[C&E] ECO - SPACE

GUIDEBOOK ON THE INTEGRATION OF ECOLOGICAL LIFESTYLE INTO EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR YOUTH

Topic

ECO - SPACE

Hanoi, August 2019

Implementation: Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment (C&E) This guidebook was compiled and published under the sponsorship of Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung – Southeast Asia Copyright: This guidebook can be copied or cited for non-commercial purposes only Compile: Tran Thi Kim Hoàn, Truong Minh Den, Ngo Thi Phuong Thao

Edit: Hoàng Thanh Tam, Bùi Thị Thanh Thuy, Le Thi Thu Thao Design: Nguyen Khanh Linh Photo: C&E Center, colleagues and internet Address: No 12 lane 89 Xa Dan street, Dong Da district, Hanoi Phone number: +84 24 3573 8536 Email: ce.center.office@gmail.com Website: ce-center.org.vn

PREFACE The “Guidebook on the integration of ecological lifestyle into educational activities for youth – Topic: Eco-space” is in the toolkit series on ecological lifestyle within the course of the project “Scaling up and mainstreaming innovative approaches on ecological movement into activities of universities”, the period of 2018 – 2020, funded by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. The toolkits are designed for teachers, educators, and youth activists with topics related to sustainable lifestyle and education.

This guidebook aims to guide youth activities towards the topic of eco-space in the context of social-ecological transformation. It gives young people a better understanding of the connection between the living space of themselves, their families as well as their community; and sustainable development.

Another objective of this guidebook is to support teachers, educators, and youth activists in inspiring their learners in a diverse, scientific-based, and interesting way. It introduces methods of integrating the topic “Eco-space” into educational programs as well as activities to change learners’ awareness and action. As a result, learners can apply this to their future career and spread to their community where they live, study, and work.

Furthermore, this guidebook is also a simple tool for individuals and organizations who seek to understand and integrate topics related to ecological lifestyle into extracurricular, training, or educational activities for young people. No matter who you are or where you work, you can be an inspiration for your community.

The compilation team hopes to receive comments and suggestions from individuals and organizations to better revise and publicize this guidebook in upcoming times.

The compilation team C&E Center

CONTENT

01 02

UNDERSTANDING ECO-SPACE

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What is an Eco-space?

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Basic elements of eco-space

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The scale of eco-space

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The criteria of eco-space

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Best practices of eco-space

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The importance of understanding eco-spaces

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METHODOLOGY OF INTEGRATION INTO EDUCATION 33 Forms of integration

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Training methods

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03 04

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TRAINING PROGRAMS 44 Lecture in class

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Practical class

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Fieldtrips 48

REFERENCE 50

DANH MỤC HÌNH MINH HỌA Figure 1 - Walls made from laterite – a common material in rural area of Vietnam Figure 2 - The playground in Peaceful Bamboo Family, Hue Figure 3 - More than 50% of Bhutan’s area is covered by forest Figure 4 - A community classroom in Cam Thanh, Hoi An - built by bamboo, coconut leaves and earth Figure 5 - A training course of C&E Center took place in Cam Thanh community house in Hoi An Figure 6 - Open space inside the Cam Thanh community house in Hoi An Figure 7 - Residential housing in Vauban looking from above Figure 8 - A corner of residential building in Vauban Figure 9 - Community garden in Transition Town Westcliff (UK) Figure 10 - The zero-energy housing complex Beddington/BedZED in UK Figure 11 - Suoi Re community house Figure 12 - The overview of Green School Bali Figure 13 - A classroom in Green School Bali Figure 14 - Hanul Madang garden looking from above Figure 15 - An event organized on the rooftop garden Figure 16 - A playground in Hanoi constructed by Think Playgrounds Figure 17 - The office of V-Architecture

10 11 11 13 14 19 21 21 23 24 25 26 26 27 28 29 30

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01 Understanding Eco-space

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WHAT IS AN ECO-SPACE? Eco-space is a term to describe the space where human living activities take place, which was designed to maximize the use of three elements: being environmentally friendly, nurturing the beauty of society and culture, and being economically efficient.

Speaking of eco-spaces, people might relate it to the fields of design, architecture or settlement.

However, with the purpose of ecological lifestyle education, this guidebook does not only limit its range to architecture but also opens the connection of space to other aspects of human’s life, as well as the relationship between human and nature. Eco-space is not confined in one single house or one single context, it can be applied on multiple levels such as community, school, city, rural area‌ This concept highlights the value of human and nature in a living space, therefore developing ecospace will express clearly the spirit of the social-ecological transformation 1.

BASIC ELEMENTS OF ECO-SPACE Following the three circles of sustainable development, economics lies within the circle of society (the human factor) and the bigger circle of ecology (the nature factor). This is a wide-used model to apply 17 sustainable development goals of United Nations. (Pretlove, Bente & Blasiak, Robert, 2018).

1  Social-ecological transformation is a movement to solve global crises by developing production and living models that rise above consumerism and the age of fossil fuels. It heads to a better living quality, social justice and environmentally friendliness (Brand, 2016).

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ECONOMICS Built upon the boundaries of social and ecological factors, the economics circle in eco-space aims towards the efficient use of both materials and monetary resources to invest in infrastructure and technological initiatives to ensure social justice, preserve culture, be in harmony with nature and minimize impact on environment.

SOCIETY The objective of this circle is to build spaces with positive impact on social issues such as elevating health and life quality, binding social relationships, enforcing peace and equality. At the same time, it honors the traditional beauty and culture diversity. The social factor always lies within the boundary of natural environment.

SINH THĂ I Nature protection is the foundation of social as well as economical development. In eco-space, minimizing the negative impacts on environment (emission, pollution, destruction of existing ecosystems) is the first and foremost priority. It is even better to aim for giving space back to nature, increasing bio-diversity, reversing bad impacts of previous development processes on eco-systems. Ensuring a resilient ecology, in turn, has positive effect on the living quality of human being.

