Affordable Housing: Going Above and Beyond with New Innovations

As I looked through different housing projects on Affordable Housing Design Advisor, what really struck me was how this innovative thought process focused on creating better more livable and sustainable affordable housing really makes diverse living styles available to people that would otherwise not exist. It is not just that these projects make these experiences available to people with lower incomes; in reality they are creating new living experiences altogether. One facet of these communities that I saw exemplified in all the projects I looked at was an intense focus on community building and participation. 

In the Murphy Ranch project there are walkways that meander through the development, separate from vehicular traffic and allowing extensive access to all parts of the community. There are also office spaces, meeting rooms, community kitchens and more. I am betting that reason a lot of these amenities were put in place were not necessarily just to help strengthen the community, like the computer lab was probably put in place for families that do not have access to their own computer or wifi, but amenities like this bring people together and may lead to occupant run classes and tutoring and business and more. 

Another thing that I really enjoyed seeing was how these developments were designed first to fill a need of affordable housing, but without that label on them, you might just think that someone was designing this housing only to meet a goal of sustainability. Every project goes above and beyond with multitudes of “green features”. The Bridgeton Revitalization project boasts sustainable design aspects as deceptively simple as large windows and deep eaves (passive heating and cooling), and some more technical aspects like sustainable appliances and fixtures, and panelized construction. The Cobb Hill project has created yet another amazing community ideal. The community was designed to incorporate the agricultural landscape that surrounds it and aid in new organic farming ventures. What I really liked seeing in the project was how it restored preexisting farms, which included barns and farmhouses. They even included grey water collection and reuse into the design!: "Cobb Hill utilizes  70% less water than   Vermont standards require."

Words that I hate and will think less of you If you Use

Cohort
Synergy
Lexicon
Praxis
Symposium (hah.. ha.. haaaaaa)

Remember people: jargon is a never truly helpful for anyone involved.
and, yes, when you talk ceaselessly about your cohort you do indeed sound like a pompous ass.

Words from George Orwell himself:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. 
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. 
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. 
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active. 
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. 
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
   

I never did like Animal Farm all that much... but this guy is starting to grow on me

Vicki Bennett, Mayor’s Symposium, and everything in between

It seems like all the women involved with sustainability and planning in our city are very empowered individuals. Women like Vicki Bennet, who works in our SLC Office of Sustainability (I believe she is the director actually),  show what it takes to become successful and effective in work concerning the future health and function of our city, especially as a woman. I think, from what I have seen, that it must take a lot of chutzpah, a good understanding of reality, kindness, and a strong piercing gaze. I really enjoyed the way that our class was able to interact with Vicki. Instead of having a planned speech, students were able to just ask questions and we ended up having a conversation and a relaxed and open experience. This is good. The only thing that I wish could have been different was the amount of pussyfooting that took place, and that always takes place in conversations like these.

It comes from no person in particular, but there is always a sense of wariness as everyone tries to figure out just how forward thinking and pragmatic one can be in each particular conversation. We all know that when talking about global warming and becoming more green minded in this city, you have to be careful because more often than not there are a lot of people ready to become very disagreeable at the first sign of this “hippy environmentalist crap.”  Unfortunately, we seem to take this wariness with us even when surrounded by likeminded people and it takes awhile for this sense of unease to wear off. Usually it is not until the end of these encounters that people start asking the hard questions and giving good, strong, tough answers.

I went the the Mayor’s Symposium on Green and Blue planning yesterday and I witnessed this phenomena take place there. It wasn’t until the end when everyone had gotten the feel of the land that we started to hear people really question each other and really talk about what is going on in the community that gathers for these type of things: That is, planning, sustainability, and generally environmentally concerned individuals, and government type people who may fall under any of the preceding categories. What It finally cam down to was the idea that we haven’t yet got a plan for how to move forward in this city, and we don’t know if this progress needs to be made with swift large spontaneous action, or slower more gentle leading and community involvement. These two things aren’t mutually exclusive and there should probably ultimately be a combination of both things taking place. Every planning and or sustainable conversation that I have been a part of has culminated with some form of this one dilemma always sneaking its way to the forefront (as well as a gaggle of others).

Our conversation with Ms. Bennet or Vicki, I am not sure what she goes by, did also meet this dilemma because honestly there are very few questions that can be asked of her that won’t have a semi ambiguous answer unless one establishes whether we are to act boldly (and a little bit illegally) with great swaths of change or take those smaller leading steps (which in my mind may not be fast enough). Oh, BUT, I did come away from this meeting having been thoroughly convinced that Vicki should be our new mayor because when it comes down to it she really didn't tiptoe around issues all that much and when asked a good solid question gave a good solid answer. Also, she did say something along the lines of—> Lets get rid of Rocky Mountain Power and pay the real price for the energy we consume HURRAH.

