x town report

ENBE | Final Project | Part A – Report | The Better Livable Town Representation

Better Livable Town

EXOTIC TOWN

Siong Jia Yii

0318239

FNBE APR 2014

ENBE FINAL PROJECT “X” TOWN

SIONG JIA YII | 0318239 | PUAN HASMANIRA | FNBE APR 2014 | Taylor’s University1


Content:1. Introduction

3

2. A Town 4-5

3. Investigation & Data Collection: Ancient and old cities/town 6-8

4. Investigation & Data Collection: The present

towns/cities 9-11

5. Investigation & Data Collection: The future and better township 12

6. The New “X” Town / Or the new name 13-16

7. The Conclusion 17

8. References list 17



1. Introduction The aim of this final assignment is to understand the components and elements of a town and what makes a better livable and sustainable town. It is divided into 2 parts:

A. An A4 report and short 3 minutes video slide presentation. This is an individual assignment that aims to investigate and understand the context related to TOWN and THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT plus to propose a better livable town.

B. Prepare maximum 3 A2 presentation board and a physical model. This is a group assignment to produce a physical model by using recyclable and maximum 3 A2 presentation board to explain further about this town.

As mayor of “X” town, each student will have to propose a new layout for a town because of reasons that it is too crowded. The “X” town conditions:

- Size should be about 30km² or smaller about 15-30 km²

- Population in between 80,000-200,000- Location is in Malaysia- Must follow a certain grids which are square grid,

triangle grid, hexagon grid, radial grid or mix grid.

When it comes to a group, each group should choose one kind of the following town:



- A town with lake - A town with a river flowing right through the town- A town on a small island- A town next to sea or estuary

When planning for the “X” town, students are required to consider and include the followings:

- The geometric shape, form, pattern, hierarchy, system and structure

- Main focus of the town- Zoning of the town- The people, population, social issues, activities, food

distribution, culture and religion- Transportation, networking and communications- Infrastructure, utility, services and amenities- Sustainable and better living initiative

The town.1 The Town Definition

City is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city.

.2 What is the brief history?

The word town shares an origin with the German word Zaun, the Dutch word tuin, and the Old Norse tun. The German word Zaun comes closest to the original meaning of the word: a fence of any material. An early borrowing from Celtic *dunom (cf. Old Irish dun, Welsh din "fortress, fortified place, camp," dinas "city;"

In English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed. In England, a town was a small city that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications, and built a palisade or stockade instead. In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, which had a high fence or a wall around them (like the garden of palace Het



Loo in Apeldoorn, which was the example for the privy garden of William and Mary at Hampton Court). In Old Norse tun means a (grassy) place between farmhouses, and is still used in a similar meaning in modern Norwegian.

.3 What makes a town?

1. Size and density of the population should be above normal.

2. Differentiation of the population. Not all residents grow their own food, leading to specialists.

3. Payment of taxes to a deity or king.

4. Monumental public buildings.

5. Those not producing their own food are supported by the king.

6. Systems of recording and practical science.

7. A system of writing.

8. Development of symbolic art.

9. Trade and import of raw materials.

10. Specialist craftsmen from outside the kin-group.

.4 What makes a good town/ township?

Room to walk with dignity, integrity and without overcrowding

Comfortable climatic conditions – sun and shade depending on the season and protection from the wind

Pleasant facades at street level to stroll alongside and observe

Good conditions for people with disabilities and people with prams

Clear structure in the pedestrian system – it should be easy to find your way around



A pedestrian system that connects important destinations

Ability to promenade through the town

Good walking rhythm with few interruptions

Few and short waiting times at intersections

Many well-placed benches

Widespread secondary seating – such as steps and edges of planter boxes

Well-situated cafes and outdoor restaurants

Beautiful and effective lighting

Space for cultural activities and communication

Space for street theatre, clowns and jesters, music and small-scale commercial activities

Democratic public spaces for all.

Low level of noise and few disturbances

Intimate public spaces

Fine views and good details

Interesting facades, window displays and exhibits

A lively, diverse and safe city to move around in

A wide variety of uses both day and night

Residences to ensure a 24 hour city

Educational institutions to ensure life and vitality

Open in the evenings with lit window displays

Safe places and streets day and night.

