CDE110 2018-19 Group 6 Final

  Group weekly posters

  Drama:  Sustaining Communities by Assets and Enterprise

1 Introduction

2 Research methods and process

3 People and community

4 Economy

5 Food

6 Energy

7 Movement

8 Biodiversity

9 Water

10 Facilities

11 Material

12 Recommendations

13 Reference list

Background

Lotus Village (6th and 8th) is located in Xietang, Suzhou Industrial Park. The Lotus Village is composed of 11 administrative villages such as Shengdun and Hualian in the original Xietang area. As a habitat for local humans, the community should provide a healthy, sustainable and comfortable living environment for local residents. However, due to community history issues, conflicts of interest and lax regulations, there are many practical problems in Lotus Village that need to be improved. Based on the actual situation of Lotus Village, our team will analyze the status quo and propose solutions from nine aspects.

Group members

Process

 1 Preparation

Printing a statellite map, planning the route of first field trip, and preparing some questions.

 2 First field trip

Observation and starting to find problems. In the meanwhile, other group members taking photos and  doing interview randomly.

 3 Embarking on group page

Collecting informations and  images to analyze from different aspects, presenting on the draft of group page, and waiting for tutoring.

 4 Second field trip

Modifying some mistakes from first cursory observation, doing a deeper interview particular to some serious problems and inviting residents to join a design  game workshop.

 5 Design game workshop

The method could involve residents in neighbourhood planning and improve their understanding of this community (Hornecker, 2004). From this workshop (Figure 2.1), the direct feedback from residents would be obtained.

                                                                                            (Figure 2.1 Discussion -by Huang, 2019)

 6 Finishing the group page

Summarizing feedbacks from the workshop and optimizing recommendations.

Specific methods of different parts

Objective data and phenomenon

• Map of local economy

                                                                                      （Figure 4.1: Map of local economy, by Li, 2019)

According to  Barton, H., Grant, M., & Guise, R. (2003), abundant informal economic activity could provide a large number of jobs and meet the diversity of local services (). According to Figure 4.1, it is clear that local informal economic activity provides a rich variety of services to the community. However, according to local residents, the number of shops in the community is too small and concentrated, and the types of goods provided are too few to meet the commercial needs of residents.

• Employment and income phenomena

（Figure 4.2 Types of work for different age groups, by Li, 2019)

                                                                                           （Figure 4.3: Women making the scarves, by Li, 2019)

According to our team's field interviews, the problem commonly mentioned by the elderly in the local community is that the government's pension subsidy is insufficient, with an average of 1,060 yuan per person per month. Therefore, local seniors have to find new ways of income to subsidize their daily lives.

As mentioned in the table, there are a large number of elderly people over the age of 65 who are involved in the processing of low-end processing such as scarves, and there will be a unified "boss" to recycle processed products. (Figure 4.3)

Challenge

1. Shops in the community do not meet the commercial needs of local residents.

2. Within the community, many economic opportunities remain untapped.

Such as:

It is reflected in that no one in the community specializes in waste recycling, and the recycling market in the community is completely occupied by outsiders;

The ground floors is forbidden to be rented to immigrants by the government due to potential fire risk.

3. Shunda plaza does not provide adequate commercial functions for the community.

                                                                                  (Figure 4.4: The phenomenon of Shunda Commercial Plaza, by Li, 2019)

According to interviews, Shunda Commercial Plaza provided a large number of job opportunities for residents of Lianhua New Village, such as self-employed, employees, and courier services. However, the problem with Shunda Plaza is that few local residents eat at the restaurants in Shunda Plaza, and local restaurants rely on the take-away business to survive. The root cause of this phenomenon is the harsh environment of Shunda Plaza and the potential for food safety.

Background

Food also plays an important role in neighborhood planning. Focusing on food issues can go deep into a healthy and sustainable agenda. We conducted interviews in four aspects: food type, food price, eating habits, and store accessibility. The survey results show that residents are more convenient to buy food, and the food types are relatively complete. Most people consume unbalanced nutrition every day, and some vegetables are expensive. In addition, residents also attach great importance to food safety issues and want to eat healthy and green food.

