Urban Ecosystems:
Alternative and Sustainable Practices for Cities in Latin America
Objectives
”Urban Ecosystems: Alternative and Sustainable Practices for Cities in Latin America” is one of the academic initiatives of the XV Quito Architecture Biennale “Visible Cities”. Through it, we seek to compensate for the lack of an architectural, urban and landscape design exhibition that could illustrate sustainable practices for cities in the region. In order to compile such a display, we have decided to reach out to architecture and design schools in the American continent and Europe. We are requesting each to present the most innovative ideas that have resulted from sustainable design research studios, in the form of two A1 format panels. The panels submitted would be combined to compose the URBAN ECOSYSTEMS EXHIBITION, which will open in November 2006.
The objective of an exhibition of this nature is to provide a panoramic view of urban realities in Latin America, that would allow students, faculty and professionals to extract generic as well as particular traits; share experiences and ideas; and ultimately, discuss possible sustainable solutions to critical urban conditions. Through this intellectual exchange, we expect designers and students to incorporate environmental values into their design strategies.
Furthermore, we propose to conclude the journey initiated with the organization of the Exhibition, with 12 design charrettes that would take place during the week of the 13th to the 17th of November 2006 in the city of Quito. The charrettes would allow us to expand the exchange of ideas and methodologies related to sustainable cities among students and faculty from diverse national and international institutions. Each participant faculty member from abroad would closely collaborate with a local faculty member and a group of 25 students, in order to research and propose innovative design ideas for a critical urban-environmental condition in Quito. The results of the charrettes would be presented and discussed during a forum on Friday, November 17th. Each group could follow different guidelines and methodologies, some of which would be further illustrated by the projects presented in the “Urban Ecosystems” Exhibition.
Conceptual framework
We define “Urban Ecosystems” as those communities of living organisms whose vital processes are interrelated and develop around the physical factors which define one same environment, the city. It is assumed that their vital processes are interdependent, mutually conditioning and complementary, as they strive to maintain the equilibrium necessary for their development and subsistence. These vital processes are repeated and required at all scales of life. Just as in the human body they are expressed through the use of space, need of water, energy, flow of fluids and waste disposal; urban ecosystems need to satisfy the needs of their inhabitants, providing land for their development, air and water for their survival, energy for their functioning, circulation for mobility, waste disposal for health, and infrastructure to protect and promote growth.
Currently, urban ecosystems must strive to provide these services and resources within a sustainable framework, in an attempt to achieve balance between the natural and the artificial, between the needs of the environment and those of the organisms that dwell in it and are an inextricable component of its metabolism. Cities, the largest concentrations of resources in the planet, need to develop efficient systems to manage water, air, waste, vegetation, soil and energy, if they are to satisfy the needs of a high-quality urban life, without depleting resources that are crucial for the survival of future generations.
The “Urban Ecosystems” Exhibition would like to provide a space in which to highlight academic projects that present innovative, holistic, sustainable solutions and alternatives to the complex interrelations that characterize the urban environment. These projects may analyze and concentrate on developing one specific need of the urban ecosystem, or may present integrated alternatives within a fragment of the city, that contributes, nevertheless, to redefine the whole.
Regardless of scale and area of intervention, the projects of the exhibition as well as those to be developed during the charrettes need to take the following parameters into account:
1.Land (efficient land use, brown fields treatment and recovery, land re-use)
2.Water (efficient water use, recovery of water fronts and large water bodies, grey and black water treatment and recycling, rain water collection)
3.Energy (efficient energy use, low or passive systems, use of renewable sources of energy)
4.Flows (optimization of circulation systems, pollution and emissions reduction)
5.Waste (waste management, waste recycling, waste treatment, septic fields, biogas production)
6.Infrastructure (provision of spaces to live and work, housing, health care, recreation, hospitality -which would stimulate social and cultural integration and promote an efficient use of resources and health)
International Workshop Leaders:
- Tomás Cervilla
Universidad Simón Bolívar
Venezuela
- María de Lourdes Aburto
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Azcapotzalco
Mexico
- Jorge Ramos
Secretario de Investigaciones
Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo
Universidad de Buenos Aires
Argentina
- Kent Kleinman
Parsons New School
USA
- Sebastián Gray
Universidad Católica de Chile
Chile
- Gonzalo Balarini
Universidad de la República
Uruguay
- Humberto Eliash
Chile
- Juvenal Barraco
Universidad de San Marcos
Peru
- Rodrigo Castro
Universidad Simón Bolívar
Venezuela
- Marinés Pocaterra
Venezuela
- Vanessa Keith
USA
- Maricarmen Sánchez
Venezuela
- Helene de Garay
Venezuela
National Workshop Leaders:
- Francisico Vera
UCE
- Marco Pazmiño
UCE
- Osvaldo Paladines
PUCE
- Manuel Uribe
PUCE
- Arturo Chang Yáñez
PUCE (Guayaquil)
- Denisse Silva
SEK
- Jaime Erazo
SEK
- Rómulo Idrovo
UIDE
- Patricio Serrano
UIDE
- Alex Narvaez
USFQ
- Carolina Hidalgo
USFQ
- Jacobo Oña
UDLA
- Silvia Viñán Ludeña
UTPL
- Ramiro Correa Jaramillo
UTPL
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario