Re-Vitalised Future - How to climatisate cities and land. The soft method.
We face a great de-naturalisation of mankind. We see it in all aspects of our life. This
disconnection from nature is the root of all the wrong decisions and consequences we must deal
with. We are very blinded by debates about cherry picked aspects, while forgetting and ignoring
the complexity of the ecosystems. I believe there is a good soft way out of our problems, and it
is reconnecting with Nature. We need to learn how to change our cities and land use to bring
upon paradise.
Cross-border/international
Slovakia
Czechia
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{Empty}
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
No
As an individual
First name: Radoslav Last name: Dvorak Gender: Male Nationality: Slovakia Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Sturova 42 Town: Zvolen Postal code: 96001 Country: Slovakia Direct Tel:+421 919 996 593 E-mail:radvo@email.cz
My degree in architecture and over 17 years living in a natural environment, away from human settlements, has given me the unique opportunity to reconnect with, and simultaneously learn from Nature. During my long studies of Nature and human developments such as cities and municipalities, it became abundantly clear to me : “Our actions are not correct, as for every step forward we take two back”. Reaching this conclusion I began collecting all that I have learned via education, praxis and living in nature and describing a complex approach, in essence a manual for our current situation.
I kept in mind the fact that humanity both collectively and individually, is not ready for dramatic changes and sacrifice to standard of living, instead; before anything else we have a lot to learn. This Project is therefore based on “soft method”, an incremental growth of change through small but effective steps connected and based on this learning process. Soft method counts on citizen participation as all steps must not only involve their participation but understanding and consultation of all interested parties, groups and individuals.
The aim of this project is to bring back Nature to where it belongs, in essence :
everywhere, and that can not be accomplished without everyone's engagement. The focus of my project is centered around the urban environment, as there has already been a lot of progress in the field of land management, thanks to such ideas as regenerative agriculture, biodynamic and permaculture, I’ve decided to keep only light mention of this subject. While remembering the above it is important to understand that this project aims to touch all aspects of modern life, as we need progress in all of its facets. We shall do this step by step, as we accept and grow the understanding that “Nature holds the highest value of all, and we as
its stewards must become a worthy part of its cycle”.
Natural knowledge
Green future
Soft method
Learning by doing
Immediate effect
While sustainability is a commendable goal, my belief is that in the situation we are faced with globally, it is not enough. Our goals should go beyond stabilization, we need to improve our relationship to Nature and restore all that has been harmed. We should aim to achieve this without causing additional harm.
Below I will outline briefly some examples of how this can be achieved, while many more ideas and initiatives are presented in the 150 page PDF, the scope of which, and all the benefits are too large to include in this window. I believe that upon its lecture you will find many more
motivators and powerful inspirations.
An example of how to achieve this could be reduction of energy consumption via rationalization, which could lead to savings of up to 80%. With a changed attitude, our bio-waste could be managed on site, such an approach to composting would save tons of emissions and costs via reduced transportation. Additional benefit would be providing priceless material for growing food along streets and squares which would give additional benefits to reducing the ‘urban heat island’ effect in summer’s.
Reducing the need for transportation of food is another benefit to this approach, and would additionally involve citizens in localized gardening, which is one of the first steps in reconnecting them to mother Earth. If we can support this process by localized social culture and events highlighting its benefits, those would also extend to improving the social aspect of communities themselves. Simple actions can lead to effective and positive reactions, and these are the best opportunities for learning. One tiny step leads to another, and then next, creating a domino effect of benefits. If we can place Nature above money in our hierarchy of importance, we could finally be poised to move towards the perfect approach to Nature, while decreasing the expenses and reliance on finance.
Aesthetics are a very subjective category, but ultimately what could look better than Nature ? Bringing more flora to our streets and public space’s will certainly improve their appearance, as despite humanity’s progressive distancing from Nature, her aesthetics are deeply ingrained in our gene’s, and that’s why for example flowers are considered universally beautiful. While we learned to accept not seeing them everywhere, the goal of this project is to reverse this. Streets and sidewalks transformed into orchards would become an oasis for pedestrians and contribute to people choosing their feet as a main source of transportation. There are plenty of studies which point out that vitality of the route is a far more significant factor to this effect, than distance as most people simply dont enjoy walking besides traffic and barren walls. Cities with green paths find those routes enjoying far more use, as humanity instinctively prefers traversing parks, orchards and gardens.
