Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Readers response on The Detroit House Draft #1

In the article "This Detroit house is being turned into a living model of cost-saving sustainable design", Peters (2016) introduced Motown Movement as an initiative undertaken by three architecture students to design a sustainable living environment through affordable means. She then shared that the students were inspired to increase public awareness of sustainable and cost effective ways to reconstruct houses, through workshops conducted in the revamped Detroit house - a living exhibition filled with green ideas. People will be imparted with knowledge of green sustainability tricks which they could easily replicate in their houses through the planned workshops aimed at addressing sustainability and cost effectiveness.Peters summed up on how the students collaborated with local organizations and their university to create projects flexible enough to accommodate varying conditions and spread the idea of Motown Movement to a worldwide level. While their efforts in trying to promote sustainability by making it easy for the community were commendable, the success of their plan worldwide will be highly dependent on factors such as the living condition, culture and mindset of the targeted community which the article failed to address.

The first factor which the article failed to address was the living and environmental condition of the focused area. 'Motown Movement' was based purely from the culture and living condition of Detroit with the article only focusing on factors pertaining to it which might not be the same case with other areas. Meanwhile, in developing countries like Brazil, basic necessities such as drinking water and healthcare were already lacking which makes promoting sustainability to them a challenge as they have different priorities. In Brazil, natural calamities were common on slums which were built on unstable ground such as hill slopes. Thus, the plan for sustainability there will be deemed as unfeasible.


As the people in Detroit ''were much more positive'' and were more open to new ideas given to them despite their bad living conditions, this made executing the plan in Detroit feasible while it may not be the case in other areas. This leads to the last factor which would be the mindset and culture of the people. One of the challenges faced by the Vietnamese government in promoting sustainability was influencing organizations and the general public in utilizing eco-friendly products and implementing green measures to save energy. In Vietnam's case, organizations were not keen in implementing eco-friendly measures as resources had to be spent unnecessarily while the local people were more focused on preserving the natural state of the land and were not open to change. In order for sustainability to flourish, fostering cooperation between the different involved parties by coming up with sound policies which benefit all parties will affect the success rate of the plan. Even for developed countries, implementing sustainability can be a challenge due the mindset of the people. In the United States, negative perceptions on the greenness of a green product and the performance quality of a green product as compared to their conventional counterpart was one of the factors hindering the growth of sustainability in the country.

In conclusion, while Detroit was a successful case on how sustainability can be implemented, Peters failed to consider other potential factors which may affect the success of the plan worldwide.n conclusion, while their efforts in trying to promote sustainability by making it easy for the community were commendable, the success of their plan worldwide will be highly dependent on factors such as the living condition, culture and mindset of the targeted community which the article failed to address. As the focus was on Detroit, it made the article fell short on information which could have made it relevant to more people. While there may be plans for sustainability to thrive, the success of the plan will be highly dependent on the people in the focused area.



Bonini, S & Oppenheim, J. (2008). Cultivating the green consumer. Retrieved on 24 September 2016 from http://ssir.org/articles/entry/cultivating_the_green_consumer

Puritt, J. (2012). Challenges to being sustainable, and how to over them. Retrieved on 24 September 2016 from http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/08/14/challenges-to-being-sustainable-and-how-to-overcome-them/

Vinh, L.D. (2013). Urban blueprints: Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam. Retrieved on 24 September 2016 from http://www.worldcitiessummit.com.sg/urban-blueprints-khanh-hoa-province-vietnam

Peters, A. (2016). This Detroit house is being turned into a living model of cost-saving sustainable design. Retrieved on 19 September 2016 from https://www.fastcoexist.com/3061563/world-changing-ideas/this-detroit-house-is-being-turned-into-a-living-model-of-cost-saving-s

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