handling it. </p>
<p>Such an undertaking would require manufacturers and regulatory agencies to work together on newer recycling-friendly designs and better collection infrastructure. By confronting these challenges now, we believe it is possible to avoid or reduce the harmful effects of battery waste in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zheng Chen receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darren H. S. Tan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Batteries power much of modern life, from electric and hybrid cars to computers, medical devices and cellphones. But unless they’re made easier and cheaper to recycle, a battery waste crisis looms.Zheng Chen, Assistant Professor of Engineering, University of California, San DiegoDarren H. S. Tan, PhD Candidate in Chemical Engineering, University of California, San DiegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824372017-08-27T20:06:26Z2017-08-27T20:06:26ZGreen for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182686/original/file-20170820-20193-119sgr9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Generic plotting of 'green space' on an urban plan does not target mental wellbeing unless it is designed to engage us with the sights, sounds and smells of nature.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One in five Australians will <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/about-us/research-projects/statistics-and-references?sec=sec-dep">suffer from a mental health issue this year</a> and living in a city makes it far more likely. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19624573">Research shows</a> that city dwellers have a 20% higher chance of suffering anxiety and an almost 40% greater likelihood of developing depression.</p>
<p>Promisingly, however, research has also found that people in urban areas who live closest to the greatest “green space” are significantly less likely to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23587672">suffer poor mental health</a>.</p>
<p>Urban designers thus have a significant role to play in lowering these rates of mental illness, and the data on how nature affects our brains are central to changing the ways we design. As depression is the <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/">world’s biggest cause of disability</a>, we cannot afford to ignore the impact of public environments on mental health. </p>
<p>Multiple stressors associated with city living <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21697947">have been shown</a> to increase activity in the parts of the brain corresponding to the “flight or fight” response. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/vanishing-australian-backyards-leave-us-vulnerable-to-the-stresses-of-city-life-81479">Vanishing Australian backyards leave us vulnerable to the stresses of city life</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>How does exposure to nature reduce these stresses? There are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roger_Ulrich4/publication/254315158_Visual_Landscapes_and_Psychological_Well-Being/links/0c96053a3fe7796728000000/Visual-Landscapes-and-Psychological-Well-Being.pdf">two enduring theories</a> on how nature affects the brain. Both are based on nature having a restorative effect on <a href="http://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/uploads/8/1/4/4/8144400/_the_restorative_environmnetkaplan-1992.pdf">cognitive and emotional function</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hyde Park, Perth, allows for an immersive ‘escape’ from the urban world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is not emptiness or quiet, however, that has the effect. Nature in its messy, <a href="https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20143219914">wild</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20600971">loud</a>, diverse, animal-inhabited glory has the most impact on restoring a stressed mind to a calm and alert state. This provides a more complete sense of “escape” from the urban world, however brief.</p>
<p>This idea is not new, nor is it surprising. Many people seek out nature to restore wellbeing, and multiple disciplines have sought to measure these restorative effects.</p>
<p>The result is more than 40 years of research quantifying specific neurological, cognitive, emotional and physiological effects of “nature” elements. These effects include increased calm and rumination, decreased agitation and aggression, and increased cognitive functioning – such as concentration, memory and creative thought. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/biophilic-urbanism-how-rooftop-gardening-soothes-souls-76789">Biophilic urbanism: how rooftop gardening soothes souls</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>A neglected resource for urban design</h2>
<p>This wealth of data has been largely overlooked in driving good urban design. </p>
<p>Much of this can be attributed to the data being siloed into scientific disciplines separate from design. All use different languages and are often hidden behind academic journal paywalls. </p>
<p>Also significant is the complexity of mental health issues. This makes it difficult to draw conclusions on environmental effects. To use this data required first a meta-analysis of these methodologies and outcomes, and my own interpretation of how the data applied specifically to urban design. </p>
<p>There are some notable conclusions. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This pedestrian and bike path in Perth is unlikely to maximise the benefits of green space.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ol>
<li><p>Different natural elements can induce different benefits. This means generic design plotting of “green space” on an urban plan, however aesthetically pleasing, does not specifically target mental wellbeing. </p></li>
<li><p>Time plays a significant role. There is no point having great green spaces if these do not provide good reason or opportunity to linger long enough to experience the restorative benefits. </p></li>
<li><p>How you engage with your environment matters. Results differ depending on whether the user is observing, listening, or exercising in the space. Taking these variables into account can produce a vast combination of design scenarios.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>For example, despite the many studies on the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02827580902903341">restorative effects of forests</a>, these are not the most accessible option for most city-dwellers. Urban parks are an alternative, but creative, natural interventions in urban spaces that encourage incidental interaction with green space can also produce much benefit. </p>
<p>Much has been written about how <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916508319745">walking or exercising</a> in green spaces seems to amplify the effects on the brain of viewing nature. Indeed, as little as five minutes of <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es903183r">“green exercise”</a> can produce these benefits. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">Higher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s wrong with existing green spaces?</h2>
<p>Many urban parks and green spaces – particularly in residential areas – are unimaginative, repetitive and lack basic elements to evoke these references to nature. Nor do they encourage walking or enjoying the natural elements for any length of time. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A typical reserve in Perth, Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A residential footpath and verge in Perth, Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, paths without shade or protection do not encourage walks long enough to achieve benefits. A lack of landscape diversity does little to activate fascination or interest, and fails to offer incentive to visit them, especially given the ways in which parks can be separated from their surroundings. </p>
<p>In an attempt to create spaces to serve function, such as ensuring enough turf for a game of football, much biodiversity has been removed, thus also removing the sights, sounds and smells needed for an immersive, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17504734">multi-sensory experience</a>. This applies equally to many suburban footpaths and residential streets.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A suburban residential street in Perth, Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>When urban design gets it right</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Septuagesimo Uno Pocket Park, Manhattan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'Jim Henderson, Atlas Obscura'</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Compare this to urban areas that employ creative uses of incidental nature to capture attention and offer genuine interaction. </p>
<p>Successful parks and urban green spaces encourage us to linger, to rest, to walk for longer. That, in turn, provides the time to maximise restorative mental benefits. </p>
<p>Urban design’s role in shaping our cities is becoming less about the design of physical spaces and more about extracting principles that can be applied to urban spaces in ways specifically tailored to context, site, region and climate.</p>
<p>This means urban design can have a real impact on mental wellbeing, but we need to look outside our discipline for data to make it effective.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Tokyo road reserve.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from Tokyo DIY Gardening</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/greening-cities-makes-for-safer-neighbourhoods-62093">Greening cities makes for safer neighbourhoods</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82437/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoe Myers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Successful parks and urban green spaces encourage us to linger, to rest, to walk for longer. That, in turn, provides the time to maximise the restorative mental benefits.Zoe Myers, Research Associate, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/801262017-07-13T01:53:12Z2017-07-13T01:53:12ZThe next step in sustainable design: Bringing the weather indoors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177381/original/file-20170707-29852-1rs701f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dancing sunlight patterns reflected onto an interior ceiling from a wind-disturbed external water surface.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Nute</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A building’s primary purpose may be to keep the weather out, but most do such an effective job of this that they also inadvertently deprive us of contact with two key requirements for our well-being and effectiveness: nature and change. </p>
<p>In the 1950s Donald Hebb’s <a href="http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Hebb/">Arousal Theory</a> established that people need a degree of changing sensory stimulation in order to remain fully attentive. And 30 years later, <a href="https://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2012/10/ulrich.pdf">landmark research</a> by health care designer Roger Ulrich showed that hospital patients in rooms with views of nature had lower stress levels and recovered more quickly than patients whose rooms looked out at a brick wall. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, many buildings – especially in cities – are not blessed with green surroundings. I am part of a group of architects and psychologists at the University of Oregon that has been examining ways to overcome this problem using an aspect of nature available anywhere: the weather. Think of rippling sunlight reflecting from water onto the underside of a boat, or the dappled shadows from foliage swaying in a breeze. Other examples can be seen at <a href="http://www.vitalarchitecture.org/">vitalarchitecture.org</a>.</p>
<p>When we brought these kinds of natural movements indoors, we found that they <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.18848/2325-1662/CGP/v10i04/41-56">reduced heart rates and were less distracting</a> than similar, artificially generated movement. Early results suggest that seeing live natural movement of this kind in an indoor space may be more beneficial than viewing outdoor nature through a window, and could not only help to keep us calm but also improve our attention. </p>
<p>These findings are consistent with the <a href="http://willsull.net/la270/LA_270_Readings/LA_270_Readings_files/Kaplan%201995.pdf">Attention Restoration Theory</a> proposed by University of Michigan psychologists <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/psych/people/emeriti-faculty/rkaplan.html">Rachel</a> and <a href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Eskap/">Stephen</a> Kaplan. Among other things, their work suggests that familiar natural movement patterns of this kind have the capacity to keep us alert without being distracting.</p>
<h2>Beyond green building</h2>
<p>Over the last two decades architects and engineers have developed approaches to building design that greatly reduce the impact of buildings on the natural environment (<a href="http://www.worldgbc.org/what-green-building">“green” buildings</a>) and their human occupants (<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.8988">“healthy” buildings</a>). But these movements focus primarily on new buildings, which benefit only a relatively small number of people compared to the many who could be helped by making existing structures more habitable. </p>
<p>Moreover, most people – including many of those responsible for ordering the construction and remodeling of buildings – are not aware of these advances. Many key features of green buildings, such as energy and water conservation, for example, are not immediately noticeable, and as a result, these simple but important practices are significantly underused.</p>
<p>Several leading commentators on sustainable design, including <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Biophilic-Design-Practice-Bringing-Buildings/dp/0470163348">Judith Heerwagen and the late Stephen Kellert</a>, have suggested that in order to have any meaningful impact on the daunting environmental problems we now face, green buildings can no longer simply “do no harm.” Rather, they argue that buildings need to actively demonstrate ways of living in harmony with nature. Our work suggests that bringing the movements of sunlight, wind and rain indoors could make passive energy-saving features in buildings more obvious to the people who order and occupy them, and so greatly increase their usage.</p>
<h2>Bringing the weather indoors</h2>
