CULTURE-ENVIRONMENT PARITY IN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

A WAY OF ECOLOGICAL BALANCE IN GROWING CITIES

BY

Keshav Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepalnepalkeshavraj@yahoo.com

ECOCITY WORLD SUMMIT 2008 PROCEEDINGS

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Structure Of The Paper

Civilization vs Development

Development vs Culture

Environment and Culture Culture-Environment Parity in Planning

Development vs Environment

General Introduction

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GENERAL OVERVIEW

Cities: venture improving the means and modes of human life

Success is devil: Cities pose threats to environment and to human life, both

Newer technologies and modernization also factors of worsening situation

THE GREAT PARADOX

The trend contributed to develop a psychology as if the development and environment has been mutually exclusive to each other.

Human civilization can never accept an option of either/or

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THE NEED

Finding a development model in which both of the exclusives could thrive together.

Recognize the nature and natural systems as an integral component of the venture, rather than merely consumable.

Achieving lasting sustainability through incorporation of cultural parameters of consumer societies.

A unique approach: socio-technical approach for achieving ecological balance in growing cities.

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NEW CONCEPTS

Growth disaster Environmental breakeven of development Organic city design City Antigens (City RH Factors) Ecological benefit Cultural shock of development.

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THE CITY GENESIS

Urban systems -result of human “Struggle for Existence” Necessity is the Mother of Invention: Cities have been the best of comfortable domicile New urban form and feature, and a fairly wider

connotation of cities The ‘heaven of dream’ posing threats to the safety and

comfort A diagnostic analysis shows that it has come from the

human deeds Trespassers of rule of consensus of coexistence in

ecological systems Nature reacted in reprisal

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World Urban Population, 1950-2005 with Projections to 2020

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THE GTOWTH DISASTER

The more the growth of density and size of cities, the more stress on the ecological interface,

This impending growth generated disaster can be termed a ‘Growth Disaster’

HARDWARE CITY PLANNING VS CITY ANTIGENS

City designers had been well aware of the ‘Growth Disaster’ since long, Both east and west

Cultural design patterns in the east Garden city of Ebenezer Howard in the west Modern concept based in hardware arrangement:

creating the skeleton

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CITY ANTIGENS (CITY Rh FACTORS): Transformation Drivers from Hardware Approach

The following city antigens should match in design for sustainable health of cities

One, Physical attributes of development form only city skeleton, Two, Cities survive only in system of settlements (city to city

relationship is complementary while urban-rural settlements maintain continuum relationship.

Three, City is not superior to natural systems; but is liable to obey the rules in those systems.

Four, City is not only the domicile of a biological human being; it is also the abode of culture and cultural beliefs.

Five, Only people do not live in cities; thousands of other members of the system of nature, both living and non-living, also constitute the city components.

Six and the Last, City as an additional member in the society of natural ecology, its rights and responsibilities should be defined.

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THE CITY- NATURE CONTINUUM

The six City ANTIGENS

transform hardware approach into Organic

and contribute to

create a synchronizing effect of

CITY-NATURE CONTINUUM (CNC).

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ENVIRONMENTAL PURSUE OF DEVELOPMENT

The physical attributes of city development have inverse relationship with environmental attributes.

The dynamic nature of city development renders environmental qualities also dynamic

Curve of environmental balance assumes a descending nature with ascending nature of development, a source of Civilization Disaster.

The relationship visualized in the figures below.

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THE ENVIRONMENT VS DEVELOPMENT CROSSOVER

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ANALYSIS OF THE FIGURE Figure A represents the existing trend Environmental Breakeven of Development (EBoD), the Oval Blue The pink area: quantities of consumable resources within oval blue Consumption beyond the oval blue promotes civilization disaster Time dimension in determining the coordinate of Oval Blue The rapid the rate of resource consumption, the faster we arrive at

the point of oval blue with very little go-up of development Gradual rate of consumption: gives nature sufficient time for 'self

accommodation' either by assimilation or by regeneration Figure B visualizes the significance of self-regeneration, and, the

need of integrated ecological measures Maintaining the curve of environment in the upward direction is ideal,

which seems practically impossible due to various factors, most

importantly the replacement of biological natural system by inert

elements of physical development.

