Urbanism: Ecological Urbanism and Ecosystem Dialectic

Urbanism: Ecological Urbanism and Ecosystem Dialectic is the ninth article assessing the dialectic of architecture and urban design in the urbanism field. I will go through this relationship from the top scale of urbanism in the city to the smallest scale of urbanism components of urban space.

In the previous article, I have gone through many definitions of urbanism whether it is in the research field, practice, or academic arena. Urbanism is the center of interest of many specialists in the fields of city planning and design, urban design, architecture, geography, environment, social science, and so on. Urbanism is a two-face coin on one side it’s the effect of urbanism practices, guidelines, and research on either humans or the physical environment. On the other side, it’s the effect of all-natural creation of humans and species and the earth that carry them on the fields of specialty like urban design.

Part of the main concern of these articles is that investigate and stand on the dialectic of architecture and urban design in many topics in research, and practice which were and still are linked to urbanism. Ecology is the study of the environment and helps us understand how organisms live with each other in unique physical environments. An ecosystem consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact.

There has been a direct correlation between urbanism, ecology, and ecosystems since the last decade. This relation directed the research and was the cause of the invention of many fields like eco-city, and ecological urbanism. So, what is ecological urbanism and its relation to the ecosystem? Steiner¹ defines Ecological urbanism as the term loosely used to describe an approach that uses ecological systems as an inspiration to design and live sustainably in cities. It is an emerging field that does not currently have, nor necessarily aspires to, a definitive or single definition. Winkelkotte² says the concept of Ecological Urbanism can be seen as a radical new approach to urban development. Based on an ethical aesthetic design practice, it calls for the long-term collaboration of natural scientists and humanists in order to meet recent and future challenges of city growth and development at a global scale. These challenges are no trifle: more than 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities. Lorrimar³ says ecological urbanism is a term loosely used to describe an approach that uses ecological systems as an inspiration to design and live sustainably in cities. It is an emerging field that does not currently have, nor necessarily aspires to, a definitive or single definition. Lin⁴ indicates that the initial discussions of ecological urbanism emerged out of the countercultural movements in the 1960s and 1970s, representing a new approach to urban development that emphasized respecting environmental limits instead of working against them. Japan’s government initiated several projects to achieve and build an eco-city model in Japan since 1997 based on ecological urbanism, See Figure 1.

In analyzing the papers referenced here I conclude that ecological urbanism is in one way or another a sustainable development. We need to know why ecological urbanism appeared since it has been in academia, research, and practice for a decade.

In going further in the analysis, the cause of the initiation varies. The population growth and the transition required from planned to market economies are putting more strain on ecological and natural resources. Rapid population growth rural to urban migration and the exploitation of limited resources. The global and local concerns and agreements of many countries in the world to decrease the impact on the environment and achieve high standards of living in cities. The most important is how to develop our neighborhoods, towns, and cities with less damage to the ecosystem or efficient restructuring of the ecosystem. So, the main problem is how to control many factors like population growth, rapid immigration from rural to city, the increase of urban development and its direct impact on the ecosystem, and how to protect and restructure the ecosystem without damage that keeps the global environment in continuous balance. See figure 2.

I have pointed out from these papers the main problem within ecological urbanism. Know who is responsible for resolving this problem. Proper policies introduced to support the environment eco-balance. Economic development that reduces the burden on funds and income of local and global workforce. Geographic research is directed at protecting nature and habitat. Environmental policy that mitigates, protect, and issue regulations to control the damage to our earth and living species. Urban development guidelines that reduce the use of our resources and exploit them in development effectively and efficiently.it is a global responsibility as it is the individual responsibility of many specialists to work within the global environment, protect it, reduce damage, and develop efficiently. Professions like politicians, economists, geographers, researchers, engineers, environmentalists, architects, urban designers, urban planners, agriculturists, and so on.

In presenting various definitions of ecology, ecosystem, and the various definitions of ecological urbanism adding to that analysis of the reference papers here I come to conclude that the physical environment is the only part that is not involved in the new field of ecological urbanism. Ecological urbanism is about the relation, interaction, direct effect, and vis-a-vis of living species and the environment. Buildings are not part of the living environment. These and our neighborhoods, towns, and cities are human creation and not natural creation that needs to be integrated into the ecosystem.

In recent years countries like Japan and China have progressed to produce government initiative related to eco-friendly development. In Japan, the government launched the eco-town project initiative in 1997. Then this initiative was developed into a more comprehensive program of eco-city models in 2008. To date, there have been 28 Japanese cities designated as eco-model cities from the large municipalities of Yokohama to small towns like Minamata. The objective of this program and models is to create models of ecological urbanism that will influence all the cities in Japan and keep the country of Japan at the forefront of sustainable development worldwide.

In China, there has been a strong direction to the eco-city model and program apparent in the large number and scale of projects in the past decade. In China, there are more than one hundred new eco-towns are under development and more than 250 cities announced their plan to become eco-city or low-carbon cities.  Examples are Dongtan eco-city and Tianjin eco-city. See figure 3.

    

Returning to our article concerns the dialectic of architecture and urban design within ecological urbanism. Where do architects intersect within ecological urbanism?

Architects design buildings within a neighborhood, town, a city. These buildings are not part of the ecosystem, but they are planted within the system. In terms of location, they should mitigate, protect, and integrate the building sitting in the location, plot, and the damage to the existing ecosystem. What is interesting to highlight here is many writers, and researchers focus on the building itself and its envelop relation to the adjacent environment which is very important. The building should not by any means if there are parts of the ecosystem existing near the block three important elements of the physical environment the Air, Sun(light), and water, if exist, on the surface and water in soil. These three elements are very important for the living species on Earth to continue and grow. Birds need trees and grass and open air to move from place to place to catch food, and proliferation. Trees need living species like birds to clean out some dangers like insects and need birds for fertilizer supply. Some trees need air to move in the surroundings to transfer pollen from place to place and so on. In terms of the building itself, the use of natural light, less water consumption, less cooling and heating, green roofs, less heat generator surfaces like parking, and more shading are some of the factors that make the building eco-friendly. In the world there are lot of agencies that provide, certify, and encourage the use of their strategies and guidelines to assess the building qualification and rating. Japan’s (CASBEE) Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency is a multi-level research committee of academia, industry, and local and national government to certify the buildings. Beamplus is a similar accreditation system developed in Hongkong China read my article for more details here.

Urban designers when developing an urban development plan should focus on selecting a location of development that has a minimal impact on the surrounding ecosystem, the location requires minimal development in terms of infrastructure like roads, transit, and underground services connections. The development should have strong connections to adjacent developments that encourage low use of mobility. The urban space should be connected within the location and surroundings by providing urban corridors that protect and provide a safe place for continuity and proliferation. The development plan should include the increase of the ecosystem components in terms of areas like lawns, trees, and waterbeds within the development see my previous article for a project from practice. The development plan should encourage the use of sustainable strategies for development in terms of energy use, water quality, air quality, and light and heat sustainable strategies.  

References:

1. Steiner, F. (2014) ‘Landscape Ecological Urbanism: Origins and trajectories’, The Ecological Design and Planning Reader, pp. 533–540. doi:10.5822/978-1-61091-491-8_48.
2. Winkelkotte, M. (2011) ‘ The Meaning of China’s Urban Transformation’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. DOI:10.1111/j.1468-2427.2011.01080.x
3. Lorrimar-Shanks, J. and Owen, C. (2015) ‘A critical approach to ecological urbanism in Hong Kong’, International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 8(2), pp. 110–125. doi:10.1080/19463138.2015.1083436.
4. Lin, Z. (2018) ‘Ecological urbanism in East Asia: A comparative assessment of two eco-cities in Japan and China’, Landscape and Urban Planning, 179, pp. 90–102. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.07.008.
5. Evans, B.M. (2019) ‘Reimagining design with nature: Ecological urbanism in Moscow’, Socio-Ecological Practice Research, 1(3–4), pp. 233–247. doi:10.1007/s42532-019-00031-5.
6. Nataly Gattegno (2011) Ecological Urbanism, Architectural Theory Review, 16:1, 73-75, DOI:10.1080/13264826.2011.560554
7. Jepson, E.J. and Edwards, M.M. (2010) ‘How possible is sustainable urban development? an analysis of planners’ perceptions about New Urbanism, smart growth and the Ecological City’, Planning Practice & Research, 25(4), pp. 417–437. doi:10.1080/02697459.2010.511016.