Sarmen Ab e d i sarmenabedi@gmail.com 818.818.8181
ABSTRACT This pamphlet focuses on how humans can generate energy as they go through their daily lives. Users and visitors can engage with the landscape and the environment around them in order to generate energy which is possible with the help of piezoelectricity. Piezoelectricity is the result of the conversion of mechanical movement into electricity. Humans can produce a significant amount of energy while they move. The energy can be harvested when we walk, run, exercise, or do any activity that involves movement leading to vibration. The piezoelectric panels can be installed under the sidewalk surface, bike-paths, streets, throughout the buildings, and anywhere where there is vibration coming from. The wind, sound, or human movement are main causes of the vibrations captured. Piezoelectricity is going to play an important role in the future of our cities, where our natural resources will be unreliable, limited, and costly. Kinetic energy harvesting will lead us to a more sustainable future where humans produce energy as they move through the landscape.
Tabl e o f Co n t e n t s
table of contents Site Specificity Defining Urban Sites Piezoelectricity Philadelphia, PA New York, New York Footstep Power Generation Walking Your Talk Lexicon
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Site Specificity Miwon Kwon
In the article, Miwon Kwon demarcates site specificity and the influence of art institutions on the complex connection between art and its surrounding context. Recreating an artwork together with organizing a new site changes the identity and real value of the art piece. Kwon shows how difficult it has become to go back to the pristine idea that an artwork can be deemed meaningless without its original space. Since site specificity prevents refabrication, it creates the notion that one can observe a site specific artwork only once, giving the artwork a phenomenal significance. As a result, the viewers become more aware of their observations and their surroundings. Site specific artworks blend into the site and alter the perception of the viewers resulting in a new meaning for the site itself. In one of her examples, Kwon mentions Haacke’s “Condensation Cube” and Lawrence Weiner’s “Wall Cutouts” where the moisture from the environment covers the spotless plain art piece in order to show the importance of the architecture and exhibition space and how they demarcate artwork from its context. There are plenty of questions and studies that have been done to know more about the relationship between the art, artist, and the environment surrounding them. Kwon discusses how mobility and the connection of the place with the artwork plays an important role on site-specificity. She defines public art not just as a piece by its own but rather an entire complex relationship. Connection between the artwork, its surrounding setting, and the relationship of the artwork to the viewers is not predetermined. The original place has a unique environment and a different history resulting in an unpredictable outcome for the artwork.
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Kwon’s article helped me understand how an artwork can become site-specific after it is created in a new environment. For example, a lighting design that is powered through piezoelectricity can be considered as an artwork. The piece would generate electricity while it engages people with their surrounding environment. Let us think about a street with heavy pedestrian traffic for a moment. I would start with Hollywood Boulevard. It is one of the busiest streets in Los Angeles where on average about 100,000 people walk on the sidewalk every day. What if we were able to generate energy from the pedestrians walking on the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard? The energy generated could be stored, transformed to lighting, or it could act as an interactive playful art. A project like this can easily transform the streetscape while being sustainable at the same time. In addition, it will create new experiences for the pedestrians walking on the sidewalks. Therefore, people’s perception towards the street is going to change. As a result, the project becomes part of the environment due to its relationship and connection with the site.
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Defining Urban Sites Andrea Kahn
According to Kahn, the boundaries and outside context of an urban project are what one needs to understand when designing an urban project. She mentions how urban projects should fit within the environment. Kahn compares two projects, the Palmanuova plan and a drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci. The city drawn in the Palmanuova plan has clear defined boundaries whereas in the drawing by Da Vinci, there is no clear boundary and the city is defined by its relationship with the context not by its boundary. She also mentions the importance of mapping which helps us discover information that we cannot find on the map.
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Familiarity and understanding of the site results in better design solutions for a given problem. Using the information from mapping, one can define the boundaries of the site. The project always has a stronger concept and meaning when there is an understanding of the site and context. Otherwise, it would not be the same project if it is placed at a different site.