Eco-space development aims to harmonize among these three elements, especially between human and nature. It is the well-blended combination of natural conditions, climate, rituals and culture, from which we can build up spatial components and ratio; and choose appropriate type of local architecture. Elements such as geology, hydrology, living systems are considered carefully. The use of water, energy, waste management are designed as a continuous cycle. It is possible to reduce waste and circulate energy and resources in a system, which will minimize cost at the same time.

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THE SCALE OF ECO-SPACE In scale, eco-space is not limited within an isolated system but is a product of a harmonious interaction among elements of a system and between different systems, much like different organs on the same body. Some examples are areas and functions in a house (kitchen, living room, electrical system, water and waste system…), spaces in a city (buildings, playgrounds, parks, neighbourhoods…), or among regions in a country (urban, rural, seaside, nature reserve…).

Let’s take a closer look at a concrete example: community in an eco-space is built up by many families. These families share certain tradition and culture. Their houses might share a similar architecture style which uses mainly environmentally friendly materials which strong connection to historical value. They also share common communication rules among humans and between human and nature.

Over time, their community space is formed as a model for Vietnamese ecological communities, which can be seen in community house of Tay Nguyen indigenous people or traditional houses in the Central countryside and floating houses in the river neighbourhood of Cuu Long delta.

Figure 1 - Walls made from laterite – a common material in rural area of Vietnam (Photo: Minh Den) Playgrounds for children or adults in a neighbourhood can be ecological. These areas were built upon criteria of safety and green space bringing values to the community space. There is one fact that the need for playground in residential areas, especially re-settlement ones, is very high. The playground could be a green highlight in a complex of eco-space in the community. It serves as the glue to bind citizens together, at the same time creates social relationship and healthy environment for the community. Furthermore,

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many researches have pointed out the positive impact of green space on our physical and emotional health.

Figure 2 - The playground in Peaceful Bamboo Family, Hue (Photo: Hoang Hai) At national level, eco-space can be seen in a macro lens. Government’s policies can direct planning to eco-spaces, preserving traditional villages and forming eco urban cities. Beside, the national economy will focus on improving ethical values and happiness (with GNH – Gross National Happiness or SET – Social Ecological Transformation) rather than purely developing economically. This means the nation will not trade environment for growth rate. National targets of expanding green space or zero carbon economy are considered criteria for an ecological nation of which Bhutan is an example.

Figure 3 - More than 50% of Bhutan’s area is covered by forest (Photo: Sauro Pucci)

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THE CRITERIA OF ECO-SPACE Periodicity This is a crucial criterion in an eco-space. Human can learn from nature and work with nature to create the cycles of energy and materials, which can minimize cost and emissions.

THE ENERGY CYCLE Make the best out of natural sources of energy such as heat from the sun; cooling by wind, water or vegetation. There are many references about no fossil fuel and zero-carbon energy. Some constructions can be considered zero-energy when total energy used is equivalent to energy that was produced by renewable sources on the site. With community space, playgrounds and parks, it is possible to make use of natural resources and use small solar panels for lighting.

USE LOCAL MATERIALS, PROMOTE REUSE AND RECYCLE The choice of which materials to use in a space can reduce remarkably its negative impact on the environment by using surrounding or local produced materials. Traditional materials were studied through many generations and proven to be best for the local topography and climate. For example: the mud house of Northern ethnic minorities is cool in summer and warm in winter. Moreover, local materials embedded cultural beauty and heritage, such as the use of rattan and bamboo in Vietnam which exists for centuries and reaches high level of art.

The question of which material to choose also relates to resources, energy and emission during production process, as well as the usage, life cycle and waste treatment. Therefore, we should prioritize materials that are durable, with reuse or recycle sources, not harmful for the environment even after a long time.

PRESERVE THE PERIODICITY OF NATURE Whenever possible, let nature does its work and avoid unnecessary interference from human. Certain spaces such as nature reserves, national parks, geological parks‌ only require minimum management from human. This will facilitate the growth and blossom of nature as its potential lies and also bring the best experience for human to visit. Working with the law of nature will also help urban space make use of natural resources and reduce redundant investment. This is particularly important when building a new space upon an existing foundation, in that case we need to spend time to observe and understand the nature’s characteristics of the area before designing any man-made intervention.

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Figure 4 - A community classroom in Cam Thanh, Hoi An - built by bamboo, coconut leaves and earth (Photo: Pham Duc Trung)

Connection and co-creation • • An eco-space should honor three basic connections: between human with him/herself, with community and with nature. The space can be designed and set up to create opportunities for meeting up and exchanging. In addition, it is where any individual can feel completely relaxed, present and close to nature, from plants to animals.

• • An eco-space has a high communal character, it is where people who live in the same area can meet up and share. This will not only build up the social life of the area but also become a nursery for innovative ideas. A community playground can be used for a weekend fair or meeting hub for local groups or clubs. All activities become a part of building a sustainable community.

• • The space to boost creativity: the dynamic and inspiration are born out of the community connection and connection to the surrounding environment, which give wings to creativity.

Exchange, discussion and idea sharing can happen within these eco-spaces.

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Joy and happiness Eco-space connects human to human and human to nature. It creates a spiritual value for us and strengthen social bonds within a neighbourhood. Especially, on a bigger level, eco-space helps building a happy nation. Therefore, designing these spaces requires a focus on creating safe space and bringing joy to the people they serve.

