Ecological Urban ism

Edited by Mohsen Mostafavi, with Gareth DohertyHarvard University, Graduate School of Design

Design: Integral Lars Muller, Lars Miiller and Martina MullisProduction: Amelie SolbrigLithography: connova GmbH, Appenweier, GermanyPrinting and binding: E&B Engelhardt und Bauer, Karlsruhe, Germany

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c 2010 Lars Muller Publishersand the President and Fellows of Harvard College

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Lars Muller PublishersBaden, Switzerlandwww.lars-mueller-publishers.com

ISBN 978-3-03778-189-0

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Related titles in our program:

R. Buckminster FullerOperating Manual for Spaceship EarthReprint, edited by Jaime SnydetLars Muller Publishers, 2008- 2010ISBN 978-3-03778-126-5 EnglishISBN 978-3-03778-188-3 French

Petra KempfYou Are the City: Observation, Organizationand Transformation of Urban SettingsLars Muller Publishers. 2009ISBN 978-3-03778-159-3 English

Sense of the CityAn Alternate Approach to UrbanismEdited by Mirko Zardini and the CanadianCentre for Architecture CCALars Muller Publishers, 2Q05ISBN 978-3-03778-060-2 EnglishISBN 978-3-03778-061-9 French

Contents

12 Why Ecological Urbanism? Why Now?Mohsen Mostafavi

ANTICIPATE

56 Advancement versus ApocalypseRem Koolhaas

72 ZeekrachtOMA

78 Mumbai on My Mind:Some Thoughts on SustainabilityHomi K. Bhabha

84 Urban Earth: MumbaiDaniel Raven-Ellison and Kye Askins

94 Notes on the Third EcologySanford Kwinter

106 Social Inequality and Climate ChangeUlrich Beck

110 For a Post-Environ mentalism:Seven Suggestions for a New AthensCharter and The Weak MetropolisAndrea Branzi

114 Weak Work:Andrea Branzi's "Weak Metropolis"and the Projective Potential of an"Ecological Urbanism"Charles Waldheirn

122 From "Sustain" to "Ability"JDS Architects

124 Forty Years Later-Back to a Sub-lunar EarthBruno Latour

COLLABORATE

130 Art FieldworkGiuliana Bruno

132 Ecological Urbanismand/as Urban MetaphorLawrence Buell

134 Black and White in Green CitiesLizabeth Cohen

136 The Return of NaturePreston Scott Cohen and Erika Naginski

138 Urban Ecological Practices:Felix Guattari's Three EcologiesVerena Andermatt Conley

140 Retrofitting the CityLeland D. Cott

142 Productive Urban EnvironmentsMargaret Crawford

SENSE146 The City from the Perspective of the Nose

Sissel Tolaas

156 Urban Earth: Mexico CityDaniel Raven-Ellison

164 CitySense: An Urban-Scale Sensor NetworkMatt Welsh and Josh Bers

166 Eat LoveMarije Vogelzang

168 Self-Engineering EcologiesChristine Outram, Assaf Biderman, and Carlo Ratti

174 There's More to Green than Meets the Eye:Green Urbanism in BahrainGareth Doherty

184 Play Me, I'm YoursLuke Jerram

186 Mapping Main StreetJesse Shapins, Kara Oehler, Ann Heppermann,and James Burns

CURATE190 Curating Resources

Niall Kirkwood

194 The Sea and Monsoon Within:A Mumbai ManifestoAnuradha Mathur and Diiip da Cunha

208 Transcendent Eco-citiesor Urban Ecological Security?Mike Hodson and Simon Marvin

218 New Waterscapes for SingaporeHerbert Dreiseitl

222 To Raise the Water Level in a FishpondZhang Huan

224 Envisioning Ecological CitiesMitchell Joachim

230 Return to NatureSandi Hilal, Alessandro Petti, and Eyal Weizrnan

236 Harmonia 57Triptyque

238 Grounding a Sustainable Urban StrategyMichael Van Valkenburgh Associates

240 Center Street PlazaHood Design

PRODUCE

244 Energy Sub-structure,

Supra-structure, Infra-structureD.Michelle Addington

252 Wave FarmPelamis Wave Power Ltd.

254 CR Land Guanganmen GreenTechnology ShowroomVector Architects

256 Aux Fermes, Citoyens!Dorothea Imbert

268 Local River: Home Storage Unitfor Fish and Greens

Mathieu Lehanneur with Anthony van den Bossche

