Performing Urban Landscapes for creating physically and mentally sustainable cities A test case in Limassol, Cyprus D. van de Berkt & V. Francis Performing Urban Landscapes for creating physically and mentally sustainable cities A test case in Limassol, Cyprus D. van de Berkt & V. Francis Colophon D. (Dianne) van de Berkt Supervisor: [email protected] Dr. Ir. Ingrid Duchhart V. (Vivien) Francis Assistent Professor Landscape architecture [email protected] Wageningen University All rights reserved. No part of this publicati on may be reproduced, stored in Examiner: a retrieval system, or transmitt ed, in any form or any means, electronic, mechanical, Prof. Dr. Ir. Adri van den Brink photocopying, recording or otherwise, Chair Landscape Architecture without the prior writt en permission of Wageningen University either the authors or the Wageningen University Landscape Architecture Chairgroup. This publicati on is writt en as a Examiner: fi nal master thesis in landscape architecture by order of the chairgroup of landscape Ir. Renée de Waal architecture at Wageningen University. Promovendus Wageningen University Chairgroup landscape architecture Phone: +31 317 484 056 Fax: +31 317 482 166 E-mail: offi [email protected] www.lar.wur.nl Post address Postbus 47 6700 AA, Wageningen The Netherlands Visiti ng address Gaia (building no. 101) Droevendaalsesteeg 3 6708 BP, Wageningen Printed by Digigrafi B.V., Veenendaal This research was made possible through © Wageningen University, 2014 the generous funding of Sti chti ng NH Bos Preface This thesis, as part of the MSc program of Landscape Architecture, shows the work of its researchers Dianne van de Berkt and Vivien Francis. It is their pleasure to share their passions, in finding solutions for water and environmental problems within the domain of landscape architecture, with you in this research. An iterative journey of design research results in a better understanding of the role of landscape architects in creating both a physically and mentally sustainable city: a much needed development in this urbanising world, with climate change luring around the corner. But without the knowledge and inspiration of certain people this thesis could not have been finalised. A big thanks to supervisor Ingrid Duchhart for her guidance. Also to Bas van Vliet, Eddy Moors, Wim van der Knaap and Kees Hendriks, for the brainstorm sessions leading to the proposal. In Cyprus, the test case location, thanks to: our contact persons Stella Hadjipanagi and Raymond Francis, Adriana Bruggeman, Katerina Charalambous and Marinos Eliades from The Cyprus Institute, Charalambos Theopemptou (former Commissioner of Environment), Water Board of Lemesos, TerraCypria, the interviewees, and the respondents of the questionnaire. Appreciation towards Pieter Germeraad and Roel Dijksma for sharing their knowledge on water (details), and Wouter Achterkamp on the Swillgasser technology. Last but not least, a thank you fellow students, friends and family for all the support. Summary The amount of people living in cities compared to in rural areas is increasing. Currently, these cities are not very sustainable, as they often have a linear metabolism of consuming input and repelling waste. In this thesis, the physical and mental sustainability of urban areas is increased through performing urban landscapes. This is done through two aspects: 1) creating a circular metabolism to close city cycles for physical sustainability, and 2) by creating environmental awareness for mental sustainability. The role of landscape architects is of great significance in designing performing urban landscapes. Not only should the processes in the landscape function, it should also be aesthetically appealing, and people should be able to experience everything. For the first aspect of creating a circular metabolism, the researchers of this thesis propose that the process of stormwater harvesting and re-use, and the process of energy production of organic waste should cooperate. These topics are chosen because quite some cities, especially in the Mediterranean Region and/or in (semi-)arid climates, deal with water quantity problems. In other words, having too much stormwater in the winter and too little in the summer. Another big linear metabolism problem is the fact that urban areas create a large amount of waste, which is passed on to the rural areas for processing. The connection between these processes may not seem obvious, but this thesis provides insights and solutions to prove it is possible. The development of toolboxes, a ‘research for research’ method, is chosen to enable the researchers in creating a performing urban landscape for Limassol (Cyprus), by using the toolboxes’ design options. Whilst testing the toolboxes in Limassol, it turned out that the results remained too broad and were not specific enough, but the lessons learned from the process gave valuable input for the following design exploration. By