<p>Light shelves, for example, are devices that are commonly retrofitted to the windows of existing buildings to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.18848/2325-1077/CGP/v08i01/55098">reflect daylight deeper into an interior</a>. Former University of Oregon master’s degree student Aaron Weiss and I have shown that when a shallow layer of water is added to the top of a light shelf and is disturbed by the wind, the shelf reflects moving sunlight patterns onto the ceiling inside. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177616/original/file-20170710-5989-1hq9hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177616/original/file-20170710-5989-1hq9hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177616/original/file-20170710-5989-1hq9hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177616/original/file-20170710-5989-1hq9hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177616/original/file-20170710-5989-1hq9hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177616/original/file-20170710-5989-1hq9hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177616/original/file-20170710-5989-1hq9hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177616/original/file-20170710-5989-1hq9hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A water light shelf reflecting wind-animated sunlight onto an interior ceiling; the arrow on the right represents air movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Nute</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In controlled experiments using a windowless room, with a fan and powerful light to represent the wind and sun, we found that this kind of wind-animated light not only lowered occupants’ heart rates but was also <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.18848/2325-1662/CGP/v10i04/41-56">less distracting than similar, artificially generated moving patterns</a>. Importantly, adding wind movement did not reduce the amount of light the shelves transmitted. However, it did make the shelves much more visible to people using the space. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177615/original/file-20170710-587-g2t02t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177615/original/file-20170710-587-g2t02t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177615/original/file-20170710-587-g2t02t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177615/original/file-20170710-587-g2t02t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177615/original/file-20170710-587-g2t02t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177615/original/file-20170710-587-g2t02t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177615/original/file-20170710-587-g2t02t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177615/original/file-20170710-587-g2t02t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Water light shelves being tested on a dental clinic waiting room in Eugene, Oregon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Nute</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found the same was true of a range of other key passive energy-saving techniques, including solar heating, shading and natural ventilation. Adding sun, wind or rain-generated movement did not reduce their environmental performance, and in many cases it revealed their operation to those using the building.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177723/original/file-20170711-14421-w5ibtc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177723/original/file-20170711-14421-w5ibtc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177723/original/file-20170711-14421-w5ibtc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177723/original/file-20170711-14421-w5ibtc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177723/original/file-20170711-14421-w5ibtc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177723/original/file-20170711-14421-w5ibtc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177723/original/file-20170711-14421-w5ibtc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177723/original/file-20170711-14421-w5ibtc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A glazed internal courtyard can bring weather-generated movement into its surrounding indoor spaces. (Click to zoom.)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Nute</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The calming effects of natural indoor animation could be particularly helpful in stressful locations, such as hospitals and doctors’ offices – especially in places where people experience the additional stress of waiting. Aquariums are often used in medical waiting rooms, for example, because they have been found to have a <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150729215632.htm">calming effect on patients</a>. The stress reduction can be even greater, however, when indoor movement comes from uncontrolled nature such as the weather.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177618/original/file-20170710-5935-1g77ui5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177618/original/file-20170710-5935-1g77ui5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177618/original/file-20170710-5935-1g77ui5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177618/original/file-20170710-5935-1g77ui5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177618/original/file-20170710-5935-1g77ui5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177618/original/file-20170710-5935-1g77ui5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177618/original/file-20170710-5935-1g77ui5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177618/original/file-20170710-5935-1g77ui5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wind-animated foliage shadows projected by the sun onto an interior surface. (Click to zoom.)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Nute</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But how can we invite the movements of the elements indoors without undermining a building’s first task – sheltering us from the weather? There are three simple ways. We can enclose weather-generated movement in glass courtyards; use sunlight to project movement from outdoors onto interior surfaces; or project it onto the outside of translucent materials, such as obscured glass. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177619/original/file-20170710-5989-103qpj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177619/original/file-20170710-5989-103qpj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177619/original/file-20170710-5989-103qpj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177619/original/file-20170710-5989-103qpj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177619/original/file-20170710-5989-103qpj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177619/original/file-20170710-5989-103qpj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1042&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177619/original/file-20170710-5989-103qpj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1042&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177619/original/file-20170710-5989-103qpj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1042&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Allowing the sun to project wind-animated shadows onto the exterior of translucent materials, such as obscured glass, can also effectively bring that movement indoors. (Click to zoom.)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Nute</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No real substitute for live nature</h2>
<p>There are many kinds of recorded natural phenomena available today. We can watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmPzbZVUp3g">videos of gently rolling ocean waves</a>, or fall asleep to the <a href="http://www.sequoiarecords.com/x016mp3/Relaxing+Rainstorm%3A+Nature+Sounds+for+Meditation%2C+Relaxation+and+Sleep.html">recorded sounds of falling rain</a>. There are even sophisticated <a href="https://www.noisli.com/">software programs</a> that can generate these effects digitally. So why go to the trouble of redesigning buildings to bring these effects indoors? </p>
<p>To answer this question, former University of Oregon graduate student Jeffrey Stattler and I projected a digital tree shadow onto the wall of a windowless room and <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/c98e488917d567132f63da431014ab69/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y">tested whether there was any difference</a> in people’s responses depending on whether the electronic tree moved with live changes in the wind outside, or according to a computer program. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177620/original/file-20170710-5982-1x9lfyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177620/original/file-20170710-5982-1x9lfyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177620/original/file-20170710-5982-1x9lfyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177620/original/file-20170710-5982-1x9lfyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177620/original/file-20170710-5982-1x9lfyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177620/original/file-20170710-5982-1x9lfyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177620/original/file-20170710-5982-1x9lfyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177620/original/file-20170710-5982-1x9lfyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The digital tree shadow developed by Jeffrey Stattler can move realistically with live changes in the speed and direction of the wind outside. (Click to zoom.)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Nute</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most people could not tell whether the tree movements were generated by the wind or by computer. But when they believed the movement was wind-generated, their assessments of its beneficial effects were significantly higher in all categories. </p>
<p>In other words, indoor sensory change is likely to have a much greater beneficial effect on us when we think it is natural and live. So unless we are prepared to mislead people, there is no real substitute for using the real thing. </p>
<p>According to the Environmental Protection Agency, most people in the United States now <a href="https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/9100LMBU.TXT?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1986+Thru+1990&Docs=&Query=&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5Czyfiles%5CIndex%20Data%5C86thru90%5CTxt%5C00000022%5C9100LMBU.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1&SeekPage=x&ZyPURL">spend more than 90 percent of their lives inside buildings</a>. Features that make us more relaxed and productive in those indoor environments, then, could have significant positive effects on a great many lives.</p>
<p>Lighting, heating and cooling those buildings <a href="https://www.c2es.org/technology/overview/buildings">accounts for almost 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption</a>. The same natural indoor animation effects could also help to reduce that figure by increasing public awareness of passive energy-saving in buildings. </p>
<p>In addition to its practical benefits for people and the environment, weather-generated indoor animation also shows us that, while separating us from its extremes, buildings can also reconnect us with nature.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Nute does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows that bringing nature indoors, in the form of movement created by light, wind and water, makes occupants calmer and more productive. It also could promote interest in sustainable design.Kevin Nute, Professor of Architecture, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/424732016-05-10T03:11:15Z2016-05-10T03:11:15ZHow your garden could help stop your city flooding<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119579/original/image-20160421-8026-1j8cf9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hard surfaces increase the risk of urban flooding. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29388462@N06/5162660488/">Chesapeake Bay Program/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Urban flooding represents the most <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/urbanization/WUP2011_Report.pdf">common yet severe environmental threat</a> to cities and towns worldwide. Future changes in <a href="http://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2015/New-climate-change-projections-for-Australia">rainfall extremes</a> are likely to increase this threat, even in areas that could become drier. </p>
<p>The urbanisation process itself is one of the major causes of urban flooding. Buildings, pavements and road areas are impervious to stormwater. When the amount of stormwater that the urban landscape can retain or infiltrate is exceeded, water starts to flow downhill, generating runoff. </p>
<p>Besides flooding, stormwater runoff is also a major cause of <a href="http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1899/04-028.1">pollution and ecological degradation of urban streams</a>. Reducing the amount of stormwater runoff conveyed to stormwater pipes is central to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016920461100363X">the restoration and protection of our waterways</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84167/original/image-20150607-8674-17lbu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84167/original/image-20150607-8674-17lbu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84167/original/image-20150607-8674-17lbu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84167/original/image-20150607-8674-17lbu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84167/original/image-20150607-8674-17lbu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84167/original/image-20150607-8674-17lbu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84167/original/image-20150607-8674-17lbu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paving front yards is an increasingly popular practice to create car spaces in our busy cities. This can increase water runoff from private households.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Alessandro Ossola</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Urban flooding</h2>
<p>In urban areas, large volumes of stormwater runoff are generated from impervious surfaces located on private residential land, such as roofs and our beloved backyard patios. </p>
<p>For example, based on work we did for the City of Melbourne, even in very dry years the average amount of stormwater generated from a typical urban land parcel in Melbourne, Australia, is about 83,000 litres per year (assuming a total impervious area of 250 square metres). </p>
<p>On the other hand, residential gardens make up more green space in total than urban public parks or nature reserves, making backyards essential water-permeable areas within cities. </p>