Certainly there exist problematic places of high traffic, or manufacturing areas, which will need proper projections to become green but solutions to this obstacle are explored in the book. The attached text shows an approach to these issues that permit learning in way’s not limited to words, but also the current situation, and Nature itself. The proposed principles described within my book also affect new capital projects and lead to improved natural aesthetic in future investments and construction as respecting Nature is beauty in of itself, and this will permeate that beauty into society wherever implemented.
Project Revitalized Future can be applied at different scales and is designed to engage all layers of society to learn, participate and realize the vision of our future revitalized.
Beginning with individual stakeholders, through government, and even via E.U. and U.N. levels. This project is designed with inclusion of all involved in society, the youth, seniors, disabled, homeless.
Revitalized future will bring social stability, local production and shared systems.
Modern people need to reconnect with others, more than ever yearn to engage in world changing positive action, and re establish link to Nature.These needs will be provided and supported by growing foods, gaining energy and sharing space, goods, ideas and experiences.
The public sector will certainly play its part, whether municipal, state or federal level, participation of government will be needed to aid in this process. Rationalization of consumption, transportation, energy and resources, regulations and policy, waste management, recycling and reuse, will allow the transformation to gain real momentum. Nevertheless, this project has aspects that can be realized locally, which could inspire through grassroots process and allow change in engaged neighborhoods.
Revitalized future is a project focused on learning to reconnect, in all aspects. Citizens will meet together in cooperative work that brings fruits, they’ll meet with Nature's powers and beauty, as such the reconnection will be seeded, not forced, but rather presented as an opportunity. This reconnection will bring many benefits and knowledge for all the involved and passive people. As visible improvement of the air quality and environmental condition, in
reduction of gasses, toxins, ashes, and other pollution.
Recycling, upcycling and reuse, which all hold a big role in the project, will enhance creativity and feeling of community.
Rationalized transportation will lead citizens to walk more and create spaces to exercise and play outside. WIth decreased traffic our cities will breathe again. Closed water-cycle will teach people about water, and its importance. Composting will teach about crucial aspects of life in the soil, and gardening will produce healthy vegetables and fruits.
Local reconnection will stimulate the rise of community, solidarity and share-systems, while coworking will give great themes to talk about, such as plants and soil life. Cities will become less addicted to supplies from far away. Healthy land and agriculture will regenerate the fields, that will be able to retain much more water and through this effect calm the climate extremes and irregularities. A living soil holds and makes use of rainfall, unlike barren land, on which even a small amount of rain flows away, eroding the soil and causing floods.
The enormous benefit of this project is the impact and outright ability to reverse climate change. We can stop the atomisation of society just by reconnecting people with real life, as the hands-on approach is also a massive learning opportunity, and this is an important dimension of this project.
It might seem strange in context of the expected, but the main stakeholder and teacher in this project is Nature, mother earth herself. She is the leading force and the most important being in our lives. Solutions, methodology, ideas, are all inspired by Nature, prepared to respect and enhance it. Humans are an important part of the natural system and therefore are meant to benefit from investing in the process, and most importantly learn from it.
Project was consulted with Czech NGO Hnuti duha and NGO Partnerstvi, which are
active in themes of environment and ecology.
I am actively contacting publishers to find one interested in printing my content. This part has not been easy as I’m just one man living alone in Nature, simply wanting to help with ideas and solutions. Friends, colleagues and family that helped me with their opinions were also very important and have to be mentioned as strong support.
The Project of Revitalized future is designed to be very complex. Each tiny step is meant to be done in cooperation with multiple disciplines. Basis of project are built on knowledge from architecture, city-planning and design, combined with knowledge in the fields of gardening, forest care, ecology, natural farming, soil life and healing. Very important part of the project is the social and community aspect, which is crucial for its realization. Citizens have to feel and see their benefit from the process, therefore the process has to be tuned properly.
Diversity is important in all life. One form of life supports the development of another one and the same principle is the basis for this project..
Solutions described in this book are based on circulation, one step leads to another, one discipline soaks into another, and so the learning process that runs in paralle with action, will support growth into other levels of the project and change.
It is all rather quite simple. If we put Nature on the top of our hierarchy.. all solutions will work on many levels automatically which might be surprising but it's also very logical. As we are part of Nature, any benefits to it will benefit us as well.
The biggest innovation in this project is the complex approach it proposes. Mainstream action is generally very much focused on single goals, and the results are far from what we actually want to see. Take our recent hunt for CO2 reductions and focus on electric cars, which require expanding the global supply and more emissions from the growing fleet of enormous ships.
