Backyard gardens, as important elements of suburban environments could have a significantly sustainable potential. This concept has already been written about in academic literature, but mainly directed at the design of community gardens (Guitart, Pickering, and Bryne, 2012), rather than one in a backyard. While my design is directed at suburban backyards, the intention is for it to merely be a template for each separate site. The provision of a garden area, albeit a shrinking one, gives us the opportunity to implement a thoughtful design to make this a productive and sustainable place. According to Thiele (2013), sustainability demands the “satisfying current needs without sacrificing future well being through the balanced pursuit of ecological health, economic welfare, social empowerment, and cultural creativity.” The sustainable backyard garden design is aimed at achieving this on a local scale in newly built urban residences and in so doing, to introduce the concepts of sustainability to your average family household.
The impacts of increasing population growth and the land conversions involved in urban development have created concern about the world’s future food demand and makes sustainable community planning and efficiency of resources necessities for the future (Ghosh, 2012). This makes the design of a sustainable backyard garden critical to enabling a degree of household independence, low maintenance and an attempt to self-sufficiency. Not only is design critical to developing sustainability in our backyards, but also it is able to take account of present conditions in order to relate to surrounding landscapes (Cross and Spencer, 2012). In continuing this sustainable approach, we must first look at the design process, ...
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American Green has entertaining anecdotes, but should be considered more of a light read than as an authoritative work of non-fiction. This book may be enjoyed by environmentalists who want to know more about the impact that lawns have on the environment or for someone who truly is obsessed with his or her lawn and wants to learn about others who share this obsession. Steinberg’s goals may have been lofty, to prove a nationwide obsession, but his arguments and assumptions created a book that cannot be taken seriously.
The Old Order Amish and Wes Jackson’s natural systems both reflect the ideas of sustainability. Both alternatives rely on diversity that provide them with many advantages. It reduces the need for fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides because the wide variety of plants provide different benefits to help other plants. Plant diversity and manure from farm animals allows the farm to “rely…on local inputs to maintain necessary relationships and dynamics” (189). The farms the Amish and Jackson talk about are small and would allow for animals to live on the farm and benefit from it, whether it be harnessing their power for work or providing habitat. Both alternatives also rely less on machinery and more on human labor, shifting from nonrenewable
The documentary film “The Garden,” by Scott Hamilton Kennedy captivates and captures the South Central Los Angeles farmers struggles and conflicts they faced trying to save the South Central Farm. The 14 acre garden grows fresh vegetables and fruits, such as: corn, beans, papayas, and etc. It was one of the largest community garden and became known as the urban garden. Doris Bloch, the founder of the community garden, said in the documentary that the land could be use to build a garden for the community residents to grow their own food. Bloch said “ very low income family that deserves to grow their own food… land, people, food, it's a pretty simple idea. happy days.” The farmers took an advantage to use that land to grow their own vegetables
Meadows, H, Donella.. "Our food, our future." Organic Gardening. 01 Sep. 2000: 53. eLibrary. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
Nicholas Rothwell, 2000, ‘A farming we will grow’, Land Conservation, Justin Healey (ed.), The Spinney Press, New South Wales, page 6.
Food production has many challenges to address: CO2 emissions, which are projected to increase by two-thirds in the next 20 years, as the global food production increases so does the number of people going hungry, with the number of urban hungry soaring. The environmental issues are not the only ones to face; politics and economic globalization take also the big part in the food world. These days agriculture and food politics has been going through many changes but mostly under the influence of its consumers; back in the days people wanted as little as safety, variety and low costs of food. Now consumers demanding way more – greater freshness, nutritional value, less synthetic chemicals, smaller carbon footprint and less harm to animals. And that’s the time when urban agriculture emerged quite rapidly delivering locally grown and healthy food. Within the political arena, there are a few still in charge of defending the conventional food industries and commercial farms to retain the upper level. Against the hopes of nutrition activists, farm animal welfare defenders, and organic food promoters, the food and agriculture sector is moving towards greater consolidation and better sustainability. Although in social and local terms, food-growing activists know their role is under attack. Caught two words in the middle, is it possible to satisfy both?
Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, the health and comfort of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objects of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimal waste, and create healthy, productive environments (“Sustainable Design”). Focusing primarily on the sustainable design principles, there are five, including: low-impact materials, energy efficiency, quality and durability, design for reuse and recycling, and renewability. As sustainability appears to become the necessary trend in architecture, the question concerning the cost versus outcome of “going green” really an investment or a waste of time and money comes to mind. With our research provided below, we believe the expenses may truly be with the investment in the end.
In a world where over half of the human population calls a city their home, the need to restructure and revolutionize the way we design our urban environments has never been greater. Currently, the notion that these vast metropolises of metal, concrete, and sludge could one day be fully realized pillars of sustainability is certainly laughable. However, when these same cities are constantly growing and multiplying across the globe, all the while using a greater and greater chunk of our planet’s energy, this impossible task becomes a necessary focus. To strive towards the closed, continuous loop of “true” sustainability could greatly alter the image of the modern city. Any improvement over the current state of urban affairs could carry weight, and even if that goal is not entirely fulfilled, the gained benefits would be immense.
The ability to create an action plan that would provide enough “sustainability food for the future” gives off a very powerful message that we must change the way we perceive the world around us. To start viewing the earth as an “island” the natural resources the earth provides are slowly deteriorating right before our eyes. Population growth has exceeded the earth's capacity to sustain the growing demand for food. There have been warnings that seemed like “whispers” but now the earth, our island is speaking “loudly” and now is showing the damage our carelessness has caused. The Political of Sustainable Consumption and Production (PSC) has become more involved in the growing issues surrounding food consumption and production “because of its impact on the environment, individual and public health, social cohesion, and the economy (Reisch L., 2014).
Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals--environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity. A variety of philosophies, policies and practices have contributed to these goals. People in many different capacities, from farmers to consumers, have shared this vision and contributed to it.
Yan, J. & Plainiotis, S. (2006): Design for Sustainability. Beijing, China: Architecture and Building Press.
Thus, it is essential for graduates to understand and to have the capability to cope with various environmental challenges that we are facing today. For university students, most of their knowledge about sustainability is obtained from lectures. Whereas, Winter and Cotton (2012) illustrate that learning solely about sustainability is insufficient and that sustainability literacy must take into consideration students’ attitudes and dispositions in order to develop their strategies for reasoned decision-making. In addition, Winter and Cotton (2012) point out that the limitations posed by academic attitudes and disciplinary silos hinder the embedding of sustainability literacy in the formal curriculum. Therefore, if universities want to cultivate more students with sustainability literacy, then they need to focus on constructing more sustainable
Gated communities are residential areas developed in a restricted access in which public space is privatized (Blakey & Snyder, 1997). Gated community is a form of residential community containing strictly controlled entrances and often surrounding by a walls, fences or barriers. They are now a feature of the urban landscape in most cities around the world. It is including a wide range of facilities or amenities for collective use. The smaller communities may be just a park or other public area, and the large communities may include most of the daily activities which the residents can stay in the community for all activities. There is a common interest in development, but separate from purposive communities (Sorkin, 1992; Ellin, 1997 and
When many people hear about the term “landscape”, they immediately think that it means “nature”. The natural landscape does play an important role in our society but what is more important is the landscape that we make and occupy. So, what exactly is “landscape”? The term can be illiterate in many ways but the definition given by the European Landscape Convention is perhaps the most useful and widely agreed one. It states that a landscape is ‘an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and human factors.’ This definition captures both the idea of landscape being physical like a tract of land, but also something that is mind and social shared, something that is perceived by the people. When it comes to Landscape Architecture, the International Federation of Landscape Architects says that ‘Landscape Architect conduct research and advise on planning, design, and stewardship of the outdoor environment and spaces, both within and beyond the built environment, and its
“ Know your farmer, know your food” goes the slogan by organic farmers to promote the consumption of locally grown food through organic farming. Subsequent to the clear distinction between organic and conventional food, there is an increase in focus towards organic farming. The “silent spring” that represents the seemingly solitary voice of the science writer Rachel Carson, 1962 ushered in the organic farming movement to counter the green revolution industrial-scale use of pesticides and fertilizers back in the 1960s. However the use of the term “organic farming” started with Lord Northbourne (aka Walter James, 4th Baron Northbourne) (Pogash, 2008), which he derived from the concept of “the farm as organism” as, explained in his book titled