In addition to going over the grading rubric for the midterm and answering any related questions, lecture provided a brief introduction to the evidence regarding the role of the immune system in connecting urban forests to health.
Because the groups for the final project were newly formed last week, we’ve decided to postpone the design charrette until next Thursday, March 14. We’re hoping this will give you time to visit your site as a group first so you’ll have a solid foundation for the hands-on work that will take place in the charrette.
To support this team work, this week’s seminar offered hands-on instruction in how to represent trees as part of landscape designs, with a particular focus on doing so in the fast-paced environment of a charrette.
I was really impressed by today’s seminar presentation on drawing landscape elements/trees. Being able to visually communicate ideas can not only being more engaging than through writing, but can also reach a much broader and diverse audience as language barriers do not exist. Additionally, the fact that charrettes are in fact meant to look rough and don’t require sophisticated artistic abilities makes them an accessible and easily used form of communication. They do not restrict people with no artistic talent (such as myself) from participating in sharing ideas graphically.
I really enjoyed this week’s seminar. I found it very interesting learning how to draw these various types of trees, and to be able see noticeable differences between species. Being someone with 0 drawing experience, it’s great to see that I am able to draw these natural elements (trees, midstory and understudy) well enough in order to complete a charrette.
I found the BBC News video (Can trees cut air pollution?) shown during the lecture very interesting. I was surprised when it mentioned that streets that have the canopies connecting above (when both sides of the street boulevards have trees and their canopies meet in the middle) that this actually traps pollutants causing the interior of the stand to be polluted. It makes sense that it does this but I had never made this connection before. It’s unfortunate as I find those types of tree lined streets to be the most aesthetically pleasing. I am curious if this type of design would still be beneficial as long as people are walking on the outside of those stands (sidewalk-trees-street-trees-sidewalk). However, this would still be a bad design for those biking on the streets that have pollutants trapped under the canopy. Regardless, it does make sense to design urban forests to try and plant trees in the most effective way for pollutant removal.
Hey Shenae,
Geography professor Andreas Christen also mentioned this theme the other day in one of his lectures. Although tree canopies trap pollutants when covering a roadway, they can be useful for when designing pedestrian-only (or pedestrian-and-bikers-only) walkways in urban environments, since the canopy deflects pollutants upwards instead of letting them reach the walkway. I think this point was implied in the video but it was stated clearly. In my opinion, roadways that are covered by tree canopies could therefore be converted into pedestrian-only walkways, thus you get rid of the problem without getting rid of the trees 🙂
Hi Raquel,
Thank you so much for that information and answering my question! Converting roadways into pedestrian walkways is a really great idea.
The seminar this week was probably my favorite one so far. It was refreshing and interesting to learn how to draw trees as well as being able to notice the specific aspects that each one had in order to tell them apart from each other. I enjoyed the hands on work we did as well as the aesthetic value associated with it. The charrette I completed during this seminar presented my work in a unique manner, it really impressed me to see the way in which I could convey my thoughts and get my point across through images rather than the conventional university essay. I am sure I will continue to create charrettes in the future whenever I feel like I lack creativity.
I really enjoyed the guest lecture given on Thursday the 23rd that touched upon microbiomes regarding our health system and their benefits to our well-being. Coincidentally, I picked up the book “Let Them Eat Dirt” written by Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta which discusses how society is obsessed with being clean and sanitary which could actually be causing us more harm than good. Being oversanitiaed eliminates a lot of contact that our immune system would have otherwise which translates to increasing cases of allergies, asthma and eczema. It also doesn’t help that children growing up nowadays spend less time outside getting dirty and more time in front of an electronic screen.
The authors also go into detail on the dangers of the usage of antibiotics that may alter the diversity in our stomachs. Our gut diversity is also closely linked to the western society’s obsession to high fat, hight sugar and refined, processed diets which deteriorates our diversity.
I really enjoyed the ‘Drawing Trees’ seminar as it focused more on the design aspect of urban planning. Because I hadn’t realized that urban planning presented deciduous and coniferous trees specifically by their species (thinking they were presented either deciduous or coniferous), it was exciting to learning how to draw the different species. I felt like this seminar was really important for us to learn, as it is a quick and useful way to increase the detail of our designs without spending too much time on drawing. This was my favorite seminar so far, and it makes me very excited about learning more about designing green spaces and partaking in future design charrettes.
I really enjoy this week’s seminar about how to hand draw trees. This part is important in designing. Because vision is more directly and vivid than words. Draw different icon about different kinds of trees can help people to identify species easily and make the planning map looks better. We applied this on our hospital garden design project. Vision is more directly and vivid than words.
And could you please attach that paper about tree icon on this blog?