applying the ‘research through designing’ method, the design of the Little Garyllis Performing Park was made, and the characteristics of designing a performing urban landscape were unravelled. Reader’s guide Here are some useful insights for reading this thesis, to start with the term Cyprus. It must be clear that the island Cyprus and the country Cyprus are not the same. When Cyprus is discussed geographically in this thesis, it is the island which is debated. But, when Cypriots, economics, politics or statistics are disputed the southern Greek part of the island is meant. Furthermore, when a figure is marked with an asterisk (*) in its caption, this figure is derived or adapted from an external source. These external sources can be found in the list of figures. The content Before starting to read, a brief introduction to the global content of the six parts of this thesis is shared here. Part 1 This first part gives an introduction to the theories included and a review on the topic. Part 2 Before starting the design research, this part explains why and how this design research has been conducted. Part 3 The third part summarises all the information on the island Cyprus, the country Cyprus and the city Limassol that was needed to be able to conduct the design research. Part 4 The ‘research part’ of this this can be found in this part. Part 5 This part holds the ‘design part’. Part 6 Finally, the discussion and conclusions are shared in this sixth part. Table of contents Preface Summary Reader’s guide Part 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Scope of this thesis 1.2 Theoretical framework 1.3 Topic review Part 2 Research structure 15 3.1 New knowledge 3.2 Purpose 3.3 Research questions 3.4 Process Part 3 Cypriots and their island 25 3.1 Mediterranean Cyprus 3.2 Green mountains and dry plains 3.3 Altered land 3.4 Life on the island 3.5 City of attraction and distraction 3.6 Room for intervention 3.7 Watershed in distress 3.8 Little Garyllis 3.9 Points of attention Part 4 Getting water and energy to cooperate 81 4.1 The cooperation of the two processes 4.2 First sieve: toolbox 4.3 Strengthening role of the urban park 4.4 Second sieve: design explorations Part 5 Envisioning Little Garyllis 101 5.1 Design inspiration 5.2 Little Garyllis Performing Park 5.3 Four Fanaria 5.4 Limassol Network Part 6 Findings 155 6.1 Discussion and conclusion List of figures 161 References 163 Appendices 173 1 2 3 1.1 Scope of this thesis The first chapter of this thesis gives a little sneak preview. The well-known questions of ‘What?’, ‘How?’ and ‘Why’ are answered to give an idea of what this design research is about. What? This thesis combines two strategies to make the expanding urban areas more sustainable. Physical sustainability by changing the city’s metabolism from linear to circular, and mental sustainability by creating environmental awareness. How? Landscape architects can play a significant role when creating a physically and mentally sustainable city. This by designing a performing urban landscape. A landscape that is a setting for closing city cycles, as well as a medium for creating environmental awareness. The proposal of this design research is the ability to cooperate the processes of stormwater harvesting and re-use, and energy production from urban organic waste, and herewith closing city cycles. By ensuring that people can experience all steps of the processes in an aesthetic way, also environmental awareness may be created. Why? There is a knowledge gap on how to translate the theory of urban metabolism into design. Furthermore, there is not a lot of research on the role of landscape as medium to create environmental awareness, and no design examples were found. 4 1.2 Theoretical framework In this chapter theory on the overarching subjects of this thesis is outlined [F1.1]. [F1.1] The theoreti cal framework. Sustainable urban design currently changing climate. Citi es make up Sustainability is a commonly used word for over 80% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions nowadays, but the meaning remains somewhat globally every year (UNEP/UN-HABITAT, 2005 unclear for a lot of people. The reason for this cited in While & Whitehead, 2013, p.1325), is that there are many defi niti ons. For this but they are also amongst the most vulnerable thesis the most commonly used defi niti on sites that have to deal with the consequences is adopted, namely that the demands of the of climate change (While & Whitehead, 2013). present generati on are met, but without losing Furthermore, several studies show that the the future generati ons’ ability to meet their demands of a city are large, with an ecological own demands (Willis, n.d.). Sustainable urban footprint reaching further than their borders design, more specifi cally, is concerned with (Pincetl, 2012). Baccini (1997) states that 70- incorporati ng sustainability on two scale levels: 80% of the world’s resources are used by citi es.