In a previous blog entry ' Beirut is Ill' http://goo.gl/M33Bm
we established that for Beirut to become a healthy city and achieve the
10m2/person of public green space required by the World Health
Organization it will have to destroy 41% of the existing city!
This
is because The World Health Organization has established indicators for
what makes a city healthy and it ultimately arrives at a statistic of
10 meter square of public green-space per person and 40 meter square of
private green space per person. For more details about Beirut's numbers and how it compares to other cities please refer to blog entry 'Beirut is ill' http://goo.gl/M33Bm.
Cities
across the world are trying to meet these criteria in order to be
included in the network of healthy cities. But these criteria ultimately
reflect the European cities that they are drawn from, which were
planned and designed after the Renaissance.
Moreover, the
assumption that green space must accumulate into large-scale spaces in
order to optimize public usage reflects a western stereotype of space
utilization.
Cities where public green spaces were
not designed in adequate amounts need to address and challenge the
possibilities of inserting public green space. In the case of Beirut we
need to dream BIG. Do we destroy or build for green?
Instead of demolishing, I Propose to grow and
proliferate a green space from within the city. It accepts the density
of Beirut and exacerbates it. It creates a new dimension of urban
experience—airscape—which comes not from the clearing of history but
from a new encounter with it. This productive green space is proposed as
Beirut‘s second reconstruction, a productive stage for the city to improve its public health.
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Green infrastructure DESIGN STRATEGY:
Air rights are appropriated over the whole city.
Public building and sites Roofs
Roofs of public & semi-public buildings are occupied for public roof gardens with side access. All
public spaces in the city are also appropriated, including public sites
(such as archaeological sites), public gardens (such as the three parks
I showed earlier) and public buildings (such as mosques and churches).
vertical links to public green roofs |
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This will create dispersed green rooftops that will not amount for more than a 0.5% increase in public green space. Therefor a green pedestrian network that connects them giving each neighborhood a pocket garden is encouraged. There will have to be a vertical connection to the network every 250 meters.
These dispersed greens establish a datum over the city which traverses its political divisions.
Re-frame and Connect
This
decline of traditional public park space is also opportunity for the
rise of a new kind of green space—a productive green space, rather than a
contemplative one. The pathways are meant to be understood as a new
and much needed infrastructure for the city that includes pedestrian
pathways, bike lanes, pocket
gardens, a possibility of an air train and most importantly a productive
green space from which the neighborhoods may partially feed themselves.
The varying vegetation schemes in the city will generate and intensify a series of green surface experiences in the air creating a mini eco-system and present the paradoxical notion that as diversity increases both in nature and society so might cohesion.
Dreaming
BIG about green infrastructure will result in large amounts of
construction. Lets face it construction is not so green and so this will
have to be a long term plan to move people up into a new type of
transportation in the air (bike- air trains- pedestrian in green lines)
. By 2050 people might give up their cars and move-up into this mode of
transportation. This might also then allow us to plant the ground.
Ref:http://spatiallyjustenvironmentsbeirut.blogspot.com/2011/06/barakat-building-public-green-space.html
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