<p>In the United States, it is estimated that urban lawns cover an area of about 128,000 square km - about <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Lawn/">three times the area cultivated with corn</a>, the US’s largest irrigated crop. </p>
<p>In Australia, 83.5% of households - or about 6,733,600 homes - have a <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4602.0Main+Features1Mar%202007?OpenDocument">garden</a>, compared with roughly 52,000 <a href="http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/CA25687100069892CA256889001DEB42/$File/86990_1996-97.pdf">recreational parks and reserves</a>.</p>
<h2>The death of the backyard</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, our gardens are quickly changing under new economic drivers and social norms. Researchers found that <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204607002988">paving of residential gardens</a> in Leeds, UK, increased by 13% over a period of 33 years (1971-2004). That generated a 12% increase in runoff from the same gardens. </p>
<p>People are also getting detached from gardening due to lack of time and interest. Similar to Britain, the “<a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6449.htm">death of the Australian backyard</a>” may be under way here too, as newly built houses are growing bigger at the expense of our gardens.</p>
<p>Despite the shrinkage of residential gardens, these green spaces still offer valuable private and public benefits, particularly if managed in a water-sensitive way. </p>
<p>Stormwater generated by impermeable surfaces can be captured in our gardens, disconnecting residential properties from municipal sewer systems. Gardens are also widespread across the urban landscape, helping in the <a href="http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/122873/Final-Decentralised-Water-Master-Plan.pdf">decentralised management</a> of urban stormwater runoff.</p>
<h2>Creating a water-sensitive garden</h2>
<p>Residential gardens can act like sponges. When it rains, plants intercept water on leaves and canopies. Rainwater can then percolate through the soil or evaporate back into the atmosphere. The remaining water is lost as superficial runoff. </p>
<p>Planting more trees, shrubs and grasses in our gardens would help to <a href="http://actrees.org/news/trees-in-the-news/research/the-role-of-the-residential-urban-forest-in-regulating-throughfall/">intercept greater amounts of stormwater</a>, causing water to be transpired back into the atmosphere through the vegetation.</p>
<p>Allowing mulch and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030147971530058X">leaf litter to accumulate</a>, or using practices such as <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/gagaland/differential-mowing/">differential mowing</a>, could also help to reduce runoff. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84166/original/image-20150607-8736-1a7hq24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84166/original/image-20150607-8736-1a7hq24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84166/original/image-20150607-8736-1a7hq24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84166/original/image-20150607-8736-1a7hq24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84166/original/image-20150607-8736-1a7hq24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84166/original/image-20150607-8736-1a7hq24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84166/original/image-20150607-8736-1a7hq24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84166/original/image-20150607-8736-1a7hq24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gardens with dense vegetation made of trees, shrubs and grasses intercept substantial volumes of rainwater, decreasing runoff reaching sewage systems and waterways. This type of vegetation also helps to cool buildings during summer, reducing energy consumption.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Alessandro Ossola</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Rain gardens” are water-sensitive designs composed of a highly porous substrate (for example 50 cm of loamy sand) planted with native vegetation (or even <a href="http://www.melbournewater.com.au/getinvolved/protecttheenvironment/raingardens/pages/what-is-a-raingarden.aspx">vegetables</a>). </p>
<p>Usually, stormwater diverted to rain gardens is allowed to pool to a depth of 20-30 cm before any overflow is diverted back to the drainage system. This can be achieved by surrounding the rain garden with raised wooden edging which greatly improves system performance. </p>
<p>Rain gardens can be easily used to intercept the stormwater generated from a typical Melbourne household. By installing a rain garden as small as 10 square metres, the amount of stormwater conveyed downstream could be reduced from approximately 83,000 litres per year to around 15,000 litres per year. This represents close to an 81% reduction. </p>
<p>In rain gardens, most of the intercepted stormwater is infiltrated back into the soil. This can provide nearby vegetation with soil water, helping to decrease the use of drinking water for irrigation (particularly during dry periods). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116499/original/image-20160327-17817-egura8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116499/original/image-20160327-17817-egura8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116499/original/image-20160327-17817-egura8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116499/original/image-20160327-17817-egura8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116499/original/image-20160327-17817-egura8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116499/original/image-20160327-17817-egura8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116499/original/image-20160327-17817-egura8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A private garden with a lawn covered in synthetic turf. While not considered a proper pavement, this lawn still represents an impervious area not allowing water to percolate into the soil and contributing to increased superficial stormwater runoff.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Alessandro Ossola</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the local level, numerous city councils and green groups are also starting to recognise the importance of de-paving our neighbourhoods to create greener and healthier cities. For example, in the United States, Philadelphia’s Water Department, offers advice to landlords on <a href="http://www.phillywatersheds.org/whats_in_it_for_you/residents/depave-your-yard">de-paving your backyard</a>. <a href="http://depave.org/about/">Depave</a>, a Portland-based environmental group, also aims to remove unnecessary paved areas in local neighbourhoods through community engagement and participation. </p>
<p>Our private gardens are much more than refuges from the hustle and bustle of modern cities. They are part of the solution to some of our most pressing urban environmental problems, such as stormwater management. </p>
<p>Fortunately, there are numerous ways we can make each garden a water-sensitive one.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessandro Ossola receives funding from the Frank Keenan Trust Fund and The University of Melbourne.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Burns receives funding from Melbourne Water.</span></em></p>A proliferation of concrete is increasing the risk of urban flooding. The solution? More gardens.Alessandro Ossola, Researcher in Urban Ecology, The University of MelbourneMatthew Burns, Research Fellow , The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/517342016-02-03T01:35:58Z2016-02-03T01:35:58ZAdventures on the lawn: sex, death, democracy and rebellion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105993/original/image-20151215-23198-1w94xt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C900%2C600&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">To lawn or not to lawn, that is the question</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sniecikowski/8974675852">sniecikowski</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the long, languid, lounging days of summer envelop us, thoughts often turn to the lawn for relief. The lawn has long epitomised the cool retreat from the heat of the day and rejection of the workaday grind, experienced best through bare-footed or flat-backed engagement.</p>
<p>The word itself, which is derived from the 16th Century Old French <em>laund</em> meaning “glade”, both invokes and invites us into a cool and restful state. In contemporary terms, the lawn is treated as a benign but inseparable complement to the garden.</p>
<p>But, as the sweltering sun continues to bake the ground, we can’t avoid questions of how we should think about, interact with, and treat our lawns. And, as it turns out, these questions are far from trivial.</p>
<h2>A short history</h2>
<p>Lancelot “Capability” Brown was an 18th century landscape gardener, known as the “improver”. Inspired by idyllic 16th and 17th century European landscape paintings, Brown accommodated the English nobility in transforming vast swathes of English countryside into immense sweeps of lawn, punctuated by clumps of trees and “antique” follies. The lawn provided the stage for the country house and the illusion of a boundless estate.</p>
<p>Such efforts improved the prospect of the landholder by distancing him from the meanness of everyday village life. They were further supported by social and governmental policies of exclusion.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many English manors, such as 17th century Dyrham Park, were adorned with great swathes of lawn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75487768@N04/7178283045">75487768@N04/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Through the 18th century, the lawned English public park became a stage for the democratic mingling of classes. It also served as a driver of the “improvement” of working class health and manners – a process not ironically referred to as “civilising”.</p>
<p>Across the Atlantic, New York’s Central Park was designed based on these ideals, and the unfenced and undifferentiated front lawn of the suburbs became the symbol of American democracy and egalitarianism.</p>
<h2>Lawn: nature under culture’s boot</h2>
<p>In his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Second-Nature-A-Gardeners-Education/dp/0802140114">Second Nature</a>, Michael Pollan refers to the “egalitarian conceit” of the American lawn as a puritanical expression of the ideal of shared neighbourly spaces and social progress. But for Pollan “however democratic a lawn may be with respect to one’s neighbours, with respect to nature it is authoritarian” - the lawn is “nature under culture’s boot.”</p>
<p>The often monocultural (ie one species of grass) nature of lawns, which embodies the lush cool retreat for most of us, represents for Pollan “nature purged of sex and death”. Lawn species are never allowed to set seed. Instead, to maintain the vivid and enticing swathe of turf, they have been mowed by a variety of methods across the ages from grazing beasts and the laborious hand scythe, to animal and human mechanised machines.</p>
<p>This is not to argue for the wholesale abolition of lawn. As Emma Marris points out in her book, <a href="http://emmamarris.com/?page_id=17">Rambunctious Garden</a>, we tend to be blinded by the “pervasive and [often] unquestioned assumption that the wild is always better than the tame” - but why should this necessarily be so?</p>
<p>Instead, we raise the question of how we might approach the lawn differently. It is a call for a quiet rebellion against the orthodoxy of the lawn – the seeking out of other opportunities in the cultivation of lawns that can offer a greater sense of adventure.</p>
<h2>Treating our lawns better</h2>
<p>Lawns are typically composed of grass species that can grow as high as a metre with the potential to produce exquisite seed heads complementing many garden styles. Yet, under our boots — through mowing, irrigation, and fertilising — these seed heads and the reproductive cycles associated with them are routinely denied. Variations of all three cultivation practices can bring about positive change.</p>
<p>Lawn depends on both water and nutrients to grow. Somewhat counter-intuitively, constant close mowing also stimulates grass to grow faster, creating the need for more watering and hence greater levels of fertilising. </p>
<p>Raising the blade height on the mower slows down the rate of growth of lawn resulting in a need for less mowing, watering, and fertilising. It also allows the potential for some grass species to set seed.</p>
<p>Of course, this also leads to lawn with a slightly more unkempt or shaggy appearance. If this is a step too far down the path of adventure, lawns can be selectively and seductively mown in relation to timing, season, or function.</p>
<p>“Corduroy” mowing involves summer mowing in long strips to create lanes. The mowed lanes offer great running tracks for kids while the un-mown turf flows, flowers, seeds, and dies off to a rustling autumn hue – a wilderness of sex and death with space for adventure.</p>
<p>At the end of each autumn a couple of mows over the lawn starts the process all over again. In similar ways, these lanes can provide navigation around larger gardens by simply mowing pathways through the turf across the spring and summer seasons.</p>
<p>Similarly, we can be strategic about the way we irrigate and fertilise our lawn. Edges and boundaries can be created by the careful distribution of fertilisers and the application of water. We might choose to create and maintain a lush area with high watering, fertiliser application, and constant close mowing, whilst we encourage other adjacent areas to be freer and reflect seasonal changes more closely.</p>
<p>Augmenting and over-planting the lawn with a range of complementary species is also a great opportunity to explore lawn beyond the usual green swathe. Cornflowers, dwarf gladioli, native grasses, and a range of free flowering annuals and perennials are perfect for the challenges of exploring the possibilities in the lawn - creating a curious space between the garden, the meadow, and the lawn.</p>
<p>This is why contemporary Parisian park lawns often appear shaggy and a little unkempt - the democratic meadow par excellence.</p>
