Solarpunk Urbanism

I've been thinking about trying to depict some of the ideas from this conversation: https://slrpnk.net/post/12735795, using a sort of flat, diagram-like style similar to this old photobash:

Though a bit more complex. The obvious answer is 'don't build cities in swamps' but we already have a bunch of them, and though I don't live there I recognize that they have a lot of unique cultural and historical value and are peoples' homes, so I'm interested in what a solarpunk-adapted version of these would look like.

At the same time, I know basically nothing about New Orleans or similar areas, have no background in civil engineering, and no qualifications to make this except for the capability to do so using an old version of GIMP. So I'd absolutely love to identify issues, places to make improvements, and things that are missing now rather than once I've spent days chopping up images and finessing them into something coherent.

So what'd I get wrong? What's unworkable, out of scale, or dangerous? What style of buildings or cultural touchstones would you like to see? What kind of plants are missing?

Hi! I'm hoping to hear people's thoughts on what my city, New Orleans, would look like in a perfect solarpunk world.

Most solarpunk art (which I love to see!) Seems to be praire/plains or forest inspired, and definitely one of the issues we have that I want to avoid is people bring environmental and ecological policies and thoughts from those two biomes to other ones (because they're seen as kind of default).

So, New Orleans! Lots of interesting challenges to address, including:

-tornados (so we need safe rooms and to withstand them

-hurricanes (there's probably no way to withstand these, instead maybe something that's kind of designed to be refixed once a year, since that's what happens anyways)

-flooding, both hurricane-associated and flash-flooding throughout the year (definitely no basements, honestly maybe no first or second floors either).

-extreme heat (feels-like gets to 120F/50C at least a couple days a year)

-extreme cold (not nearly as bad as the heat, but can be brutal enough that they turn schools into extra shelter for our unhoused for about a week each year)

-end of the river (we're at the end of the Mississippi, so we're definitely more silt than soil)

-swamp (New Orleans is sinking, our ground isn't particularly stable)

-agriculture (I'm really not sure farming is a great idea. It's hard to find local crops that grow in the wetlands--even lists of indigenous foodways focus more on upstate, where traditional planting would work. Can we farm in the wetlands without turning it into a farm?)

“These two directions require different properties for cool walls,” says Qilong Cheng, a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University who worked on the study as a graduate student at Columbia University. “So we have this two-surface zigzag design, with one surface facing the sky and the other facing the ground.”

The angles, looking a little like the sawtooth roofs of factory rooms, can shave 5.5° Fahrenheit off average indoor temperatures.

Radiation coming up from the ground is reduced or deflected by one material, while heat from the sun is reflected with ultra-white paint.

More info in the article

Please read the whole thing (and if capitalists and conservatives were consistent, they'd be livid, too, at the idea homeless people's property can be stolen and thrown away under the euphemism of "cleaning" - aren't property rights sacred to them?), but here is the conclusion:

This is what we give up — always so much more than we think — in agreeing to scapegoat, to sacrifice the homeless everyone else gives up public space. An ordinance that says no camping or sleeping in public quickly becomes no loitering in public. Stories are already emerging in the wake of the Grants Pass ruling of random people being told that they cannot sit, cannot eat, cannot exist in public space. Often these people aren’t homeless, but how can they prove that? This ruling furthers the trend, one which is not new, of the privatization of public space and the need to be a consumer to exist out in the world. And this is just one way that abandoning the unhoused hurts us all. Equally significant is that in abandoning those who cannot afford housing we agree to frame shelter as something you must earn, rather than a basic need that we all must be granted in this world. That cannot stand.

What we need, now more than ever, is solidarity across all forms of division. We cannot allow the dehuamnization or that criminalization of homelessness, of poverty, of those struggling to get by in this system, both because it is unjust and because it hurts each and every one of us. Anything that targets struggling individuals instead of the system they struggle under reinforces the oppressive mechanisms of the system and takes us a step further from liberation, from freedom, and from the world we need.

Great work by residents. But next time they need to have a more organized force to keep the city at bay, bring in the media, call their reps in the city council, etc.