Where to sit?

     I consider my Green Communities class to be the most openminded and progressive of my classes. I know we can talk about just about anything in there and come away feeling at least somewhat enlightened and without any hurt feelings. This is why I was surprised and yet at the same time unsurprised at the results of physically splitting the class by gender for a portion of our time last thursday. As people sat on one side of the room or the other spending on how they identified, male or female, a kind of tension arose that many of my peers pointed out was strange and unsettling. None of us really seemed to expect one thing or another from the division, but I believe that we were all taken by surprise at how much of a change we felt.

     It is apparent that we still segregate men and women in many ways in our society whether it be by the types of clothing we can shop for or the bathrooms we use or in the judgement of how much a person’s time and work is worth, and although the term segregate is avoided at all costs at present, I believe it is the right one to use now. In high school there was often a voluntarily followed non spoken rule that boys and girls would form their own clusters and stick to them in class, extracurriculars, PE, the lunch room … wherever really. This is completely outside the equally apparent trend for these same kids to separate themselves into any number of other subgroups such as race, age, and others. There seemed to be a certain comfort that came with sitting among people of the same gender, even if they weren’t necessarily friends. I can’t explain it, but it’s a problem! Not because it is wrong to find comfort in sharing space with people of the same gender, but because these early decisions of self segregation only reinforce gender inequality all the way down the road. 

     In our class I have never felt like I was a lesser of two genders. There has never been a time when I felt like them men held more power in the room. The women in our class are just as outspoken and confident, if not more so than the men. And Yet. Once we divided ourselves and set about having a chat about how it made us feel, there was a point made that I feel is a completely valid one: In academics, women feel pressure to try harder to keep the same standing as what men inherently have (again something unspoken that I feel to be true, even though no one demands it). Maybe this is true in our class as well. This outspokenness  that I have seen, the confidence as well, is maybe a sign of the pressures put on women to become “as good as” men. Then this need for confidence can be a good thing, but if it comes from a lack of equality, even one that is unspoken and/or unintentional, then it can quickly become a burden that discourages women from pursuing academics. When we divided ourselves in class this inequality that may never have been have been felt or discussed otherwise was actually recognized. Somehow the tension made us more able to speak about this issue and ones like it, but at the end of the day it was nice to go back to sitting wherever, genders be damned. 

Singapore: Biophilic city

     The video Singapore: Biophilic City gives me a feeling akin to culture shock. To see a city that has embraced this feeling of biophilia wholeheartedly is to see what I want my home to be. The urban integrated natural spaces seems as normal as breathing in Singapore. I know that it probably wasn’t all peaches transforming Singapore into what it is today, but it now seems as though the city could never be any other way. When Kelvin Kan, green wall designer in Singapore, spoke about his first implemented green wall, and how the idea for his design came into place I felt inspired by the amount of passion that you can hear in his voice talking about his work. The results of his project are so obviously successful; it is crazy to me that his style of green walls aren’t implemented all over the world. His goal of creating a lively green space was completely recognized, and I loved his description of the place as “the cathedral of green."

     Liak Teng Lit, Ceo of Singapore hospital, speaks about the garden space implemented in the hospital he works in, there were a few things that he said that I was surprised, pleasantly so, to hear.  While I can really appreciate that green space is great to incorporate into healing spaces, what I really enjoyed hearing was Lit speak about was how this green space incorporated into the hospital is a space that should be shared and open to the public and animals, not just kept for patients. As Lit says, "We should maximize the utility of this whole space… We want the birds here.. If you do this the birds will come, if you do that the butterflies will come.” I absolutely love how everyone in the film puts a large emphasis on the importance of bringing birds and insects and other wildlife into the shared green spaces of Singapore: “We, on purpose, plant trees that will attract birds, hopefully to attract hundreds of species of birds, and the fish” —Rosalind Tan.

  

     All of the people spoken to in this film are not only passionate about biophilia and biodiversity, but are so knowledgeable about these biophilic areas that they work within. It seems so obvious to them the benefits of the transformations taking place in Singapore and the need for this kind of work to take place. If we could transplant that passion and that attitude here in the US I can just imagine what we could do. Mohan Krishnamoorthy, primary school teacher in Singapore, has an attitude that I wish all planners could understand. Sometimes all you need to do to get something beautiful and functional created is to.. just do it:  “it wasn’t planned.. you’ve got a blank canvas, just start drawing … it’s not rocket science… It is nothing to design, plants grow if you give them what they need.” Let’s just do it!