<p>The benefits of reduced lawn mowing include cost, time, and energy, while staggered mowing engages with nature’s cycles of sex and death to add a slice of adventure to any existing landscape — a simple act of rebellion. If only life was so easy in a similar manner, what joy!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As summer rolls on once again you’re despairing at a brown lawn. Perhaps you should embrace a shabbier backyard.Jock Gilbert, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, RMIT UniversityMichael Howard, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/426222015-07-09T20:05:02Z2015-07-09T20:05:02ZPrefab revolution? Factory houses are the secret to green building<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87856/original/image-20150709-31569-1b081x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A green, pre-fab house.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">karen Manley</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_summary-for-policymakers.pdf">building sector globally</a> currently consumes more energy (34%) than the transport sector (27%) or the industry sector (28%). It is also the <a href="http://www.unep.org/sbci/pdfs/greening_the_supply_chain_report.pdf">biggest polluter</a>, with the biggest potential for significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions compared to other sectors, <a href="http://www.unep.org/sbci/pdfs/greening_the_supply_chain_report.pdf">at no cost</a>.</p>
<p>Buildings offer an <a href="http://www.wbcsd.org/Pages/EDocument/EDocumentDetails.aspx?ID=16230&NoSearchContextKey=true">easily accessible and highly cost-effective</a> opportunity to reach energy targets. A green building is one that minimises energy use during design, construction, operation and demolition. </p>
<p>The need to reduce energy use during the operation of buildings is now commonly <a href="http://www.unep.org/sbci/pdfs/greening_the_supply_chain_report.pdf">accepted</a> around the world. Changing behaviour could result in a <a href="http://www.unep.org/sbci/pdfs/greening_the_supply_chain_report.pdf">50% reduction</a> in energy use by 2050. </p>
<p>Such savings are strongly influenced by the quality of buildings. <a href="http://passivehouse.com.au/">Passive buildings</a> are ultra-low energy buildings in which the need for mechanical cooling, heating or ventilation can be eliminated. </p>
<p>Modular or prefabricated green buildings, designed and constructed in factories using precision technologies, can help achieve these standards. These buildings are <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/79638/">higher quality and more sustainable</a> than buildings constructed on-site through manual labour. They are potentially <a href="http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9364%282008%29134%3A7%28517%29">twice as efficient</a> compared to on-site building. </p>
<p>However, despite support for modular houses, there are a <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-just-daggy-dongas-time-to-embrace-prefabricated-buildings-43120">number of hurdles</a> in the way of a prefab revolution. </p>
<h2>How green can modular buildings be?</h2>
<p>Factory production means modular green buildings are better sealed against draughts, which in conventional buildings can account for <a href="http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/sealing-your-home">15-25%</a> of winter heat loss.</p>
<p>And factories also have better quality control systems, leading to <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Kr4HgHJMztAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA121&dq=factory+prefabrication+housing+benefits+sustainability&ots=jG3XkQVI4i&sig=0mOCqwcjIBGtBRBU2neDFfYVEh8#v=onepage&q&f=false">improved insulation placement</a> and better energy efficiency. Good insulation <a href="http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/insulation">cuts energy bills by up to half</a> compared to uninsulated buildings. </p>
<p>Because production in a factory setting is on-going, rather than based on individual on-site projects, there is more <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/7301/1/27507.pdf#page=5">scope for R&D</a>. This improves the performance of buildings, including making them more resilient to natural disasters. </p>
<p>For example, factory built houses in Japan <a href="http://www.academia.edu/6792497/Japanese_Prefabricators_Means_to_Commercialize_Mass_Custom_Homes_Equipped_with_Photovoltaic_Solar_Electric_Systems">have performed very well</a> during earthquakes, with key manufacturers reporting that none of their houses were destroyed by the 1995 Hanshin Great Earthquake, as opposed to the destruction of many site-built houses. </p>
<p>Buildings constructed on site probably can’t achieve the same benefits as modular buildings. <a href="https://theconversation.com/prefab-housing-is-coming-back-and-this-time-its-permanent-24684">Case studies in the UK </a> show savings of 10% to 15% in building costs and a 40% reduction in transport for factory compared to on-site production. Factories also don’t lose time due to bad weather and have better <a href="http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/spinifex/tony-arnel-on-the-promise-of-modular-construction/59526">waste recycling systems</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87698/original/image-20150708-31583-jvgm17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87698/original/image-20150708-31583-jvgm17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87698/original/image-20150708-31583-jvgm17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87698/original/image-20150708-31583-jvgm17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87698/original/image-20150708-31583-jvgm17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87698/original/image-20150708-31583-jvgm17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87698/original/image-20150708-31583-jvgm17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87698/original/image-20150708-31583-jvgm17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sorting waste at Sekisui House Ltd Recycling Centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karen Manley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For instance, Sekisui House, a Japanese builder, has a system for all their construction sites where waste is sorted into 27 categories on-site and 80 categories in their recycling centre to get the best value from the resources.</p>
<p>On-site building is open to the weather. This prevents access to the precision technologies required to produce buildings to the highest environmental standards. These technologies include numerical controlled machinery, robotic assembly, building information models, rapid prototyping, assembly lines, test systems, fixing systems, lean construction and enterprise resource planning systems.</p>
<p>For example, numerical controlled machinery provides more precise machine cutting that can’t be matched by manual efforts. This, combined with modelling, fixing and testing systems helps ensure that factories produce more airtight buildings, compared to on-site production, reducing energy leakage. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84975/original/image-20150615-1965-1ffoxii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84975/original/image-20150615-1965-1ffoxii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84975/original/image-20150615-1965-1ffoxii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84975/original/image-20150615-1965-1ffoxii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84975/original/image-20150615-1965-1ffoxii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84975/original/image-20150615-1965-1ffoxii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84975/original/image-20150615-1965-1ffoxii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High-Tech Factory, Shizuoka, Sekisui House Ltd.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karen Manley</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Australia is behind the curve</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cpsisc.com.au/resources/CPSISC/Corporate_docs/CPSISC%20CIE%20Future%20Forecasts%20Final%2027%20May%202013_v2.pdf">Less than 5%</a> of new detached residential buildings in Australia are modular green buildings. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/trends/why-sweden-beats-world-h8an0ds-4d2own0-6p4r2e0f8ab/">leading countries</a> such as Sweden the rate is 84%. </p>
<p>In Japan, 15% of all their residential buildings are modular green buildings produced in the world’s most <a href="https://theconversation.com/20-shades-of-beige-lessons-from-japanese-prefab-housing-31101">technologically advanced factories</a>. </p>
<p>Globally, there is a trend <a href="https://theconversation.com/building-a-housing-industry-from-the-relics-of-a-car-industry-23195">toward increased market penetration of green modular buildings</a>. Yet their adoption in the Australian building sector has been <a href="http://www.bis.com.au/a_prefabricated_building_revolution.html">slower than expected</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87855/original/image-20150709-31595-1033rey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87855/original/image-20150709-31595-1033rey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87855/original/image-20150709-31595-1033rey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87855/original/image-20150709-31595-1033rey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87855/original/image-20150709-31595-1033rey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87855/original/image-20150709-31595-1033rey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87855/original/image-20150709-31595-1033rey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87855/original/image-20150709-31595-1033rey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Constructing houses on site is less sustainable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/grand_canyon_nps/7492112736/in/photolist-cq436w-ejuQ5u-kY9JRa-kY9JDg-5uU3Wx-kY9JcV-kY99AD-kYaAJh-kYaAwU-dERecB-9PHmk-9PHpL-dxKvnT-dxKsQP-dxQWLU-dXJ3UE-nwHQA7-5w7CwM-9kWdCC-nMQQ43-4zvnWn-dbjZu7-nEdSFj-wLTQg-h8ey4-3BDDxo-2Zpmfj-rEPj6-4QPqsc-akLQef-fMfx4q-3y3bet-iiCGAn-9rKcWX-amcJtd-rMXjLY-42FqUV-9uyZRc-4tCieA-67a6nB-aFhk5b-h455MA-chBRPb-chBT3J-chBYBG-chBSqS-chBVWm-chBQAq-chBXZy-chBReJ">Grand Canyon National Park/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, we can still catch up. The latest evidence suggests that <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_summary-for-policymakers.pdf">strengthening building codes and providing better enforcement</a> is the most cost effective path towards more sustainable housing. </p>
<p>Australia doesn’t have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-practical-with-push-for-zero-carbon-homes-5301">great record</a> here. Our building codes could be better focused, <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-can-build-homes-to-survive-bushfires-so-why-dont-we-35899">stricter</a>, and certainly our enforcement <a href="https://sourceable.net/report-highlights-flaws-australian-energy-efficient-building-standards/#">could be a lot better</a>. </p>
<h2>Building for the future</h2>
<p>As the biggest polluter and a high energy user, the building sector urgently needs to reform for climate change mitigation. </p>
<p>There are serious legacy issues. Mistakes we made in the past endure throughout the life of buildings. Building decisions we make today can be very costly to reverse, and buildings last for decades! <a href="http://www.yourhome.gov.au/housing/adapting-climate-change">In Australia,</a> a timber building is likely to last at least 58 years, and a brick building at least 88 years.</p>
<p>Currently, potential building owners are funnelled toward on-site construction processes, despite the clearly documented benefits of factory-based production. This is reflected in the low profile given to modular housing in the <a href="http://www.abcb.gov.au/">National Construction Code</a> and a lack of <a href="http://www.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/135544/NEEBP-final-report-November-2014.pdf">aggressive and well enforced environmental standards</a>. We clearly need better policy to support the modular green building industry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Manley receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works, and the Western Australian Building Commission.</span></em></p>The building sector globally currently consumes more energy than the transport sector or the industry sector. It is also the biggest polluter, with the biggest potential for significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions compared to other sectors, at no cost.Karen Manley, A/Professor of Construction Management, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/256942014-06-19T05:01:57Z2014-06-19T05:01:57ZSwap steel, concrete, and brick for wood – wooden buildings are cheaper and cleaner<p>Although it may seem counter-intuitive, it would be better if we built buildings from wood than from concrete, brick, aluminium and steel. </p>
<p>We use millions of tonnes of these modern materials every year. They have many valuable properties, but are energy-intensive to create, accounting for around 16% of the entire planets’ fossil fuel production. Instead we could be using wood, which is also strong, renewable, and plentiful – we use only a fraction of the world’s available forestry resources. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10549811.2013.839386">research</a>, published in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry, estimated that the world’s forest contain about 385 billion cubic metres of wood, with an additional 17 billion cubic metres growing each year. A mere 3.4 billion cubic metres is harvested each year, mostly for subsistence fuel burning; the rest rots, burns in fires, or adds to forests’ density.</p>
<p>Swapping steel, concrete, or brick for wood and specially engineered wood equivalents would drastically reduce global carbon dioxide emissions, fossil fuel consumption and would represent a renewable resource. What’s more, managed properly this can be done without loss of biodiversity or carbon storage capacity.</p>
<h2>Wooden approach</h2>
<p>In our study undertaken by scientists from the <a href="http://environment.yale.edu">Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies</a> and the University of Washington’s <a href="http://coenv.washington.edu/">College of the Environment</a> we evaluated various scenarios including leaving forests untouched, burning wood for energy and use of wood as a construction material.</p>