Figure 5 - A training course of C&E Center took place in Cam Thanh community house in Hoi An (Photo: C&E)

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Criteria for Green Architecture from Vietnam Architect Association (2013-2014) In recent years, the architecture communities in Vietnam and in the world talk more about ecological design. The fact that human cares bringing ecology into their design for themselves, for their family and local community proves the tendency of coming back to nature. Hence, when we talk about eco-space we can not neglect green architecture. The short version of the set of criteria for green architecture built by the Vietnam Architect Association is listed below.

1.

SUSTAINABLE LOCATION •

The chosen location is suitable for planning

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Protect the environment and natural landscape

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Climate change adaptation

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Blend in with natural landscape

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Restore and regenerate environment and landscape

2.

EFFICIENT USE OF ENERGY•

Make good use of air and natural light

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Efficient use of water

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Use environmentally friendly materials

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Efficient and economical land-use in construction

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Efficient and economical use of energy

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Application of green technology

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Efficient management in construction, exploitation and implementation of urban building.

3.

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY •

Design indoor environment to meet the physiology need and community communication need.

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Have adequate cover to minimize the impact of both natural and man-made environment

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Interior materials are not harmful to the health and emotion of users.

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Guarantee air quality

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The noise inside the house and in urban area is below boundaries.

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In lighting: minimize energy use, control lighting to save energy

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4.

THE CULTURE OF ARCHITECTURE •

The architecture and planning solutions fit with living requirements and social cultural values

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Preserve, inherit and make use of traditional culture and architecture which is exquisite for each ethnic and each region.

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Application of advanced science and technology to adapt to climate change and bring about economic and social efficiency.

5.

SOCIAL, ETHICAL AND SUSTAINABLE VALUES •

Harmonize with the social environment

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Satisfy the material and non-material needs of individuals, communities and nations.

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Respect, preserve and enhance the culture and heritage values.

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Stable environment, economic and society.

Source: Vietnam Architecture Association – Kien Viet (2014)

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Biophilia and the design that nurture the love for nature The hypothesis of Biophilia was developed by the famous ecologist Edward O. Wilson. He defined it as “the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms” (Edward O. Wilson, Stephen R. Kellert, 1993). This hypothesis explains that human depends on nature not only as resources but also in our love towards beauty, wisdom, cognition and spirituality in nature. In another word, human was en-coded with a love for nature in our gene when we were born. Many medical researches have shown that seeing and being in contact with nature can increase the recovery rate after illness or surgery and reduce the need for pain-killer.

This tendency might be innate, but much like any other tendencies of human being, it needs to be nurtured and fostered throughout our life time. However, in the current modern society, it is bitter that we are gradually losing our connection to nature and forget our inherent love to nature. Instead, humanity is sinking in the artificial world they built themselves. In that case, nature is only seen as resources we can exploit to satisfy our needs. This manifests in all walks of life from education, production, agriculture, medicine and architecture. In our times, we spend 90% of the day indoor, hardly in contact with the world of floral and fauna around us.

Taking in inspiration from this hypothesis, the biophilic design movement has taken root in recent years. It aims to bring about a better living space for human. The basic principles of biophilic design include: •

Biophilic design requires repeated and sustained engagement with nature (the flow of water, vegetation, animals, soil, sunlight, wind…)

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Biophilic design focuses on human adaptations to the natural world that over evolutionary time have advanced people’s health, fitness and wellbeing.

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Biophilic design encourages an emotional attachment to particular settings and places

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Biophilic design promotes positive interactions between people and nature that encourage an expanded sense of relationship and responsibility for the human and natural communities

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Biophilic design encourages mutual reinforcing, interconnected, and integrated architectural solutions

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In the long term, biophilic design enhances the healthy and sustainable development of nature itself.

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Figure 6 - Open space inside the Cam Thanh community house in Hoi An (Photo: Huỳnh Thạch) Source: The Practice of Biophilic Design – Kellert, S. & Calabrese, E. (2015)

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BEST PRACTICES OF ECO-SPACE Talking about eco-space, we can immediately imagine places where nature is everywhere like the countryside, urban parks, beaches, rivers or nature reserves (both on land and under water). However, eco-space can also lie inside the city or hide in an architecture that seems to be artificial.

This section introduces such examples to bring these interesting best practices to you, at the same time show that eco-space can be created anywhere.

Ecological urban space VAUBAN RESIDENTIAL AREA –FREIBURG – GERMANY Vauban is a residential area located in the South of Freiburg, the center of sustainable city movement in the world. Initially an army based from World War II, Vauban was purchased by Freiburg city from German government in 1992. Vauban was designed for 5.500 citizens on the area of 2.000 hectares with the development model of reducing private vehicles, residents live in building with sustainable architecture and connected to the city centre by trains and trams.

In transportation, most people use bicycles, tram or walk on foot. The design of this residence were created specifically for these means of transportation. Vauban were designed to reduce parking lots for private cars and parking area were confined to less than 150 vehicles per 1000 citizens (this ratio is remarkably low comparing to Germany in general).

Land-use transformation and efficient use of energy are two common thread in the planning of this area. Many diverse designs were used for buildings to enhance their application to not only residence but also commercial, educational and entertainment centers. Together with maximizing the use of residential housing, public spaces are developed as well. Especially, there is a rainwater system around the city called Rigolden Mulden, which makes a flow for climate regulation and landscape.

All housings in Vauban were designed upon a new low-energy standard of Germany of 65 kW/h/ m2. In addition, Vauban has 150 passive buildings that consume less than 15 kW/h/m2 – which is the type of housing that makes the most out of natural energy flow and the characteristics of materials to circulate temperature and air instead of using electricity. 65% of electricity were generated from thermal or solar panels and bio-mass.

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Figure 7 - Residential housing in Vauban looking from above Photo: Arquitetura Sustentavel Vauban is a typical example of design public spaces that linked together, where children can play freely and safely from the traffic, green spaces around the house are linked to the spacious parks and other green landscape of the city.

