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1. Air & Water Purification
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In order to relieve the problem of urban heat island effect (UHI) in a developing city (Adams et al., 2015), the Greater Sydney, and the crisis caused, the concept of the “Green Lattice” is proposed. It is a 3D - Green Infrastructure (GI) network designated for cities with different elements of various sizes, shapes and heights crisis.
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Cooling down the Boiling Sydney, Australia
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES by the GREEN LATTICE Pub lic
THE GREEN • LATTICE THE GREEN • LATTICE
3. Soil and nutrient Cycling 4. Climate & Radiation Regulation
NODES
Circulation of people, including traffic, is one of the essentials to the success of the GI system. The design of people circulation usually follows that of ecological corridors as it is easier to direct people to different designated direction by using various landscape design strategies, for examples, signage, paving or softscape design etc. – Humanorientated.
The movement of water in terms of water management in a city could be added on top of the ecological corridors and people circulation, for examples, water source of the habitats, bioswales along the car park, rain gardens besides the pedestrian footpath or the planting strips along the railway. – Natural element-orientated.
New open spaces would be added according to the existing conditions (the above types of nodes) in order to serve new ecosystem services, for examples, green cover for temperature regulation and rain garden for water management, as well as provide various social functions, such as recreational, leisure and cultural uses.
4thThe Volume
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3D
Centralised Node
Case Studies Melbourne, Australia
A major node acts as the centre of or that of the smaller part of the a GI lattice. It connects with the other minor nodes to form the GI networks. The prototype would be suitable for the location with existing larger ecological habitat or open spaces as the identity of the area.
Minor Node
Central Major Node
Minor Node Minor Node
Prototype 2
The Riverway
Back Bay Fens
Olmsted Park Minor Node
Minor Node
Steele Creek Length
Boston, USA
Minor Node
3rdWater Movement
3rdNew Open Space
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Services originally provided by the Nature on Earth now by a mix of natural elements and man-made facilities in the GI lattice in cities (Austin, 2014)
2ndCirculation
Existing Open spaces should be considered secondly not only because of its existing provision of the ecosystem services but also the social and cultural value to the surrounding communities. Enhancement or changes on the functions of the existing would add value to the nodes.
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Prototype 1 In order to connect the fragmented ecological habitats in the urban area, ecological corridors should also be planned first. According to different nature of the ecological habitats, corridors with various purposes, such as communal, migratory or dispersal, would be designed in terms of specific alignment, width, edge and planting species. – Wildlifeorientated.
2ndExisting Open Space
7. Aesthetic & Cultural
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GREEN • LATTICE
1stEcological Corridor
Ecological habitat should be put in the first priority since it is the most demanding among all other types of nodes and could not be created by human easily. Therefore, preservation or to restoration of the existing ecological habitat fragments should be considered first, such as forest, lake and hillside etc.
Rai n
In this study, a HIERARCHY of the “Green Lattice” with NODES and LINKS is further developed for the design and planning of new or existing urban areas (Austin, 2014). And two major prototypes of the “Green Lattice” are summarised and explained as reference for new city planning or old district regeneration.
LINKS
1stEcological Habitat
Examples of GI elements
6. Noise Pollution Control
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HIERARCHY “Green • Lattice”
5. Habitat Provision r te
In the last preliminary proposal, individual GI elements, such as, urban open space, green wall and rain garden etc, act as the nodes connected by strong linkages among people, wildlife and natural elements to form the “Green Lattice”. The formation of this network links the built and natural environments to re-provide the multiple ecosystem services originally provided by the nature – Re-naturing the cities (Lemes de Oliveira, 2019) and resilience enhancement of the cities against global climate changes.
Scattered Node
Maribyrnong Length Jamaica Pond
Maribyrnong River Valley
Emerald Necklace Parks
Maribyrnong River is one of the most famous waterways in Melbourne and the riverside areas are preserved as much as possible for native vegetations and animals as well as designed as a linked open space for the public (DPCD, 2010). It serves as the GI centre of the local communities. The river areas are divided into 7 zones according to their own identity.