<p>The 3.4 billion cubic meters of wood harvested each year accounts for only 20% of new annual growth. Increasing the wood harvest to 34% or more would have several profound and positive effects. Emissions amounting to 14-31% of global CO<sub>2</sub> would be avoided by creating less steel and concrete, and by storing CO<sub>2</sub> in the cell structure of wood products. A further 12-19% of annual global fossil fuel consumption would be saved, including savings from burning scrap wood and unsellable materials for energy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47177/original/wzpqkygq-1398704385.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47177/original/wzpqkygq-1398704385.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47177/original/wzpqkygq-1398704385.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47177/original/wzpqkygq-1398704385.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47177/original/wzpqkygq-1398704385.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47177/original/wzpqkygq-1398704385.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47177/original/wzpqkygq-1398704385.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47177/original/wzpqkygq-1398704385.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">CO2 savings from using engineered Wood I-beams, Wood Beams, Wood Ply, Wood Sheathing, Ply Covering, and Wood Studs vs equivalent Steel Beams, Concrete Slabs, Steel Studs, and Stucco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chad Oliver et. al/JSF</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Building with wood consumes much less energy than using concrete or steel. For example, a wooden floor beam requires 80 megajoules (mj) of energy per square metre of floor space and emits 4kg CO<sub>2</sub>. By comparison, a square metre of floor space supported by a steel beam requires 516 mj and emits 40 kg of CO<sub>2</sub>, and a concrete slab floor requires 290 mj and emits 27kg of CO<sub>2</sub>.</p>
<p>By using efficient harvesting and production techniques, more CO<sub>2</sub> is saved through the avoided emissions, materials, and wood energy than is lost from the harvested forest – yet another reason to appreciate forests, and to protect them from endless deforestation for agriculture. Clearing trees for harvest is temporary, but converting forests to farmland is a permanent loss of all forest’s resources and biodiversity.</p>
<h2>Wooden materials</h2>
<p>If transport and assembly is taken into account, the 16% of global fossil fuels used to manufacture steel, concrete and brick is closer to 20-30%. These potential fuel and carbon emissions savings, already substantial, will become increasingly critical as demand for new buildings, bridges and other infrastructure surges with economic development in Asia, Africa and South America. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47178/original/5frp5y4g-1398705077.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47178/original/5frp5y4g-1398705077.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47178/original/5frp5y4g-1398705077.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47178/original/5frp5y4g-1398705077.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47178/original/5frp5y4g-1398705077.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47178/original/5frp5y4g-1398705077.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47178/original/5frp5y4g-1398705077.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47178/original/5frp5y4g-1398705077.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wood construction for bridges in Quebec (A, photo Jean-Marc Dubois), Stadthaus in London (B, photo Will Pryce), aircraft hanger in Montreal, Quebec (C), and 20-storey wooden building (photo by Michael Green Architecture).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jean-Marc Dubois/Will Pryce/Michael Green Architecture</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, new construction techniques have made wood even more effective as a building material for anything from <a href="http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/worlds-most-advanced-building-material-wood-0">bridges to mid-rise apartment buildings</a>. The <a href="http://www.naturallywood.com/emerging-trends/cross-laminated-timber-clt">cross-laminated timber</a> increasingly used in new buildings, made from alternating layers of perpendicular, wood pieces has strength approaching that of steel. </p>
<p>In 2009 a nine-storey building, <a href="http://www.klhuk.com/portfolio/residential/stadthaus,-murray-grove.aspx">Stadthaus</a>, in London, was built with CLT instead of steel construction and in <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/387769/wooden-skyscraper-berg-c-f-moller-architects/">Stockholm</a> a 34-storey wooden building has been given planning permission. There are many others, already built and in the pipeline.</p>
<p>Harvesting also reduces a forest’s likelihood of suffering a catastrophic wildfire, and improves its ability to withstand it. Maintaining a mix of forest habitats and tree densities in non-reserved forests would help preserve the varied biodiversity in ecosystems worldwide. Harvesting wood will save fossil fuel and CO<sub>2</sub>, and provide jobs – giving local people more reason to ensure the forests’ survival.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25694/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chad Oliver has minor ownership (5%) in a forest inventory company, SilviaTerra. In the past, he has consulted for the forest industry, the U.S.Forest Service, the United Nations, and other public and private organizations in his scientific capacity as an academician. </span></em></p>Although it may seem counter-intuitive, it would be better if we built buildings from wood than from concrete, brick, aluminium and steel. We use millions of tonnes of these modern materials every year…Chad Oliver, Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Director of Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry, Yale UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/280662014-06-17T05:10:00Z2014-06-17T05:10:00ZAfter Sandy, New York plans to rebuild by blue-green design<p>When Hurricane Sandy struck New York in 2012, it was a brutal wake up call for the Big Apple. That call should have also been heard by the citizens of every other coastal city and those responsible for ensuring their safety – though there is little evidence that it has. </p>
<p>Sandy was the largest ever recorded Atlantic hurricane and, after Katrina, the second most costly, causing damage of <a href="http://science.time.com/2013/07/17/the-costs-of-climate-change-and-extreme-weather-are-passing-the-high-water-mark/">around US$70 billion</a> in the US alone. Hundreds of people were killed and hundreds of thousands made homeless along the storm’s path through the Caribbean, US, and Canada. But while 24 US states were affected, it was the inundation of Lower Manhattan that generated the largest shock waves. </p>
<p>The death, destruction and general havoc wreaked by Sandy laid bare the inadequacies of current approaches to coastal flood risk management, generating a storm of public outrage. Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans in 2005 had been bad enough, but images of one of the world’s most iconic coastal cities being inundated by a storm surge despite several days advance warning were truly shocking. If it could happen to New York City, isn’t every other coastal community also at risk of catastrophic flooding? The scientific answer to that question is, of course, an emphatic <em>yes</em>. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/">Rebuild by Design</a> competition held to promote radical new approaches to protecting the city has now identified six winning projects, and it’s apparent that all are substantially based on using green and blue infrastructure to provide more natural and flexible defence than concrete walls. These defences work by mimicking the natural functions of coastal wetlands, woodlands, barrier beaches and offshore reefs in sapping the energy of waves and storm surges to reduce their height and rob them of destructive strength. Between storms, they provide a wide range of habitats necessary to support diverse ecosystems, providing leisure and commercial opportunities, including lost natural resources such as fisheries and oyster beds.</p>
<p>The lesson from Sandy is that while there are good reasons why huge population centres have developed adjacent to and just a few feet above the ocean, living there involves flood risk – a risk that cannot be eliminated, but can, and must, be reduced to a level that is acceptable, or at least tolerable. This applies not only to coastal cities in the US, but to every coastal conurbation and, especially, to <a href="http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000117">Asian mega-cities</a>. Easily said, but how can this be done? </p>
<h2>Radical change is needed</h2>
<p>It won’t be through business as usual, or even incremental changes to conventional flood risk management approaches. Following the European floods of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the UK government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-flooding">Flood Foresight</a> paper reinforced the message that hard choices have to be made. It’s such a pity that, with subsequent severe flooding in Britain and elsewhere, from <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/01/12/qld-floods-brisbane-ipswich-prepare-for-worst/">Australia</a> to <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2014/04/pictures-zimbabwe-flood-victims-2014449344796777.html">Zimbabwe</a>, it seems the lesson has to be learned repeatedly and the hard way.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51205/original/fbwv2jtf-1402922429.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51205/original/fbwv2jtf-1402922429.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51205/original/fbwv2jtf-1402922429.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51205/original/fbwv2jtf-1402922429.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51205/original/fbwv2jtf-1402922429.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51205/original/fbwv2jtf-1402922429.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51205/original/fbwv2jtf-1402922429.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unlike New York, New Orleans does not benefit from being home to the world’s financial capital.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_050902-N-5328N-228_Four_days_after_Hurricane_Katrina_made_landfall_on_the_Gulf_Coast,_many_parts_of_New_Orleans_remain_flooded.jpg">Gary Nichols/US Navy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The need for radical new thinking did not go unrecognised in New Orleans. But the understandable, though scientifically and socially flawed, decision to simply rebuild breached defences and devastated neighbourhoods prevailed. Proposals to re-locate communities away from highest risk areas and return the most vulnerable land to its previous role of providing natural flood protection were ignored. Even the <a href="http://www.globalgreen.org/articles/global/82">Green NOLA design competition</a> in 2006, which set out to deliver “visionary yet practical responses” to the city’s problems, lacked the backing it needed from the authorities.</p>
<h2>Good design, fit to purpose and budget</h2>
<p>But the <a href="http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/">Rebuild by Design</a> competition is different to that in New Orleans. It has the backing of the <a href="http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/sandyrebuilding/rebuildbydesign">Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development</a>, which gives the winning designs a real chance of being built. The designers seem to have engaged directly with communities and business owners at risk to find solutions that are not only radical, but which reflect the preferences of the people who will live and work around them every day. </p>
<p>It is an uncomfortable truth that the level of flood defence that can be provided to a community is limited by the value of the assets at risk. The solution has to make sense economically, which is why London is protected against a one-in-a-thousand-year flood, while <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2013/dec/06/storms-floods-and-tidal-surge-devastate-the-uks-east-coast-in-pictures">Hemsby</a> on the Norfolk coast is economically undefendable.</p>
<p>In Lower Manhattan, not just densely packed public housing, iconic buildings, and infrastructure such as the subway and electricity sub-stations are at risk, but Wall Street itself. This explains why there’s substantial funding available to provide protection against another Sandy-sized surge. The winning concept for Lower Manhattan, a green design that includes parkland and a banked earth flood wall around the tip of the island named the “<a href="http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/project/big-team-final-proposal">Big U</a>”, is costed at US$335m – a considerable sum but easily justified when compared to what’s at risk. </p>
<h2>The blue-green advantage</h2>
<p>The aim of using <a href="http://www.bluegreencities.ac.uk">blue-green infrastructure</a> in place of the old fashioned grey kind is to recreate a naturally-oriented water cycle that contributes to the amenity of the city by bringing together water and environmental management. This is achieved by combining and protecting the hydrological and ecological values of the urban landscape while providing resilient and adaptive measures to deal with flood and drought events. In this spirit, the Big U creates publicly accessible green spaces that will deliver social, economic and environmental benefits even when the defences are not keeping out storm surges, which is of course most of the time.</p>
<p>The project’s other great advantage is that it’s adaptable. Not only will it provide protection now, it also allows for a planned retreat from the coastline should that be necessary in future. This could be the case if, for example, melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet drives a larger than expected rise in sea level: unlikely, but not impossible. </p>
<p>But what about neighbourhoods not home to a global financial hub? Neighbouring communities on Staten Island and in Hoboken, New Jersey, are typical of dozens of ordinary towns and cities along the east coast affected by Sandy. While in sight of Manhattan, they are in different leagues, economically. They too were considered in Rebuild by Design, leading to five winning projects for other areas around the coasts of New York City and New Jersey, and running the total cost up to around US$1 billion.</p>
<p>According to Rebuild by Design, Staten Island merits US$60m of investment in <a href="http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/project/scape-landscape-architecture-final-proposal/">Living Breakwaters</a> and artificial reefs that provide sustainable coastal defence while restoring the valuable shoreline and marine ecosystems previously sacrificed to conventional concrete sea walls. </p>