Source: Green Cities of Europe - Global Lessons on Green Urbanism – Timothy Beatley (2012) Figure 8 - A corner of residential building in Vauban (Photo: Charlie Fisher )

TRANSITION INITIATIVES “Transition town” is a social movement started in 2005 from United Kingdom. It is about communities stepping up to address the big challenges they face by starting local. They seek to nurture a caring culture, one focused on supporting each other, both as groups or as wider communities.

Activities in Transition model can be very diverse from re-shaping the dependency on economy (supporting local economy, local complementary currencies), building capacity for the community (survival skills, repairing things or producing food), creating dynamic community space (playground, square, community garden, parks…), supporting start-up initiatives and creating a network to connect communities. This approach has spreaded to over 50 countries with different scales: from

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neighbourhoods, towns, cities to schools, universities. Hence, the movement changed its name to Transition Initiatives to match with the diversity of its member movements.

SIX PRINCIPLES OF THE TRANSITION MODEL THAT CAN BE APPLIED FOR ECO-SPACE DESIGN: 1.VISIONING We can only move towards something if we can imagine what it will be like when we get there. The vision we have in our mind when we set out on this work will be nurtured along the way towards determining where we will end up.

2. INCLUSION The Transition approach seeks to facilitate a degree of dialogue and inclusion that has rarely been achieved before, and has begun to develop some innovative ways of bringing this about.

3. AWARENESS-RAISING We need to assume no prior knowledge, and set out the case as clearly, accessibly and entertainingly as possible, giving people the key arguments in order to let them formulate their own responses.

4. RESILIENCE We need to focus on building the resilience for our community to stand strong against crises (from the market, food security‌) and adapt to them.

5. PSYCHOLOGICAL INSIGHTS Insights from psychology are the key to avoid the sense of powerlessness, isolation and overwhelm that environmental issues can often generate. The Transition model uses these insights through the creation of a positive vision, by creating safe spaces where people can exchange thoughts and feelings, and by affirming the steps and actions that people have taken.

6. CREDIBLE AND APPROPRIATE SOLUTIONS Transition initiative enables people to explore solutions of a credible scale. Talking about change, people are often think of two scales of response; individuals doing things in their own homes, or the government acting on a national scale. The Transition model explores the ground between these two: what could be achieved at a community level.

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Some examples of eco-space in Transition Initiatives movement: • Community café: where people collect leftover food and drinks from shop and restaurants to reuse and it functions entirely on volunteers. The location can be public spaces and there will be a weekly fixed schedule to open.

• Organic fair in town: where citizens came to share, exchange and sell their home-made products such as organic fruits and vegetables, crafts, hand-made stuff (food, body health care products, ornaments)… This is also where children can play with each other and with adults, people can host thematic sharing sections or movie screening, playing music…

• Community garden: making use of abandoned space in town or public spaces that are big enough for some vegetables’ beds. Here citizens can grow seasonal vegetables, fruits and herbs together. There are workshops on organic gardening hosted on voluntarily premise, gardening tools can be shared and collected among citizens.

Figure 9 - Community garden in Transition Town Westcliff (UK) Photo: Fred Robinson

Source: The Transition Handbook – From oil dependency to local resilience – Rob Hopkins (2008) & website www.transitionnetwork.org

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Ecological housing BEDZED COMPLEX – UNITED KINGDOM United Kingdom (UK) played a leading role in zero energy since 2002. The government issued a policy requires all new buildings to have zero-energy design by 2016. In the South of London, there is BedZED (Beddington Zero Energy Development) – a sustainable housing development design by head architect Bill Dunster. In this complex, renewable energy is generated from solar panels and biomass system. BedZED has its own waste water treatment and rooftop gardens on almost every building. It has received many sustainable awards including the Global Energy Award 2002 and 2003, the Sustainable RIBA award. BedZED is considered a model for zero-energy design for the

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Figure 10 - The zero-energy housing complex Beddington/BedZED in UK Photo: Bill Dunster

Source: www.zedfactory.com/bedzed

SUOI RE COMMUNITY HOUSE – HOA BINH PROVINCE This is a multi-functional community house designed and constructed by 1+1>2 Architecture and was completed in 2010, located at Suoi Re village, Cu Yen commune, Luong Son district, Hoa Binh province.

The overall spatial structure is organized in layers. Front space is the open courtyard, where outdoor activities take place. The main living space lies in the middle part, consisting of two floors. Upstairs is a kindergarten combining with library and meeting area. The functions can interlock flexibly.

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Ground floor is designed to fit the concave slopes, utilizing geothermal. It can avoid east northern monsoon and collect east-southern monsoon, which makes the house warm in winter and cool in summer. Space leads to the mountain and bamboo forest. On the ground floor, villagers can gather doing the craftwork. Young children and the elderly can stay on the ground floor during the very cold or hot times of the years.

The structural idea is simple, economical, utilizing the availability of local materials and following this principle: unity in contrast of diversity. The ground floor is made of rugged-stone wall, bamboo doors, fine-bamboo ceiling which make people feel warm and balanced in the house. The above ground is made of brown and smooth rammed-soil wall with heavy stones beneath, bamboo frames and palm leaves roof. Solar panel system, filter rainwater collection tanks, geothermal, monsoon, power-saving LEDs and five-compartment septic tanks minimize pollution to the environment.

Figure 11 - Suoi Re community house Photo: 1+1>2 Architecture

Source: Arch Daily (1+1>2, 2011)

Ecological schools THE GREEN SCHOOL MADE FROM BAMBOO IN BALI, INDONESIA The “school with no wall� in Bali has become famous worldwide for its environmentally friendly design, culturally rich and also for its teaching principle towards sustainable development. The school were established in 2008 on an area of 20 hectares, it was built by local architects using local materials with mainly bamboo.

