The Manifesto Earth is Us

Architecture nowadays has been changed to something cruel that affects our lives and is hard to change. Technology took place on this problem by changing our styles of living and we rely on it heavily. Global warming is one of the major concerns these days and unfortunately, architecture participated in this issue. Is our magnificent problem could be solved in a few years? decades? centuries? we need to do our steps to save the next generation. Technology in the first place made our lives easier by making us not to think and not solving the problem by designing such as the AC and the natural lighting by orienting the house properly. The thermal issue in our houses nowadays could be solved by decreasing the surface area that is exposed to the sun and by designing a courtyard instead of using the setbacks on the edges causing unused wasted spaces. By applying this method, the houses will be somehow attached or fully attached resulting in good control of the thermal problem. The second issue is the use of villa-style in the city, this style known in the countryside. The villa-style caused a huge problem of transportation and wasted spaces and the lack of social connectivity. Apartments of four to five-story attached will solve the transpiration problem by reducing the roads and shorting it and the social connectivity will be increased between the residence. The third point is the lack of green spaces made the intense pollution in the city, wide roads need to have a lot of trees to reduce the temperature and to shade the cars. Using straight lines in urban planning, non-organic roads are important to take advantage of the spaces. Besides, the narrow sidewalks that do not have plantations are not comfortable to walk in, because we are only concerns about the self-transportation “cars”. Moreover, is the outdoor activities for the families such as the park, will increase the social interaction between them. Most of the neighborhoods in the middle east do not care about this feature because each house has its garden, and everyone wants his private area. These issues together result in an urban disaster and we need to step back to create solutions for what we have done. The city destroyers are the cars and detached houses, by solving them we will have a chance to change. Starting with the right path by going back to our old architectural methods in designing will increase the efficiency of our houses such as the orientation and the attached rowhouses with courtyards. Narrow streets with plantations and public transportation will reduce the temperature and connect the places socially. Outdoor activities are important to have a good quality of life. Privacy is our problem that makes everyone want their bordered property and not socializing and sharing, we need to stop thinking selfishly because the earth will not fit us someday.