<p>On the other hand Hoboken is envisaged as a <a href="http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/project/oma-final-proposal/">Resiliency District</a> where, by reducing the vulnerability of homes, businesses and infrastructure to flooding that cannot be prevented economically, it is hoped public-private finance will step in to support badly needed urban renewal. The initial cost of US$230m is affordable, but is just the start, and building a resilient community will require concerted, long-term investment by government and local businesses, which makes the future for Hoboken rather less secure than that of Lower Manhattan, or even Staten Island. </p>
<h2>In it for the long term</h2>
<p>The Rebuild by Design competition has produced worthy winners that address current flood risks effectively and affordably, while leaving space for adaptation to an uncertain future, recreating lost habitats and providing public green spaces of considerable socio-economic value. The winning solutions are sustainable in that they use science responsibly to conceive radical solutions that offer economic security while greening the urban landscape and restoring shoreline environments. </p>
<p>But the jury is still out on whether even these radical new approaches can deliver these benefits in ways that are socially equitable. In practice, this will depend more on good governance than creative engineering, something outside the scope of any design team. Achieving social justice in flood risk management relies on the willingness of people not just to get involved but to stay involved long after the damage of the trigger event has been repaired and the trauma, though dreadful, has passed. If Rebuilding by Design can lay the foundations for long-term community engagement in managing flood risk in New York and New Jersey it will fully deserve all the plaudits it looks likely to receive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Thorne receives funding from the EPSRC.</span></em></p>When Hurricane Sandy struck New York in 2012, it was a brutal wake up call for the Big Apple. That call should have also been heard by the citizens of every other coastal city and those responsible for…Colin Thorne, Professor, Chair of Physical Geography, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/257282014-04-16T20:08:29Z2014-04-16T20:08:29ZRe-designing food systems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46571/original/q87hwb2q-1397657411.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">f b</span> </figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46571/original/q87hwb2q-1397657411.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46571/original/q87hwb2q-1397657411.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46571/original/q87hwb2q-1397657411.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46571/original/q87hwb2q-1397657411.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46571/original/q87hwb2q-1397657411.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46571/original/q87hwb2q-1397657411.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46571/original/q87hwb2q-1397657411.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46571/original/q87hwb2q-1397657411.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Victoria Market in Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Lin/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a foodie, but also a vegetarian, I am always seeking alternative food systems that are healthy, farmer-friendly, community-focused, and easy to use —attributes that also make food systems sustainable. My <a href="http://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/major/BIAN-MAJ">biological anthropology</a> professor used to tell the class that once we humans developed agriculture, it all went downhill. </p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/659964">archaeologists</a>, the domestication of plants and animals occurred around 12,000 years B.C.E (Before Common Era). After this, human populations grew exponentially, but to the detriment of <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01256568">human health</a> and of social relations based on <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-1289-3_5">equality</a>. We got more diseases and nutrient deficiencies. We began to treat each other pretty badly.</p>
<p>Researchers still do not know why our human ancestors shifted from gathering and hunting to agricultural systems. But <a href="http://www.wennergren.org/history/conferences-seminars-symposia/wenner-gren-symposia/cumulative-list-wenner-gren-symposia/w-173">they</a> have speculated on what might have been some of the underlying values that changed our relationships to our food systems:<br></p>
<ul>
<li>Security of food, through the manipulation of the natural world;<br></li>
<li>Efficiency in the effort to gather and prepare foods, with the increase in leisure time, and <br></li>
<li>Wealth accumulation at the level of individuals, households, and family lines.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>Remarkably over the last 10,000 years or so, these values have only intensified in regards to our food systems. </p>
<p>Food security has become a field of global strategic studies at universities such as <a href="http://www.adelaide.edu.au/global-food/">University of Adelaide</a> and <a href="http://foodsecurity.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a>. Efficiency remains the primary driver of the industrialised food system. Although last year in The Conversation, <a href="https://theconversation.com/food-waste-beyond-fridge-guilt-to-a-sustainable-system-13926">Adrian Morley</a> argued that industrialised food systems are extremely inefficient when it comes to wastage:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>According to a 2011 study from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, approximately two thirds of food waste in Europe occurs in the supply chain between production and retail. In developing nations this proportion can be far greater … countries in South East Asia can lose as much as 80% of their rice crop to wastage.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46573/original/v5h6n6qk-1397657914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46573/original/v5h6n6qk-1397657914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46573/original/v5h6n6qk-1397657914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46573/original/v5h6n6qk-1397657914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46573/original/v5h6n6qk-1397657914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46573/original/v5h6n6qk-1397657914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46573/original/v5h6n6qk-1397657914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46573/original/v5h6n6qk-1397657914.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carting of Fruit and Vegetables at Victoria Market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Chen/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The social inequalities of wealth accumulation inherent have been exacerbated in our current food systems. Nicholas Rose and Claire Parfitt of the <a href="http://www.australianfoodsovereigntyalliance.org/">Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance</a> describe the extent in their <a href="https://theconversation.com/food-fight-the-battle-for-justice-from-paddock-to-plate-5935">2012 article</a> for The Conversation:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Food has become primarily a source of capital accumulation and profit, rather than a basic human need. Grains that might otherwise go to dinner tables are used to feed more lucrative biofuels and livestock markets. Food that won’t generate a profit is dumped by food retailers who lock their bins to keep out foragers.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Alternative models and shifting values</h2>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/nutrition/nutrition+tips/emerging+food+movements,7895">Body + Soul online</a>, there are several alternative food systems: slow food, sustainable food, locavores, organic food, vegan/vegetarian, and freeganism. Each one aligns with a set of shifting values regarding food security, efficiency, and wealth inequality.</p>
<p>The original intent of industrialised production and the controlled global distribution of food were to increase food security in the post WWII period. As made evident in the following advertisement of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litton_Industries">Litton Industries</a> of food preparation in the 1960s, industrialised production was the only “civilised” approach to food.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KSz5M0A3A2w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Litton Industries’ history of food preparation.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The negative environmental impacts of the chemicals used to eliminate pests and the detrimental health impacts of contaminated food have led to resurgences in models of organic and sustainable food production. For the majority of human history, these were the only models of food systems. Australia first adopted its National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Products in 1992. Last year, it released the <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/export/organic-bio-dynamic">third edition</a>.</p>
<p>Vegetarian and veganism is as old as human history. Yet they represent an alternative set of values regarding relationship between humans and animals.</p>
<p>The slow food movement, including the <a href="http://www.localharvest.org.au/why-is-local-important/">locavores</a> movement provide a direct counter to the emphasis on efficiency in how we gather and prepare food. According to the <a href="http://www.slowfood.com/international/7/history">Slow Food website</a>, the movement was established in 1989 by Carlo Petrini and a group of activists with the adoption of the slow food manifesto:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Against those – or, rather, the vast majority – who confuse efficiency with frenzy, we propose the vaccine of an adequate portion of sensual gourmandise pleasures, to be taken with slow and prolonged enjoyment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Freeganism is an anti-consumerist movement, in which people seek to live off the food that supermarkets discard. In 2006, The Age did a report on the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/05/18/1147545456066.html?page=fullpage">freeganism movement</a> in Australia. The reporter followed three 20-year olds dumpster diving in Melbourne. When explaining the allure of dumpstering, one of the young men expressed his critique of the consumerism and inequalities built into the industrialised food system:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What’s better about dumpstering is that you’re not buying into that whole process of consumption. Even buying organic food involves being part of the consumer economy. Dumpstering really does break the consumer chain.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Kelly Cube, an intermediate model</h2>
<p>Although I dumpster dived for donuts in my 20s, I am not radical enough for freeganism in my 40s. While I shop at the organic stores in Prahran Market, I cannot get off the frenzy track enough to do more than reheat meals, instead of cooking them from scratch. I rent my home, so I cannot set up a garden in my yard or even window ledges. Is there an alternative food system that might work more for me and people like me who are single or a couple without children, interested in sustainable food, but do not have the time to prepare a complete meal every day?</p>
<p>One of the more interesting new models that I have come across is <a href="http://www.kellycube.com.au/">Kelly Cube</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Melbourne’s gourmet Ready-To-Cook Meal Kit containing all the fresh, raw ingredients direct from local farmers and producers. You cook a restaurant quality meal with the simple and fun recipe.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46583/original/bm3jsr83-1397664991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46583/original/bm3jsr83-1397664991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46583/original/bm3jsr83-1397664991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46583/original/bm3jsr83-1397664991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46583/original/bm3jsr83-1397664991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46583/original/bm3jsr83-1397664991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46583/original/bm3jsr83-1397664991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46583/original/bm3jsr83-1397664991.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kelly Cube from paddock to plate concept.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cameron Joss/by permission</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The founder, Cameron Joss hangs out at one of my neighbourhood cafes. So I recently had the opportunity to discuss with him the design of the Kelly Cube as a product and a service that acts as alternative model to industrialised food production. </p>
<p>Initiated in 2011 as a means to support local Australian farmers, Kelly Cube combines the values of the slow food, locavores, and sustainable food systems. Cameron explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The underlying factor is that all of the produce has to be Australian. As much as possible, it has to be local. Every once in a while, you might have to get limes from Queensland because that is where they grow them. Our boundary is Australia, but we try to have everything in our Kelly Cube as local to Melbourne as possible. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The ready-to-cook meal kit comes complete with all the fresh locally sourced vegetables, meats, spices, and oils in exact portion to either a one person or two person meal recipe. This is designed to reduce wastage and simplify the decision-making of meal planning, while allowing people to trace from where their food is coming.</p>
<p>Aligning with the principles of sustainability, the Kelly Cube box of the kit is reusable and recyclable. Cameron explains the design of the box:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It can be quite deceiving because you using a lot less space in your fridge. In actuality the box is transparent so that you can see all the food inside. The box is designed to make the produce last longer, even the herbs which last for only one week. You use everything in that box and there is no wastage.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What I find most intriguing about the design of the Kelly Cube is what Cameron describes as its “fun factor”.</p>
<p>The different recipes provide people a variety of tastes with high quality produce. Busy people can re-engage with the sensual experience of cooking, but taking no more than 15 minutes of their evening. This is what makes this design seem like an intermediate model to the aspirations of the slow food movement, which requires greater leisure time than I possess.</p>