.5 What is future town?



Future town is a more sustainable and livable town which provides good solutions to the problems facing by the current towns.

Investigation & Data Collection:Ancient Cities / towns

ANCIENT ROME

.1 When did it start?

It began on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC.

.2 Which ancient city are you concentrating on?



Ancient Rome is an Italic civilization that located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants (roughly 20% of the world's population and covering 6.5 million square kilometers (2.5 million sq. mi) during its height between the first and second centuries AD.

.3 What makes is a significant city and what are the details?

1. Aqueducts2. The concretes used3. Newspaper. These early newspapers were written on

metal or stone4. Romans Arches5. The Julian Calendar6. Battlefield surgery7. The Twelve Tables and the Corpus Juris Civilis8. Colloseum

.4 Conclusion about the cities

Ancient Rome has a good water and waste management which can use for the future city by using its concept to make our own management.

.5 What information or element that you can use to your new future city?

Sanitation in ancient Rome was a complex system similar in many ways to modern sanitation systems. Sewer system

The Romans had a complex system of sewers covered by stones, much like modern sewers. Waste flushed from the latrines flowed through a central channel into the main sewage system and thence into a nearby river or stream. However, it was not uncommon for Romans to throw waste out of windows into the streets, at least according



to Roman satirists. Despite this, Roman waste management is admired for its innovation.

Public latrinesThe Romans recycled public bath waste water by using it as part of the flow that flushed the latrines. Terra cotta piping was used in the plumbing that carried waste water from homes. The Romans were the first to seal pipes in concrete to resist the high water pressures developed in siphons and elsewhere.

AqueductsThe aqueducts provided the large volumes of water that—after serving drinking, bathing, and other needs—flushed through the sewers. Aqueducts were used everywhere in the empire not just to supply drinking water for private houses but to supply other needs such as irrigation, public fountains, and thermal.



HANGING GARDEN OF BABYLON

Traditionally they were said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq. The Babylonian priest Berossus, writing in about 290 BC and quoted later by Josephs, attributed the gardens to the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled between 605 and 562 BC. There are no extant Babylonian texts which mention the gardens, and no definitive archaeological evidence has been found in Babylon.

What information or element that you can use to your new future city?

Green roofHanging Gardens of Babylon hardly had the same environmental benefits of today’s rooftop greenery - one scholar estimates the gardens would have required 8,200 gallons of irrigation water a day!



Investigation & Data Collection:Present Towns / township

CAPE TOWN

.1 When did it start? History and all

Cape Town originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualing (supply) station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa. Today it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. In 2011 the metropolitan region had an estimated population of 3.74 million. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of



Societies of Industrial Design. In 2014 Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by The New York Times

.2 What town are you concentrating on?

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The city is famous for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, as well as for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. It located on the shore of Table Bay.

.3 Conclusion about the towns Cape Town not only famous in travel but it used many green technologies to makes it more sustainable.

5. What information or element that you can use to your new town?

Renewable-source electricity - the Darling wind farm

Nuclear-powered electricity



PORTLANDPortland is a city in the State of Oregon, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. According to the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, estimated to have reached 592,120 in 2013, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States. Portland is Oregon's most populous city, and the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest region, after Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Approximately 2,314,554 people live in the Portland metropolitan area (MSA), the 19th most populous MSA in the United States. Because of its public transportation networks and efficient land-use planning, Portland has been recognized as one of the most

environmentally conscious cities in the world. What information or element that you can use to your new town?

Cover suitable rooftops on new and existing buildings with soil and vegetation: Ecoroofs, Roof-gardens

Remove unnecessary pavement and excavate areas to allow stormwater runoff to enter and plant vegetation

Plant trees.



Daylight Creeks and restore natural areas.

Investigation & Data Collection:The future of towns and Better Towns

TIAN JIN ECO-CITY

It is the world’s biggest eco-city in development that will be around half of Manhattan. The team’s hope is to build a sustainable city from polluted land. It aims to house 350,000 people in a low-carbon, green environment by year 2020.

What information or element that you can use to your new town?