Students can walk to school or take the bio-bus which run by bio-diesel produced in the school together with bio-soap. This process will reuse leftover oil, at the same time will reduce the use of

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chemicals and fossil fuels.

The energy used in this school was generated from solar panels and small hydroelectric system run by the river passing by the school.

To reduce waste, Green School Bali uses compost toilets to provide nutrients back to the bamboo forest. Their kitchen uses firewood with traditional cooking method and leftovers are given to pigs or used as compost.

The campus was designed to be an ecological garden. Students plant the garden by themselves and follow closely how food is made on-site from production to processing with organic vegetable, organic cattling and cassava fence which can be used as food for cattle.

Figure 12 - The overview of Green School Bali (Photo: Chris Saye)

It can be seen that the whole system inside Green School Bali was designed as ecological circulations, which creates perfect environment for studying and is friendly to nature.

Figure 13 - A classroom in Green School Bali (Photo: John Hardy)

Source: Green school in Bali shows students how to live sustainably - Dawn Hammon & website www.greenschool.org

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HANUL MADANG ROOFTOP GARDEN OF SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY In Seoul – the capital of South Korea, 48% of the land area is covered by concrete which has no capacity to absorb water and nourish life. Therefore, the city brought the green roof program into its city park and green space planning towards 2030 because rooftop gardens are very efficient in increasing the quality and quantity of urban greenery. The rooftop garden of Graduate School of Environmental Studies (GSES) in Seoul National University (SNU) is one of the projects to promote green infrastructure on rooftop of public organizations in Seoul. In 2010, the university, together with the city’s authority, planted 756m2 of plants and flowers of rooftops to create relaxing and entertaining eco-space. The name “Hanul Madang” itself means garden in the sky.

Figure 14 - Hanul Madang garden looking from above (Photo: Son Yong-hoon)

The garden has a special function of connecting all green spaces around the university which were disappearing making way for the construction of more buildings. The rooftop garden is favored due to its panoramatic view of the surroundings. Therefore, the garden has social and cultural characters, at the same time increases the ecological value of the area. It serves as a resting, studying, entertaining and also a healing place to reduce stress.

The Hanul Madang rooftop garden is open for public, not only for the students and university’s staff.

It has gradually become a well-known public space because it not only has diversity of plants, it also attracts many butterflies, birds and insects due to its 120 types of herbal plants.

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Figure 15 - An event organized on the rooftop garden (Photo: Faculty of Architecture and Landscaping - GSES – SNU)

The Hanul Madang garden is run by students of Faculty of Architecture and Landscaping. Such a garden requires irrigation, weeding and constant care. Students can grow vegetables and plants as a part of their studying experience, they also do bee-keeping. These experience not only raises students’ interest in studying but also connects them together and develops their love for nature.

Source: Creation of Green Culture and Values in the Hanul Madang Rooftop Garden at Seoul National University - Yong-hoon Son (2018)

Recycled playground THINK PLAYGROUNDS – RE-THINK ABOUT PLAYGROUNDS IN THE CITY This initiative started from architect Kim Duc and journalist Quoc Dat in 2014 and has gathered the participation of many architects and young people who are passionate about building playgrounds.

The group’s objective was to find the most economical and optimal way to bring playground into the city center where public spaces were encroached. Children in the city are having less and less outdoor space to play, this group wants to bring back the joy they deserve, also to bring kids out of the house more often, exercise and be in contact with nature.

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Most of their playground were creatively made out of recycled materials such as old tire, wooden pallets… Using recycled materials is a challenge for construction but it also stimulates the creativity of architects. The weakness of these materials is their short life span. Hence, in order to have sustainable recycled playground, it requires a strong community to build and maintain the playground, which is what the group aims for.

Community playground projects like Think Playgrounds are growing around the country with many youth groups being involved. This activity not only provides more public space but also brings valuable experience and memory to young people.

Figure 16 - A playground in Hanoi constructed by Think Playgrounds (Photo: Think Playgrounds)

Source: Think Playgrounds: Sân chơi cho trẻ em – “cuộc chiến” giành lại ký ức của thế hệ mai sau – Nguyễn Thu Thủy (2015)

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Green office THE OFFICE OF V-ARCHITECTURE– GENTLE HOUSE Architect Lê Lương Ngọc and his colleagues in V-Architecture have been applying the energy circulation principles in natural ecosystems into their design. An example is their own office. The design of the house focuses largely on lighting as both a structure and a source of energy, which is why they named it “Gentle House” (with gentle meaning light). The house were built by using light structure with less use of concrete and more use of light structural systems such as bamboo and wooden structure.

This is a passive house, meaning that natural energy and the character of materials were used to circulate the micro climate inside and outside the house. Therefore, this house does not use air-conditioners. The plants which were there before was kept and the house were designed to be small and neat with many edges to create the flexibility of functions – similar to the traditional Vietnamese house. At the same time, the geometric form of the house were studied to blend in with the ecological system as well as floral and fauna around the house. Architect Ngoc shared that his purpose is “create a living space that is not only effective, comfortable and energy saving but also inspire people who live in it to be aware of and take care of nature”.

Figure 17 - The office of V-Architecture (Photo: Le Luong Ngoc)

Source: Arch Daily – Lê Lương Ngọc (2014)

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Eco-space is an open concept that can be used flexibly without being confined into any certain type of infrastructure or location. Therefore when we observe the world around us, we can realize many eco-spaces or places that are potential to be eco-spaces; from streets, old neighbourhoods, abandoned railways to gardens, open spaces‌

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THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING ECO-SPACES Why should young people learn about eco-space even though they do not directly work or study in the field of landscaping or designing?

• Eco-space is a topic that closely related to everyone. As mentioned before, this topic is open widely in scale, form, geography and topography. Each person can see his or her own connection to these spaces in the house, in workplace, community space or the city. Many individual and collective choices can help to support and spread out the eco-spaces around us.