You can’t beat the government in force but you can embarrass them until they give up.

Greenery on walls can reduce a buildings heat loss by 30%, improve air quality, help absorb sounds, and can even reduce a cities temperature, so it is no wonder so many places are considering them.

Here are two options I think are interesting:

Vertical Meadows:

There is a bit of a terminology game here. Verticals gardens are sometimes found in wealthy office buildings, but they do nothing for local eco-systems and are often non-local tropical varieties of plants. Even for those found outside, the plants are often picked for appearance alone, instead of what would help local biodiversity.

In comparison, vertical meadows have a different goal. Vertical meadows (started in London, England) are outdoor vertical greenery walls that uses locally-grown native and seasonal plants, ensuring year-round options for wildlife like pollinators and birds.

The main problem with these setups is that they tend to require watering systems, which (even if rainwater collection is installed) can be rather costly.

More Info:

• https://youtu.be/Qyi_7HCVoPM
• https://youtu.be/OXUYZdfqq1Q

Moss Walls:

Companies like Respyre use upcycled bioreceptive concrete and a moss coating encourage moss-growth on any vertical surface without risk of damaging the buildings. Other companies(such as Green City Solutions) grow panels of moss, which can then be installed like tiles.

Due to moss being so inexpensive to incorporate, it is becoming a popular option.

For added benefits, moss is drought tolerant to a point, and can absorb 6x more C02 than other plants. Moss is basically a living filter, and can even filter arsenic out of water.

More info:

• https://youtu.be/cE02cQIVSAs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tYG3MepUu0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tYG3MepUu0

However, moss can be hard to grow commercially(mostly due to the fact that they release spores instead of seeds), so many of the mosses people buy, especially those used for craft supplies, are illegally poached from the wild. If a little is left behind, moss typically can regenerate, but many harvesters simply roll up huge blankets of moss, leaving nothing behind. It is estimated that the mosses can take 10-20 years to grow back.

So, please research where the moss is sourced if you plan on buying any. If the company does not grow it themselves or does not mention where they source it, do not buy any.

I grabbed some quotes for those short on time. More details on everything are in the article.

In São Paulo’s favelas, low-income communities are building their own green roofs. These affordable vinyl sheet roofs were created by Teto Verde Favela, a nonprofit founded by local Luis Cassiano.

In place of traditional air-conditioning, Seville has turned to a 3,000-year-old solution. With the help of two scientists, the city in southern Spain is reviving a Middle Eastern technology: qanats, underground channels that transport water from higher to lower altitudes and drive the coolness upwards.

A simple approach to heat is helping Singapore address its urban heat challenges: painting buildings and other surfaces with reflective paint.

Munich’s climate-friendly cooling system utilizes natural energy from underground water streams. According to the city utility of Munich, Stadtwerke Muenchen (SWM), the use of these natural cold water streams has resulted in energy savings in the city of 70 percent compared to traditional cooling technology like air conditioning. Thanks to the city’s cooling system, more than 80,000 residents in Munich receive ecological energy.

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/cities-cool-down-creatively/

Pocket link

Have you ever wondered why so many large chain stores have two sets of doors? No, it is not just to store shopping carts.

Where I live, any home that is around 100 years old (that hasn't seen any renovations) will very likely have two front doors. Putting it simply, you open one door, step into a small space, and there will be another door in front of you.

(Image Sources: Image 1 | Image 2)

The space goes by many names, including: arctic entry, mud room, breeze room, vestibule, airlock, foyer, and more. For sake of simplicity, I am going to call them "entry vestibules."

Entry vestibules create a buffer between the outside and the inside of the building, preventing drafts. This can help greatly with temperature regulation in both the winter cold and summer heat. I can't find number details on energy saving, but the fact that large chains still build them may hint of their importance for money-saving.

In homes, this space also typically serves as the mud room ( a place for shoes and jackets).

In the name of "first impressions," and open concept designs, vestibules are often the first thing to go during renovations, and I think that's a real shame.

