City Sustainability

What do cities need? 

Where does Hong Kong get its food from? 

90% of the total food supply in Hong Kong is imported food. The Mainland is our most important food source, especially for fresh food.94% of fresh pork, 100% of fresh beef, 92% of vegetables and 66% of eggs in Hong Kong come from the Mainland. As for fresh fruits, our major sources of import are the United States, the Mainland, the Philippines and Thailand. Apart from fresh food, Hong Kong also imports chilled and frozen food from many other countries, e.g., chilled and frozen pork and beef from Brazil, salmon from Norway, and fruits from the Philippines and Thailand, etc, so as to maintain a stable supply.

Effects of city Growth

• noise
• pollution
• over-crowded
• population increase
• rich culture 
• increase in waste
• less money
• transportation problems
• relying on strangers (other locals)

Urbanology - Urban Survival simulation game

Urbanology is a very practical and realistic game that provides a series of realistic economy situations in which the player has to act as the head of the government and make a decision of yes or no.

Questions are very good in a sense that it is very realistic and provokes the player to think theoretically and rationally about real life situations, this makes the player realize the questions the economy faces every day and learns how to tackle the questions in society.

However some of the negative factors of this game include the lack of graphics making this activity "game-like", some of the younger players in this game will find this too grown-up, even boring. Simply because it isn't much of a game, no real optimum goal achieved.

Building a City - enercities and urban planning game

This week we were asked to play four games similar to sim city. Each game had something to do with building or sustaining a city. They were all different, some were good, whilst some were bad. Each had their own ups and downs. I really enjoyed playing some of these games, but some were a bit boring.

I am going to talk about the positives and negatives of 2 of the games which we played: enercities and urban planning game.

 

Enercities:
Positive -

• entertaining
• good graphics
• 
  

Negative -

• no way to refill natural resources
• natural resources run out quickly

I actually really enjoyed this game. There was a woman in the corner who gave advice and helped us. You had to make sure to keep the citizens happy by building residential away from factories and by building entertainment for them. You also have to build up the economy so that there is money for the city to function and be an environmental and sustainable city.

The biggest let down of this game is probably the fact that your natural resources run out quite quickly and there is no way to refill them. The highest level on this game is 5, I only got up to level 3 before I had no more natural resources left. Since I had no more natural resources, the buildings stopped working and i was not allowed to play anymore.

Urban Planning Game:
Positive -

• learns about budgeting

Negative -

• Bad graphics
• boring
• nothing happens during the game

Urban planning game was really boring. I didn't notice that the instructions were under the game, so i just randomly put anything anywhere. I didn't finish the game, because it was too boring. The only good thing about this game, was that you realize that every city has a budget and you need to keep within it. 

In the game it was important to place all the industry related buildings and anything that makes noise, away from residential areas. This is because people don't like to live next to a loud factory.

Overall I enjoyed enercities the most from all four of the games. There is one problem they all have and that is that you start building the city from the beginning. This is not very realistic as nowadays cities don't start from scratch, but rather replace old buildings or expand around the old city. Therefore it is harder for cities to become more sustainable as they would have to replace a lot or build around the old structures.

Photo's from Fieldtrip

Field Trip

Last week we went on a field trip to central to look at the highs and lows of Hong Kong's environment.


We walked from school to conduit road. From there we went down along the escalator and took a look at different streets, such as Robinson road, Peel street, Elgin street, Mosque street etc. We then walked through queens road central and to IFC.


We were asked to take photos of what we thought were the highs and lows of Hong Kong. We found many authentic places and many places we had never noticed before and which wouldn't be expected to be found in those areas.

Highs and Lows of Hong Kong

Highs:

• convenient 
• cheap transportation
• cultural
• international
• shopping and food 

Lows:

• pollution
• badly conditioned buildings
• not preserved historic sites
• poverty gap
• expensive shopping
• expensive house pricing
• lack of land
• reclamation

Mental Map of Hong Kong

This is a mental map we produced of Hong Kong:

A mental map is a map produced only from memory. In the beginning we were given 5 minutes to look at a map, but other than that we were not allowed to look at photos or other maps of Hong Kong.
On our map we had to outline and show on our map, the main functions in Hong Kong.






Is Hong Kong's land use similar or different to the burgess?

Similarities:

• Houses in Hong Kong cost a lot and are usually found on the outer regions of Hong Kong.

Differences:

• There are not many factories close to the centre of Hong Kong. 
• A lot of high residential apartments are in the close to or in the CBD.
• Many lower class residential areas are found further away (villages). Nowadays there are many people living in 'cage homes' (apartments where people live on top of each other, in cramped and unhygienic living spaces.

Hong Kong vs London

Hong Kong:

• lower tax
• better transportation
• cost of taxis are lower
• city never goes to sleep

London:

• less pollution
• the weather doesn't get hot and humid
• less expensive rents
• bigger and better apartments and houses

what makes a city a good place to live?

1. transportation - easy to get around
2. convenient - everything is close
3. traveling takes shorter
4. social
5. friendly people
6. good food
7. low prices
8. not too much pollution
9. nice environment - greens
10. not too many people
11. not too many tourists
12. good weather
13. religion
14. quality of life
15. open spaces
16. not over crowded
17. education
18. crime rates
19. job opportunities
20. good government/economy
21. fun activities - fairs, concerts
22. manners

Mayan City

               The Mayan city was one of the most impressive places in history, it has thought-filled architectures, eventful history, and intelligent mathematical skills. The rise and fall of its reigns has brought attention from people, and slowly growing into one of the biggest and most successful civilizations in the ancient times. The ancient Mayan empire was centered in what is now known as, Guatemala.