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Cities are growing and human population is increasing as well specifically in urban areas. Knowing how cities are growing, urban designers can study and address the changes the cities are going through. With the rise in human population, one can easily see the impact that the added population will have on the environment. According to Kahn, urban sites are complex systems that are open to changes. These sites are connected with their surroundings and are not separated with a border or a line on a map. Humans are over-consuming the natural resources of the planet and the world is facing a natural resources crisis. We are using more resources than the Earth can replace each year. Air pollution, water pollution, deforestation, and limited food resources are due to the over-using of our natural resources. Human population and our consumption is growing faster than the solutions we find in order to sustain our natural resources. We are somehow able to recover from a recession. However, nothing can replace our planet’s natural resources. As a result, piezoelectricity can help us generate enough electricity from the pedestrian movement on high traffic roads to cover the electricity for the street lighting and etc.
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Future Means of Energy Generation - Piezoelectricity Sarah Harvey
Sarah Harvey explains Piezoelectricity and its uses in detail. Piezoelectricity is being considered as an alternative energy source which can produce significant amount of electricity depending on the number of pedestrian traffic on the site. Piezo materials are made of ceramics which contain Lead (Pb), Zirconium (Zn), and Titanium (Ti) in their molecular compound. Mechanical energy is converted to Electrical energy through the bending, vibration and the tension. Club for Climate in London is a sample project that consists of a dance floor with piezoelectric panels.
Mechanical Stress
Piezo Material
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V
In the next few years, people are going to harvest more energy for different purposes. Due to the increasing demand, more research is being done on piezoelectric panels and structures. Wind and piezoelectricity have a direct relationship since when an object is moved by the wind force, it results in vibration which activates the piezo system and generates electricity. A great system like this can be used on the facades of buildings which will be able to generate energy as long as the wind blows. Why not going beyond sustainability and be productive?
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Piezoelectricity reduces the need for carbon based energy sources. Applying piezoelectricity to a large number of urban design projects will decrease air pollution and it will save part of our current energy resources. Even though the technology is not as widely used, it will become one of the future alternatives to our current energy sources. With further research and investment on this field, it will be easier to increase the amount of the energy output from the input generated by the pedestrians. It is reasonable to use the energy generated from human kinetic energy to power our landscapes. Piezoelectric panels can be installed in environments where other low-carbon technologies cannot be used. For example, in an area where there is no sunlight and wind, using solar and wind technologies would be impossible.
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Since the focus in this pamphlet is merely on pedestrian energy generation, I would focus on the piezoelectricity technology that is installed underground in order to absorb the pressure from pedestrian footsteps which are the cause for the compression and vibration in the panels resulting in electricity generation. In addition to the sidewalks, bike paths would also be a great place to install piezo-panels. Lighting is one of the most important components of a bike path since it keeps the path safe for the cyclists. Powering the path with piezopanels will help lighting the site at night which would create a different experience for the cyclists. A number of bicycle accidents happen at night when car drivers have a difficult time seeing the cyclists. For example, if the bike-path next to the Los Angeles River was to be paved with piezo-panels in order to create an interactive lighting pattern on the site, more people would use the bike-path.
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Philadelphia, PA
2015
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“I walked the avenue, till my legs felt like stone.� - Bruce Springsteen Philadelphia is one of the most walkable cities in the nation. It is a privilege to live and work in an area where everything is close within walking distance. Many people do not drive in Philadelphia since the city is very accessible with the help of public transportation or one’s own feet. Walkable streets come with many advantages for the residents. Walkability adds to the exercise level of the residents and it results in a healthier and more active lifestyles. It reduces stress level since people walk on daily basis getting more exercise compared to a city like Los Angeles where the transportation is fully dependent on cars. People also save money when they walk since they do not have to worry about the monthly car payments, gas money, parking costs, and etc. In addition, it improves the neighborhood commercial businesses. Shopping areas that are walkable are usually more successful as well. Walkability increases commercial and residential land values since many people want to live close to the stores and businesses. However, there are a number of ways and design guidelines in order to make streets walkable. As long as the number of people on the sidewalks increases, businesses will sell more as well.
