No description available.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes special report study entitled: [1] Role of stream water in architectural and permaculture design.-- [2]Exploration on the use of natural energy. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes special report study entitled : [1] Role of stream water in architectural and permaculture design.-- [2]Exploration on the use of natural energy. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

No description available.

As climate change worsens, it is imperative that we make drastic changes to how our buildings are designed. We need to create building systems that work with and enhance the surrounding ecosystem. Many of these types of systems were developed and tested during the back to land and environmentalist movements of the 1970’s. What is needed now is to synthesize these systems into packages that can be more easily adopted by the mainstream culture. By paying special attention to what people are willing to invest into their home’s system maintenance and adapting the sustainable systems to meet those needs, we can craft truly sustainable and environmentally regenerative buildings and building systems to meet the needs of all people. Design strategies will be developed to engage the inhabitants with the building and its systems, prompting them to maintain those building systems with care instead of as drudgery. A 10-unit co-housing project will be designed with real clients to demonstrate the applicability of researched systems and design strategies. This thesis restricts its focus to systems applicable to residential building types, single family through multifamily, and to the New England climate.

Yes / In this paper, we respond to academic critiques of resilience that suggest an inherent affinity with neoliberalism and/or the incompatibility of resilience and critical agency. Drawing on the reflections of people who have found ‘resilience’ a helpful conceptual tool that has informed their engagement with a challenging and unsettling context, we suggest that ideas of resilience, solidarity and agency intersect in complex and interesting ways. Following a brief discussion of our methodology, we begin with an overview of how respondents to an online survey and a series of related conversations conceptualise resilience. We go on to explore how these conceptualisations might relate to critical analysis of the status quo, and to engagement with solidarity and agency. We conclude that there is potential to link these concepts, and that thoughtful engagement with this potential, and with the tensions and questions it raises, might make valuable contributions to both theory and practice.

This report aims to discusse how to create more sustainable indoor greenery that can make benefit for people’s health and well-being. The accounts for sustainability in this project has three layers, which are design for people’s sustainable life (people’s health and well-being), design for sustainable indoor greenery and principles of sustainable design. The question I come up with in this project is “what is the sustainable relationship between people and indoor greenery”. The assumption I hope to challenge with my project is how to create a sustainable solution for house planting to bring back the nature into the daily experiences of city inhabitants by product design. As a result, people could have more sustainable and healthier life at home through living with nature in the urban settings. The content of this report demonstrates the whole steps (background and motivation, contexts, research, ideal generation, sketch and prototype, model making and visualization of results) towards the design results supported by theoretical studies.  The relevant studies I mention in this project are biophilic design, permaculture and NASA clean air study, which are related to sustainable indoor greenery and sustainable house planting relatively. The results obtained in this project include one product design - a planter that offers a sustainable way of cultivating health plants at home through reusing water and designing micro forest garden, and one product-based App design proposal - creating a house-planting community, in which people can communicate and support each other with sustainable house-planting tips and knowledge.

This study departs from the notion that permaculture is a method for implementing systemic change, with the objective of curbing the negative trends associated with industrial food production on a local level. Thereafter, the city of Uppsala, Sweden is examined in order to determine the opportunities and constraints in establishing and supporting a public permaculture park. This is accomplished by identifying to what extent permaculture currently is being used in Uppsala. In addition, the municipality’s priorities and vision for the future of the city, as well as their policies and goals concerning the use and development of public green spaces, are examined. Furthermore, the ways in which the city‘s legislation facilitates and/or hinders such a project and the start-up and continuation costs of such a project in the short term are determined. These factors are then used to examine two case studies, which were conducted on potential locations for such an initiative. Upon analysis it is determined that creating a public permaculture park in Uppsala is feasible, though obstacles exist. The study also provides suggestions for improving existing infrastructural hurdles in order to facilitate implementation.

Très peu de recherches ont abordé le secteur agrotouristique du point de vue des consommateurs et ce, malgré l'essor actuel de celui-ci dans l'industrie touristique. De plus, l'impact de la perception des consommateurs du type d'agriculture pratiqué n'a pas été abordé dans leur choix d'une offre agrotouristique, alors qu'un nombre croissant d'entreprises se tourne vers des pratiques agricoles plus écologiques. Cette recherche vise à combler ces lacunes en analysant les préférences des consommateurs pour une offre agrotouristique et en portant une attention particulière à l'impact d'un type d'agriculture écologique sur ces préférences. Une revue de la littérature existante a d'abord permis d'identifier les attributs saillants d'une offre agrotouristique. À la suite de cette revue, trois attributs ont été analysés : le prix, les activités offertes et le type d'agriculture (écologique, principalement écologique et plus traditionnelle). Pour réaliser cette recherche, une approche quantitative a été privilégiée et un questionnaire a été rempli par 220 visiteurs provenant de trois sites agrotouristiques différents en matière de type d'agriculture. Une analyse conjointe a démontré l'importance marquée de l'attribut « activités offertes » sur la préférence des consommateurs. De plus, il est ressorti que l'attribut « type d'agriculture » avait plus d'importance que celui du « prix ». Cette analyse a permis de déterminer que le site agrotouristique préféré des personnes interrogées dans un verger dont le type d'agriculture est « écologique seulement » et « principalement écologique » devrait offrir l'autocueillette ainsi que des activités complémentaires, pratiquer un type d'agriculture « principalement écologique » et pouvait avoir un prix de vente de ses pommes supérieur à ce qui se trouve actuellement sur le marché. Les préférences des visiteurs du site dont l'agriculture est plutôt « traditionnel » sont différentes. En effet, contrairement aux visiteurs des deux autres vergers, ces derniers préfèrent le prix des pommes le plus bas (0,60 $/livre). De plus, les résultats révèlent que les visiteurs d'un site agrotouristique dont le type d'agriculture est « écologique seulement » sont davantage préoccupés par leur santé et envers l'environnement que les visiteurs des deux autres vergers. Les contributions de cette étude sont, avant tout, d'enrichir la littérature dans le domaine peu étudié de l'agrotourisme. Aussi, elle permet de guider les propriétaires d'entreprises agrotouristiques dans le développement de leur offre afin de répondre adéquatement aux préférences des consommateurs. Également, les résultats de cette recherche ont le potentiel d'encourager les producteurs à investir dans des pratiques agricoles plus écologiques. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : préférences des consommateurs, agrotourisme, agriculture écologique, analyse conjointe

Herein lies the journey of change, from being a frustrated and isolated designer, to finding a connected practice expressing my personal values. Much was learnt on the journey regarding the nature of my practice and how it changed, about sustainability and what it means for my practice, tactics, framing and the recognition of a greater potential of my communication design practice beyond material considerations to becoming a device for connection leading to a more sustaining practice. This research is of value to communication design practitioners wishing to move towards a more sustainable practice. It provides insight into the deeper issues of sustainability applied to communication design practice, a guide to important literature of the field, and some possibilities for an expanded form of communication design practice.