Outdoor living wall systems in a developing economy : a prospect for supplementary urban food production?

Green wall systems have greatly advanced over the past few decades and hold important potential for the future in light of predicted urban population growth, densification, and climate change. This article provides a brief background to living walls, followed by a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of the four types of systems that are currently available in South Africa. It makes use of a case study review of three recently implemented edible living walls in Gauteng to reflect on the challenges currently experienced and the future potential benefits, with specific focus on system resilience, economic feasibility, and edible plant possibilities. Interviews were conducted with clients and client representatives, contractors and/or designers on each project. The findings suggest that living walls have indirect commercial value through customer experience and satisfaction, as well as educational value. Should the scale, economic feasibility and resilience of living wall systems be enhanced, they can improve urban food production. The article concludes that this could be achieved in the Global South by using simplistic technologies with lower cost living wall infrastructure systems. When deployed on a large scale, with climate-tolerant indigenous and edible plants in exterior systems, productivity will be improved.Groen muur sisteme het in die laaste paar dekades aansienlik ontwikkel, en toon potensiaal om impakte van geprojekteerde populasiegroei, verdigting en klimaatsverandering te versag. Hierdie artikel gee ’n oorsig van groen mure, gevolg deur ’n opsomming van die voor- en nadele van die vier sisteme wat tans in Suid- Afrika beskikbaar is. Drie gevallestudies van onlangs voltooide stedelike projekte met groen mure, gefokus op eetbare plante in Gauteng, word vergelyk deur oor elke projek se voordele en uitdagings te besin, met spesifieke fokus op die sisteem se veerkragtigheid, ekonomiese vatbaarheid en oorlewingsukses van eetbare plantspesies wat gebruik is. Onderhoude is met kliënte, kontrakteurs en ontwerpers van elke projek gevoer. Die bevinding is dat groen mure indirekte kommersiële waarde het, gebaseer op die gebruiker se ervaring en waardering, asook opvoedkundige waarde. Indien geïmplementeer op ’n skaal waar ekonomiese vatbaarheid en omgewingsveerkragtigheid van die sisteme verbeter kan word, kan dit geskik wees vir stedelike voedselproduksie. Die gevolgtrekking is dat verhoogde voedselproduksie in Suid-Afrika gebaseer moet wees op die gebruik van ongekompliseerde tegnologie met meer bekostigbare infrastruktuursisteme. Wanneer eetbare, lokaal-aangepaste plantspesies op ’n groot skaal in ope-lug groen mure geïmplementeer word, kan produktiwiteit verhoog word.https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/ashj2022Architectur

Outdoor living wall systems in a developing economy : a prospect for supplementary urban food production?

Green wall systems have greatly advanced over the past few decades and hold important potential for the future in light of predicted urban population growth, densification, and climate change. This article provides a brief background to living walls, followed by a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of the four types of systems that are currently available in South Africa. It makes use of a case study review of three recently implemented edible living walls in Gauteng to reflect on the challenges currently experienced and the future potential benefits, with specific focus on system resilience, economic feasibility, and edible plant possibilities. Interviews were conducted with clients and client representatives, contractors and/or designers on each project. The findings suggest that living walls have indirect commercial value through customer experience and satisfaction, as well as educational value. Should the scale, economic feasibility and resilience of living wall systems be enhanced, they can improve urban food production. The article concludes that this could be achieved in the Global South by using simplistic technologies with lower cost living wall infrastructure systems. When deployed on a large scale, with climate-tolerant indigenous and edible plants in exterior systems, productivity will be improved.Groen muur sisteme het in die laaste paar dekades aansienlik ontwikkel, en toon potensiaal om impakte van geprojekteerde populasiegroei, verdigting en klimaatsverandering te versag. Hierdie artikel gee ’n oorsig van groen mure, gevolg deur ’n opsomming van die voor- en nadele van die vier sisteme wat tans in Suid- Afrika beskikbaar is. Drie gevallestudies van onlangs voltooide stedelike projekte met groen mure, gefokus op eetbare plante in Gauteng, word vergelyk deur oor elke projek se voordele en uitdagings te besin, met spesifieke fokus op die sisteem se veerkragtigheid, ekonomiese vatbaarheid en oorlewingsukses van eetbare plantspesies wat gebruik is. Onderhoude is met kliënte, kontrakteurs en ontwerpers van elke projek gevoer. Die bevinding is dat groen mure indirekte kommersiële waarde het, gebaseer op die gebruiker se ervaring en waardering, asook opvoedkundige waarde. Indien geïmplementeer op ’n skaal waar ekonomiese vatbaarheid en omgewingsveerkragtigheid van die sisteme verbeter kan word, kan dit geskik wees vir stedelike voedselproduksie. Die gevolgtrekking is dat verhoogde voedselproduksie in Suid-Afrika gebaseer moet wees op die gebruik van ongekompliseerde tegnologie met meer bekostigbare infrastruktuursisteme. Wanneer eetbare, lokaal-aangepaste plantspesies op ’n groot skaal in ope-lug groen mure geïmplementeer word, kan produktiwiteit verhoog word.https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/ashj2022Architectur

