Change
by Action
Focus the Nation set out to unite members of the Cal Poly community concerned about the future of our planet. As part of this effort, members of the community presented an array of climate change solutions, many of which have begun to be implemented and show progress. Such is the case in the field of environmental design, where city planners, architects, and engineers are working together to produce sustainable solutions that are compact, attractive, efficient, and diverse, and applying them to the buildings and cities we live in. As a city planning major and someone who continues to become increasingly concerned about the effects of climate change, I attended Tech Solutions: Architecture with the hope of furthering my knowledge on Green design and its incorporation into todayÕs cities.
From the setting
of the talk to the statements made by the presenters, the atmosphere was one of
high drama. The low-lit auditorium
was filled almost to capacity.
Dean Jones stood on stage in the light of the projector, so all you
could see was his silhouette.
The dean began his
presentation by informing the crowd, ÒWe are in a state of crisis.Ó He focused on the increasing amount of
interdisciplinary work between different branches of the environmental design
community. Jones advocated Òsmart
growth,Ó a concept built around the idea that a structureÕs placement can be as
important as its function.
According to Jones, the average Californian makes six car trips per day,
of which only one is to the workplace.
Smart growth techniques include compact development and mixed-use
buildings, which greatly reduce dependence on automobiles by bringing the
components of the city closer.
This also encourages the idea of trip-chaining, or handling multiple
errands on a single car trip, reducing the average six automobile trips the
average Californian makes per day, and therefore cutting back on carbon
emissions.
Jones also
emphasized efficiency as a complement to smart growth. The more efficiently we
create structures, the fewer resources we require. Among his suggestions for improving efficiency was using
domestic, renewable building materials. For example, the use of domestic
materials puts less strain on the environment by reducing the need for fossil
fuels to transport goods.
Renewable resources sustain supplies without further degrading the
environment; renewed or recycled materials may even save money by reducing the
overall cost of building, By the year 2035, nearly three-quarters of existing
buildings in the United States will be renovated, so the need to conserve
resources is paramount.
Perhaps the most
important point Jones made during his brief presentation was the need for
common sense when designing.
Low-impact design starts with the basics, and then adds the bells and
whistles. Instead of installing
solar panels and green roofs on every building in Los Angeles, we can try to
first bring the population to a more centralized area that reduces travel and
encourages mass transit. Such is
the case in the San Francisco Bay area, where communities have begun to become
centered around BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stations. Bart provides mass public
transportation to the south and east Bay areas as well as to and from the city
of San Francisco, and has greatly reduced the amount of automobiles entering
and exiting the city every day.
Echoing JonesÕ
call for smart growth, Professor Sandy Stannard offered an example of how we
can bring mixed-use development to our college campuses, making schools more
efficient. Stannard suggested
student and faculty housing that sit above a schoolÕs labs and lecture halls,
and on-campus grocery stores and restaurants that reduce off-campus
travel. Applying this idea on a
larger scale, she contended, we begin to create livable cities.
Stannard presented
examples of how students at Cal Poly are implementing solar energy and recycled
water in their designs, putting these designs into practice, and producing
efficient building. At a 2006
sustainable design competition in Washington D.C., a Stannard-led group of
architecture students from Cal Poly placed third overall. The competition included not only
designing a green building, but constructing and living in it for a week.
The efforts and
achievements of these Poly students are a reflection of the increasing effort
of the environmental design community.
Global warming is a complex problem, and as Professor Stannard said, we
must come to terms and embrace this complexity. The key is to maintain a
holistic view of how to solve this problem, and continue to work in an
interdisciplinary fashion, not just with other architects and planners, but
also with businesses and farmers alike.
Sustainability is a way of life, and those in the field of environmental
design are working to ensure that our cities help people live that life.