Chapter II
Review of Related Literature
Introduction
There are many self-sustaining communities that exist in the present day. Many of
which are successful, like the Garden Cities of Ebezner Howard while some fail to
come up with the expected outcome of the initial plan for these developments
because of certain problems that come up. There are also some buildings, like the
famous Unite dHabitation by Le Corbusier that despite being a proto-
megastructure, is also considered a self-sustaining community. Many of these
problems deal with movements in the urban planning field and the researchers
gathered data and information with these theories that would directly relate to the
main Topic of this research: Self-sustaining communities.
Garden Cities
According to Ebezner Howard, His idealised garden city would house 32,000
people on a site of 6,000 acres (2,400 ha), planned on a concentric pattern with
open spaces, public parks and six radial boulevards, 37 m wide, extending from
the centre. The city would be would be self-sufficient and when it reached full
population, another garden city would be developed nearby. Howard envisaged a
cluster of several garden cities as satellites of a central city of 58,000 people, linked
by road and rail (Howard, 1902). Many Garden cities in the 1970s across 5
different continents have been developed, According to (Ward, 2005)
However, the Garden cities movement also had its fair share of failures. While
garden cities were praised for being an alternative to overcrowded and industrial
cities, along with greater sustainability, Garden cities were often criticized for being
detrimental to the economy and being harmful of the beauty of nature. According
to A. T. Edwards, Garden cities lead to desecration of the country side by trying
to recreate country side houses that could spread themselves. However, this
wasn't a possible feat due to the limited space allotted for the so-called garden city.
However, due to the big scale of the projects most of the cities have failed to
sustain the increasing population and it devolved from what Howard envisioned in
his mind. (Ward, 2005) the whole concept failed because of the laneways used
as common entries and exits to the houses helping ghettoise communities and
encourage crime. Today there are many garden cities in the world, but most of
them have devolved to dormitory suburbs, which completely differ from what
Howard aimed to create. (Ward, 2005)
Unite dHabitation and the Development of Megastructures
Unite dHabitation was one of Le Corbusiers first big scale project and one of his
prominent buildings. In leiu of the aftermath of the WWII, Le Corbusier was tasked
to build a housing development in Marseille, France. He came up with a concept
that would mimic the workings of a self-sustaining community, although it would
be built vertically rather than the traditional sprawling horizontal development
garden cities were designed. Aptly termed vertical Garden City, The Unite
dHabitation was a first, both for Le Corbusier and the ways in which to approach
such a large complex to accommodate roughly 1,600 residents. (Kroll, 2010)
Especially since Le Corbusier did not have many buildings of such a substantial
scale when compared to the villas. When designing for such a significant number
of inhabitants natural instinct is to design horizontally spreading out over the
landscape, rather Le Corbusier designed the community that one would encounter
in a neighbourhood within a mixed use, modernist, residential high rise.
This design made by Le Corbusier as one of the earliest inspiration for the
Megastructure model. Although similar, Marseilles that wasnt a megastructure
despite having some serious concrete and a few shops that hinted at self-
containment but were never going concerns. It was, however detrimental to the
conception of another of Le Corbusiers un built plan but was one of the basis of
the Megastructure model: Plan Obus (Kroll, 2010) Megastructures, despite saving
space due to its vertical development, have proven to be costly due to its
maintenance fees and the feasibility of the design to be funded and successful
were low. (McKay, 2016)
Neo Urbanism and Eco towns
Neo urbanism movement was one of the few movements and charters that
originated from the Garden City movement and was considered a less specific
guide rather than the explicit detail of the plans Howard have envisioned:
concentric patterns and common boulevards extending radially towards different
land uses. Neo urbanism instead has guidelines that helps establish the core idea
of the garden city movement: convenience of the people. Following this thought, if
the people living in the area can access directly the different land uses within the
community, it would be considered convenient for the community to live, work and
play.
In the recent years, eco towns started to emerge into the spotlight in the European
context as these towns are required to have
1. Affordable housing: a minimum of 30% affordable housing in each eco-town
2. Zero-carbon: eco-towns must be zero-carbon over the course of a year (not
including transport emissions)
3. Green space: a minimum of 40% of eco-towns must be greenspace
4. Waste and recycling: eco-towns must have higher recycling rates and make
use of waste in new ways
5. Homes: homes must reach Code for Sustainable Homes level 4 or higher
(surprisingly not the highest standard available, casting doubt on the
credibility of these requirements)
6. Employment: at least one job opportunity per house accessible by public
transport, walking or cycling (although the standards are silent on how
housing developers might guarantee this and it is largely discredited in the
current economic crisis)
7. Services: there must be shops and a primary school within easy walk of
every single home, and all the services expected from a town of up to
20,000 homes
8. Transition/construction: facilities should be in place before and during
construction
9. Public transport: real-time public transport information in every home, a
public transport link within ten minutes walk of every home
10. Community: there must be a mixture of housing types and densities, and
residents must have a say in how their town is run, by governance in new
and innovative ways.
There are further standards on water, biodiversity and other issues. (Ward, 2005)
Examples of Self-sustaining Societies
(examples and discussions of self sustaining societies.)