Traditional African vegetables in modular living walls : a novel approach towards smart cities

In terms of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), combined with good health and wellbeing (SDG 3), are vital. The world is not making adequate progress in meeting the UN's targets to address food security (SDG 2). In South Africa, the growing population, rapid urbanization, poverty, and unemployment exacerbate the issue of food security; even more so considering climate change (SDG 13). The built environment needs to respond to these demands and incorporate green initiatives that can provide ecosystem services. Novel approaches are required to optimize land use and promote sustainable built environments through food production. This paper consolidates literature on local vertical urban food production with vegetable crops to enhance ecosystem services and lower the carbon footprint of buildings in the Global South. The literature review points to the potential of small-scale edible living walls that utilize local materials and traditional African vegetable (TAV) species to enhance system sustainability and resilience. TAV species offer advantages as opposed to exotic food crops as they are tolerant to extreme heat and drought, have a high nutritional value, and have low irrigation and agrochemical maintenance requirements.http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1757-899Xam2023Architectur

Using “live” public sector projects in design teaching to transform urban green infrastructure in South Africa

Urban green infrastructure is not acknowledged in the Global South for the critical social and ecological functions it can provide. Contextual design solutions and innovative approaches are urgently needed to transform the status quo. University-local government collaboration could be a way to encourage new thinking, new roles and design skills to develop solutions to these complex problems. This paper presents a case study analysis of such a collaboration. Qualitative research was conducted to establish the degree to which the exposure to real-life projects stimulates postgraduate design students’ transformative learning. The researchers also inquired into the benefits of the collaboration for the municipality. The participants’ reflections were recorded by means of anonymous questionnaires. The findings show that the live project created a municipal setting for seeking alternative solutions in design processes and outcomes. For the students, the project created rich social dynamics and an interplay of familiarity and uncertainty, which aided transformative learning. The students’ deeper learning indicates greater social empathy, reconsidering the role of the profession, greater design process flexibility, and learning and valuing skills across disciplines. The findings hold promise for a more just and sustainable future built environment through collaborations that transform the design professionals involved, the outcomes they pursue, and the processes they follow.University of Pretoria, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) grants 2019.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/landam2022Architectur

A transdisciplinary multiscaled approach to engage with green infrastructure planning, restoration and use in sub-Saharan Africa

AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIAL : Data can be made available upon request from the first and corresponding author.The systematic integration of green infrastructure (GI) concepts in urban planning shows promise to reduce environmental hazards; while creating sociocultural benefits. However, cities in sub-Saharan Africa face rapid urbanisation and are challenged by the degradation of existing GI, increasing their vulnerability to climatic risks. This paper presents the findings of a transdisciplinary research project that investigated GI planning in the City of Tshwane, South Africa, over two years. The researchers conducted a community survey, an on-the-ground rapid assessment of multifunctional benefit provisions, first-hand observations of local stormwater systems, reviewed policy documents and conducted semi-structured interviews with metro officials. To integrate the above findings, four design studios and eight co-creation workshops were held that explored GI spatial planning in the city. The researchers examined the uptake of GI planning principles, and the challenges, opportunities and local proposals for GI applications, and here synthesised some main conclusions. Despite many well-known challenges, GI opportunities include creating socioeconomic incentives for stronger human-nature relations, providing for multifunctional benefits and anchoring GI in local communities. Interactive research can facilitate increased local awareness and engagement, but access to GI benefits is physically constrained and socially determined by knowledge, networks and safety factors. Based on the above findings, the researchers propose locally adapted planning strategies to enhance GI: creating opportunities for GI access and co-ownership, encouraging multifunctional, safe and flexible GI, supporting multiscale GI integration, and strengthening collaborative governance. A joint GI vision can reinforce city ownership along with flexible and creative design alternatives that are rooted in local communities.Open access funding provided by University of Pretoria. This research was funded by the Danish Funding Agency under the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Integrative Green Infrastructure Project (GRIP).https://link.springer.com/journal/11252hj2023ArchitectureSDG-11:Sustainable cities and communitie

Could purposefully engineered native grassland gardens enhance urban insect biodiversity?

