planning and design for sustainable communities

A graduating architecture student learns a different way to design

by Ownery Diala

It is really true that life outside school is very different. When I worked with TAO-Pilipinas as an intern, I was assigned to design a chapel for the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Maralita ng Navotas (SANAGMANA) relocation area in Tanza, Navotas. And as one of the requirements, I was instructed to facilitate community workshops to know the residents’ preferences and ideas. I was excited and at the same time nervous because I had never facilitated a workshop before.

The design process used in the workshop, which is called participatory planning, is far different from the one that is taught in academic training. Participatory planning involves a lot of people―the architects, engineers, and the community members. Many minds are involved to solve a problem. The plan itself will come from the owners of the project―the community members―and with an acceptable design outcome, there is a sense of ownership because their ideas are integrated in the design. Continue reading →

What the slums can teach us about green design

by Benjamin de la Pena

We think squatter colonies are just about the least green places on earth. They are often dirty, rank places, that (at least in our imaginations) are rife with diseases. And yet, people who live in squatter colonies have the smallest ecological footprint of any population in our rapidly urbanizing earth.

In the sanitized environment modern technology has given us, we have learned to forget that we actually live in the closed ecosystem of a single planet. We are separated from our consumption and our effects. We are deluded and we do not realize that what we do, what we consume, what we throw away affects the whole ecosystem and that we use up finite resources or bring toxic waste into the environment.

Though I do not wish to condemn anyone to live in or to continue to live in the squalor of slums, there are a few lessons we could learn from the squatters about the principles of green design:

1. Keep your s**t. Slum areas do not have sewer systems, or septic tanks. In many places, raw sewage flows down the middle of informal streets and gathers in pools so that everyone can benefit from the aroma and partake of the diseases.Why? Because most of us live with dotted lines to our ecological system. We flush the toilet and we don’t know where our waste goes. (Most likely to septic tanks that leach into our aquifers or to gravity sewer systems that just lead to outfalls into our rivers, lakes or seas.) Our sanitation systems separate us from the damage we do to our environment.Green design will take away those dotted lines, give us direct feedback (so we know where our s**t goes) and give us a closed loop system. Continue reading →

What to consider in developing seaside settlements

Architects, engineers and planners should take scientific data and practical information on water-related natural phenomena (tides, wave action, typhoons, storm surges, tsunamis) into consideration when developing settlement areas, according to Dr. Laura David, Deputy Director for Instruction of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute. She emphasizes that the Philippines is an island country where land is not limitless and 67 percent of Filipinos live close to the seas and ocean, and that consequently, these have implications on how we develop our built environment. Dr. David presents the following practical guidelines for designers, planners and developers:

• Tides are actually related to earth’s distance from the sun and moon. This means that when doing site assessment, the best time to visit a site is during a full moon in the period between the late December to early January because the tides are at its highest level.(January is the month when the sun is closest to the earth.) One can see the effects of tide especially in coastal areas at full moon.
• Wave action creates areas of embayment and protrusion in coastal land forms. It is considered better to locate a building site at the area of protrusion since embayment areas are constantly eroded by wave action. Continue reading →

Essential references in solid waste management

THE GARBAGE BOOK:
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN METRO MANILA
PUBLISHED BY THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK IN 2004 (96 PAGES).
AVAILABLE IN THE ADB PUBLICATION INFORMATION CENTER, 6 ADB AVENUE, MANDALUYONG CITY 1550, PHILIPPINES. CONTACT THEM AT +632 6325894.

This coffee-table book illustrates the gravity of the solid waste problem of Metro Manila through an eye-catching layout with compelling photos and imaginative collages. Statistics are presented in creative ways; for example the volume of waste that Metro Manila will generate over the next 30 years is shown as a “…line of waste trucks going three times round the earth and over halfway to the moon.” This book is a tool for understanding, as well as a reminder of the urgent need for change in the system of solid waste management in Metro Manila. Continue reading →

*prices (except for glass) are based on the Philippine Business for the Environment’s Waste Market on April 2007

PAPER

About 12 percent of Metro Manila’s solid waste is paper. Unlike metal or glass, paper can only be recycled five to seven times before the wood fibers become too short and brittle to be made into new paper. Some types are harder to recycle than others. Papers that are waxed, pasted, gummed, or coated with plastic or aluminum foil are usually not recycled because the process is too expensive. Continue reading →

Landfills are not the answer to the garbage problem

By Ana and Joey Papa
Bangon Kalikasan Movement
www.bangonkalikasan.org

Landfills do not make for a waste-free environment. Waste volumes are synonymous with hauling, dumping, and tipping fees.