270 Soft CitiesKVA MATx

274 The ZEDfactoryBill Dunster

280 Logrono Eco-cityMVRDV

282 The Big-Foot RevolutionKongjian Yu

292 La Tour Vivante, Eco-towersoa architectes

COLLABORATE

296 Management Challenges in UrbanTransformation: Organizing to LearnAmy C. Edmondson

298 Air Purification in CitiesDavid Edwards

300 Social Justice and Ecological UrbanismSusan S. Fainstein

302 Governing the Ecological CityGerald E. Frug

304 Underground FuturePeter Galison

306 Temperate and BoundedEdward Glaeser

308 Bioinspired Adaptive Architectureand SustainabilityDonald E. Ingber

INTERACT

312 Urban Ecology and the Arrangementof Nature in Urban RegionsRichard T.T. Forman

324 The Agency of EcologyChris Reed

330 New York City InfrastructureChristoph Niemann

332 Redefining InfrastructurePierre Belanger

350 User-Generated UrbanismRebar

356 Situating Urban Ecological Experiments

in Public SpaceAlexander J. Felson and Linda Pollak

364 A Holistic View of the Urban PhenomenonBarcelona Urban Ecology Agency

370 Gwanggyo New City Park SystemYoonjin Park and Jungyoon Kim (PARKKIM)

372 A Methodology for Urban InnovationAlfonso Vegara, Mark Dwyer, and Aaron Kelley

374 Green metropolisHenri Bava, Erik Behrens, Steven Craig,and Alex Wall

MOBILIZE380 Mobility, Infrastructure, and Society

Richard Sommer

382 Sustainable Urban Mobilitythrough Light Electric VehiclesWilliam J. Mitchell

398 Sustainable Mobility in ActionFederico Parolotto

402 Sustaining the City in the Faceof Advanced MarginalityLoi'c Wacquant

406 A General Theory of Sustainable UrbanismAndres Duany

412 The Political Ecology of Ecological UrbanismPaul Robbins

416 The SynCity Urban Energy System ModelNiels Schulz, Nilay Shah, David Fisk, Jarnes Keirstead,Nouri Samsatli, Aruna Sivakumar, Celine Weber,and Ellin Saunders

420 Oil City: Petro-landscapesand Sustainable FuturesMichael Watts

425 Niger Delta Oil FieldsEd Kashi

428 The UpwayRafael Vifioly

430 DSD RESEARCHNairobi StudioJacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron

MEASURE444 Five Ecological Challenges

for the Contemporary CityStefano Boeri

454 Revolutionizing ArchitectureJeremy Rifkin

456 The Canary ProjectSusannah Sayler

458 "Performalism": EnvironmentalMetrics and Urban DesignSusannah Hagan

468 Nature CultureKathryn Moore

472 Investigating the Importance ofCustomized Energy Model Inputs:A Case Study of Gund HallHolly A. Wasilowski and Christoph F. Reinhart

476 Perception of Urban DensityVicky Cheng and Koen Steemers

482 London's Estuary RegionSir Terry Farrell

488 Urban Earth: LondonDaniel Raven-Ellison

496 Sustainability Initiatives in LondonCamilla Ween

500 Moving beyond LEED:

Evaluating Green at the Urban ScaleThomas Schroepfer

502 Landscapes of SpecializationBill Rankin

504 GSD RESEARCH

Half a Million Trees: Prototyping Sitesand Systems for Sustainable CitiesKristin Frederickson and Gary Hilderbrand

506 SlaveCity

Atelier Van Lieshout

510 EcoBox/Self-Managed Eco-urban Networkatelier d'architecture autogeree

512 Temporary Urban Scene:Beach on the MoonEcosistema Urbano

526 Old DarkJohn Stilgoe

516

518

520

COLLABORATEComfort and Carbon FootprintAlex Krieger

Ecological Urbanism and Health Equity:An Ecosocial PerspectiveNancy Krieger

Nature, Infrastructures,and the Urban ConditionAntoine Picon

522 Sustainability and LifestyleSpiro Pollalis

524 Ecological Urbanism and the LandscapeMartha Schwartz

528 Religious Studies and Ecological UrbanismDonald K. Swearer

530 Ecological Urbanism

and East Asian LiteraturesKaren Thornber

ADAPT

536 Insurgent Ecologies:(Reclaiming Ground in Landscapeand UrbanismNina-Marie Lister

548 Performative Wood:

Integral Computational Design fora Climate-Responsive Timber SurfaceStructureAchitn Menges

554 Shrinking Gotham's FootprintLaurie Kerr

560 Adaptivity in ArchitectureHoberman Associates, Ziggy Drozdowskiand Shawn Gupta

568 GSD RESEARCH

Climate Change, Water, Land Development,and Adaptation: Planning with Uncertainty(Almere, the Netherlands)Armando Carbonell, Martin Zogran, and Dirk Sijmons

INCUBATE572 Balances and Challenges

of Integrated PracticeToshiko Mori

578 The Luxury of Reduction:

On the Role of Architecturein Ecological UrbanismMatthias Sauerbruch

584 Bank of AmericaCook+Fox Architects

588 GSD RESEARCHA Place in Heaven, A Place in Hell:Tactical Operations in Sao PauloChristian Werthmann, Fernando de Mello Franco,

and Byron Stigge

590 In Situ: Site Specificityin Sustainable ArchitectureAnja Thierfelder and Matthias Schiller

598 Progetto BioclimaticoMario Cucinella

600 Wangzhuang Eco-city of Agriculture

Arup

606 Ecosystemic Master Planning,OISEZ Region, SenegalecoLogicStudio

608 Vegetal City: Dreaming the Green Utopia

Luc Schuiten

610 Verticalism (The Future of the Skyscraper)Inaki Abalos

616 Urban PrototypesRaoul Bunschoten

622 Taiwan Strait Climate Change IncubatorChora Architecture and Urbanism

629 THE CITYIan McHarg

630 ECOLOGICAL URBANISM

CONFERENCEBLOG

APPENDIX642 Contributors

648 Acknowledgments

650 Index

654 Illustration Credits

The Agency of EcologyChris Reed

I write from the perspective of contemporary landscape, ur-banism, and design practices, specifically as they may be in-formed by ideas of ecology and natural systems. Within thisframe, I would like to argue for a fuller, more engaged ap-proach to the ecological aspect of ecological urbanism—butnot because I think it is more important than many of the is-sues that pertain to cities and city systems, and social dynam-ics and technology, that are involved in the work at hand.Rather, I see the potential of ecology to be a more complex andmore provocative informing and formative idea (and force)for how cities are made, and for how cities actively evolve,reshape themselves, and are reshaped through time.

For me, contemporary ideas of ecology and planning can betraced to the work of Ian McHarg in the late 1960s and early1970s, in which analysis and assessment of natural resources(geology, soils, water, habitat, etc.) could inform the best plac-es and ways to develop land for social occupation.1 Althoughthe methodology can be easily criticized for its claims withregard to objectivity, and for its objectification of landscapecomponents as things simply to be mapped and quantified,McHarg's methodology and practice opened up planningthought to the idea of the interconnectedness between citie:suburbs and the natural world: Design WITH Nature. PerhapsMcHarg's use of the term "propinquity" (nearness, affinity, kin-ship) best characterizes his sense of this relationship betweenhuman and nonhuman worlds.

But even as McHarg's methodology was taking hold, newideas about ecology were emerging. Richard Forman's re-search during the 1980s and early 1990s developed new understandings of and new terminologies for ecological systems,which were now described as matrices, webs, and networks,for instance, and which were characterized by adjacenciesoverlaps, and juxtapositions.2 This work importantly recog-nized the dynamic, living nature of ecological systems—notjust the physical stuff McHarg was mapping, but how the stuffof the physical world supports the movement and exchange ofecological matter (water, seeds, wildlife). Others pushed theseideas further—in fact the field was shifting away from an un-derstanding of systems that attempt to achieve a predictable

INTERACT

Fish habitat, Lake Ontario:mapping of ecological tendencies(that both river and lake fish breedin the river-lake interface, or lagoonmarsh) informs the calibrationof design strategies for habitatgeneration.