SLC a Good Community?

     Freiburg, Germany is one of the many places around the world that has responded with strength, vitality, and ingenuity to catastrophe and destruction. After WWII, Freiburg had to rebuild not only its physical structures but its spirit and image as well. What they have made of themselves as an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable city is a pretty damn impressive example of good planning. Places like Freiburg thrive because their citizens decide what is going to happen with their open space, their streets, their energy, and much more. I think that one positive side that comes from the sad situation of having to restart a community after a disaster, is that the whole community gets to be involved with each new detail that happens, and with the infrastructure that is put in place. Here in SLC we work from old infrastructure and add on bits and pieces without any real community movement behind any one decision. 

     Community involvement is an aspect that makes Freiburg stand out to me and I believe that it is something that my community in Salt Lake City could learn from. I live directly downtown at about 2nd West 2nd South, looking the Salt Palace (our convention center) dead in the eyes. It always feels to me like the decisions made in this city that largely effect the people who live and work in the area are made by, well, not us… and are made for, well, not us. This is a critical part of what makes Salt Lake City what it is, for while we are really good at hosting people to our city, we often do not consider what it would take to make this area (which will soon be home to many many more people) an engaging enjoyable place to live long term. We do function as hosts to tens of thousands of people with each of the larger conventions that comes to our city, not to mention other social (spiritual etc.) events that come to our city every year. 

     My neighbors and neighborhood business owners are all affected by this and more often than not are putting their efforts into making sure the little part of the city they are responsible for is ready and able to host people from out of state. Why wouldn’t they be? The community makes a lot of money! But this way of thinking does not always promote good decision making for the community. Prices for food, goods, housing, and parking all go up for everyone during these times when we have an influx of visitors. I often feel shunted aside as a local when I visit my favorite shops during convention time because servers and store owners know (or at least think they know) that convention attendees spend lots and tip large. My community is doing pretty great economically, but socially? environmentally? Well, it seems like there is hardly a thought in those directions unless it is for our “guests."

Biophilic City

    Growing up, I always felt connected to nature in one way or another. When I lived in San Diego as a little girl I developed a strong connection to the ocean and the many benefits of sharing space with it. Now, as a Utahn, I cannot imagine life without all the natural spaces the mountains provide. One thing that I think Utahns can pride themselves on is this connection to nature, and even though Salt Lake City is not biophilic by some standards, you can bet for sure that everyone around has a love for nature (in one way or another) in their hearts. I find that Utahns are also always looking for ways to incorporate the natural Utah environment into their daily lives, whether through their gardens or through the architectural design of their buildings. As we learn more about being efficient and environmentally friendly here in Salt Lake City, more and more people recognize the potential for beauty and life in the natural desert climate without imposing what we think our needs are on it.

     In his film,The Nature of Cities, Timothy Beatley shows green urbanism at its very best, presenting communities that are successfully incorporating the natural environment into their towns and neighborhoods and even their very homes. The greatest takeaway from this movie for me is the impact that these practices seem to have on the people who get to enjoy them. It almost seems like incorporating nature into the daily lives of the people brings them back a hundred years to a time when we gave ourselves more freedom to explore, and not just go from designated place to designated place. Often I find myself going from home to school to gym to home and nowhere else living in our city. I forget that there are other places that are open to me like parks and trails, although perhaps not as many accessible public outdoor spaces as there should be. I feel like most space that I see in my daily life is private and/or unwelcoming. In these biophilic places that Beatley presents in his movie, people aren’t scared to walk around, run around, bike around because they have natural public spaces that belong to the community, whether it is right in the middle of the neighborhood, or weaving between city buildings. Parking in front of buildings? Nah, walkways and gardens instead.  

     We as human being yearn to connect with other living systems. That is what the Biophilia Hypothesis by Edward O. Wilson says. Perhaps the tenseness and isolation found in so many urban spaces today is caused by our lack of connection with other living systems and can be relieved by the reintroduction of plant and animal habitat into our spaces. I think that opening the spaces we have claimed for ourselves up for nature to come back and take a place in our lives could do nothing but good. It is a selfish idea to think that the spaces where we live should only support human life, and it is also an unfortunate one, for it disconnects us from the earth.