Readers Response 3rd draft

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 "Motown Movement" 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.
The first factor which the article failed to address was the living and environmental condition of the focused area. 'Motown Movement' was based purely on 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.
The last factor which the article failed to address was the mindset and culture of the people in the focused area. 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 in comparison to other areas. According to Vinh (2013), 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 to the mindset of the people. In an article by Puritt (2012), 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 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 main 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

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

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

Problem and Purpose Statement of Technical Report

Problem statement: 

SIT@Dover has a mixture of both efficient and inefficient water equipment. Unless these inefficient water equipment are replaced with more efficient ones, this will result in large accumulated volume of water wastage through the year.  

Purpose statement:

The purpose of the project is to propose the retrofitting of water efficient equipment throughout SIT. By introducing these equipment, SIT will be able to conserve more water in the long run. A research on the benefits in comparison to its drawbacks will be done on the different types of water equipment.