Affordable Housing: Lets create an alternative vision!

Lets create an alternative Vision !Bettina Walter, Chair, Noosa Biosphere Social BoardHousing Forum, NRRA, Noosa Bowls Club, 22.April. 2010

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License.

collage made from various developer prospectus

Painting a different picture:

RESEARCH

Learn from thought leaders

globally

Oogst 100 concept (Tjep Design Agency)

http://oogst.org/oogst/Oogst.org/Oogst_100.htmlA self-sufficient farm for 100 people. The residents are all farmers. In the

central greenhouse, all necessary crops are grown, the surrounding fields are for livestock.

The central windmill provides all the necessary energy, there is a water-well under the windmill. But clean water is mainly collected condensed water from the greenhouse.

The theory is that communities of between 100 and 150 people are the most optimal and harmonious. Therefore, the concept never grows beyond 100 people but it can be multiplied to form a society without shopping centres, banks, roads, cars or airplanes.

Oogst 100 concept (Tjep Design Agency)

http://oogst.org/oogst/Oogst.org/Oogst_100.html

Oogst 100 concept (Tjep Design Agency)

http://oogst.org/oogst/Oogst.org/Oogst_100.html

Oogst 100 concept (Tjep Design Agency)

http://oogst.org/oogst/Oogst.org/Oogst_100.html

Copenhagen, Brøndby - image: Yann Arthus Bertrand

Inspiration: Bill Dunster

Nottingham university Housing projectsolar panels for a 3rd of the price on the open market“We are not really trying very hard to reduce cost and accelerate transition”Bill Dunster ZEDFactory

Example photovoltaic systems – prices are being kept artificially high – petrol chemical industry wringing the last profits out of fossil fuels and are busying themselves to corner the market on renewables – Dunster went straight to supplier in China – got his own container load – all carbon expense will be recouped in 3.5 years

image source http://www.zedfactory.com/

Low cost / high performance buildings

• Simplicity is key• Dry construction• Get the buildings off the rack – modification and variety

are cosmetic• Build housing manufacturing plant in your city• Self-help regardless of government!• Start at the bottom• Simple components• With international commonality• Solutions will become affordable• Kit houses• Instructions on prevailing winds• Cross ventilations in clusters• mixed use• Added value• Exciting aesthetic

Example China:Low salariesPrepacked 400m x 400m housing blockIncl Solar panel manufacturing plant with jobsPeople pay for these added renewable systems in time with the money

they would have spent on fossil fuels image source http://www.zedfactory.com/

Flood protection: example flood dyke in Thames GatewayFirst self funded flood defense wallIncorporate flood defence into new housing developmentVery low cost housing system funds dyke construction

image source http://www.zedfactory.com/

Painting a different picture:

RESEARCH

Learn from thought leaders

locally

Crystal Waters

Bellbunya Community (edit)

What can we

do?

Biosphere Learning Lab

Individual eco buildings are great to demonstrate sustainable building designs.

We need a whole cluster of buildings to learn and demonstrate sustainable, affordable communities.

Biosphere Learning Lab

Start with one project.Lets have a vision of a POSITIVE future…

and then ‘sell it’ really well.

to sell it really well we need to

Make it as affordable and inclusive as possible.

One idea:Biosphere Housing Initiative

demonstrating BEST practice in

affordable, sustainable housingnot just in ONE building, but a whole

cluster

An alternative vision

Wind Turbine

Chicken coop

Dwelling Private back yard

Dwelling Private back yard

Dw

ellin

gPriv

ate

back y

ard

Dw

ellin

gPriv

ate

back y

ard

Dw

ellin

gPriv

ate

back y

ard

Edible garden

Herb garden

Car pool

Natural swimming pool

Watertank

Watertank

Watertank

Watertank

Watertank

Work shops

Edible garden

Bake house

Wind Turbine

Chicken coop

Porches!

Offices !!

Bike shed

Solar panneled up

What are the

greatest

challenges?

How do we allow council to facilitate

grassroot developments without

opening the door for Developer

Profiteering?

Add flexibility to building process

•planning

•usage permissions

•application and other fees

•subdivision regulations

Base flexibility on compliance to agreed

standards or

‘quadruple bottom line sustainability

BENCHMARKS’

On Establishing benchmarks:Peter Singer 'A Fair Deal on Climate ChangeEstablish the total amount of greenhouse gases that we can allow to

be emitted without causing the earth’s average temperature to rise more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the point beyond which climate change could become extremely dangerous.

Divide that total by the world’s population, thus calculating what each person’s share of the total is.

Allocate to each country a greenhouse gas emissions quota equal to the country’s population, multiplied by the per person share.

Finally, allow countries that need a higher quota to buy it from those that emit less than their quota.

On Establishing benchmarks:Bill DunsterExample Energy:Understand the limits of energy that will be available in 50

years time• Peak oils/ peak gas now• Water, food• We can’t afford loosing agricultural land• How are we going to set up a system of upgrading our urban / suburban

fabric?• How much renewable energy can we ACTUALLY produce at the most?• Max 30 %• How much have we got per head and divide it up equally in an equalitarian

manner• All architects to design building within those constrains. SET NATIONAL

standards.

Architects can then design systems that can run indefinitely on renewable energy sources.

On Establishing Benchmarks: 2000 Watt Society

2000 Watt per person“

The 2000-watt society (2,000-Watt Society) is a vision, originated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich at the end of 1998, in which each person in the developed world would cut their over-all rate of energy use to an average of no more than 2,000 watts (i.e. 17,520 kilowatt-hours per year of all energy use, not only electrical) by the year 2050, without lowering their standard of living. (source: wikipedia)

FIRST: CREATE these grass root benchmarks

THEN: INVOLVE profiteering developers

To participate under these grass roots benchmarks

(we need their capacity and expertise to implement large scale)

The role of the developer

Next Actions

1. Council Audit

A working group (Biosphere Social Board?) to conduct an Audit of all Building and Planning Requirements.

• Zoning• Sustainability standards• Building regulations and codes• Subdivision regulations• ‘Land Banking issues”• Make Land release to purchase - processes transparent

Which items support ‘sustainable community driven growth’Which items impede?

How can we leverage ‘economy of scale’ to benefit our communities instead of developers?

2. Ask some experts! Invite speakers

Make connections with• Transition town folks• Crystal Waters• Association for Sustainable Communities

3. Create Benchmarks

In collaboration with grassroots experts and the housing task force.

www.noosabiosphere.org.au

Thanks to Matt Lawton, Mike Shone, Alexander Kohl, Karyn Maher, Ralph Schneider

for lending ears, help and consultancy.

Referenceshttp://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/450http://www.wohnmodelle.at/index.php?id=12,10,0,0,1,0

Transition Town movement (find reference)http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6732157000663373188#Noosa Environment Day

“The 2,000-Watt Society is not a program of hard life, it’s not starving, it’s not having less comfort or fun. It’s a creative approach to the future.”http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_kolbert?currentPage=all#ixzz0le5t7MXa

Architecture Foundation (UK): Futureproofing the City: ZEDfactory; Foster + Partners; R/E/D http://vimeo.com/9120443

Stern report 2006 (climate change and the uk economy): http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sternreview_index.htm

Satish Kumar, Resurgence: http://www.resurgence.org/education/climate-change/resilience-climate-change.html

Fair deal on climate change. Peter Singer.http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/singer24/English

Nice kit homes in vision image:http://www.arkit.com.au/