equilibrium or steady-state condition to systems typicallyin states of change, adapting to subtle or dramatic changesin inputs, resources, and climate. Adaptation, appropriation,and flexibility became the hallmarks of "successful" systems,as it is through ecosystems' ability to respond to changingenvironmental conditions that they persist.3

This shift opened new worlds for critical discourse in de-sign and urbanism: Stan Allen identified the new ecology alongwith engineering systems as important examples of "materialpractices," which focused not so much on "what things looklike" but more on "what they can do."4 His work in collabora-tion with James Corner and the ecologist Nina-Marie Listerin Toronto's Downsview Park Competition of the late 1990simagined the setting up of physical scaffolds that would spon-sor the propagation of emergent ecologies, natural systemsthat would be seeded initially and then evolve with an increas-ing level of complexity and adaptability over time. Even theDownsview brief was important here, as it required entries toaccount for long-term timeframes (and a level of uncertainty)with regard to project evolution.5

With this as a backdrop, I would like to offer four trends ortendencies emerging in design practices that have taken onthese revised understandings of ecology and natural systems

325

Management framework, Mt. TaborReservoirs: Organization of projectinputs, constructions, and feedbackmechanisms allows for flexibilityand adaptation over the long term.

as a basis for design strategy: structured, analog, hybrid, andcurated ecologies.

Structured ecologies refers to the strategy of working withor alongside the stuff and processes of dynamic ecologies: theactual mechanics of how plants grow, behave, and adapt; theperformance requirements of wildlife habitats; the movementand dynamics of the various waters present in a landscapeLike Corner and Allen and Lister, these strategies constructa set of physical scaffolds with varying conditions (low-highwet-dry, sheltered-exposed) that can be appropriated overtime by different plant communities impregnated on the siteand by different forms of wildlife. Such strategies anticipatea number of possible futures that may emerge specifically in

response to a set of potential environmental changes (climatewarming, sea-level rise, shifts in wind and moisture patte

stage 0

if'--.. ,-i

eventsinstallations

raise curiosity

site prep

site protectionduringconstruction

stage!

openings + closingsreservoir groundbreaking

I reservoir construction complete / water re-routed

reservoir constructionwaterworks tourswindows into gatehouses, inlet/outlet buildingsfence installatfort (construction +j wildlife)

reservoir 1 vernal pool: semi-annual release release - fill

budgetedphase oflandscapedevelopment

initiatetransformation

first wave oflandscapeconstructio

oundat ons + frameworks growth + suepublic meetings, programming, design

interest groups activate" financing packagi/

major earthwork -^retaining wallsseeding + plantingfurrow installationEtormwater terraces + habitat zonessurface + equip terraces +. gathering areasboardwalk + pier into reservoirs a+ 6(landbank reservoir 1)

program of restcTed gafe structure!expand power plant

:ultural + arts grants / national endowment for the arts

neotropical migratory bird conservaiion program -' us tish + wildlifeurban forestry grants / us forest service

habitat restoration grant / acorn foundaiion

INTERACT

ing/capital campaign (public + private)revenues from power plant expansion

etc.)—in essence, a structuring of natural competition amongplant communities in ways that will allow the larger settingand systems to respond, adapt, and be resilient to change.

Analog ecologies includes projects that attempt to model,analogously, the responsive behaviors of living systems innonliving constructions or processes: the ability of livingthings—entire ecotones, individual organisms, human skin—to react to changing inputs and to adapt their nature to thenew or revised condition at hand. In architecture, we mightthink of responsive skins such as Chuck Hoberman's "Adap-tive Fritting"project, a glass wall with movable fritted panelsthat changes as inputs fluctuate, creating shifting spaces/environments. In landscape, we might think of the design offlexible social spaces: physical scaffolds for the playing outof open-ended (but not unlimited) social and cultural—as

expand physical, stage/7ecological, andhydrological sys-tems

re-use +re-programhistoricstructures

social +ecologicaladaptations:

intensive re-useof reservoirs 1+6

re-use 'rechargefields' (currentmaintenance)

,

sale of historic tax credits

elaboration + adaptationpublic meetings, programming, designfunding .• capita! campaign (public + private)revenues from power plant expansion