Boston’s Emerald Necklace, which consists of 7 main parks nowadays, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1878 in order to solve the drainage and water quality of the local areas (Hellmund and Smith, 2006). These 7 parklands and the Muddy River serves as the centre of the GI network of the nearby communities (Emerald Necklace Conservancy,2020).
The Steele Creek length and Maribyrnong length are shown in the above. Steele Creek length is a secluded river section planned to retain the original landscape while Maribyrnong length is a suburban river section planned for recreational and leisure purposes with numerous minor GI nodes connected together (DPCD, 2010).
Surrounding the necklace, there are more minor GI nodes which helps to strengthen the entire GI lattice.
Case Studies Stockholm, Sweden
Vancouver, Canada
Numbers of minor nodes would form the GI lattice in a more intensive way with the connection of different linkages. The prototype would be suitable for the location lacking land supply and having spatial constraint in planning large open space. Therefore, the connections among the various GI nodes become more significant to the function of the lattice.
4thThe Void
(Building Structure)
(Spaces between Buildings)
Besides the open spaces among buildings, the urban structure itself is also another important element of the city. The from, size, shape, surface and arrangement of the urban structures also affect the overall 3D cityscape, especially the sun, shade and air ventilation of the city. Also, the balconies, walls and roofs of the structures would be potential GI nodes to serve new ecosystem services.
Besides the open spaces, there are still numerous little spaces among the urban structures i.e. the void, contrasting to the volume of the city. These little spaces always interact with the urban structures and form different kinds of alleys, corridors or channels, such as wind or visual corridors.
Minor Node Minor Node
Minor Node
Unique Identity of a City
Minor Node
Minor Node
Minor Node
Minor Node Minor Node
Central Stockholm - Cycling Path
West Vancouver - Canopy Cover
Stockholm is built on 14 islands and the surrounding lands (Stockholms stad, 2015). Therefore, the size of the GI nodes would be limited because of the site geography. Nevertheless, it develops a comprehensive bicycle network system connecting the nearby neighbourhood, stores, school or station promoting bicycle as a major transportation tool in the city (This Big City, 2020).
According to the MIT’s Senseable City project, the percentage of tree canopy cover of 25.9% here is ranked the 4th among the world’s major cities (MIT Senseable City Lab, 2020). Although the city seems to be divided into tiny grids on the plan leading to smaller size of GI nodes, the tree canopy coverage on the street promotes the circulation of people to different GI nodes in terms of the pleasure and the thermal comfort of the journey (City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board, 2018).
4D
GREEN LATTICE CHANGING WITH TIME The “Green Lattice” is proposed to be a DYNAMIC GI network of which the nodes and linkages would change time to time to attain an equilibrium state that would be resilient to global climate change and some extreme events.
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However, urban development should be planned in a holistic way and some of the aspects, such as political issues, might not be covered in this proposal. Nevertheless, it still provides an interactive thinking of the planning of GI system from the point of view of nature and local community needs.
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FRAGMENTED
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At the very beginning, individual nodes, such as fragmented ecological habitat or existing open spaces, disconnected from each other.
During the formation stage of the GI lattice, more nodes are added, for examples, a new children playground, leisure park or stormwater retention area. Linkages of wildlife and people among the nodes are designed in order to facilitate the ecological and social interaction within the communities to provide new ecosystem services.
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PROLIFERATION As part of the establishment of a rigid GI lattice network, trials of formation of different types of nodes and linkages happens. For example, the city council might construct a few small leisure parks in the city after consolation. After the period of use and regular evaluation, demand for local people might change and turning one of them into a community farming area. – Experimental of Try and Error.
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EQUILIBRIUM When the nodes and linkages of the lattice are more established and stable, the network attains an equilibrium stage. Such as an ecological reserve park, city park and other small leisure areas are connected with a well-established pedestrian walkway and cycling path system. Nevertheless, the network is not fixed but dynamic i.e. there would be new pedestrian footpath or water channels proposed in order to enhance the connection while the major structure of the lattice would normally remain.