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According to Jeff Speck, “Walking should be useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting. More specifically, a successfully walkable place should ideally be compact and have diverse land uses.� Piezoelectricity can make walking in Philadelphia even more useful, safer, and interesting. With the increasing number of pedestrians on the sidewalks and the demand for more walkable streets, Philadelphia can be one of the first cities to produce energy from its residents walking on the streets. Piezoelectricity can provide lighting for the dark streets and alleys at night in order to make the streets safer.
Walkable Neighborhood
Public Transportation
Pedestrians
Home
Commercial
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New York, New York
2015
It was 7:00 in the morning. My first time in New York. I stepped outside the train, and all I could see were people. People moving around so fast that I could not focus on one person for more than a second. After leaving the train station, I along with a few of my classmates walked around Manhattan to get a sense of the place. The number of people on the sidewalks was amazing. New York is the most walkable city in the nation and I could easily see that after I walked 15 miles covering different types of streets and sidewalks in New York. Going back to the idea of energy harvesting, New York is one of the best places to execute such a project. The high number of pedestrians walking on the sidewalks can generate enough energy to power lightings, phone charging stations, information kiosks, and etc. When it comes to technology and energy harvesting, our country is not the first on the list. For example, Netherlands was the first country to open a solar road for public use. 2,000 cyclists are going to use the road daily together with the people. Not only the road generates solar energy, it also consists of heating components to melt ice and snow which adds to the safety of the road. Such technology could be used in New York where there is high pedestrian traffic. 34 people walked in front of the Trump Tower in one minute. If we took an average of 30 people for a period of 16 hours, that would result in 28,800 pedestrians passing the Trump Tower entrance daily. Using the energy from all the footsteps will be enough for the entire lighting of the sidewalk as far as the piezo-panels cover. If we are not using the available energy, then we are wasting it.
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Footsteps on a high traffic pedestrian site can generate enoigh energy to provide lighting. At the same time, depending on the weight of each person, the intensity of the lighting can be different which can result in an interactive playful art piece.
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Footstep Power Generation Using Piezo Electric Transducers Kiran Boby, Aleena Paul K, Anumol.C.V, Josnie Ann Thomas, Nimisha K.K.
The authors start with explaining how large number of our energy resources are being overused, and they introduce piezo electric technology as a way to generate energy from human waste energy. Using the waste energy of human foot power is very useful for heavily populated areas. The authors used India as an example. However, such technology can be incorporated in any design based on the characteristics of the existing site. After the piezo electric panels are installed, the floor sensors capture the electrical energy from the pressure, convert it to an electrical charge using the piezo transducers, and store it as a power source. The stored power can be used in many fields. The presentation was very clear explaining every detail and calculations regarding the piezo electricity. However, I will skip to the main calculation part in order to get an idea of how much energy we can create in a landscape setting like the sidewalk in front of Trump Tower that I mentioned earlier. If 28,800 people walk pass the Trump Tower entrance every day, then we can calculate the average voltage. Based on the fact that a person weighing 165 pounds can generate 40V we can take an average weight of 140 pounds generating 34.5V for our calculation. 28,800 x 34.5V = 99,3600V which is maximum voltage of 99,3600V generated across the piezo site with the entire weight applied on the site. The study shows that the weight applied on the tiles and the voltage generated have direct relationship which proves the point that this technology can be used in crowded areas like sidewalks or open spaces that hold a large number of people in order to maximize the energy generated.
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Walking Your Talk – Integrating Walkability in Urban Design Jennifer Keesmaat
Jennifer Keesmaat was named one of Canada’s most influential people. She tries to explain the importance of a walkable city. Walking connects people together. When children walk to school, they get to see their neighborhood and learn about it. As children grow up in their neighborhood, there is a stronger bond between the neighborhood members compared to another city where everyone drives to work or school. She also mentions that there are both good and bad areas in a city. According to her, there are parks and different places for the kids and people to gather and intermingle. However, since everyone is driving, no one gets a chance to explore their surrounding environment. Keesmaat states that in order to have a walkable neighborhood, there have to be places for people to go. She brings up a great example when kids used to go door to door to collect empty bottles so they could exchange it for candy at the store. Kids today do not even go away from their house let alone that sort of engagement. “A certain amount of freedom is essential to developing well-rounded, community-minded, streetsmart and aware kind.� Keesmaat notes. Walkability is a key factor in order to be able to utilize piezo-electricity in different urban projects since high pedestrian traffic is needed to generate more energy.