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Analysis of Fig B

Practical approach to keep the descending gradient low Keeping the down gradient low is a time consuming process, more

time needed for self-adaptability

Significance of t0, t1 and t0+t1

Time lag of development, t1

Ecological Benefit, opportunity for sophisticated life The great paradox: we cannot abandon development to make

compromise with nature The best option keeping both curves in an ascending nature together At the worst, the environmental curve remaining horizontal with the

ascending nature of development The sustainability concept of is maintaining the curve of

environmental balance above EBoD.

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INERT BIOLOGY OF LIVING CITIES

Though cities appear inert, thriving cities have physiological processes Cities once created, start to bring people in. Cities generate people. Cities consume resources and produce excrement Cities have social life, that of linkages with other cities and hinterlands Lack of sufficient input or excessive effort laden to, makes it feel fatigue The hardware planning approach does not recognize the biological

characteristics of cities, it handles all urban elements in isolation as if

inert materials Mutual dependency of living and non-living things of nature and residing

human being in cities, both within and between, can ensure a lasting life

to cities and comfortable life to residents Newly growing cities should recognize the settlement society and city

culture City culture is an agglomeration of city organics and human culture

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GRAVITY OF CULTURE

Human being is the driver of development, but culture drives human beings. For cities, culture is the driver of its driver, the super driver

Culture is something that defines:The way we liveThe way we dieThe way we organize andThe way we perceive

Culture is one of deciding factors of human needs, then deeds People feel belongingness deeply to anything closely related to their

culture and customs Feeling belongingness also refers to the perseverance of caring and

sharing the importance of too Failure due lack of public participation, or because of lack of

belongingness Several cities thriving since centuries along the string of cultural ties

and customs People in developing countries can better understand the cultural

sense of sustainability, environmental preservation and like that

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CULTURE-ENVIRONMENT PARITY: A COURSE TO GO

The preventive and correctives measures producing little output Maslow’s model of needs- Culture comes in as dev. goes up Dynamic Model of Keshav Nepal: Culture in the Steering wheel

of Development program Development is a dynamic phenomenon, and so is the culture Dissimilar rate of change of development phenomenon and

culture The widening gap of the status of development and culture

generates darkening gray area The opacity can be called the Cultural Shock of Development

(CSD), an undesirable byproduct

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CONSEQUENCES OF CSD

Very strong cultural ties: may inhibit the outputs of development, or the developmental returns could also be used to further dogmatize the Cultural stagnancy.

Flexible cultural ties: development activity may prevail to cause cultural values to cease to bind the society in a string. This may lead to end the social cohesion promoting social disintegration.

Therefore, the ideal model of development would be to keep the opacity of CSD as low as possible,

This could be done only if cultural values have been considered in development planning

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Fig 3: Maslow's model of hierarchy of needsFig 3: Maslow's model of hierarchy of needs

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THE CULTURAL SHOCK OF DEVELOPMENT

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URBAN DEVELOPMENTPROGRAM

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EQUILIBRIUM OF FUNDAMENTAL FORCES OF URBAN DYNAMICS

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EXTERNAL PHYSICAL INFLUENCE

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CUTLTURE IN THE STEERING WHEEL

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CONCLUSION

The developmental disparity between countries has put the developing

countries in a haste of making development happen fast.

The hasty approach more prone of producing environmental and

cultural problems

The ideal model can be a 'go together' with environmental issues.

The organic design model with considerations of dynamic

characteristics could help to find cohesive approach of development and

environment.

Environmental considerations are needed to make cities sustainable,

while incorporation of cultural parameters ensure effective

implementation and make the society responsible to design parameters

Therefore, culture-environment parity in development planning in

growing cities can be a best way for maintaining the ecological balance.

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THANK YOU

FOR YOUR

KIND ATTENTION !!!