URBAN FARM RENDER

Urban farm on Hanau street

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POSSIBILITIES

There are numerous possibilities of sustainable infrastructure that can be implemented into the Jeppestown area. I have chosen to focus on three main areas of sustainable infrastructure and those areas are solar energy through the use of solar panels, a water collection and recycling system and urban farming. By implementing these sustainable infrastructures, the neighbourhood will be able to be self sustaining and be able to function while being off grid if necessary. 

SOLAR ENERGY

The energy obtained through the solar panels on the roofs of various buildings will be stored and used to illuminate the park at night. Large street lamps around the periphery of the park will illuminate the majority of the park and the smaller walkway lamps will illuminate the paved pathway across the park. By illuminating the park, people will be able to stay in the area for longer periods of time and they will feel safer as it will be a lit area and they will be able to see what is happening around them. 

The excess electricity that will be produced will be distributed evenly to reduce the monthly cost of electricity for the people within the neighbourhood.

The visible elements of this type of infrastructure are the solar panels on the roofs and the lights in the park, each of which are nodes in the whole process. The connections between these nodes are hidden as they can not come into contact with water. In this instance, specific elements of the infrastructure have to be hidden while others are visible.

RAINWATER COLLECTION

Rainwater collection and recycling systems will be put in place on the majority of the flat roofs. The system will harvest the rain water and purify it so that you can drink it and use it for domestic purposes. After its been used for domestic purposed, the recycling part of the system comes into play. This is where it takes the grey water and filters and cleans the water so that the water can then be used to water the urban farms. 

At point 1 the storm water infrastructure will be visible in order to catch all the water run off from the drinking fountains that will be put into place.

At point 2 the storm water infrastructure will also be visible in order to catch all the surface run off from the park and streets.
The rest of the system is hidden as it is linked to the existing storm water disposal systems.

The visible elements for this type of infrastructure would be the collection, storage and filtering systems on the roof of the buildings and on the ground it would be the 2 collection points at the ends of the park. The rest of the system could in fact be visible and easily accessible even though I have chose to link it to the current storm water disposal systems that they have in place already.

URBAN FARMING

At point number 1, the urban farm is on the first floor story of the building as the first floor story was not being used and there is no roof on that building. The urban farms that will grow on this particular building will need to be grown in planter boxes.

At point number 2, the urban farm will be on ground level and so the plants and crops will be able to be planted straight into the earth in order for it to grow.

The urban farming infrastructure is all visible in terms of seeing the soil and the plants and vegetables growing and the urban farms will be open to anybody to grow their own food and be able to share the food with the rest of the neighbourhood. 

The hidden elements for this type of infrastructure would be the irrigation system and the connections that get the water from the roof of the buildings all the way down to the urban farms so that the recycling grey water can be used to feed the crops that will be grown there.

JEPPESTOWN'S INFRASTRUCTURE ON AN URBAN TISSUE LEVEL

The urban tissue level of the built environment focuses on a specific portion of the city, namely a suburb or neighbourhood. The infrastructures that relate to this scale of inquiry range from parks to market squares to streets and pavements to building sectors.

The market infused with the taxi rank draws people in for trade and business opportunities, while the park draws people in for recreational activities like running and sports.

JEPPESTOWN'S INFRASTRUCTURE ON A CITY STRUCTURE LEVEL

The city structure level of the built environment focuses on the entire area that the city encompasses. The infrastructures related to this scale of inquiry range from roads to public transport to stadiums to city parks to the city center itself.

Jeppestown has a strong transport infrastructure that allows for various methods of transport to and from the area.

UNDERSTANDING INFRASTRUCTURE

 "the basic physical and organisational structures and facilities (eg. buildings, roads, services) needed for the functionality of a society or business"

Infrastructure is commonly split into two main categories, namely 'hard' and 'soft' infrastructure.

'hard infrastructure'
relates to the physical networks or facilities that are necessary for the operation of the society or enterprise

'soft infrastructure'

relates to the institutions that are involved in the sustainability and growth of the country or society

I am going to further categorise 'hard infrastructure' as either being visible or hidden. 

The visible refers to the above ground and larger scale infrastructure, while the hidden refers to the under ground and smaller scale infrastructure. The two categories are of equal importance and seem to be able to function independently, but when you start to look at the 'life span' of each category, you will find that they will eventually have a huge effect on each other.

In common construction practice, MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) services are installed below the visible infrastructure and within structural elements of a building in order for these services to remain hidden and this is where the problem begins. Because of the shorter life span of the hidden infrastructure, they need to be maintained and in instances where they are not easily accessible, the visible infrastructures need to be dismantled in order to allow for that maintenance. 

eg. In the instance of upgrading or maintaining the hidden services under roads or paving, the road or paving will need to be dismantled to allow for the access for the upgrade or maintenance and then reassembled after completion.

CRITICAL NEIGHBOURHOOD IMMERSION

JEPPESTOWN

What kind of surface and area creates the most interaction between people?

I started my process of inquiry by studying the movement of people through specific spaces and intersections along John Page drive. As they moved through or entered into those spaces, I documented the number of interactions that occurred and the duration of those interactions to determine which of the spaces served as the best catalyst for interactions and which of the spaces could sustain the interactions for the longest periods of time, based on the surrounding surface conditions, the size of the space and the activities that occurred in that space or in the vicinity of that area of study.

What I found was that along John Page Dr from the intersections of Margaret Mcingana St to Hans St and all the intersections in-between were predominantly hard surfaces with few activities occurring and the size of the spaces were small as there were just sidewalks. I noticed that there were very few interactions between people along this strip of road and of those interactions that occurred, none lasted more than 5mins. I never had a single interaction with anyone along this strip of road.

At the intersection of John Page Dr and Park St there was a change of surface at the park to a more soft and possibly more comfortable surface, with a much larger open area with one or two small vendor activities. I noticed that there were more interactions than the first strip of road but the duration of those interactions still lasted less than 5mins.

At the intersection of John Page Dr and Marshall St the surface became hard again and the size of the spaces smaller with no activities. I noticed a drop in the number of interactions but a few of the interactions lasted longer than 5mins but less than 10mins. I had one interaction with two men who came up to me and asked me what I was doing and we spoke for about 8mins.

At the intersection of John Page Dr and Main St the surface was hard and the size of the space opened up a little with a large amount of activities occurring in that space and in its vicinity. I noticed a large rise in the number of interactions with the majority of them lasting between 5-10mins and a few lasting between 10-20mins. At this intersection, I had 3 separate interactions that two lasted between 5-10mins and one was a short memorable interaction with a toddler.

In conclusion, the areas that created the most interactions were the areas with lots of activities and moderate sized open spaces. The longest duration of interactions happened within the park and not on any of the intersections.