Exploring the Contribution of Urban Farming to Urban Renewal and Climate Resilience: A Case Study of Colombo City, Sri Lanka

Colombo, Sri Lanka, has embarked on a journey to integrate urban farming into its urban renewal efforts in response to pressing energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and resource management issues. Urban farming, characterized by innovative technologies and sustainable practices, offers a multifaceted solution to these urban challenges. This research study centers on three primary objectives. Firstly, it assesses the feasibility and impact of implementing urban farming within Colombo's underutilized spaces, considering economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Secondly, it explores the integration of sustainable technologies such as dynamic lighting and rainwater harvesting into urban farming practices to reduce carbon emissions and enhance climate resilience. Lastly, the study emphasizes community engagement by developing educational tools and business models that align with Colombo's sustainable development goals. The findings indicate that urban farming can serve as a catalyst for addressing Colombo's urban challenges, including food security, waste management, and community well-being. By leveraging sustainable technologies and fostering community involvement, Colombo aims to revitalize its urban landscape while strengthening its resilience to climate change, setting an example for other cities facing similar issues

Alternative Stabilizer for Mud Concrete

Cement is one of the key stabilizers for earth constructions since Roman civilization. The invention of cement was one step in the human civilization. However, cement has many issues especially when it comes to the environmental conservation. The production of cement creates a lot of carbon dioxide and destroys the natural setting to some extent due to the high consumption of clay and lime. Therefore, this study was conducted to alter the cement in mud concrete block. The study started with an inventory of alternative stabilizers that can be found in nature as well as in the human production. And then, the chemical patterns of those stabilizers were carefully identified to alter the typical Portland cement. Several mix proportions were tested and developed to alter the cement and found that the following materials can be developed to alter cement. A natural stabilizer such as tree resins, latex rubber stabilizer, waste ash, rice husk ash and many other ashes can be developed to chemically stabilize the earth blocks. However, out of the invented stabilizers, fly ash and rice husk ash have the high potential to replace cement

RECOVERING GREY LANDSCAPES FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTUREA CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND CONCEIVABLE TECHNIQUE AUDIT FOR KARADIYANA DUMP YARD

Karadiyana dump yard was once secured with lovely wet land associated with Bolgoda Lake. Since the advancement blast in Sri Lanka the vast majority of the waste dump gathered to this land just to fill the land in order to improve the land for an improvement venture. This mission was to cause the part of the wet land into a hard land where structures can be assembled. Yet,their end-all strategy became fiasco and they have become a natural issue for the zone. Thus, the purpose of this research is to identify means by which the dumpsite landscape could be utilized into better use architecturally

Exploring Traditional Building Materials for Urban Housing in Sri Lanka: Benefits, Obstacles, and a Path Forward amid Economic Challenges

This study examines the abundance of traditional building materials in Sri Lanka, considering material properties. It evaluates local materials like adobe, bamboo, thatch, stone, timber, coconut trees, and grasses, highlighting their cost-effectiveness compared to imports. The research aims to analyze advantages, challenges, and solutions related to using these materials for affordable housing amidst economic difficulties. The study finds benefits such as cultural preservation, material affordability, energy efficiency, reusability, and biodegradability. Challenges include acceptability, durability, deforestation, limited strength, and maintenance. Recommendations focus on adopting and improving local materials for resilient housing. This research contributes insights to traditional building materials in the Sri Lankan context, with implications for the broader region

Adaptive Reuse of Old Buildings in the Colombo Fort as an Alternative to Enhance the Green Tourism in Sri Lanka

The tourist industry was a vital sector in the global economy prior to the pandemic. International tourism brought about economic flows that played a critical role in the growth and international economic ties of developing nations. The World Tourism Organization highlighted how tourism contributed to socioeconomic progress through the establishment of new destinations, investments in the tourism industry, infrastructure growth, and export income. It was estimated that tourism accounted for approximately 6% of global economic activity and provided employment for 6% to 8% of direct and indirect jobs worldwide. In 2017, international travel receipts reached USD 1.2 trillion, representing a 4.4% increase from 2014. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant decline in the tourism sector, with the industry's direct contribution to GDP dropping from USD 9630 billion in 2021 to USD 5812 billion. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the tourism sector remained crucial for income and employment, particularly in developing nations where foreign exchange gains played a vital role in economic development. To revive the industry, stakeholders and managers explored sustainable alternatives, such as utilizing existing historic structures and public areas in the Colombo fort to promote ecotourism. This study aims to identify opportunities for adaptive reuse in the fort area, considering its abundance of historic structures and ongoing developments facilitated by the government

Landscape Based Mitigation Design for Addressing the Human Elephant Conflict in Katupotha Area in Puttalam District

