A Non-Binary Ecology
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Project Description
A Non-Binary Ecology arises from the urgency of understanding the contemporary urban realm. Through a close observation of the peri-urban context and taking the city of Namur (Belgium) as case study, the project focuses on the neglected corners and its apparently informal elements, reconsidering them as the fundamental structure of the inhabited space. This enhancement of the ‘third landscape’ gains a political and communitarian dimension: a territory for diversity, inclusivity and sharing.
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Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
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Description of the project
Summary
Much of society’s thinking operates in a highly rigid and binary manner: something is good or bad, right or wrong, a success or a failure, and so on. For what concerns human settlements, the categories of urbanity and rurality have lost their heuristic potential to describe the most contemporary forms of urbanization. In fact the so-called ‘peri-urban’, can hardly be confined to the reassuring margins of a rigid definition. This form of settlement and its inevitable consequent social practices may be the dominant reality and the main spatial planning challenge of the twenty-first century. Starting from this awareness, with the expression ‘non binary’ we want to refer to all the matter that lies between two opposite definitions such as urban/rural, soft/hard,organic/humanmade and so on.
With this lens we address all the gradualities that stand between the two extremes, enhancing them at all design scales to reveal and appreciate their hidden potential and to respect and give identity to these promiscuous landscapes. This concerns first of all pragmatic and strategic guidelines that could lead to simple yet contemporary interventions:
- ‘Enhancement of the non-conforming’
- ‘Zero Net land take’
- ‘Conscious domestication’
In this frame, the Namur Sart Hulet site, located in the Wallonian Region, acts as a pilot project to prove and research practical implementation. In fact, silently standing between contrasting contextual opposites, it offers the opportunity of an original urban development, showing itself as a non binary ecology.
Key objectives for sustainability
The environmental sustainability stands in the regeneration of ecological continuity and attention to the natural morphology. These are reached through a set of guidelines that structure the pilot project:
- Zero Net Land Take 2050
To respect biodiversity and support a respectful development we focused on land as the ultimate common resource for flora, fauna and humankind. The EU Commission stated that in the next 30 years land take should tend towards 0km2/year by focusing on de-sealing strategies and development of underused areas. Our proposal makes this policy one of its core strategies through a series of concrete actions:
- To mitigate and limit soil consumption, we aim to focus on the existing infrastructures reimagining their use through the introduction of micro and macro elements (stairs, cabinets, roofs...) that act as technological devices to enable new uses and possibilities.
- Using already impermeable land to its maximum potential is prioritized instead of exploiting valuable permeable and virgin land.
- When building reuse isn’t enough and the introduction of a new structure seems necessary, we propose a shift of typology, from the sprawled one to a more condensed and efficient one.
- Conscious domestication
- The introduction of residential and leisure activities is based on the will to adapt a new program to the existing containers, leading to the possibility of performing just minimum transformations to the latter.
- The area is sprinkled with microelements that allow inhabitants, flora and fauna to thrive in complete balance with other species and also support different kinds of actions: production and protection, leisure, management.
- Circular economy
Circularity of resources is prioritized through debris and building reuse and the conception of interventions that are meant to be reversible and adaptable to future uses. This approach is then strengthened by the introduction of on site production, compost, upcycling, swapping...
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
By focusing on the notion of ‘non-binary’ - intended as the matter that lies between two opposite definitions - we aim to understand and appreciate the third landscapes, to enhance their hidden potentials and structure arguments for their future.
This approach translates into both physical and conceptual solutions: from the global strategy to the detail, the concepts of the non-binary ecology are transformed into a variety of interventions, resulting in a layered design. With different intensities, the entire plot is equipped with micro elements that transform neglected areas into innovative cultural devices, or macro containers where the intensity of construction becomes a radical yet conscious statement.
Some concrete examples are:
- The third landscape enhancement: At all design scales, the main aesthetic feature is the enhancement of the neglected: abandoned fields become wild meadows, perfect scenarios for fauna and flora preservation, and neglected structures are opened up to host new programmes with a focus on a fluid interaction between users, spaces and functions.
- The microelements: light structures, unsealed platforms and open-air furniture that emphasize the contact between human and non-human beings. Together with soft modifications of the ground they allow for a sustainable and conscious appropriation of the landscape through slow movement and moments of active leisure.
- The reuse of the existing buildings to host innovative uses is designed to be respectful of the preexisting structures through the use of added structures, machines and tools that punctually transform the existing containers.
- Multifunctionality and fluidity of uses are key: all five main architectural interventions are characterized by non-conforming ways of communal living, non binary distinction of productive and reproductive moments and the transformation of limits from lines to spaces, from dividing elements to places of encounter.
Key objectives for inclusion
The overall territorial strategy of A Non-Binary Ecology concerning the Namur Sart Hulet site focuses on completing the existing landscape sequences through vegetal masses and ‘third landscape’ corridors.
This operation aims to realize ecological continuity in favor of neglected and abandoned areas, where the proposed slow mobility system plays a fundamental role. By infusing the landscape with walkways we open the Sart Hulet area to the surrounding inhabitants and we provide the territory with a soft infrastructure that can offer moments of contemplation, production and active leisure such as biking, running and walking.
As a result, the porosity of this non conforming system is going to establish a new set of connections that could lead to a more accessible and equal city. In fact, in such a fragmented and individualistic context typical of peri-urban areas where public space is often limited or non-existent , we believe that spaces dedicated to gathering, sharing and discussing must be encouraged. Indeed, in these closed neighborhoods,both at a physical and social level, a renewed right to freely navigate the city can be guaranteed through high pedestrian accessibility and the elaboration of more permeable spaces.
Thanks to a renewed cohesion, we aim to return to the community a part of the city that has been fenced for years, opening up to new possibilities of dialogue and engagement. In this panorama of socio-spatial fragments, we develop a reflection on the city as a common.
This urban/periurban/natural realm is therefore considered as a set of spatial practices, through which space is created both as an asset to be shared and as a scenario that can host new collective institutions.
In conclusion, the proposal aims first to a biodiversity renforcement towards a multi-species contact, and secondly to the integration of the community into a relationship of mutual care.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
The abstract concepts of non-binary ecology are transformed into a variety of high-quality interventions, resulting in a complex and suggestive design that goes from a global strategy to detail solutions dealing with social, enrivonmental and aesthetic changes.
The proposal is structured on a series of different intensities: sometimes extremely delicate elements are able to transform neglected areas into innovative cultural devices,while other times the intensity of construction creates opportunities for maximum density.
First, from the territorial and theoretical point of view, our proposal aims to suggest a shift of focus in peri-urban contexts towards a more careful and inclusive posture. In order to foster social and economic change and a spatial re-evaluation, the idea of a countryside in the gravity of big cities should be discouraged. This belief supports a simplified idea of order as a hierarchy, which excludes other forms of order which actually exist in nature. In our opinion an enhancement of all the matter that lies between two extreme oppositions, could give new possibilities for interaction, accessibility, and improve life conditions in many different contexts.
Secondly, being not invasive, A Non-binary Ecology proposes a set of pragmatic and practical inputs that lead to sustainable and contemporary interventions. All the interventions are driven by the will of enhancing the existing environment by the juxtaposition of simple devices that enable new programs and uses to take place. Following this non binary lens, the reinforcement of biodiversity and the coexistence of human and non human species is achieved through hybrid spaces which are inserted in the new interventions. Through these rediscovered resources (neglected soils, existing post-industrial structures and vernacular architectures) a gradual and mutual exchange could be established, overcoming dichotomies and strong oppositions, and moreover, gaining a new meaning.