“Every year summers are hotter and heat waves more frequent, with cities suffering most. A network of climate shelters in Barcelona isn’t only making people more comfortable, it’s also saving lives.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZI4Rh_APFQ

https://youtu.be/620omdSZzBs

“How do you cool a building without air conditioning? Using an approach called biomimicry, see how architect Mick Pearce harnessed the ingenuity of termites to design a natural cooling system for the largest commercial building in Zimbabwe.”

Using the technology inspired by a termite mound, The Eastgate Centre in central Harare, Zimbabwe uses up to 35% less energy than other buildings.

Have you ever heard the saying “it takes a village to raise a child?” Well, where I live, most people do not know the name of their next door neighbor.

This isolation can cause loneliness, but it is more than that. Having a community is helping people do jobs they can’t, it's lending tools, it's teaching someone something their parents never taught them, and more.

Luckily, there is a solution that is becoming common in both co-housing and eco-villages around the world. They utilize common areas or community centers, as well as outdoor spaces(such as courtyards or rooftop gardens). While you still have your private home with your own kitchen, you also have these spaces which are open to everyone.

Here are some ideas you might see in these common spaces:

• Indoor play area. In some, the retired senior citizens who like to keep busy volunteer to watch children in these areas while parents are at work.
• Dining room big enough to fit every person who lives there and guests.
• Community Kitchen. People take turns cooking, or they have occasional dinners together.
• Private office spaces (for work-from-home workers who still want to be around people).
• Tiny libraries.
• Outdoor play area.
• Outdoor sitting spaces.
• Community gardens and/or a greenhouse.

More Ideas:

• Window awnings which utilize passive solar, so the sun is blocked in the summer but not the winter
• A central courtyard for passive cooling. Examples: Skywells (China), Tsubo-niwa (Japan). Thevenin @beehaw.org adds that a retractable cover of some kind might be important to protect from wind pressure.
• Better insulation for better temperature control, and sound proofing.
• Bird-safe windows
• Rainwater collection for watering plants (or, the more expensive option: for piping into toilets)
• White roofs for cooling in hot climates, dark roofs for warming in cold climates

Recommended Video:

• https://youtu.be/mguvTfAw4wk

What else would improve apartment buildings?

Mycelium is a viable option in the search for ecologically friendly and sustainable building materials. Mushroom roots provide mycelium, a fungal substance made of fibers resembling roots and the vegetative portion of a fungus. The use of mycelium in constructing materials matches globally set targets concerned with persistence, henceforth offering an eco-friendly, renewable source that is also carbon-neutral, unlike common substances such as cement, plastic, and steel.

Mycelium is a type of fungal material obtained from mushrooms. The fungus fibers make up this fungal substance. It is made of hyphae, which are thin white filaments between which the fungi grow. It is used in construction to grow hyphal strands on organic substrates. The process starts by injecting fungal spores into the substrate, which then develop, spread, and bind together. This mixture is put into molds, and the required shapes and sizes are attained. After the substrate is completely covered with mycelium, it is dried to prevent further growth and to produce long-lasting material; this results in very tough, fireproof, and waterproof fibers from the mushroom root that are also environmentally friendly and decompose easily.

This article explores mycelium’s properties, its construction applications, examples of structures built using this innovative material, and the challenges and prospects.

Prior to when electricity became common place, people were looking for other ways to make life easier. One of these inventions, the solar water heater, came in 1760, and boomed with popularity in the 1900’s for warm areas.

“In 1891, Clarence Kemp released the first ‘Climax’ solar water heater in Baltimore. He placed several water-filled iron elliptical tubes inside the box in series with cold water entering one side and warm water exiting from the other end. Multiple tubes avoided warm and cold-water being in close proximity, thus avoiding adverse heat exchanges.” PassiveHousePlus

These early models did have faults (such as heat lost, and poor resistance to frost, but continued to improve and build with popularity over time.

Eventually, for a complex number of reasons, solar water heaters disappeared and gas and electric took the show.

Today, this tech is making a comeback, though with modern touches.

Videos with More Info:

• https://youtu.be/YdM9TgzRc9A
• https://youtu.be/fAyY0kGmgmc

This is an article that dates back from 2019 but I think it's pretty relevant still.