The American Institute for Architects has announced its list of Top Ten Green Projects. I have seen the UT School of Nursing and Student Center in Houston but haven’t had the pleasure to have walked through it.
Category Archives: Environment
Waiting for the big one?
Today, San Francisco marked the 100th anniversary of the earthquake that killed almost 3,000 people (most of them perished in the fires that spread post-earthquake). Although it has been a hundred years since a natural calamity flattened the ‘Paris of the New World’as it was called in the 19th century, little had changed in terms of vulnerability for an earthquake today. In fact, a similar magnitude earthquake today would inflict more damage and cause more shaking, and probably also kill more people due to increased density.
It is surprising to note that in spite of all our technological progress, we still remain susceptible to natural calamities and can do little to prevent them. We can all make great exhortations about the way we have established ourselves as the dominant species on the planet but yet at the end of the day, the planet still reigns supreme. The previous year was calamitous causing untold damage and killing hundreds of thousands in both developing and developed countries. The earthquake unfortunately remains as mankind’s greatest threat and its unpredictable nature simply adds mystery to the death it brings in an instant.
Urban agglomerations have formed human populations to concentrate at fewer locations than ever before. The world population increases and the urban areas grows. Such high concentration of people in a single location is extremely dangerous when earthquake strikes. Unfortunately, the more populous urban regions like Tokyo, Bombay, San Francisco, etc also lie on the seismic-sensitive zones. Does this strike a blow to dense and compact living?
Will the next big one give us the answer?
New Orleans: The town that never should have been
New Orleans brings to mind several images dominated of course by the debauchery-riddled and flamboyant Mardi Gras. But death, destruction, despair, and desolate landscapes are far from your mind. The city stands on a rich cultural heritage and although (ecologically) as I argue, the city should not exist; it not only does but also prospers and throbs with urban vibrancy. However behind the glitz and glamour of the chic French Quarter with its colonial architectural trimmings lived one of America’s poorest cities. Crime was rampant and racial divisions were never more pronounced. I had stopped over for a night while traveling to Texas last year just before Katrina hit so it was an immensely sad experience to see a city shaken at its very foundations. We talked to a local architect who had nothing but frustration and disgust writ all over his countenance over the rest of the country’s apathy. And rightly so too. People seemed to have forgotten that this is just the beginning and the worst might be lurking behind the next hurricane.
The basin of the world’s third largest river (after Nile and Amazon), New Orleans and much of Louisiana stands on unstable ground that constantly changes its geographic form every thousand years. The mouth of the Mississippi has moved left and right since forever and it continually seeks to do so. But it finds itself restricted and controlled by the sub-standard levee system (the Dutch do it better). New Orleans is famously known to exist below sea level and if you look at the cross-section of the city, you will see a great depression in a bowl-like fashion protected by feeble contraptions erected by man. In spite of many warnings by scientists and climatologists, stubbornness of American people (in the region) often mistaken as resilience failed to inspire any preventive action. The result – Hurricane Katrina literally exposed the dangers of human impact on marshlands by destroying nearly 80% of the city. Levees snapped like twigs and all talk of their engineering prowess was muted.
We walked through the Ninth Ward and even after six months we could see destruction and wrecked home as far as our eyes could see. It is almost that this part of town has been declared a ghost town and no cares to rebuild. The catch however might be that probably the best option is not to rebuild. Easier said than done; this area was inhabited by mostly low-income people because no one else wanted to live on ‘that’ side of the town. The low-income people also happen to be mostly African-American so the issue of not rebuilding slowly transcends from that of rational thinking to resolving issues of social and racial equity. Can we genuinely deny these people from coming back? If we can stop them from living in this vulnerable location, where do we put them? Of course, New Orleans needs people who can work low-end jobs at the bars, restaurants, grocery stores and those people cannot live in flood-safe areas occupied by the middle- and upper-class residents. So technically, the low-income people have a choice of living in flood-prone areas that are cheap to build in but face risks of destruction almost every year or not living in New Orleans at all. So will New Orleans exist as an urban space without its share of poor people that are needed (relative and in an economic sense) in a society? Probably not; no matter how much the upper class of New Orleans citizenry secretly wishes. Hence my conclusion that New Orleans may or must not exist in its current urban form; it should either drastically evolve to live sustainably and densely so as to reduce its ecological footprint in a worsening ecosystem or in a worst-case scenario, count its losses, cherish its history, pack up and move on.
Cities have died before either gradually due to economic or social decline or suddenly due to natural cataclysmic changes. Our capacity to absorb havoc wrecked by nature might have increased and it might take one heck of a natural disaster to wipe off a city especially in a developed nation. As I mentioned, the next hurricane season is expected to be worse and so will be subsequent seasons; natural processes or global warming – the consequences are similar. If at all we choose to rebuild, the way we do it will be paramount in testing the hypothesis that man learns from history. Sadly, I think that we often prove that hypothesis wrong.
Futility of Controlling Nature
Much of Louisiana’s history mostly in modern times is peppered with controlling nature to suit man’s commercial purposes [read John McPhee's Control of Nature for more]. The Army Corps of Engineers unfortunately bounded by legislative intent draws much ire. However, they are as much to blame as the next person stamping his authority on a fragile ecology. Man’s control of nature stems from affixing an economic value to nature’s resources and adapting them for his personal use. Nature conservancy for the sake of preservation or aesthetic appeal hardly finds takers in a fertile and plentiful landscape of Louisiana. The lazily meandering muddy Mississippi drains much of continental United State carrying tons of sediment to the Gulf Coast. Nature entertains itself in a cyclic dance over thousands of years of reclaiming land and giving it back. It must not have envisioned the rise of a dominant species such as man to alter its natural cycle and attempt to achieve the impossible i.e. control or even alter the course of natural evolution. For proponents of the fact who believe in the natural order of things irrespective of man’s role in this world, it would be a worthwhile experience to see the impact of human presence in an otherwise fragile yet resilient environment. You need not go far to see this impact.
