the deputy director of Chuds.
He overall liked our approaches and suggested a few things to be cautious about and
or to be brave and encouraging:
- pavement means road (in american english)
- pavement is sidewalk in american english
- be careful about using the word colonia especially when referring to the new one.
we might want to think of another word, as colonia is perceived as pejorative term.
- it is very very very hot in summer in Texas, in the south, temperatures over 100F (=37C)
- towns emerging with arcades makes sense
- rainwater collection makes sense even in the hot south
- solar hot water heaters were spread across states until electricity providers came and told people how uncool it was to have solar water heater. Now noone has them.
- check flood planes. most of lower Rio Grande will be in flood plane, which causes great problems to the colonias and their no/fragile sewage.
- microenterprises - yes, think about more than just the factory: what do people need?
- banks
- grocery stores
- child care
- elderly care
- car fixing
- high tech enterprises
PEOPLE ARE POOR BUT NOT STUPID
(deprived population sometimes gets upgraded in the most surprising way precisely because of the deprivation,
mobile phones in Africa, because there are no landlines)
- combine low tech and high tech (fab lab MIT, laser cutter in Africa, Mark told us a story about a little boy who would be coming to use the machines in the lab, made a toy car cut out, sold it to all his friends and made profit. I cant find anything online about the fab lab in Africa, however I found that the MIT fab lab turned mobile and travels and replicates itself. Also i found a blog: "All about Africa - a collection of innovative and sustainable ideas focused on a new entrepreneurial renaissance in Africa.", which is full of great tips.
Robert mentioned last years FREE UNIT student Jing Lu's project A New Public House
which "... will utilise modern day technological advances such as DIY manufacturing and the Open Source movement, as well as reinterpret traditional social models such as the Guilds - to create a contemporary public role for the estate."
Mark has mentioned the research that has been done by perhaps Pliny Fisk: comparing the cost of ownership v. the cost of lifestyle, where the spendings of a family were listed in order from the most expensive to the less:
- mortgage
- utility bills
- transport
- food
- all other
This is where micro enterprise can come in, if it manages to cut of expenses from the top of the list, the money that are not spent say on mortgage, because the house is being built DIY, the lifestyle changes, has to and can, because instead of going to work to earn money to be able to borrow money to build, one builds him/herself.
makes sense :)
Mark also said: MAKE GUESSES - someone will tell you its wrong!, if you dont, you dont have anything.
We discussed the issue of being/not being annexed to a city. The city will not annex a colonia unless it is upgraded i.e. the city wont have to spend money on it.
Some colonias made themselves a district, or municipality, so they cant be annexed anymore.
discuss: do we want to design new subdivisions, so that they are self-sustainable, or are we trying to design them to be able to be annexed?
Mark also suggested we look at landscaping:
- LA palm avenues
Oak valley (interview with vampires movie, where people thought the trees were planted as part of architecture, but the oaks were about 200 years older than the architecture:)
TREES - to provide Shade
Al Hambra - arcades to distribute collected rainwater.
which "... will utilise modern day technological advances such as DIY manufacturing and the Open Source movement, as well as reinterpret traditional social models such as the Guilds - to create a contemporary public role for the estate."
Mark has mentioned the research that has been done by perhaps Pliny Fisk: comparing the cost of ownership v. the cost of lifestyle, where the spendings of a family were listed in order from the most expensive to the less:
- mortgage
- utility bills
- transport
- food
- all other
This is where micro enterprise can come in, if it manages to cut of expenses from the top of the list, the money that are not spent say on mortgage, because the house is being built DIY, the lifestyle changes, has to and can, because instead of going to work to earn money to be able to borrow money to build, one builds him/herself.
makes sense :)
Mark also said: MAKE GUESSES - someone will tell you its wrong!, if you dont, you dont have anything.
We discussed the issue of being/not being annexed to a city. The city will not annex a colonia unless it is upgraded i.e. the city wont have to spend money on it.
Some colonias made themselves a district, or municipality, so they cant be annexed anymore.
discuss: do we want to design new subdivisions, so that they are self-sustainable, or are we trying to design them to be able to be annexed?
Mark also suggested we look at landscaping:
- LA palm avenues
Oak valley (interview with vampires movie, where people thought the trees were planted as part of architecture, but the oaks were about 200 years older than the architecture:)
TREES - to provide Shade
Al Hambra - arcades to distribute collected rainwater.
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