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This session will show lessons learned in two diverse climates, from Canada and Africa. “Perhaps this is the great opportunity and lesson that Africa presents to us all: To save the environment and redefine our human relationships, both personal and social, in a sense to create an ecology of living.” – Dean Foster.
We will present the master planning and design work being done in conjunction with the Rwandan Government to transform this nation from is days of genocide and an economy based on subsistence to a nation of stability and prosperity in Central Africa. Rwanda has committed to highly sustainable design goals to honor the natural environment and create an example of how Africa, as a continent, can respond to the opportunities of the next millennium by creating livable communities that support human cooperation, land use flexibility, protection of the natural environment, and minimization of pollution and waste. This work takes the concept of sustainable design to a new dimension -- one of the “greening” of humanity as a nation and world.
From Canada, Bill Semple will discuss the Canadian arctic as a unique region of the world. The region is sparsely populated by a unique indigenous people that survived for millennium in what is perhaps the most severe climate in the world. In spite of its remoteness, this is a region in the process of undergoing rapid change. The impacts of climate change, the rapid development of the resource sector, a harsh climate and the dramatic increase in energy prices, are all challenging the environmental and cultural sustainability of northern communities and cultures. While many scientists studying the north speak with concern that the region may be the ‘canary in the coal mine’ and a warning for the rest of the world for what is to come, traditional Inuit hunters Inuit elders, who have traditionally used the sky as their guide, speak of dealing with weather patterns, unknown in their oral history, that are making their travel of the across the landscape increasingly more difficult. The impact on northern animals, that make up a significant portion of the diet of northern peoples, has resulted in the Inuit proposing internationally that climate change is a human rights issue.
All these transformations have brought a heightened level of urgency to the need to address sustainability issues in northern communities. In support of this, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has been carrying out Integrated Design Charrettes in northern communities, bringing diverse expertise including community residents, municipal authorities, builders, housing agencies, design professionals, and researchers to rethink issues from a broader perspective and develop sustainability directions for housing and communities.
This presentation will look at the use of design charrettes as integral part of bringing cultural issues into the sustainability agenda. The presentation will describe the ‘northern’ charrette process, and share experiences and perspectives on the role these have played in identifying cultural and environmental sustainability issues in northern housing and communities. As a region, where the development of communities has been dominated by ‘southern’ processes and technologies, the charrettes are being used to bring the design process into the community with important cultural issues, specific to the aboriginal cultures of the north, being a significant driver of the process.
Through the use of local and invited expertise, the charrettes have explored realistic approaches to achieving cultural and environmental sustainability goals in the communities, particularly at the early concept stage when change is less costly. Sustainable (green) building practices, the potential for alternative technologies, and community planning issues are all addressed as a part of this process. The experience has provided participants from the ‘south’ with a richer understanding of the culture and challenges of the north, and provided participants from the north with ideas and opportunities for making their communities more sustainable.
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