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The urban forest as a means to promote sustainable cities in the Mediterranean climate, Bait-Shemesh Hills, Israel

University of British Columbia

The goal of this project is to explore the social ecological and economical relevancy of reintroducing trees into an prototypical new neighborhood development in the Mediterranean. The urban forest system is composed of urban settlement and forest interwoven in it. The proposed system is operating as a complete system in which each components has a function that contribute to the complete function of the system. Bait-Shemesh Hills, Neighborhood A/1 in Israel is located in the Mediterranean climate. This area can greatly benefit from using the proposed urban forest system. Each component of the system have a set of design principles which explains its implementation and operation. A cost benefit analysis is performed to ensure that the urban forest system is an economic system. The solar system is based on the sun. It creates the shade from the trees that effect the houses, evapotranspiration process, and atmospheric pressure (thus forming winds). This will result in energy saving for the private citizen and the municipality. The water system is essential component for the growth of the trees. The forest will use stormwater collected on site. The primary use will be for trees located for energy savings. Sub-watersheds were designed to create smaller operation units. This water will be directed to the trees' location and stored underground for the forest use. This will result in saving imported, scarce and expensive water while using available water on-site and reducing stormwater collection infrastructure costs. The food and soil system are combined with the water collection system for the benefit of the community's food budget. It will increase the opportunity for higher air-quality, which is another important economic as well as ecological benefit. The performed cost benefit analysis of two sub-watersheds resulted in a 1:1.9 ratio. This result gave another assurance for the systems efficiency. The last systems is the social system which can not be measured in monetary value. It is the base for the operation and the success of this system. After all, it is the people who inhabit the urban environment and, who need benefit from this system.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-06-15

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9167

Agricultural Sciences

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace