Sustainable Site Planning- February 7th

Seminar Leaders Claire Davis, Erns Wall, Jody Miller, Elyssa Woods, Tong Jiao, Madeline Sweetland.

Sustainable Infrastructure: The Guide to Green Engineering and Design- It was discussed that to design sustainably there are many different factors that need to be evaluated on a site before any structure can be built. Each site is different; they all have different properties such as soil, landscape, plants, animals, wind, water table, etc. Because each site is so unique you must do a lot of research on a site before anything can be built to make sure you are not disrupting the systems that already exist. Each system on a site is connected so to change one, you change them all. Since you are designing specific to a site, each site will have its own sustainable structure which in turn means that no building should ever repeat and be created again.1

Key Arguments- Any suggestions/ Ideas of how Winnipeg can design in a sustainable way and where? It was discussed that because we have to much snow here in winter, why not utilize it and find a way to capture the energy from snow. A point was brought up that there are many random open areas with no buildings/ designs (e.g. Bishop Grandin), why not somehow turn them into agriculture areas. It was argued that the rich people who own this land want to gain money from it and wont gain any if it is agriculture but will if there is some sort of building there. It was suggested that if there are going to be buildings, make Green Roofs like Toronto. In Toronto when a roof reaches a certain size it must be turned into a green roof, which helps to give back to earth from the space we take with a building. Reasons why Winnipeg does not have this law could possibly be because of our harsh climates and plants would simply not survive. 
Is it right to expand the city more? Obviously it is not right to take over agriculture land when there are still many undeveloped areas in the city but people are greedy and do not want to give up the big open yard. Living in the city and country are two completely different feels and the small towns will always be there because that's a way of life. The spaces between the city and country will always be there as well. The closer cities come the further small towns tend to go. 
What are some ways to study a site? Understanding the site down to each system involved is crucial to keep the environment found there thriving. 

Personal Reflections- I definitely believe that knowing each site down to the last rock and view point is critical to building good design. For example, the Guest Speaker Kelly Beaverford discussed how building in developing countries you need to follow each tradition, if you don't and go against it then the building you design simply will not be used and is a waste of resources, space, and time. So if we keep designing buildings the way we have been for the last however many years then nothing is going to change, we will continue to destroy our world and continue to create pointless designs and buildings that no one uses and for what? Knowing each thing about the site can help save our planet and animal diversity plus incorporate the environment into the buildings itself. The form should also be based on the site and dictated to what the building specifications are according to the systems found there, it will then be purposeful not just for aesthetics which our society relies on.

Sustainable Urban Development and the Multi-level Transition Perspective- The article discusses how the world needs to begin to use existing buildings that no longer have a function or purpose and make them useful. It discusses how we need to transition into a more sustainable city and world. The main reason that we are heading in the wrong direction today is because there are so many CO2 emissions and no one wants to stop it because we all love our cars and technology. There needs to be a balance of what we need and what we want to help lessen green house gas emission. We need to transition cities into less harmful places for people to live.2

Key Arguments- Who lives in the suburbs would you give up your home and move into a compact home in the city? Everyone is different and has different preferences according to what they grew up with and what they were raised to believe. Some people could never live in the country others could never live in the city. It was discussed that the main reasons some people do not want to live in the city is because of all the noise and traffic. A solution to this could be to design cities more strategically and create areas for only homes with little traffic. 

If there was more green space in cities would you want to live there? Many people brought up that they never really actually played in their yards they played in the drive way or at the park. This meant that people don't necessarily need their entire yards as long as they have somewhere close by to utilise when they want to do recreational activities. If all these people lived in apartments however they said that being cautious to everyone else in the building is hard and especially when people do not respect you there. Everyone has a different preference of where they would live. 

Why are we still expanding when there is so much un utilized space in the city? It was said that as long as the space is there people will use it. Once they use it all and realize that oh hey we cannot keep building it will be too late. Because it is easier to build out people do it but this takes over prime agriculture lands which also are not smart uses of the land. There are also certain stigmas with the city of Winnipeg, we tend to avoid The Exchange because of the stories we here, its appearance and we just feel unsafe there. But if it were redeveloped in a new livable way then we can actually use all the empty buildings there, reuse and avoid sprawling out of the city. 

Reasons why people keep building are specifically tied to money. Everyone wants that fancy car and nice house so they do whatever it takes to get it even if it is creating things that we do not need. Once we realize we don't need it is when change will happen. 

3) Suburbs- much wasted space that could be used for other purposes.

Personal Reflections- I greatly believe that the mindset of people is what causes them to do the things they do, whether if its for a reason or not. When people finally realize that oh I do not actually need this 10 bedroom house for just me is when our society will realize all the excess we have created. Personally I would prefer to live in the wide open country like I once did but I would also like to live my entire life and not get burnt to death by Global Warming. I now live in the city and I will admit living with train tracks in your backyard isn't the funnest thing in the world but did I really need this huge lot in the country, No. If the city were more appealing and had a good design to it then it would make more people want to live here as well. However cities are expanding because more and more people are moving to them and our population is growing, we just need to utilize the space we have and learn to build up not out. 

4) Graph showing growth of suburbs compared to urban growth.

If

1) Sarté, Bry S. Sustainable Infrastructure: The Guide to Green Engineering and Design . John Wiley & Sons, INC, 1-16. 
2)Naess, Peter, and Nina Vogel. "Sustainable urban development and the multi-level transition perspective." Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. : 36-50. www.elsevier.com/locate/eist (accessed February 7, 2013).
3) Unknown. 100 Red Flags, “Red Flag #73: She lives in the Suburbs.” Last modified 2012. Accessed February 8, 2013. http://100redflags.com/red-flag-73-she-lives-in-the-suburbs/
4)Kolko, Jed. Trulia Trends, "Even After the Housing Bust, Americans still love the Suburbs." Last modified 2013. Accessed February 8, 2013. http://trends.truliablog.com/2012/10/even-after-the-housing-bust-americans-still-love-the-suburbs/.