Further Reading...

Just a few sections from the reading that I thought would be relevant to Project 1, in particular the Woodford site.

Green Streets

"A local road, which only gives access to buildings, needs a few stones for the wheels of the cars; nothing more. Most of it can still be green. ...

In a typical low density American suburb, more than 50% of the land is covered with concrete or asphalt paving." C. Alexander, A Pattern Language, (1977), Oxford Universities Press, page 233

A typical suburban road:

Green Street:

I think this is very relevant can should be used in all areas outside of the main highways and the city area. What Alexander has stated is true, you really don't need anything else for a car than two rows of pavers to create a street. By having a street of pavers surrounded in grass the heat typically produced on a hot summers day would be drastically reduced and would also immensely help to reduce the heat island effect created by the concrete jungle in summer.

This is definitely something that will be integrated into Project 1 and 2!

Site Repair

"Buildings must always be built on those parts of the land which are in the worst condition, not the least." C. Alexander, A Pattern Language, (1977), Oxford Universities Press, page 509



There really isn't a more logical idea out there, however quite often councils and developers overlook the environmentlly right thing to do and build on perfectly good land either to expand the city or expand their empire. The problem with this is that it is incredibly short sighted and just as Alexander stated in the Agricultural Valleys section of the book, "once destroyed, it cannot be regained for centuries." C. Alexander, A Pattern Language, (1977), Oxford Universities Press, page 27

This is incredibly relevant to the Woodford site. Althought the current owners of the land are doing amazing things to regenterate the environment on the site there are parts that have acidic soil and are unsuitable for regeneration. Therefore by applying the principle of 'site repair', development for the future community on the site must happen on these less (environmentally) favorable areas.

Vegetable Garden

"Set aside one piece of land either in a private garden or on common land as a vegetable garden. About one tenth of an arcre is needed for each family of four." C. Alexander, A Pattern Language, (1977), Oxford Universities Press, page 821



Although primative this gives an idea of how much land is required to support a family . As Murray Lane out lined in his week 3 lecture, forjust one person 2.5 hectares or 3.7 rugby league fields are required to produce the food needed for one year. To me this sounds massive!! Would it be safe to suggest that as farming technology and techniques become more efficient less and less land will be required to sustain the life of one person??