PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 6: Urban Ecology.
Monday, August 4 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.
Fully-integrated urbanism: Sustainability as inspiration.
Cook, Robert*,1, Nelson, Karen2, 1 Leonard Parker Associates, Architects, Minneapolis, MN, USA2 University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
ABSTRACT- This poster is a collaboration between urban design and ecology, presented by an experienced architect and urban designer in collaboration with an ecologist. We accept that, urban environments are both necessary (given current world population levels), and desirable (to create the conditions for exchange of information and culture). Fundamentally we seek to go beyond the question of "how can ecologically sustainable communities be created" to "how can the requirements for sustainability be viewed as inspiration rather than obstacle?" In addition we seek to demonstrate urban planning and architectural concerns for an ecological audience. Thus we demonstrate how an urban area could be "fully integrated," creating a balance and providing a congenial environment for both humans and natural ecosystems. We present an architectural design thesis approaching the redevelopment of a dense core city location. The current inquiry looks at the potential for exchanges between these two worlds in the areas of rainwater, greywater, sewerage, smokestack emissions, solid waste, energy, air, biota, earth and groundwater. This presentation is a creative endeavor and not a thorough scientific analysis - in the firm belief that progress begins with inspiration. Most importantly, we integrate much of the apparatus required to create sustainability into the architecture in a highly visible manner, thus making a statement that this is a place that is "infinitely sustainable as long as the sun shines and the sky rains."
Key words: sustainability, urbanism, urban planning