The ecological way of addressing the garbage problem is not through a landfill—that only ends up as a “glorified” dumpsite—but through the Ecology Center system of responsible producers, clean production, and people in households and the community who promote and practice waste prevention and reduction, sorting and segregation at source, reuse, recycling and composting.

The heart and soul of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, depends on the people—whom the local authorities should harness instead of the dump truck; and to whom they should give the land for habitation and livelihood. Continue reading →

How Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City became a model for community-based solid waste management

By Rosalyn-Frances Marcelo

“Several community representatives in almost all parts of the country have visited our barangay and wanted to replicate the project. However, when they ask about the capital, their enthusiasm begins to falter. My advice is that they should realize how Barangay Holy Spirit started. Start small. In our case we started with manual composting and simple waste segregation. The key, really, is initiative.”
- Jovita Santos, OIC,
Barangay Holy Spirit MRF

The garbage success story of Barangay Holy Spirit (BHS) in Quezon City emerged from the recognized need to revitalize the community and protect its citizens from illnesses and health problems. In the past, the lack of concern of the residents was evident in the prevailing unsanitary conditions in the barangay. The streets were littered with uncollected garbage, along with flies, mosquitoes and other disease-bearing pests. After more than a decade of hard work and despite an average of 66,000 kilos of waste generated daily, Barangay Holy Spirit has maintained its overall cleanliness and environmental sanitation through a successful Community-Based Solid Waste Management (CBSWM) program. Continue reading →

From simple recycling bins to high-tech pneumatic tubes, cities around the world are employing a variety of strategies to manage their garbage

By Geraldine Matabang

Waste management is hardly a 21st century phenomenon, as records show the earliest landfill was created way back in 3000 BC. In the beginning of the twentieth century, proper disposal of waste was mainly an issue of public health and sanitation. Today, with the advent of globalization, electronic communication and disposable consumer items, waste has become a complex problem and is now more prominently taken as a matter of environmental sustainability. The quantities and composition of wastes people generate on a global scale presents a major ecological concern as more waste mean greater pressure on the environment’s capacity to cope with the damaging impacts of waste disposal.

“While driving around the countryside, I saw the landfill. It looked so clean!”

Modern production and consumption trends have also led to new categories of waste stream that now includes hazardous wastes, e-wastes, and hyperbulk wastes. But what ends up in our trash bins and how we eliminate waste differs from place to place, depending on one’s economic status and lifestyle. Rich countries consume more and therefore they accumulate more waste. Global trends also show that as countries get richer, the share of organic waste decreases and the paper and plastic wastes increase. This consumption pattern represents an unsustainable practice for waste management because non-biodegradables require more landfill space for disposal. It is said that one plastic bag takes one second to manufacture, 20 minutes to use, and 100 to 400 years to degrade naturally. Continue reading →

Give your garbage a new lease on life

Recycling is the recovery of discarded materials to be used as raw material again

Most of us would probably say that we are willing to recycle. But still we end up throwing out recyclable materials because we don’t know what to do with them. Here are five ways to help you get on the path to recycling:

1. Start by segregating recyclables at home. Separate metal, paper, glass and plastics into their own containers. Segregated waste is easier to collect for recycling. These also sell higher than when they are recovered from the dumpsite by scavengers because these are “cleaner” and not yet stained by garbage. For example, at the Rodriguez landfill in Montalban, Rizal, scavenged tin cans sell for P4 per kilo compared with P5.50 to P6 per kilo outside. Hazardous wastes such as used car batteries, ink cartridges, and used electronic appliances also need to be separated from the trash.

Continue reading →

About one million hectares of the Delta is inundated by more than a meter of water every year. Learn how the Vietnamese government has tried to manage this natural phenomenon

By Arlene Christy Lusterio

“Same same but different,” is the common Vietnamese phrase that means similar but not the same. In many aspects, the Mekong Delta of Vietnam looks similar to rural Philippines: the wide expanse of rice fields, raw dirt roads, and friendly faces of rural folks that greet strangers like me. My quest to understand and search for meaning and justification to the ever expanding informal settlements along waterways in the urban centers of the Philippines brought me to this neighbor in Asia, a country with a long history and a surviving culture of living with water, Vietnam. Continue reading →