• Developing eco-space is a major part in building a more sustainable future. Eco-spaces not only bring both physical and emotional health benefit but also play a vital role in the material and energy circulation, help increase bio-diversity and improve the quality of environment.

This topic is particularly important in educational activities towards the approach of socioecological transformation.

• Each person has their own voice and role in keeping and expanding eco-spaces. With students, understanding deeply and thoroughly about this concept will help them making the right decision not only in their life but also for their future career. They can become policy makers, urban planners, producers, architects, educators… or simply become a responsible citizen to the quality of life in their neighbourhood. In each and any role, their contribution in honoring and developing eco—spaces is highly valuable.

PA RT

02 Methodology of integration into education

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This guidebook not only focuses on providing information about Eco-spaces but also pays attention to the procedure and tools to design training, activities, models and organization skills which will help to shift awareness and encourage actions of young people on the topic.

However, changes in lifestyle and how we make our choices does not happen overnight. It requires the investment in hard work, consistence and appropriate methodology. For an individual and a community to take sustainable actions, they need to have a basic understanding, know how to act and at the same time have a strong motivation and desire to take part. We can equip young people with this via education, pieces of training or directly integrating information into other activities in a strategic way.

FORMS OF INTEGRATION Eco-space is a topic that relates a lot with both students and educators because it incorporates many development issues. This helps educators to open up the discussion among students via integrating this topic into their teaching process and event organization. In this section we will introduce some methods to do that.

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INTEGRATION INTO TEACHING PLAN, EXERCISES AND RESEARCH Educators can use this topic to provide information and encourage ideas from students in their lecture, assignment or research topic. Examples of integrating into research topic: looking into eco-space inside your home or in public spaces, green spaces for entertainment; at the same time, students can go deeper into concrete actions of young people connected to topics of micro climate, tradition or modernity, economics, spirituality, waste, water, consumption… which also can be related to eco-space.

Educators can introduce a group discussion in 30 minutes with different topics: • Eco-spaces in cities/countries of tropical or temperate climate • The economic value and the spiritual value of an ecospace • The modern and traditional values of an eco-space To give students more materials to discuss about, educators can lead by introducing some basic knowledge about nature, materials, culture, connection between human and human – human and nature via green space, traditional values kept in construction, eco-cities…

INTEGRATION INTO TRAINING ACTIVITIES Trainings equip students with general knowledge or deep understanding of detailed topics. Depending on the teaching’s objective, educators can choose activities with different topics. The time frame can also be adjusted accordingly. A training should be from one to five days so that students can truly understand one topic.

Some topics that can be used for trainings: • Eco-space in the context of climate change • What young people can do to contribute to eco-space?

• Understand about eco-space in your city

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• Materials in eco-space • The traditional and modern values in eco-space • Happiness in eco-space • The material and spiritual values in eco-space A reminder for long-day training: educators can work together with students in preparing content, logistics and organization.

This will help students to be more active and learn more skills. In addition, supporting actions before, during and after a training is very important to keep their motivation. Educators can apply the rule of 21 days.

Psychologists suggest that for an action to become a habit, it needs to be repeated continuously in 21 days. Hence, study plan should be designed for 3-4 weeks no less. This is a process to empower students and educators as well to act. Empowerment will encourage positive feeling which in turns plant the seed for positive actions.

INTEGRATION INTO FIELD TRIPS Fieldtrip activities will increase the interest and positive actions of students. Depending on the local available resources (park, city garden, recycled playground, green office, natural reserve, solar panel project, organic farms, waste treatment plant, shop using eco-products…), time frame (at least half a day for this type of activity), budget…, educators and students can organize the fieldtrip accordingly.

Before going on the fieldtrip, educators can divide the group and give them assignments to research relevant topics. To facilitate a process before and after the fieldtrip will help students to be more well-prepared and achieve better result.

INTEGRATION INTO EVENTS Educators can integrate this topic into competitions, exhibitions, fairs, performance, festivals or combining different events.

Together with students, they can cooperate in organizing the preparation and carrying them out to the public. This will help

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them to advance their skills, apply their knowledge, understand deeper about the matter and have a better chance finding jobs.

Some events that educators can take as reference: presentation about topics of zero-waste lifestyle, virtual water, local food and industrial food or simulation of United Nations conference on climate change. Educators can organize them with students, in the mean time they can guide students to build some models of eco-spaces to showcase in the event. These models can be in different levels: individuals, family, community, population, nation or region.

INTEGRATION INTO PROJECTS Schools and provinces are implementing many programs and projects related to environment following the National Target Plan on Eco City, Climate Change and Renewable energy. Educators can use resources from these programs and projects to help students taking part in research and experience these topics. This will increase their chance of getting jobs and adapting to reality as well.

At the moment, all cities are heading to become green cities, eco-cities and smart cities, which is an important factor that educators and students and choose to apply for their plan.

INTEGRATION INTO EXCHANGE PROGRAMS Every year, universities, faculties and educational organizations have exchange programs between Vietnam and other countries.

Programs like this helped students to learn different skills and knowledge. Therefore, educators can integrate this into discussion with students.

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung is encouraging topics related to socio-ecological transformation, alternative models, climate justice‌ Educators can suggest this information to students.

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TRAINING METHODS Experiential learning cycle One highly recommended method that can increase the efficiency of training and integration is the experiential learning cycle, or it can be called “lessons translate into actions”. David Kolb, an American theory educationist, proposed four steps of ANALYZE

SUMMARY

APPLICATION

EXPERIENCES

the experiential learning model as followed: How can we design training based on this learning model?

First and foremost, the role of trainer/teacher or facilitator (hereafter, we will use the word “trainer” for short) is to assist participants in learning and applying the lesson correctly.