<p>Designed “for the busy professionals who don’t have time to shop and don’t have access to a fresh food grocer after 6:00 PM when they get off from work,” the Kelly Cube makes it easy by doing all the hard work of pre-preparing the ingredients so that one may only need to chop the garlic and onions, combine the spices and the oils for the sauce, add it to the sauteed chicken, and voila dinner is served. <a href="http://www.kellycube.com.au">Kelly Cube</a> is conveniently an online business, so one can order a weekly meal plan at one’s leisure and have it delivered once a week. </p>
<p>The Kelly Cube is just one of the many new designs that creative people are offering to to try and make our food system more sustainable, efficient, and equitable. Our survival depends on more people following these alternative models. </p>
<p>This week, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists">The Guardian reported</a> on a recent NASA-partially funded study that modelled the collapse of civilisations due to “unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution”. </p>
<p>These two factors are the direct outcomes of our shift to agricultural production. It is not possible to go back to gathering and hunting, but we might be able to find more intermediate solutions that harken to the ecological and social equality of that food system as we continue to re-design our current agricultural one. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
As a foodie, but also a vegetarian, I am always seeking alternative food systems that are healthy, farmer-friendly, community-focused, and easy to use —attributes that also make food systems sustainable…Elizabeth Dori Tunstall, Associate Professor, Design Anthropology, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/239112014-03-20T01:27:58Z2014-03-20T01:27:58ZGreen roofs and walls – a growth area in urban design<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44236/original/qm4y96yy-1395188932.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This green roof demonstration has 14 different combinations of substrate, depth, plant type and irrigation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Rayner, University of Melbourne</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the demand for greener and cooler cities increases, new “green infrastructure” technologies, such as green roofs and walls, are coming to the fore. But what are they?</p>
<p>Put simply, green roofs and walls are landscaped building surfaces. Australia has been relatively slow on the uptake of this movement, with much of the available expertise, systems and materials based in the northern hemisphere.</p>
<p>Last month saw the release of <a href="http://www.growinggreenguide.org/">Growing Green Guide</a>: a free guide to green roofs, walls and facades in Victoria – a collaborative local and state government project, which I contributed to. </p>
<p>And this weekend at the <a href="http://melbflowershow.com.au/">Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show</a> there will be a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.683709495010102.1073741855.230588870322169&type=1">pop-up garden display</a> by the <a href="http://www.land-environment.unimelb.edu.au/">Melbourne School of Land and Environment</a> demonstrating many of the ideas and techniques behind green infrastructure. </p>
<p>But for those who are not in Melboure and/ or won’t be able to give over their weekend to the delights of Australia’s urban horticulture industry, here’s a snapshot and some important design factors.</p>
<h2>The impact of green infrastructure</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43706/original/cjsp4wft-1394603337.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43706/original/cjsp4wft-1394603337.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43706/original/cjsp4wft-1394603337.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43706/original/cjsp4wft-1394603337.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43706/original/cjsp4wft-1394603337.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43706/original/cjsp4wft-1394603337.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43706/original/cjsp4wft-1394603337.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43706/original/cjsp4wft-1394603337.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A trellis-based facade in Copenhagen, Denmark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Rayner</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Green roofs, as mentioned already, are a landscape constructed on a roof and include a range of different types. They can be a small, container beds two metres deep supporting trees and shrubs, or lightweight configurations of only a few centimetres in depth and more than a hectare in size covered in succulent and herbaceous vegetation. </p>
<p>Green walls fall into two very different types. Living walls support plants through irrigated, vertical containers or felt-based structures fixed to a wall surface. Green facades use climbing plants to provide green coverage over a wall, either directly on the building surface or more commonly using a steel trellis or cable system, with plants grown in-ground or in containers that are supported across the building facade. </p>
<p>The evidence of benefits associated with green roofs and walls is increasing as research efforts (from the <a href="http://www.hrt.msu.edu/greenroof/">US</a>, <a href="http://www.thegreenroofcentre.co.uk/">UK</a> and <a href="https://land-environment.unimelb.edu.au/research/research-groups/green-infrastructure-research-group/">Australia</a>) expand across the globe. Green roofs have <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778810001453">been shown</a> in a number of studies to reduce building energy budgets, slightly reducing winter heating costs but providing more significant reductions to summer cooling. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www1.toronto.ca/city_of_toronto/city_planning/zoning__environment/files/pdf/chapter4_2_6.pdf">modelling study</a> in Toronto on the implementation of green roofs across low-rise, flat roofs greater than 350 square-metres concluded that ambient air temperatures across the city could be reduced by up to 2C. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44246/original/m3tnm6h5-1395194065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44246/original/m3tnm6h5-1395194065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44246/original/m3tnm6h5-1395194065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44246/original/m3tnm6h5-1395194065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44246/original/m3tnm6h5-1395194065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44246/original/m3tnm6h5-1395194065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44246/original/m3tnm6h5-1395194065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44246/original/m3tnm6h5-1395194065.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Millenium Park, Chicago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Rayner</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The benefits of retaining stormwater on green roofs are <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204605000496">well established</a> and tend to form the basis of many city <a href="http://myplantconnection.com/green-roofs-legislation.php">green roofs tax</a> or incentive schemes, particularly in North America. </p>
<p>Green roofs act like a sponge on a roof, absorbing and storing rainfall and allowing re-use form plants, in turn reducing urban water run-off. <a href="https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jeq/abstracts/34/3/1036">One study</a> involving a green roof with a 60mm deep substrate (soil substitute) showed rainfall retention of almost 83%. </p>
<p>Green roofs and walls have been shown to increase property values, partly because people like to view them, but more because they provide more recreational and amenity uses. In one <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12076-010-0046-4">New York study</a> rentals were shown to be 16% higher in buildings with green roofs compared to those without.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.greenroofs.org/index.php/resources/2012-green-roof-industry-survey">dramatic growth</a> in green roofs and walls across the US over recent years, despite generally poor economic conditions, suggests demand for these installations will continue. </p>
<h2>Why not try this at home?</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43707/original/2rdj5fd7-1394603510.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43707/original/2rdj5fd7-1394603510.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43707/original/2rdj5fd7-1394603510.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1101&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43707/original/2rdj5fd7-1394603510.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1101&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43707/original/2rdj5fd7-1394603510.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1101&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43707/original/2rdj5fd7-1394603510.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1384&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43707/original/2rdj5fd7-1394603510.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43707/original/2rdj5fd7-1394603510.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1384&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chicago Cultural Centre extensive green roof.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Naturally, green roofs and walls need to be planned and designed properly to ensure they are successful. The most significant issue to consider is weight loading. A roof or wall must have the structural capacity for the mass of a green roof, wall or facade installation – both at construction and over time. </p>
<p>Not all plants will succeed on the sometimes hostile and elevated environment of a roof or wall; and vegetation growth is strongly limited by the depth, available volume, air, water, nutrition and environmental conditions present at the site. </p>
<p>Low growing succulents, such as <a href="http://www.lowes.com/creative-ideas/images/2012_05/sedum-laconicum-northeast-4.jpg">sedums</a>, and drought-tolerant perennials including many Australian plants, are widely used because of these constraints. </p>
<p>Waterproofing is another key issue and most structures will require additional specialised treatments to ensure the integrity of the structure is not compromised by the installation. Excess water will need to be drained away, particularly from green roofs. </p>
<p>Most modern systems, such as those produced by German green-roof company <a href="http://www.zinco-greenroof.com/EN/greenroof_systems/index.php">Zinco</a>, incorporate lightweight plastic drainage cells to provide this outcome.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44344/original/s34t4mbm-1395270896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44344/original/s34t4mbm-1395270896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44344/original/s34t4mbm-1395270896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44344/original/s34t4mbm-1395270896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44344/original/s34t4mbm-1395270896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44344/original/s34t4mbm-1395270896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44344/original/s34t4mbm-1395270896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44344/original/s34t4mbm-1395270896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The High Line in Manhattan, New York City at West 20th Street.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the <a href="http://www.growinggreenguide.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/growing_green_guide_ebook_130214.pdf">Growing Green Guide</a> was written to increase local understanding and skills amongst architectural and design professionals in Melbourne, it is also relevant to a wider Australian audience. </p>
<p>Who knows? Australia might even have its own version of New York’s aerial greenway [High Line](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line_(New_York_City) one day.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Are you an academic or researcher working in urban design? Contact the <a href="mailto:paul.dalgarno@theconversation.edu.au">Arts + Culture editor</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23911/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Rayner receives funding from the Australian and Victorian Governments, the City of Melbourne and Melbourne Water and is affiliated with Green Roofs Australasia. He helped to write the 'Growing Green Guide' and is involved in the green infrastrucure display at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.</span></em></p>As the demand for greener and cooler cities increases, new “green infrastructure” technologies, such as green roofs and walls, are coming to the fore. But what are they? Put simply, green roofs and walls…John Rayner, Senior Lecturer in Urban Horticulture, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/222672014-03-13T14:56:34Z2014-03-13T14:56:34ZSkyscraper boom in London ought to prompt greener cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43844/original/zmtxtmp6-1394712671.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Let's get a bit more green in London's skyline.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-51750391/stock-photo-city-of-london-wide-angle-view-of-the-capital-looking-west-towards-st-paul-s-cathedral.html?src=Vc7h0nS58d6NGR2dmM6SiA-2-8">Alex Yeung/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A survey by the <a href="http://www.newlondonarchitecture.org/">New London Architecture</a> think tank has suggested that London’s skyline is set to become a lot more crowded with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/12/london-skyscrapers-shard-gherkin-architecture">at least 236 tall buildings</a> over 20 storeys currently proposed, approved or under construction. </p>
<p>All this growth is very well, but will cause some worry. It should prompt us to promote another kind of growth – as Frank Lloyd Wright once said, a physician can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his client to plant vines. And it’s not just vines we could be planting.</p>