Progress is required in response to how cities can support greater biodiversity. This calls for more research on how landscape designers can actively shape urban ecologies to deliver contextspecific empirical bases for green space intervention decisions. Design experiments offer opportunities for implemented projects within real-world settings to serve as learning sites. This paper explores preliminary ecological outcomes from a multidisciplinary team on whether purposefully engineered native grassland gardens provide more habitat functions for insects than mainstream gardens in the City of Tshwane, South Africa. Six different sites were sampled: two recently installed native grassland garden interventions (young native), two contemporary non-native control gardens (young non-native) on the same premises and of the same ages as the interventions, one remnant of a more pristine native grassland reference area (old native), and one long-established, non-native reference garden (old non-native). Plant and insect diversity were sampled over one year. The short-term findings suggest that higher plant beta diversity (species turnover indicating heterogeneity in a site) supports greater insect richness and evenness in richness. Garden size, age, and connectivity were not clear factors mediating urban habitat enhancement. Based on the preliminary results, the researchers recommend high native grassland species composition and diversity, avoiding individual species dominance, but increasing beta diversity and functional types when selecting garden plants for urban insect biodiversity conservation in grassland biomes.National Research Foundation: Incentive funding; University of Pretoria: University Capacity Development Program; Research Development Program.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/landam2023ArchitectureZoology and Entomolog

Could Purposefully Engineered Native Grassland Gardens Enhance Urban Insect Biodiversity?

Progress is required in response to how cities can support greater biodiversity. This calls for more research on how landscape designers can actively shape urban ecologies to deliver context-specific empirical bases for green space intervention decisions. Design experiments offer opportunities for implemented projects within real-world settings to serve as learning sites. This paper explores preliminary ecological outcomes from a multidisciplinary team on whether purposefully engineered native grassland gardens provide more habitat functions for insects than mainstream gardens in the City of Tshwane, South Africa. Six different sites were sampled: two recently installed native grassland garden interventions (young native), two contemporary non-native control gardens (young non-native) on the same premises and of the same ages as the interventions, one remnant of a more pristine native grassland reference area (old native), and one long-established, non-native reference garden (old non-native). Plant and insect diversity were sampled over one year. The short-term findings suggest that higher plant beta diversity (species turnover indicating heterogeneity in a site) supports greater insect richness and evenness in richness. Garden size, age, and connectivity were not clear factors mediating urban habitat enhancement. Based on the preliminary results, the researchers recommend high native grassland species composition and diversity, avoiding individual species dominance, but increasing beta diversity and functional types when selecting garden plants for urban insect biodiversity conservation in grassland biomes

El proyecto urbano : un acercamiento cualitativo para el diseño de la ciudad : el caso de Mamelodi-Este, en Pretoria, Sudáfrica 

El objeto de estudio de la presente investigación son los denominados township de Sudáfrica, puntos intermedios entre la ciudad y el campo. La finalidad es analizar el diseño urbano de los proyectos de vivienda pública ..

Role of landscape designers in promoting a balanced approach to green infrastructure.

The importance accorded to green infrastructure is related to sociocultural values, which also affect the social production of ecosystem services. The literature distinguishes four categories of ecosystem services to be included in green infrastructure, namely cultural, regulating, provisioning, and supporting services. This study considers the current role of landscape design practice in South Africa in the social production process by analyzing design projects featured in three prominent profession-focused magazines over nine years, since 2004. The magazine analysis indicates that, contrary to what the scientific literature and theory propounds, landscape design practitioners perceive cultural and regulating services as more important than provisioning or supporting services. This is evident from recurrent discussions in these magazines focusing on aspects such as social and community matters, sustainability, and the showcasing of design and aesthetics. The analysis also suggests that environmental law, ratings systems, and award systems influence what landscape design practitioners consider important. It is suggested that award systems are best positioned to reorient values and promote a well-balanced inclusion of ecosystem services in green infrastructur