Therefore, before designing an integrated lesson plan, trainer needs to clarify what the core focus of the training is.

Trainer can follow this step-by-step guide: Step 1: Analyze participants

Where are they regarding this topic? What is their attitude towards this topic? Are they eager to learn? How much do they know about the topic? How much have they practiced or applied?

What do they need to learn and how do they want to learn?

Step 2: Identify learning objectives The learning objectives need to be very clear so that you can design the content quickly and appropriately. For example, what should learners receive after 45 minutes or

after 90 minutes?

In order to identify the objectives, you need to answer two questions: what are the objectives? (skill or knowledge, or both?) at which level?

For example, the objective can be that students will understand the concept or they understand and can repeat or they understand and can explain from their points of view?

Step 3: Design experiential activities Experiential exercise is one of the most critical indicators defining the success of your lesson. Learners will conclude the lesson points for themselves after going through each experience designed by

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educators. Therefore, the experiential exercise needs to be closely related to the topic for learners to be able to analyze. Experiential activities can include: listen, watch, smell, taste, hands-on, feel or deep thinking. However, note that these activities should create emotions, excite learners and make them think deeply.

Step 4: Design analyzing activities and summarize the lesson At this step, the trainer will ask questions about the activity for learners to recognize their own experience, come up with deduces and lessons.

Step 5: Design application activity Application activity is the part where trainer can suggest how learners can relate from lesson to reality. The application activity has different levels: relate to real life, apply to act, and use to go deeper into the lesson.

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Best practice analysis Relevant examples are usually provided as story-telling, best practices or case studies. This tool is being used widely nowadays for the objective of inspiration. Sometimes knowledge about sustainability might be seen as “theoretical”, “too idealistic”, or even “dreamy”. Therefore, educators can flexibly choose the best practices that related to different issues. One small note when picking best practice is that educators should pay attention to criteria of eco-space to help the analysis become more deep and interesting. For example, educators give the case about the rooftop garden of Seoul National University for students to discuss and relate to their university.

Main values of best practices: • To be examples (to understand complex issues); • To create emotions (participants will interact with real people in real life with authentic experience); • To be proofs (of what has been done or is being done) Using this method, educators can fulfill many objectives, such as: • Draw the attention of participants (ask questions: have you imagine that…?); • Check participants’ knowledge (ask questions: do you know that…?); • Provide proofs for their argument • Help participants to connect theory and practice; • Develop critical thinking (what would you do in this situation?) and understanding about complex relationships among economy, social and environment in one country; • Raise awareness and encourage actions of participants (what can we do to achieve this?)

Some notes when using this method: • Case-study needs to be well prepared and checked for its credibility and update (is it still working? is it available?)

• Avoid using controversial cases with too many opposite opinions and do not have a credible source to check.

• Even if the lesson duration is limited, you should provide enough information for participants to connect from the best practices to themselves and their living conditions. Providing more references for participants to research deeper on their own afterwards is highly recommended.

To assist the best practices or case studies, educators can collect more documents such as scientific researches, journal articles about Eco-space, video clips or documentaries, sharing of failure or successful stories from practitioners, information about the positive impact of the model.

Educators can use best practices that have been given in the previous part of this guidebook.

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However, it is better to encourage students to find cases in their community or the projects they are involved.

Working on project Educators can use project-based methods to increase student interest and motivate action to deliver more concrete results. Educators can assign project activities to small groups in different topics.

The following suggestions will help educators with more information to provide to students during the project implementation on a small scale by group, in a short time (about 1 week to 3 months).

Basic information of the project, including: • Project’s name • Objective • Time and place • Person / group implementing the project • Person / agency supporting the project implementation • Project activities (Describe the purpose of the activity, the resources needed for the activity, the results of the activity, the advantages or challenges of the activity, etc.)

• Challenges and risks of the project • Budget • Project’s communication Note: • Suggest students to focus on a specific subject / topic for concrete results; • Ensure that the project is effective within one week to three months; • A project should have concrete results related to three issues: knowledge, attitude and behavior.

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5W – 2H Model Why? Though it seems so obvious, in many projects this question was never asked. The reason, purpose or objective that drives you to do this project should be very clear, specific and it will guide all the project’s activities. When designing project steps, keep asking yourself “Does it serve the overall objective of the project?

What?

What exactly do you want to do? The more specific, the better When ?

The decision of when to start the project should be taken after you think of the previous 3 questions. You should come up with a detailed plan and reasonable timeline.

Where ?

With a simple and personal project, this question sounds so easy. However if you are doing a project with others or if this is a community project then you need to think carefully where it will take place.

How? What are the actions? What are the steps? Which method you will use? (type of garden, way to plant, compost or not…)

Do your actions serve the objective of the project?

How much?

Which part will need money investment? Which part you can ask for free, make use of old materials or make your own to save money?

PART

03 Recommendations for training programs

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In this part, we will introduce some action plans to apply the topic “Eco-space” to educational activities using the methods above. Trainers and teachers can change the plan according to their participants and conditions.

LECTURE IN CLASS This is an open topic which students and educators can discover together to find different opinions or share their own about eco-space at different levels. This lesson is highly practical and innovative, at the same time relates eco-space closely to each individual.

Objectives: • Participants have basic understanding of eco-space • Participants have a more positive attitude towards their action • Participants are able to give concrete actions and brainstorm ideas to form small projects of ecological lifestyle Methodology • Lesson plan with visual aids and experiential activity Duration • 90 minutes Agenda NO

CONTENT

DURATION

DETAILS

PREPARATION

Game: craftsman How to play: Make products from waste - Prepare logistics

Papers, old papers

- Ask groups to make upcycle prod- and magazines, scrap 1

Warm up

5-10 minutes ucts from given materials

clothes, color pens,

- Note: do it fast, focus on the idea, scissors, tapes, A4 not the products. Try to not creating paper and carton more trash.