                                                                               (Table 5.1,5.2, 5.3 & 5.4: Community food survey - by Huang, 2019)

Analysis

We noticed that there are two small green areas under each house. It is understood that the current greening of the community is planted in the new rural reconstruction. Because the Lotus Village is a relocation and resettlement community, the proportion of the elderly population is large, and the community greening often has the situation of residents growing vegetables. Problems such as fertilization and odor, watering and other problems have brought about neighborhood problems. Later, although management control was carried out, most of the green space was still ruined and inferior, affecting the appearance.

Solution

While food is not as “hard-wired” as energy and sustainable, re-planning on a local scale is needed to ensure that urban food systems do not conflict with health and sustainability. Relevant departments should strengthen monitoring and management of food safety and prices. More importantly, We believe that communities can plan and provide community cultivation projects to a certain extent, while guiding residents to manage green spaces in a more civilized and green way. In this way, community farms not only green the community living environment, but also enable residents to obtain locally grown, healthy and safe food. They can also help community residents to acquire professional agricultural science knowledge and increase the relationship between people and nature.

Background

During the first community visit, residents' energy use was roughly understood. Four types of energy are widely used in the six district of Lotus New Village, which are natural gas, coal gas electricity and solar power. In the sixth district of Lotus new village, many things about energy can be seen everywhere. Detailed information on energy use will be given through images and surveys.

Solar power

As is shown in figure 6.1, many solar water heaters are installed on the roof of the apartment building. Solar energy is a kind of clean energy, not only environmental protection, but also energy saving. However, after asking the local residents, we learned that the community only allows families living above the fourth floor to install and use solar water heaters. This rule means that rooms on the fourth floor and below will struggle to get enough sunlight. One reason residents install solar water heaters is to save money. But the cost did not meet residents' expectations.

                                                                                        (Figure 6.1: Solar water heater on the top of apartments)

According to local surveys, residents generally use electricity between 100 and 300 degrees. Some residents think electricity is a little expensive (Figure 6.2 and Figure 6.3).

                                                                  (Figure 6.2: What is your monthly electricity consumption? - by Deng, 2019)

                                                                   (Figure 6.3: Do you think the price of electricity is suitable? - by Deng, 2019)

Charging piles

In order to provide convenience for residents living in the community, there are piles for charging electric cars, motorbikes and bikes (Figure 6.4, 6.5, 6.6 and 6.7). Residents can be charged by simply scanning the code for payment. It avoids the potential safety hazard of residents' self-charging. These energy facilities reflect the community's emphasis on the energy needs of its residents.

                                                            (Figure 6.4 & Figure 6.5: Intelligent charging system for electric vehicle, - by Deng. 2019)

                                                           (Figure 6.6 & Figure 6.7: Devices that charge electric motorbikes and bikes -by Deng, 2019)

Electric wires

There are also security concerns about energy use in communities. As is shown in figure 6.8 and figure 6.9, a large number of wires are exposed above the wall. A short circuit in the wire has the potential to start a fire. Some residents will also take the wires off the window, which is very unsafe.

                                                                                      (Figure 6.8 & Figure 6.9: Exposed wires - by Deng, 2019)

Introduction：

A community with good quality of biodiversity is where there are a variety of species living and contacting with each other in harmony.

In the sixth district of the Lotus New Village, the biology network in some extent is quite various. There are a large amount of the trees and floors near both the residential buildings and the public spaces, trees like: loquat, bamboos, Pinus parviflora, Pittosporum tobira, moxa, and aspidistra (figure 8.1); flowers like camellia, cherry blossom trees, gardenia, and magnolia flower (figure 8.2); and animals/pets like: birds, cats, dogs, spiral shells and insects (figure 8.2). According to a fifty-year old man who have lived in this community for about several years, he was quite satisfied with the environment. As the man said, when he looked around, he always feel great to be surrounded by all the green creatures. One couple from the 21th building were even dealing with their fishing net and tried to collect spiral shells from the river nearby in the beginning of April (figure 8.3). Moreover, there are birds everywhere hunting insects and seeds in the bushes. Additionally, not only does the community have natural growing plants, they even grow Euryale feroxes, chickens and chives by their own just on the public spaces near the houses (figure 8.3).

