BY A STUDENT FROM TAYLOR'S UNIVERSITY
Sustainable Living
Project 1: Sustainable System in a City
The very first project for this module required us to pick and analyze two similar cities in terms of density and population. We would understand and pick apart the problems plaguing one city in terms of its various infrastructures such as traffic congestion and waste management (Phase 1), and subsequently analyze the sustainability-related solutions and initiatives taken by our second chosen city to solve its domestic infrastructure issues (Phase 2) in order to see what proposed solutions we could apply to our first city of choice (Phase 3).
This project taught how to really analyse a city in terms of studying its various infrastructure types and exactly how aspects such as traffic, the placement of green and blue spaces, geography, city planning, and even cultural ideas impact the development and evolution of a city. We as a group of four students had to really understand the context and background factors that determine why one city excels and another falters at providing solutions and strategies in solving their own respective issues, and then choose carefully which strategies we did apply to the less well-planned city in regards to those factors. The assignment helped me to break down the rather abstract concept of a sustainable city down to its various parts and I could not have understood how those individual components affect the greater, macroscopic development of a city without it.
Project 2: Sustainable City Ideas
The second assignment was a more creative endeavour. As individuals, we were tasked with using our imagination, creativity and whatever graphic tools at our disposal to create a potential future city in the years 2030, 2040 or 2050 and how such a city would solve the possible global problems that would arise (i.e. climate change, overpopulation and so on). The proposal would be presented as an A1 sized poster with illustrations, diagrams and text explaining our own concept.
The second assignment was a more creative endeavour. As individuals, we were tasked with using our imagination, creativity and whatever graphic tools at our disposal to create a potential future city in the years 2030, 2040 or 2050 and how such a city would solve the possible global problems that would arise (i.e. climate change, overpopulation and so on). The proposal would be presented as an A1 sized poster with illustrations, diagrams and text explaining our own concept.