Questions: what is your reflection after this game?

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NO

CONTENT

DURATION

DETAILS

PREPARATION

Use a short video (3-5 minutes) about the issues in cities (too much concrete, lack of playgrounds…)

2

Issues related

Quick discussion 5—7 minutes after

to the lack of 20 minutes

watching the video

Video Discussion questions

Another short video about the

eco-space

consequence Quick discussion 5—7 minutes after watching the video Brainstorm on: what do we need in

Space for 3

human devel- 10 minutes opment

a space for human development?

Brainstorm technique

How do we perceive the “eco” element in a space?

Break participants into 4 groups, each group will discuss issues related to eco—space in different levels: • Individuals

Eco-space 4

in different levels

35 minutes

• Community

A0 papers

• Office/university

Color papers

• City

Pens

Give participants the choice to choose their favourite group. However, make sure the number and gender in all groups are even Time to discuss: 15 minutes Sharing: 30 minutes.

5

Conclusion

10 minutes

- Summarize the main content - Summarize action plan

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Practical class This activity will help participants to picture concrete ways to create a recycled playground or community garden. They will get the chance to practice and share experience.

Methodology Educators can choose which activity to use: •

Make a recycled playground;

•

Make a community garden

Encourage group work, each group can choose their own project.

Invite people with experience in similar projects to share or support the group work.

Duration 90 – 120 minutes (the longer time, the better it is).

Objectives • Participants have more ideas in using natural materials and recycled materials; • Participants have actual experience of making eco-space from recycled materials; • Participants come up with personal or group action plan after the experience.

Preparation • Tools and materials: - Tires (1-2 tires for each group) - Scrap wood or used wooden boxes - Soil • Break into smaller group depending on the projects: - Making chairs and tables - Making toys - Making plants’ pots • Steps: 1. Introduce materials 2. How to design 3. How to use materials 4. Planting in old tires Open questions: 1.

Is this your first experience? If not, when did you do it? How do you feel after the experience?

2.

What do you want to do next?

3.

How to create a simple eco-space where you live?

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How to submit: Participants submit: • Photos of the working process • Note or journal • Personal sharing about the activity Evaluation Give feedback, suggestion and further discussion

Fieldtrips With the topic of Eco-space, educators have many choices for fieldtrips, which are places with good practices such as recycled playground, community garden or ecological garden, city park, green office…

To choose the location, consider: (1) The objective of the fieldtrip (2) Available resources: time, human resources, budget.

Following is a plan for the fieldtrip to the recycled playground in Peaceful Bamboo Family in Hue for a group of 30 students: Location: Peaceful Bamboo Family in Hue Duration: half a day Objectives: • Students understand the value of recycled materials • Students experience fixing, maintaining or making new things in the recycled playground • Students can relate the experience to themselves Kế hoạch cụ thể NO

CONTENT

DURATION

DETAILS Introduction about the place, focusing on the recycled play-

1

Opening

60 minutes

ground Walking tour around the place and final stop would be the playground

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NO

CONTENT

DURATION

DETAILS Maintain, fix, paint or make new toys or tools for the play-

2

Practical activity

ground 2 tiáşżng

If there is enough resource, try to make new recycled games for the playground Note: prepare materials and tools carefully - Sharing

3

Conclusion

30 minutes

- Questions and answers - Personal plan: what would you do to expand or contribute to eco-space after this experience?

PART

04 Reference

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1. 1+1>2. (2011). Arch Daily. Retrieved from www.archdaily.com: https://www.archdaily. com/102639/suoi-re-village-community-house-ki%25e1%25ba%25bfn-vi%25e1%25bb%2587t 2. Beatley, T. (2012). Green Cities of Europe - Global Lessons on Green Urbanism. Washington DC: Island Press.

3. Brand, U. (2016). Beyond Green Capitalism: Social–Ecological Transformation and Perspectives of a Global Green-Left. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 9(1), 91–105.

4. Edward O. Wilson, Stephen R. Kellert. (1993). The Biophilia Hypothesis. Washington DC: Island Press.

5. Factory, Z. (2019). ZED Factory. Retrieved from zedfactory.com: https://www.zedfactory.com/bedzed 6. Hammon, D. (2019). Green school in Bali shows students how to live sustain. Retrieved from inhabitat: https://inhabitat.com/green-school-in-bali-shows-students-how-to-live-sustainably/ 7. Hopkins, R. (2008). The Transition Handbook – From oil dependency to local resilience . Devon: Green Books.

8. Kellert, S. and Calabrese, E. (2015). The Practice of Biophilic Design.

9. Le, N. L. (2014). Arch Daily. Retrieved from archdaily.com: https://www.archdaily. com/567952/the-gentle-house-ngoc-luong-le 10. Pretlove, Bente & Blasiak, Robert. (2018). Mapping Ocean Governance and Regulation.

11. Sơn, H. (2014). Hội Kiến Trúc Sư Việt Nam. Retrieved from Kiến Việt: https://kienviet. net/2014/10/07/infographic-5-tieu-chi-kien-truc-xanh-viet-nam/ 12. Son, Y.-h. (2018). Creation of Green Culture and Values in the Hanul Madang Rooftop Garden at Seoul National University. Green City Planning and Practices in Asian Cities, pp. 227-239.

13. Thủy, N. T. (2015). Hội Kiến Trúc Sư Việt Nam . Retrieved from Kiến Việt: https:// kienviet.net/2015/01/26/think-playgrounds-san-choi-cho-tre-em-cuoc-chien-gianh-lai-kyuc-cua-the-he-mai-sau/

The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, not for every man’s greed - Mahatma Gandhi -