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Lexicon
Nomadic / Of, relating to, or characteristic of nomads / Moving from one place to another place aimlessly / Frequently / Without a fixed pattern The word nomadic refers to someone that moves from one place to another. For example, an artist is a nomad that moves from one museum to another museum in order to refabricate his or her artwork. Nomadic hunting is another example where the hunters follow the available animals. A nomad moves from one place to another in order to obtain food which is similar to the artists creating their artwork in a different location.
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Demarcate / To separate things / To segregate / To show the limits or edges of something Separation of the relationship between the art and its context; creation of an art piece that can be placed at any location with no respect to its context. The idea of an artwork that is not site specific. When we demarcate something, we are creating a boundary. This goes back to the difference between the two city plan drawings which one had a clear border and the other one painted by Da Vinci connected with the site since it had no clear boundary, therefore, it had more information.
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Impermanence / Not Permanent / Ephemeral / One of the main doctrines of existence in Buddhism / Not lasting An artwork that is great only once when it is first made since it is difficult and almost impossible to refabricate an artwork. Human Life is another good example of impermanence since it is only lived once. The Pristine landscape is another example since we can never go back to day one when everything was perfect and humans did not alter the pristine condition of the landscape.
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Piezoelectricity / Piezo: Greek Root ‘Peizin’ to press Piezoelectric materials are now considered as alternative energy sources. Piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials (such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter) as a result of the pressure from the applied mechanical stress. The word piezoelectricity means electricity resulting from pressure. Piezoelectricity can be used in different forms.
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Obstinate: / To resist a change in one’s opinion and belief. / To refuse to learn and understand something that one does not know. / Not to accept that one does not know Stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or chosen course of action, despite attempts to persuade one to do so. Somone who is very difficult to change or overcome. Usually a problem that is difficult to deal with.
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Walkability: / Capable of being traveled, crossed, or covered by walking / To move on foot / Suitable for walking Walkability refers to the level of friendliness of an area for walking. Walkability has a number of good health, environmental, and economic benefits. One will always manage his or her weight. It also reduces the carbon emissions from the cars and saves people gas money. Streets that are walkable can be used to generate electricity from the pedestrian movement using piezoelectricity.
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Site Specific: / Created, designed, or selected for a specific site Site-specific art or a site-specific design is created in a specific environment. The artist usually decides the location of the art piece or any design while creating the artwork. A design that does not belong to the site can also become site-specific if it blends with the site. For example, if the design changes the environment around it, it can be considered as a site-specific design. Piezoelectricity can generate electricity at any location. However, depending on the design of the entire system, it can become a piece specific to the site it has been installed in.
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3rd places: / Next after the second / A third part Places where people gather and intermingle together outside of their homes and work places are called 3rd places. A a coffee shop, book store, restaurant, and a bar can be considered as 3rd places since the residents of that neighborhood gather in these nodes. According to Ray Oldenburg “these spaces promote social equity by leveling the status of guests, providing a setting for grassroots politics, creating habits of public association, and offering psychological support to individuals and communities.�
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Refrences: http://corygansthesis.blogspot.com/2010/04/defining-urban-sites.html http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/11/09/netherlands-is-the-first-country-to-opensolar-road-for-public/ http://planphilly.com/eyesonthestreet/2015/04/22/three-reasons-why-walkability-isessential-to-philadelphia-s-future http://www.ijeit.com/Vol%203/Issue%2010/IJEIT1412201404_51.pdf http://www.graef-usa.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/people-walking-in-city.jpg http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/events/best-lecture/2013-11-07/jennifer-keesmaat-walkingyour-talk-integrating-walkability-urban-design http://www.driftingfocus.com/blogs/wp-content/ uploads/2010/05/3843898811_7c7821fdf6_b-e1274529515478.jpg
Thank you
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