Living in Mumbai and dealing with the phenomenon of “annual floods” that brings the city to a screeching halt causing tremendous loss in both economic and emotional terms offers you enough justification. Even passionate Mumbaikars didn’t know of the existence of the river Mithi that is supposed to be a city river. We dismissed it as one foully oddity in the city center and a place for us to pollute so we can live in relative ease elsewhere. We always considered the mighty sea as the city’s focal point. Take a walk after any major festival especially Ganpati immersion, you would get a classic example of a city’s continued apathy toward its natural environment. The brashness with which we pollute our cities deservedly gets us cloudbursts and flash floods. Those who fail to see a connection are simply in a state of denial. If man hadn’t intervened, Mumbai would still be a group of seven islands in nature’s blissful arms. Of course, the economic potential wouldn’t then be realized and any progress has its costs, right? But each time the costs are borne by Mother Nature. Never can we envisage partaking in few of the costs that might be a direct result of civilization.
Why the sudden shift from New Orleans to Mumbai; because I see much in common in the existence of the two metropolises on two sides of the earth. They exist where realistically no city should. I wouldn’t argue for complete abandonment of these cities but definitely would argue for more respect to nature and the natural environment it exists in. Attention to a more sustainable living wouldn’t undermine the city but instead elevate its position in the list of some of the greatest cities to live in. After all, that is exactly what we aspire for, right; to live in a city that makes living enjoyable and does not engage in a constant struggle with nature. Like it or not, nature always win. She always has more time and energy that we can ever possibly dream of. It is just a matter of time before she decides to crack the whip.
Evolution of Palm Beach Marg
Driving on Palm Beach Marg at a speed of more than eighty kilometers per hour was pretty normal even though the speed limit is prescribed at sixty. It was one of the few stretches of asphalt around Bombay where you could actually exceed the speed limit; of course not counting the recently built expressway. Palm Beach Marg weaves across the outer reaches of Mumbai’s (erstwhile Bombay) satellite city, Navi Mumbai as it touches upon the supposedly upscale but largely empty high-rise apartments popularly known as NRI Seawoods Estate and terminates at the core of the Central Business District at Belapur.
Five years ago, driving along this stretch of road was a pleasure as you could see another Navi Mumbai node, Nerul and the adjacent Parsik hill in the distance on one side and the creek from across the mangroves on the other. The monumental Seawoods Estates loomed large in the distance seemed like the only sign of intrusive human settlement. A large holding pond between proposed developments was attributed to Big Brother wanting us to keep eyes off Apsara, the nuclear reactor at Trombay across the bay.
As I drove on Palm Beach Marg this December, barely minutes after landing at Mumbai’s international airport, I could barely see through the smog. Although it was still early in the day, you could see scores of people out for an early morning walk eager to breathe in the ‘fresh morning air’. A carefree spirit on his motorbike returning either from a night call center job or still drunk from the previous night’s revelries cut right across the road, causing us to swerve sharply (with no reduction in speed nevertheless). Although I hadn’t slept the previous night, I tried to take in the changed urbanscape of Palm Beach Marg. As the morning light filtered through the smog, I saw ghostly shadows of seemingly high rising walls alongside the road. I looked closer with sleepy eyes to realize that the previously distant Nerul had gradually moved toward the otherwise serene Palm Beach Marg. The high walls were in fact high-rise buildings, still in a state of incompleteness but slated for occupancy in a few months, my dad informed me.
The remaining vacant apartments at NRI Seawoods complex were bought over by Reliance en masse supposedly to house their DAKC (Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City) employees few kilometers away. In fact, construction of the second stage of the NRI complex was to begin soon. A monumental-looking almost palatial in appearance announced Delhi Public School in big bold neon signs adjacent to the complex. A cartel of IAS officers, said my dad, had managed to overturn certain environmental laws and build a high rise apartment building on the ‘other’ side of the Marg. Thankfully, the holding pond opposite to Apsara still existed and actually provided a much-needed point of destination for citizens seeking passive recreation.
I took in changed landscape with mixed emotions. On one hand, I was glad to see Navi Mumbai develop by leaps and bounds while on the other hand, flouting of environmental laws (as few as they exist) and disregard for natural mangroves was distressing. As we drove into Belapur, I could still see empty and stark skeletons of buildings built in the previous real estate boom time. In the end, it all turned out to be speculator-driven. Progress or development is often viewed with a sense of optimism but such narrow definitions of development prove to be short term gains.
Palm Beach Marg is just one road that runs along the spread that is Navi Mumbai today but it is adequately reflective of the scale and intensity of development elsewhere in the new city. New zoning laws are drafted at a rapid pace to replace the archaic ones created in the early 70s but vested interests continue to stay one step ahead. But not all is lost; there continues to be hope for a growing city next to a metropolis that has been attributed the tag of bursting at its seams for several years now. However, it still continues to thrive, sustain, and more importantly evolve.
On a side note, the palm trees on the divider on Palm Beach Marg are watered daily by a municipal corporation tanker and have managed to flourish amongst cars that are in too much of a hurry to give them a second glance.
cross-posted on Desicritics
Building causing earthquakes?
The world’s tallest building Taipei 101 (sounds an introductory course!) is accused of causing earthquakes in the region. It sounds pretty reasonable too; so don’t underestimate the adverse effects of human intervention.