` Co2 is the "concrete" of plants and life, even humans are 16% carbon. In reality carbon is life and definitely not the enemy that requires so much of our focus. If we were to reduce tilling of our fields, start regenerative agriculture. If we were to stop deforestation and do the opposite: plant more bushes, trees, and expand green spaces in our cities, excess carbon would be gone in a year.
Similar issues exist with the switch to EV. while the tailpipe emissions would be a benefit at the municipal level, there exist many studies that show that extraction of necessary minerals and manufacturing processes require enormous amounts of energy and lead to more environmental damage than is prevented. The energy we power these cars with also has to come from fossil fuels as currently even the leaders of green power are struggling to provide enough energy from renewable sources.
With all this in mind we must keep looking for more effective and efficient solutions.
Replacing one problem with another is not the way.
Our solution should be to reduce the traffic and limit the need for individuals to drive cars, such as daily work commutes. As mentioned earlier, a pleasant, green environment would stimulate more pedestrian and bicycle commutes to replace unnecessary car trips. The vision of Revitalized Future is complex, the solutions are grounded in an interdisciplinary approach that considers most aspects of life. Such an approach will allow us to
build functional solutions while improving the environment and life of everyone within it.
The most valuable lesson one can take from this project is quite simply this: Prioritizing Nature with the understanding of its rhythms, it involves accepting that natures well-being is of the highest value. Once we pass this hurdle we will choose surprisingly effective solutions, with universal application, regardless of locations. This attitude could be applied everywhere, on every level, and by everyone.
If we refrain from building systems, and focus on creating functional ecosystems, we can build complex living structures. Interestingly we could use more ‘circular thinking’, instead of linear that we see currently. We shall simply focus on creating a harmonious world which could be replicated everywhere. Project is therefore of utility for any situation on this planet.
Main methods used by developing this project were observation, learning and study, combined with multidisciplinary interests and small experiments. Project is based on knowledge about modern society, urban planning, cultural land and traditional knowledge and living. The other aspects come directly from Nature, based on nearly 2 decades of observation, empathizing, reconnection and experiments, that helped me greatly to really understand.
There was no aim to create this project in the beginning. My intention was just to try life that is not harming Nature. Sadly after witnessing so many things go wrong, the failures of humanity, seeing how easy it is to go after one phenomena and totally forget the whole, motivated me to get involved in this work.
Finally, as my connection to Nature grew so did the need to share the know-how earned here. There are no funds, no supporters, no stakeholders... only humans and Nature.
There are plenty of global challenges addressed by this project, the big one is ofcourse the climate crisis, but also our relationship to mother Nature, which is more
important to solve if we are serious about our climate. It is also about the challenges of social atomisation, which is connected with extremism, violence hate and fear.
If this project is fully realized, it will also contribute to solving our energy crisis.. and through local production will ease the countries transitioning efforts. As there is also the economic crisis, which brings social disharmony, which could be solved in parallel, by reconnecting people inside of their communities.
It's important to remember that healthy cities will also solve the problems of our health system, which follows one step behind unhealthy food, pollution and sedentary lifestyles. It would be nice if we could also evolve understanding of these factors in our political systems and education. Hopefully these are more than just dreams.
Such a complex project as described in the enclosed book is not an easy task to implement completely, but even partial implementation brings benefits which can be seen in couple test sites in Slovakia and Czech republic.
I am also in regular contact with a regenerative farm which shown good results that prove effectivity of living soil. The farm is located in Slovakia, Krakovany village, “Druzstvo Krakovany” manages 600 ha of fields.
Since our legislation is not open to experiments with gardening, I realized some of my ideas at my test site in Slovak hills, in Lipovo, near Kokava nad rimavicou. Here I tested several ways of composting, and gardening, I was able to observe the climate in different locations very closely and see the benefits of growing plants on the sunny side of the house, which has shown very good inspiration for calming overheated streets.
We have also realized a couple natural houses in CZ and SK. Noutonice, Uholicky, Ostrov, Blansko, Holesin, and Lipovo. Studies using Soft materials for construction have shown very good results. Energy savings, summer climate comfort showing outside extremes around 34°C while house stays at 23°C inside without need for artificial cooling, This required soft materials + green tomato wall on sunny sides, compost 2m from house on north side with natural garden around the property.
Some partial realizations of these ideas can be found in other parts of the globe, and their results are also rather promising. Full implementation of project is still just a vision, that we have to wait for, as it's not easy to change legislation, the education system, rainfall water management and so on, therefore we'll need political will, enlightened cities, really smart engaged companies and of course time.
Good news is that we can start learning right now, we can also take several steps tomorrow and slowly grow to bring upon a sustainable world again.
