The university town of Freiburg, Germany has a well-deserved reputation as the European capital of environmentalism and sustainable architecture and urban design. The city is perhaps best known for the development of two model sustainable urban districts, Rieselfeld and Vauban, both of which integrate multi-modal transportation linkages, ecological storm water management, low-energy passive solar houses, combined heating and power (CHP) systems, mixed uses (both public and private), local schools and a variety of shops to meet everyday needs, thus reducing greatly the need for private car ownership.The focus of this paper is on Vauban, a mixed-use district of some 5,100 residents, which has been built on the site of a former French military base. Unlike Rieselfeld and most other European sustainable urban districts, Vauban grew from the grass roots up and was largely designed and developed (within city guidelines and with technical assistance provided by the city) by many Baugruppen, small ecologically and socially progressive homeowner cooperatives organized under the auspices of the Vauban Forum. Members of each Baugruppe worked with their chosen architect to design their own apartments and housing blocks as well as their shared outdoor living spaces. The result is a community that is socially cohesive and architecturally diverse. Excellent light rail connections to all of Freiburg, as well as car sharing clubs and extensive walking and bicycle paths, offer Vauban residents everything they need for everyday life without owning a car. In addition to pioneering new patterns of user-developed ecological urban design, Vauban also has been a leader in setting new lowenergy standards for buildings in Freiburg as well as for the rest of Germany.Based on a review of the literature, interviews with selected architects and residents as well as on-site observations by the author, this paper presents a comprehensive description of Vauban as a successful example of participatory design and development, as well as social, economic, architectural and technological sustainability. Keywords: Baugruppen, biophilic design, 'car-free' living, carbon neutral building design, child-friendly urbanism, combined heat and power systems, design for social diversity, ecological storm water management, participatory planning, Passivhaus and Plusenergie® housing, solar photovoltaics, sustainable urban design.
Environmental challenges persist across the world, including the Australasian region of Oceania, where biodiversity hotspots and unique ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef are common. These systems are routinely affected by multiple stressors from anthropogenic activities, and increasingly influenced by global megatrends (e.g., the food–energy–water nexus, demographic transitions to cities) and climate change. Here we report priority research questions from the Global Horizon Scanning Project, which aimed to identify, prioritize, and advance environmental quality research needs from an Australasian perspective, within a global context. We employed a transparent and inclusive process of soliciting key questions from Australasian members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Following submission of 78 questions, 20 priority research questions were identified during an expert workshop in Nelson, New Zealand. These research questions covered a range of issues of global relevance, including research needed to more closely integrate ecotoxicology and ecology for the protection of ecosystems, increase flexibility for prioritizing chemical substances currently in commerce, understand the impacts of complex mixtures and multiple stressors, and define environmental quality and ecosystem integrity of temporary waters. Some questions have specific relevance to Australasia, particularly the uncertainties associated with using toxicity data from exotic species to protect unique indigenous species. Several related priority questions deal with the theme of how widely international ecotoxicological data and databases can be applied to regional ecosystems. Other timely questions, which focus on improving predictive chemistry and toxicology tools and techniques, will be important to answer several of the priority questions identified here. Another important question raised was how to protect local cultural and social values and maintain indigenous engagement during problem formulation and identification of ecosystem protection goals. Addressing these questions will be challenging, but doing so promises to advance environmental sustainability in Oceania and globally.
Is only a shell, a husk of meaning From which the purpose breaks only when it is fulfilled If at all. Either you had no purpose Or the purpose is beyond the end you figured And is altered in fulfillment ....-T.S. Eliot, from "Little Gidding" Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu: "All your teaching is centered on what has no use." Chuang replied: "If you have no appreciation for what has no use you cannot begin to talk about what can be used. The earth, for example, is broad and vast but of all this expanse a man only uses a few inches upon which he happens to be standing. Now suppose you suddenly take away all that he is not actually using so that, all around his feet a gulf yawns, and he stands in the void, with nowhere solid except right under each foot: how long will he be able to use what he is using?" Hui Tzu said: "It would cease to serve any purpose." Chuang Tzu concluded: "This shows the absolute necessity of what has 'no use.' "-Chuang Tzu, from Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu Since the discovery of fire, and in the past 7,000-10,000 years with the development of agriculture and the establishment of fixed settlements, the evolution of human culture has been the reverse of that of organic systems. Rather than moving toward greater complexity, diversity, symbiosis and stability, human dominated ecosystems have moved progressively toward simplicity, homogeneity, com• petitive exploitation and fragility. No other species has had the capacity to alter so drastically its environment to meet its own needs, and humanity has had neither the self control necessary to temper its demands nor the wisdom necessary to regulate effectively 'the environments it has had the power to create. So far, this unhealthy combination of intemperance and ignorance has proven disastrous for both nature and culture.
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