Alternative legacy : lecture @ BAS april 2011

This is the slides from a lecture at Bergen School of Architecture, at the end of a course in Visual Structure.
The course had been working and analyzing the situations along the light rail line in Bergen, from the perspective of developing stronger communities.

This is the lecture slides;

Alternative legacy : lecture @ BAS april 2011

View more presentations from Laura Ve.

exhibition material for (y)our alternative legacy

BACKGROUND INFO ON BERGEN

click the headline for the article.....

#1 MOBILITY_2

Working from the  access-point, programs and activity is organized after strategic principals.

Establishing clear directions to and from the access-points is strategic to increase pedestrian activity. Including important programs from the food cycle (production, sale, consumtion, waste-management, etc) in these pedestrian travel-lines is nessasary for giving the artisan agrarian economy the visual space and context needed.

Densification by fill-in structures to create streets and blocks for inside - outside situations are important. With establishing active streets for pedestrian communication to and from the access-points one increase walking and biking accessibility. The street vs backyard differentiation achieved with the fill-in volumes is also important to create variation in public, semi-public and private happenings and situations.
This way the pedestrians can to some point choose their experiences and interactions on their way from A to B; checking out the local crops and the social life of the backyards or the working people in the shops and in the offices in the streets. 
Fill-in structures, apposed to single housing is also more energy efficient, following the principal of the penguins.

THE SCENARIO SITUATION

#1 MOBILITY

Mobility strategies in a situation connected to a system like metro, train or light rail is to develop a street structure leading to the access / departure point. A pedestrian travel circle stretches out to 5 min of walking (approx 400 mtrs), while traveling by bike stretches out to around 1000-1500 mtrs.

With densification strategies to limit building activity to surrounding access-points one save land and travel time. Developing street-structures for people (instead of cars) with shortcuts and direction towards access-points increases accessibility.

URBAN STRATEGIES FOR DECREASING OUR ECO-FOOTPRINT

THE FIVE ECO-FOOTPRINT PARAMETERS
# mobility
# services
# shelter
# goods
# food

ASPECTS TO IMPLEMENT TO DECREASE FOOTPRINT
# increase local bio-capacity
# enable use of nature services as much as possible
# visualization of the food cycle- "from field to fork" and facilitate for a "hundred mile diet"
# focus on green for production and green for "urban wilds"
   Establishing areas for urban wilds attracts birds, bugs and animals so that they don´t feed on the crops
# education - networking
# pedestrian accessibility
# densification of central areas to minimize travel time
# zero emissions building - ZEB / + housing

WHAT IS THE FOOTPRINT ABOUT

Ecological Footprints can be calculated for individuals, groups of people (such as a nation), and activities (such as manufacturing a product).
The Ecological Footprint of a person is calculated by considering all of the biological materials consumed and all of the biological wastes generated by that person in a given year. All these materials and wastes are then individually translated into an equivalent number of global hectares.
To accomplish this, the amount of material consumed by that person (tonnes per year) is divided by the yield of the specific land or sea area (annual tonnes per hectare) from which it was harvested, or where its waste material was absorbed. The number of hectares that result from this calculation are then converted to global hectares using yield and equivalence factors. The sum of the global hectares needed to support the resource consumption and waste generation of the person is that person's Ecological Footprint.
The Ecological Footprint of a group of people, such as a city or a nation, is simply the sum of the Ecological Footprint of all the residents of that city or nation. It is also possible to construct an Ecological Footprint of production for a city or nation, which instead sums the Ecological Footprint of all resources extracted and wastes generated within the borders of the city or nation.
The Ecological Footprint of an activity, such as producing a good (an airplane) or service (providing insurance) in the human economy, is calculated by summing the Ecological Footprint of all of the material consumed and waste generated during that activity. When calculating the Footprint of a business or an organization, the activities to be included within the boundaries of that organization must be clearly defined.

See also;footprintnetwork.org

WELCOME!

How do we plan for future urban life, and develop a good background for future generations to live easier "green" lifes?
The 21st century will be characterized with big changes in style of life, the way we know it. Governments sign treaties and make regulations on how to lower our green gas emissions.
We will maybe not go short on oil and gas through the first 50 years, but regulations on emissions will make it difficult to continue in the same way as we have done this far.
And of course all the other aspects that is beginning to matter; like biodiversity over and under sea surface, eco systems supporting our lives, the impact we have on the planet.

This blog will investigate these issues, but focus on the ecological footprint of our lifestyle (because it includes the ethical aspects of the issues rather than the established economical aspects), instead of the measurement and trading of CO2, that is a more direct response to neglect.

The ecological footprint of the average Norwegian in 2008 was 6,8 gha (global hectars, according to the Living Planet Report). Based on available bio capacity and world population the ideal eco-footprint is 1,8 gha.



So within city planning, decision making, education and choice of life we have some changing to do. This will start with spreading of information, learning from information,taking action, discussion, and inspiration.

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