                                                                          (Figure 8.1 Variety of trees in the community, by Peng, 2019)

                                                             (Figure 8.2  Pictures of flowers and animals& pets in the community, by Peng, 2019)

                                                                          (Figure 8.3: The community's natural growing plants, by Peng, 2019) 

Problem：

However, problem is that, even though the plants and flowers are in a good condition, there is little grass growing in the Greenland. The grass missing could probably result in the decrease of the insects and decrease of the water absorption ability after a heavy rain. According to one resident near the 72th building, plashes appears when there is a rain sometimes (figure 8.4).

                                                                          (Figure 8.4: Little grass growing in the Greenland, by Peng, 2019)

Introduction

For the water in this area, we mainly analyze it from three aspects. Firstly，the risk of flooding. Suzhou is a plain area， and it's temperate monsoon climate， which means that there is a lot of precipitation. According to this，the risk of flooding should be considered when building communities. And during the field trip, we found that the manhole cover and rain grates are common in this community. Moreover, there are two rivers around there, so the risk of flooding has been reduced significantly.

                                                                           (Figure 9.1 The drawing of the water system in this area, by Pu, 2019)

Problems

However, there are some problems in water management and in increasing the quality and attractiveness of water. During the field trip in the Sixth and Eighth district of  Lotus New Village，it can be found that the river environment on which the eighth district is backed is not optimistic. The river is a little muddy and there are some floats on the river. What's more， the riverbank near the community is poorly managed, and there is a lot of rubbish left behind for a long time. These problems not only affect the environment, but also have a negative impact on the attractiveness of the region and the quality of life of the residents here. To solve these problems， the government should improve the water management in this area， and the neighborhood committees can carry out more propaganda activities to enhance the awareness of residents of protecting the environment of the river.

                                                                                           (Figure 9.2: River with poor quality, by Pu, 2019 )

Map of facilities

 ( Figure 10.1 by Jin,2019)

We investigated the public facilities in the sixth district of Lotus new village and the residents nearby.
Each residential building has a certain number of parking spaces and charging points for the use of electric vehicles to meet the daily travel and parking needs of residents. E-bike provides a lot of help to the residents close to life, but also has the role of energy conservation and environmental protection.

(Figure 10.2： Parking lanes of cars and electric vehicles by Jin,2019)

In addition, their recreational facilities include recreation rooms for the elderly, a community service center, children's recreation facilities and fitness equipment that deals with the daily problems of residents.

(Figure 10.3 : A community service center, children's recreation facilities and fitness equipment by Jin,2019) 

In this regard, we also made a relevant questionnaire survey, asking whether they think the public facilities are complete and whether the distance is too far. Most residents said that the facilities are complete enough to meet the needs of life, but a small number of residents said that the area is not convenient enough without vegetable farms, public toilets are too few, fitness equipment and other leisure facilities are too few but the use of population.

(Figure 10.4 Questionnaire - by Jin, 2019)

In addition, we found that the firefighting facilities in this community were not perfect. Except that there were two fire extinguishers on the first floor of each residential building, there were no other corresponding firefighting facilities, which reduced the safety index of this community to a certain extent.

(Figure 10.5：The firefighting facilities by Jin,2019)

The analyze

(Table 10.6：Results analysisby Jin,2019)

                                                  ( Table 11.1 The indicators of EU and Neighborhood, by Barton, H., Grant, M. & Guise, R., 2003)

Materials coming into the neighborhood transform their value. Most materials would become  waste if there are no actions to adopt.  Therefore, in order to achieve the sustainability of neighborhoods, the planning of neighborhoods should realize the reuse ad recycling of materials. Table 11.1 shows the indicators of EU and Neighborhood measure the gross of waste. In community investigation, the waste of the househould and business would be the research object to analyse and design the effecive utilization of materials. According to our group's research, the Sixth district of Lotus New Village is near Shunda commercial district, so both the reuse of household and business waste should be taken into account.

After investigations associated with neighbourhood indicators, the result (table 11.2) shows the percentage of household waste is higher than the percentage of business waste. However, table 11.3 shows the percentage of household waste recycle and composted is lower than the percentage of business waste recycle and composted.