The connection between Human elephant conflict (HEC) is quite old in Sri Lanka. Elephants and peoplehave some similar ecological needs therefore, conflict between the two species is unavoidable when theycoexist in the same area. Katupotha is one of the villages that has HEC in Sri Lanka belonging to thePuttalam district and located 29.2 and 4 kilometers away from the Anamaduwa and Pallama respectively.Mainly, elephants enter the village through a place in Rathambala stream where there is less depth andwidth. According to the villagers, elephants are coming there in every year during the month of August,when the rain is very low. Therefore, the landscape solution was designed mainly to fulfill the elephants’water and food requirements. To avoid the entering of elephants to the village, the landscape of theRathambala oya area was changed by creating water features, fruiting areas, and bio fences

Landscape-Based Mitigation Strategy for Addressing Human-Elephant Conflict in Horowpathana, Sri Lanka: A Comprehensive Study

Horowpathana has been identified as a hotspot of human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka's north-centralprovince, where quick intervention is required. But Sri Lanka never had a consolidated action plan toaddress the problem. This study deals with the question of how landscape architects can contribute tomitigating the problem in the area. It aims to create a design proposal that facilitates elephant requirementsand offers functions and recreation for the residents at the same time. The design is based on the method ofanimal-centred design. The study demonstrates that such conflicts can be resolved through preciselandscape design that considers the issue on the specific site. Effective implementation requires stronggovernance structures and policy support from stakeholders like governmental institutions, conservationorganizations, and academics. Collaboration between infrastructure developers and conservationists canreduce the harmful effects of development projects on wildlife by employing proper design methodologiesand undertaking further research to assure establishment efficacy

Addressing Human-Elephant Conflict in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve Area: A Comprehensive Study on Landscape Design Approaches

Human-elephant conflict is a major problem in Sri Lanka which has existed since recent past times and now it has increased. Sinharaja rainforest is a tropical rainforest and it has two male elephants who have special concerns due to the limited number of wet zone elephants in Sri Lanka. Because of roads and tea plantations their natural corridors have been blocked. Therefore those elephants tend to enter residential areas and plantations. As landscaping solutions maintaining their corridors with their favourite trees and grasses leads the elephants through only the corridors and avoid entering the other areas. To join the forest fragments onboth sides of the road, an eco-bridge can be used. To enhance tourism around the forest reserve, elephantwatching stations can be established. White colour rounded or sharp stones can be used as a buffer zone.Besides, to prevent elephants from entering roads, Citrus bio fences can be established

Factors Hindering the Use of Urban Farming Techniques in Buildings: Architects’ Perspective

Researchers and the government have advocated for the implementation of urban agriculture projects in Sri Lanka; however, the demand and supply of sustainable urban agriculture initiatives have been limited and are growing slowly. This study aims to explore the obstacles hindering the adoption of sustainable urban agriculture. The research employed a cross-sectional survey methodology using a questionnaire encompassing 19 barriers to the adoption of sustainable urban agriculture, administered to 34 professionals within the relevant industry. The study found that the key barriers inhibiting the uptake of sustainable urban agriculture in Sri Lanka are the lack of experience in implementing urban agriculture projects within the industry, challenges related to maintenance, insufficient technology for implementing, and the higher capital costs associated with sustainable urban agriculture compared to conventional practices. In light of the findings, it can be inferred that the advancement of sustainable urban agriculture hinges on factors such as technological innovation, effective policies, skill enhancement, increased awareness, improved homebuyer engagement, and cost considerations. The research concludes by presenting a comprehensive cycle of barriers that must be addressed to accelerate the adoption of sustainable urban agriculture practices

Geopolymerized self-compacting mud concrete masonry units

This study was conducted to develop an alternative method of utilizing fly ash as an alternative stabilizer to build affordable earth masonry units named “mud concrete blocks”. Mud concrete masonry block is a novel invention in which the mud helps to self-compact the mixture to reduce the production of energy content. This study uses fly ash from electric power generating plant with an alkaline solution made of Sodium hydroxide and Sodium chloride. Different combinations of mixtures (fly ash, sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide and soil) were taken into consideration to study a suitable mix design. And compressive strength was tested to understand each mix suitability.Results of this study have manifested that suitable mix is to use Fly Ash 20% of the dry weight of soil, Sodium hydroxide 5% and Sodium Chloride 2% of the total dry weight. The suitable water ratio is 15%–20% of the dry weight. And then the suitable soil mix proportion was developed. It was found that the soil mix proportion of Gravel 10–20% (sieve size 4.25 mm ≤ gravel≤ 20 mm) range of (35%–45%), the Sand 70–80% (sieve size 0.425 mm ≤ sand ≤4.25 mm) proportion of (60%–70%) and Fine ≤10% (≤sieve size 0.425 mm) content of 5% makes the best mix to develop. Scanning electron microscope images were taken to understand the geo polymerized fly ash bond result on the total strength of the soil mixture. Keywords: Mud concrete, Geopolymer, Self-compacting, Compressive strength, Mix developmen