Cleaning upTechnology removing toxic heavy metals from water will help turn the polluted reservoir into a boating lake for trading.

Road-testing technology



Tian Jin eco-city will be a test bed for several new technologies, such as next generation driverless EN-V cars.

The New “X” City / the New NAME?

.1 How did you come up with the solution to create this new town?

A new town named EXOTIC TOWN has been proposed to solve the overcrowded problem of the city.

.2 What is the important characteristic and elements?TRANSPORTATION

The Credo E-Bone is a bus that has been designed by Peter Simon and is a public transportation that is powered by lithium batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. This futuristic green transportation is a zero-emission one with four in-wheel electric



motors whose power source is located on the roof of the bus. The bus has a bone-like structure and is made out of composite plastic that makes it lightweight as well.

Inspired by plants, the car generates fuel for itself using nothing more than sunlight and water, the two fuels for plants to carry out their natural processes. The transparent solar cells that the car is equipped with generates electricity from ambient light and uses it to carry out electrolysis of water, finally generating hydrogen, which fuels the car.

The future is powered by nuclear and wind. Public transportation is robust.

SYSTEM



1) Rainwater harvesting is the accumulation and deposition of rainwater for reuse before it reaches the aquifer. Uses include water for garden, water for livestock, water for irrigation, and indoor heating for houses etc. In many places the water collected is just redirected to a deep pit with percolation. The harvested water can be used as drinking water as well as for storage and other purpose like irrigation. Every building in EXOTIC TOWN will have this system in it.

2) Public Bike System

It is a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a very short term basis. The main purpose is transportation: bike share allows people to depart from point "A" and arrive at point "B" free from the worries of ownership.

Others



1) Green Roof/ Green Buildings

A green roof is helping to reduce the amount of stormwater released from a roof from a given rainfall event, it’s important to measure how much rain has fallen and how much has left the roof via downspouts and drains. In a green roof system, the roof runoff is equivalent to the total rainfall volume minus evapotranspiration and soil retention.

2) Renewable energy

Renewable energy is generally defined as energy that comes from resources which are naturally replenished on a human timescale such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat. Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels in four distinct areas: electricity generation, hot



water/space heating, motor fuels, and rural (off-grid) energy services.

3) Vertical Farming/ Skyfarming

It is a theoretical form of agriculture which can be done in urban high-rises. In these farmscrapers (high-rises) food such as vegetables, fruit, fish, and even live-stock can be raised by using greenhouse growing methods.

.3 Conclusion about the new X town EXOTIC TOWN is a more sustainable and livable compared to others. It is a pollution-free, more greener and eco-friendly town.

Conclusion The Earth had been polluted by pollution that comes from several sources which are carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, CFCs and etc. Therefore, citizens and government should have come up with a solution to reduce the pollution in order to make our Earth healthier as it is now in serious sick.



As the mayor of new “X” town, I had proposed a town to overcome the problem of overcrowding. It contains a few of green technologies which make the town more sustainable, greener, livable and also pollution-free. Because of the town encourage citizens use bicycle as major transportation, so this will decrease the effect of air pollution.

I’ve learnt more about those green technologies and how to make a town green and sustainable. I had also realized that Malaysia is not that green compared to other foreign cities as our city have nobody using bicycle as transportation every day. I hope that our city would be improved as well as other cities.

Reference LinksBibliography

(n.d.). Retrieved from www.en.eikipedia.com

Onset Computer Corporation. (2014). Retrieved 1995, from Green Roof Monitoring: http://www.onsetcomp.com/green-roof-monitoring

Liptan, T. (n.d.). Ecoroofs & Other Green City Strategies in Portland, Oregon. Retrieved from EPA: http://www.epa.gov/heatisland/resources/pdf/EcoroofsandGreenCityStrategies.pdf

Nelson, B. (2013). Could vertical farming be the future? Retrieved 2013, from NBCNEWS.com: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21154137/

Planet, S. (2012, May 3). China's eco-cities: Sustainable urban living in Tianjin. Retrieved May 3, 2012, from BBC: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120503-sustainable-cities-on-the-rise



Gehl Architects 2002, Public Spaces and Public Life: City of Adelaide 2002, Adelaide.


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