                                                                                             (Table 11.2&11.3, by Xu, 2019)

Potential problems

There are two main problems in household waste recycle. The first one is lack of garbage sorting facilities in both residential and business areas particular to sort hazardous waste(figure 11.4 and 11.5). Another is no fixed places to collect old furniture or large-scale waste (figure 11.6 and 11.7).                      

                (Figure 11.4 -by Xu, 2019)                                                         (Figure 11.5 -by Xu, 2019)      

          (Figure 11.6 -by Xu, 2019)                                                (Figure 11.7 -by Xu, 2019)      

After two field trips (Figure 12.1), the workshop (Figure 12.2), and the guidance of a tutor, our group members analyze issue particular to their own part combining with residents' feedback and their own learning outcome and observation.

                                                     Figure 12.1                                                                                                       Figure 12.2

People and Community

1 Improving management system

Residents said they don't need to pay property fee, so property company don't manage some bad behavior, for example, open defecation, parking in wrong place, occupying parking space, using fire hydrant to wash clothes etc. They are willing to pay certain fee for property company to manage these low quality behavior.

2 Equality for tenants and migrants

Some of the migrants and tenants said sometimes native have more rights on using their garage and so on, and their voices are not powerful to make some change. Maybe they need some help of authorities and legislation, but it seems very hard to change this.

Economy

1. The community encourages the development of new business opportunities.

(Figure 12.3: The map of new business opportunities, by Li, 2019)

(Figure 12.4, Garbage collection current status, by Li, 2019)

1. Community allows and supports the establishment of garbage collection stations and removable vegetable market in the community to provide residents with diverse employment opportunities.

2. Community allows people to live in ground floors, allowing residents to rent ground floors to outside workers. And strengthen the fire protection capabilities to ensure the safety of the living environment.

3. Communities allow and support local economic behavior.

4. The government has strengthened supervision and rectification of the environment and food hygiene of Shunda Plaza. Make Shunda Plaza more efficient in providing commercial functions for residents of Lianhua New Village.

Food

1. Relevant departments strengthen management and monitoring of food safety and prices.

2.  Communities can plan and provide community cultivation projects, and guide residents to manage green spaces in a more civilized and green way.

Energy

1. putting wires together and putting boxes around them so that residents do not have direct access to unsafe wires.

2. Reduce the price of public charging piles and encourage residents to charge to public facilities. Do not use private wires to cause safety hazards.

Movement

1. Widening the sidewalks and adding bike lanes in the neighbourhood

 As mentioned in the Barton, H., Grant, M., & Guise, R. (2003), designing for pedestrian is considered as the ‘lifeblood’ of a neighbourhood and it must cover enough strength and width. Also, the bike lanes should be safe and accessible for children. Therefore, the sidewalks and bike lanes should be normalized.

2. Banning private cars to park nearby the roads

As found out in the community, there are many cars parking on the main roads even though there are plenty of empty parking spaces nearby. Therefore, if the cars can park in the right places, the walking and cycling spaces can be increased greatly.

Biodiversity

1. Increase the quantity of the soil and choose other plants which are able to be symbiotic to live around grass.

2. Change the green space between buildings into small gardens with exercising facilities and wet lands to increase diversity of green spacies. 

Water

1. Improve the management and monitoring of river quality near the residential areas.

2. Clean up garbage near riverbank on the side of residential area regularly.

Facilities

1.Add corresponding fire control measures to each residential building, add fitness equipment, set up public toilets and other public facilities to improve the community.

2.At the same time, strengthen the community management system, reduce the uncivilized use of public facilities

Materials

Firstly, in term of the problem of lacking  garbage sorting facilities, more sorting equipment should be established in both residential and business areas.  Strengthening people's mind of waste sorting is also crucial which can help the implementation. holding community activities to publicize the importance of gabage sorting can be a feasible tool to get people involved. For some restaurants in Shunda commercial district, strict regulations should be carried out to achieve waste sorting in food. 

Secondly, regarding to no fixed places to collect old furniture or large-scale waste, our group recommends to find several fixed wide enough places and encourage residents to put old furniture or large-scale waste together for convenience of community's interal exchange or disposal via large-scale waste plants.