<p>Built environment researchers have long understood the value of bringing nature into our urban environments, but you don’t have to study cities to understand why those regularly rated as the best to live in are also the greenest. Whether it’s the icy greenery of Reykjavik and Malmö, the Mediterranean beauty of Barcelona, the natural splendour of Edinburgh and Rio, or the modern near-utopia of Vancouver, people need a healthy dose of nature in their urban idylls.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43839/original/yr97zk9h-1394710235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43839/original/yr97zk9h-1394710235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43839/original/yr97zk9h-1394710235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43839/original/yr97zk9h-1394710235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43839/original/yr97zk9h-1394710235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43839/original/yr97zk9h-1394710235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43839/original/yr97zk9h-1394710235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Darmstadt’s Waldspirale (Forest Spiral).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wbayer.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My own favourite vision of just how far we could go to green our cities is <a href="http://www.darmstadt.de/darmstadt-erleben/sehenswuerdigkeiten/waldspirale/">the Waldspirale</a> in Darmstadt, Germany. It may be a bit too literal for some but, for its time, it matched that artistry with innovation, and its deliberate design forms an interesting contrast with the organic growth of the urban gardens of Havana and Detroit.</p>
<p>And the future of our urban environments really is looking greener. Green roofs are becoming increasingly common in urban architecture – we even have one here in the heart of <a href="http://www.gcu.ac.uk/campusfutures/sustainability/">Glasgow</a>. Studies show they are <a href="http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/41/5/1276.short">healthier</a>, they encourage <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1641/B571005">biodiversity</a>, and they also <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360132306001648">save energy</a>. </p>
<p>But as well as absorbing pollutants and creating space for people to relax and exercise, even the smallest green spaces can form a vital part of <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bbhKBBNdRZEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR14&dq=green+infrastructure+networks+ecology+&ots=cj4G4ghPZy&sig=stLio7pRXaQdbbjZAN4Lk7_7DJU#v=onepage&q=green%20infrastructure%20networks%20ecology&f=false">green networks</a> for wildlife, and concentrations of green space can help alleviate the <a href="http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/cr/v34/n3/p241-251/">urban heat island effect</a>. And, designing paved areas for <a href="http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-benefits-of-permeable-pavi-118431">permeability</a> helps absorb water when it’s not wanted and release it when it’s needed, making them an important way of mitigating the impacts of both flooding and drought.</p>
<p>We may even be seeing a resurgence in the big ideas of Lloyd Wright, <a href="http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/green/10-influential-green-architects.htm#page=10">Yeang</a>, and other pioneers of ecological architecture, with greenery being brought into the design of everything from <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ENYxgGk_5DMC&pg=PA120&lpg=PA120&dq=unusual+green+roofs&source=bl&ots=UxN0J3pVJf&sig=tPSbfw1chLQHTS4SFFbW3jOt4Eo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WpzeUsP9HsuqhAfTs4DIDQ&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=unusual%20green%20roofs&f=false">sheds</a> to <a href="http://inhabitat.com/green-roofed-light-house-stadium-is-a-beacon-of-light/">stadiums</a>, and there are even plans for a green bridge over the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/01/uk-garden-bridge-150m-thames-south-bank-soho">Thames</a>. And there’s even more to drawing in nature than just building for it, we can also do more to build with it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43858/original/jvc3ffh5-1394719129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43858/original/jvc3ffh5-1394719129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43858/original/jvc3ffh5-1394719129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43858/original/jvc3ffh5-1394719129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43858/original/jvc3ffh5-1394719129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43858/original/jvc3ffh5-1394719129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43858/original/jvc3ffh5-1394719129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Garden Bridge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arup</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Buildings constructed of locally-sourced <a href="http://www.sustainablebuildingmaterials.org/">natural and sustainable</a> materials don’t only benefit our environment and health, they can also benefit our economy and society by rejuvenating traditional industries and stemming the loss skills that are critical to maintaining our older and greener building stock. And traditional materials such as <a href="http://www.martinsongroup.com/residential">timber</a> and <a href="http://www.thermafleece.com/">sheepswool</a> can also be used to construct and insulate modern building designs, at a lower <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole-life_cost">lifecycle cost</a> to the environment.</p>
<p>But despite all these benefits there is still some resistance to making more use of natural materials coming from the construction industry. By their nature, many natural materials lack the homogeneity and standardisation demanded by some architects and their clients. For example, sheepswool from different breeds will have different properties, so needs to be sourced and processed in sufficient quantities to produce a homogenous product. This is obviously difficult if the supply is small and geographically dispersed. </p>
<p>This also means any claims made about natural products risk being challenged by richer and litigious producers of heavily processed products. The cost of a legal battle could be more than enough to put a small subsistence producer out of business. Work conducted as part of GCU’s <a href="http://www.neesonline.org">Natural Energy Efficiency and Sustainability</a> project has found that this is the most significant barrier to increasing the use of these products in Scotland, and it seems likely that the same applies to green roofs and other building-integrated greenery.</p>
<p>The good news is that the solution to this problem may lie with consumers and particularly the home improvement market as householders rarely invest in measures just to improve the energy performance ratings of their homes. </p>
<p>What is needed is some form of standard or label to promote good practice in the use of natural materials (including green roofs) while not being overly prescriptive or demanding for small producers; a standard which recognises the wider social and economic benefits of using these materials. This is something that we and our <a href="http://www.asbp.org.uk">partners</a> are working towards for the UK.</p>
<p>Looking to the future, cities may become even greener if <a href="http://www.verticalfarm.com/">vertical farms</a> finally make the transition from science fiction to science fact. Skyscrapers filled with crops could add a new dimension to nature’s reclamation of our urban environments by capitalising on the availability of solar energy. And, growing crops (and raising fish) locally using resource-efficient hydroponic systems could slash the carbon footprints of much of the food we consume.</p>
<p>And as well as all the healthy things, urban greenery could also provide us with a tipple to relax with. Climate change is expected to make many temperate regions ideal for growing grapes, so architects may soon have a better reason to get planting vines. Three cheers to that!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22267/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Baker receives, or has received, funding from a wide range of clients and funding bodies, including the EPSRC, the ESRC, the EU ERDF, Scottish Government and related bodies, Historic Scotland, Consumer Focus Scotland and local authorities. Glasgow Caledonian University has an extensive list of public and private sector partners and clients. GCU is committed to providing authoritative and independent research. No conflicts of interest are declared for this article.
</span></em></p>A survey by the New London Architecture think tank has suggested that London’s skyline is set to become a lot more crowded with at least 236 tall buildings over 20 storeys currently proposed, approved…Keith Baker, Research Associate in Sustainable Urban Environments, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179142013-09-20T12:23:05Z2013-09-20T12:23:05ZCutting pneumonia deaths with electricity-free oxygen devices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31570/original/smms2tcp-1379503777.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not just a source of food: this river could help doctors save lives.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">julien_harnies</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pneumonia kills more children worldwide than malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs331/en/">combined</a>. This is surprising given that treatment for pneumonia is relatively simple. In rich countries survival rates are very high, but in remote areas or poor countries without access to medicine and technology, pneumonia can become deadly.</p>
<p>In severe cases the lungs’ ability to extract oxygen from the air around them is drastically reduced. To give them enough time before antibiotics kick in, they need to be supplied with oxygen at around 90% concentration, much higher than the 20% concentration in the air. This oxygen comes from a device called an oxygen concentrator, which just plugs into the wall socket, takes oxygen from the air and concentrates it. But there lies the problem - 1.6 billion people around the world have no access to electricity to run such a device.</p>
<p>Two years ago a team of physics researchers led by <a href="http://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person27764">Bryn Sobott</a> of the University of Melbourne set out to design a device to address this. The team came up with a device called the first electricity-free oxygen concentrating system, or FREO2.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31464/original/mctqhw8z-1379402261.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31464/original/mctqhw8z-1379402261.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31464/original/mctqhw8z-1379402261.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31464/original/mctqhw8z-1379402261.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31464/original/mctqhw8z-1379402261.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31464/original/mctqhw8z-1379402261.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31464/original/mctqhw8z-1379402261.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prototype testing on a farm in rural Victoria, Australia.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>FREO2 uses water flow, say from a stream, as its source of energy. When syphoned through a pipe, the water rises which causes a drop in pressure to create a vacuum that can be applied to a bellow system. The combination of the two lets the device concentrate oxygen directly from the surrounding air.</p>
<p>This relies on passing air over a material called <a href="http://www.bza.org/zeolites.html">zeolite</a> that preferentially attracts nitrogen. Some of the nitrogen will be adsorbed (stick onto the solid material) and get left behind, which means the remaining gas is enriched with oxygen. A vacuum is then used to regenerate the adsorbent material, expelling the nitrogen it caught, and the process repeats. </p>
<p>The process is known as vacuum pressure swing adsorption. Sobott said: “This is more energy efficient than the normal pressure swing adsorption method used in wall-plug devices, which is not used where electricity is cheap, because creating a vacuum requires an expensive air compressor. In the case of FREO2 we start with a vacuum.”</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31465/original/bsfgq78m-1379402519.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31465/original/bsfgq78m-1379402519.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31465/original/bsfgq78m-1379402519.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31465/original/bsfgq78m-1379402519.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31465/original/bsfgq78m-1379402519.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31465/original/bsfgq78m-1379402519.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31465/original/bsfgq78m-1379402519.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Part of the FREO2 system.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The system is low maintenance and has virtually no running costs. All that is needed is some flowing water within about two miles of the health centre where the oxygen is needed. Crucially, the system does not require that much water, using only a tiny fraction of that needed by the smallest hydroelectric generators.</p>
<p>Sobott’s team is aiming to generate about three litres of oxygen per minute. This flow rate of oxygen is comparable to electricity-driven devices currently on the market. And access to a bigger creek means more oxygen can be generated. </p>
<p>Water quality is not an issue. As the system creates a vacuum, air is always moving from the child towards the water, so the system can be used even in areas where the water quality is poor. One such area is Papua New Guinea, which is the location chosen for the team’s field trial.</p>
<p>The team have just successfully received funding from the USAID <a href="http://www.savinglivesatbirth.net/problem">Saving Lives at Birth challenge</a>, which will enable them to build further prototypes and trial their idea. Sobott says of the team’s future goals: “Our long term goal is to supply the equipment to sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia - where pneumonia is most prevalent.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/17914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suzie Sheehy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pneumonia kills more children worldwide than malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis combined. This is surprising given that treatment for pneumonia is relatively simple. In rich countries survival rates are very…Suzie Sheehy, Research Fellow at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Science and Technology Facilities CouncilLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.