» plant growth and

clean water state revolving loan fund / us splwatershed projection / us dept of agricuKui ~community-based restoration noaa

isservoir 1 acc&si ramp + stage• reservoir 1 avents + concertsgfcpd physica s::ategies + elements to north + southfeservoir b wa'^ terrace and filtration waierlall

eitend oi wafer cleansing system to reservoir 6historic restoration of reservoirhistoric restoration of reservoir

gatehouse walls, fenceoutlet house, walls, fence

recharge fields1 reservoir 1 water sports retrofitreservoir 6 performing arts retrofit

habitat and wildlife adaptation and evolution •

jebncession operations revenuerevenue tram additional power generation

(historic structures tax credit / nps.

nihebiz.com / nike corporationwater quality management planning / us epa

sustainable communities grant / pennev tamily foundalion j revenue Irom additional power generation

327

River section, Toronto LowerDon Lands: Hybridization ofengineering systems-to maximizea full range of armored to poroussurface conditions-inaugurates andsupports the open-ended dynamicsof river-marsh ecologies.

opposed to ecological—activities. And in large-scale, com-plex urban projects, we might imagine the setting up of re-sponsive administrative frameworks; "if, then" scenarios; andmanagement strategies that allow for feedback loops, input,and responsiveness overtime,

Hybrid ecologies refers to the development of responsivedesign systems that tap into environmental, engineering, andsocial dynamics simultaneously—systems that engage bothhuman and nonhuman dynamics and forces. Such systems areopen-ended in the multiple ways they remain engaged withlarge-scale environmental dynamics (rainfall and drought,lake level rise and fall, plant succession, etc.), but they puthuman and nonhuman systems and elements into dialogue.These are strategies of conflation of social/ecological realmsthat reveal both their interdependence and their individuality.

Curated ecologies includes projects in which we mighttake on the role of curator, or producer of a set of dynamicsthat we structure and interact with over a period of time. Theidea here is not simply to frame and set off a collectionplant and animal ecologies that grow untended, apart froidirect human interference. Rather, the idea is to structuiways to interact with such dynamics—to curate an evolvhset of ecological-urbanistic impulses and interactions nolfully under one's control, yet which may be susceptible to pro-ductive pokes and prods, or recalibrations, in response toevolving intentions or inputs. Here the role of designer orplanner shifts to one of loose but enmeshed project producer,activated intermittently as conditions demand and as theseintertwined and engaged systems grow and adapt.

Most broadly, ecology can be a generating force, an activethough elusive agent, in the structuring of the city and in the

playing out of civic life—an agent that physically, mechani-cally, and constructively engages the various advanced tech-nologies, public policies, and social and cultural dynamicsin play. In all of these, the appropriation of the mechanismsand resiliency and even the language of ecology and ecologi-cal systems—in their multiple forms and manifestations, asmechanisms and/or models—forms the basis for a newlycharged set of design practices: flexible, responsive, andadaptable as projects evolve and accumulate over time.

1 See Ian McHarg, Design With Nature(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1967/1992],2 See numerous publications by RichardT.T. Forman. including Land Mosaics:The Ecology of Landscape and Regions(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.1995).3 Among the many ecoiogists and essaysthat address or articulate this shift areRobert E. Cook, "Do Landscapes Learn?Ecology's 'New Paradigm' and Designin Landscape Architecture,' Inaugural IanL. McHarg Lecture, University of Pennsyl-vania, March 22, 1999. and Nina-MarieLister. "Sustainable Large Parks: Ecologi-cal Design or Designer Ecology?'' inLarge Parks, edited by Julia Czerniak and

George Hargreaves (New York: PrincetonArchitectural Press, 2007).4 Stan Allen. "Infrastructure! Urbanism,"Points + Lines: Diagrams and Projectsfor the City (New York; Princeton Architec-tural Press, 1999), 46-57.5 See the full presentation of the schemeby Field Operations/Stan Allen +• JamesCorner in Case: Downsview Park Toronto,edited by Julia Czerniak (Munich andCambridge; Prestel and Harvard UniversityGraduate School of Design, 2001). Fora discussion of the competition brief andof the idea of scaffolding, see KnstmaHill's essay "Urban Ecologies: Biodiversityand Urban Design" in the same volume.

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