               However, how and why did the great, almighty empire come to an end? This dramatic downfall of the empire came to everyone's attention, however, no one till this day really knows how it happened. Historians nowadays have come up with many theories but none of them have been proven correct.
                Some say it is due to the drastic climate changes in the environment around them as the Mayans built their empire around the element of nature. Some believe it ended due to the amount of warfare from the constant competing of being the ruler. Some also think it is due to nature not being able to cope with over-population; since the Mayan civilization became such a success, it attracted many to join. Others also believed that "they did it to themselves" and deforestation might be the cause, as most of the Mayan structures were made from limestone, in order to heat a square meter of limestone, 20 trees needed to be cut down, therefore causing many trees to be cut down, hence the decrease of about 20-30% in rainfall, and increase in temperature rise.

Menu Planning

Our meal is baked pesto chicken breasts with fresh tomato soup and sweet potato fries.
In our meal we needed to include:

• protein (chicken)
• carbohydrates (sweet potato)
• vegetables/herbs from the garden (basil, rocket, rosemary etc.)

All our ingredients had to come from Hong Kong. Either our own garden or local organic farms in Hong Kong. Our budget was only $100. This meant we had to try find the cheapest and most local choices. Some ingredients, which can not be found in Hong Kong, we were allowed to get from china, for example olive oil.

INGREDIENTS	WEIGHT/AMOUNT	SOURCE	COST $
Sweet potato	200g	eatfresh	17.5
Tomato	3	Wet market	15
Garlic	2 cloves	Wet market	5
Chicken breast	544g	Wet market	45

Sweet potato:

• Sweet potato
• Oil
•  Paprika
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder
• http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-sweet-potato-fries-recipe/index.html

Chicken breast:

• Pesto (oil, garlic, basil)
• Tomato
• Salt and pepper
• http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/7019/baked-pesto-chicken-breasts.aspx 

Tomato soup:

• Fresh tomato
• Garlic
• Salt, pepper and sugar
• Olive oil
• Basil
• Oregano
• http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/recipes/fresh-tomato-soup

From the Garden:

• rocket
• basil
• rosemary
• oregano
• lemon

Spices:

• Salt and pepper
• Sugar
• Oregano
• Paprika powder
• Black pepper
• Cajun

Cooking Order:

1. 11.00 - Cut tomatoes up and roast for 1 hour. Make pesto - combine basil and garlic in a food processor, then add olive oil and process until smooth. 
2. 11.15 - Place the tomatoes in the oven. Start chopping sweet potatoes.
3. 11.20 - Take the chicken breasts and smother in pesto on both sides. Season with salt and pepper. 
4. 11.30 - Toss the tomatoes. Continue with chopping sweet potatoes.
5. 11.45 - Toss the tomatoes. 
6. 11.50 - Place chicken breast in baking dish and put in oven for 30 mins.
7. 12.00 - Take out the tomatoes and blend using a blender. 
8. 12.10 - Take out fries. Put blended tomatoes inside saucepan to thin. Add water.
9. 12.20 - Take out the chicken and sprinkle the chopped tomato on top. Place sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Add oil, season and toss.
10. 12.25 - Put the chicken back in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Spread the fries on a baking sheet (not too crowded). Place in oven for 20 mins, tossing occasionally.
11. 12.45 - Take out chicken. Take out sweet potato fries.

Carmen
Ada
Both

Map

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zmTE81HiK-WM.kq-shsnjsRao (working in progress)

Farmer's Markets In HK

The closet farmer's markets we can go to are:
Island East Markets - Quarry Bay, Tong Chong Street, Sundays 9-5 pm

Central Market -  Star Ferry central pier no 7, Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Island East Markets

Food blogger Janice Leung, aka e*ting, has co-founded this new farmers’ market. With more than 40 stalls, it will be possibly the largest farmers’ market in the city. It is due to open for a four-week trial period starting September 30 to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Location: Tong Chong Street, Quarry Bay
Opening hours: Sundays 9am-5pm
- See more at: http://hk-magazine.com/restaurants/article/hong-kong-farmer-markets-where-buy-freshest-produce#sthash.jb5qBnN8.dpuf

Our Meal Ideas:

Pork Chop - $68 - 300g

Spareribs - $68 - 300g

Gnocchi

Sweet potato fries

Tomato soup

Fettuccine

beef skewers

Where to buy Organic Food

• eat fresh
• wetmarkets
• supermarkets
• homegrownfoods
• greendotdot

Food Culture in Hong Kong

What we eat?

•  you can find just about anything in Hong Kong
• from Russian foods to Mongolian

How we eat?

• In Hong Kong, the people appreciate food if its fresh and alive
• People are against MSG or artificial/ processed foods
• a lot of people also like traditional foods for example, Moon Cakes, Turkey etc.

Where does our food come from?

•  a lot of the food comes fresh from the wet markets
• however the supermakerts have a wider range of foods
• in the supermarkets some of the foods are imported from China, US, Thailand etc.

How important is food?

• Many of the people in Hong Kong think highly of food and they invest a lot of their money it. 
• There are 61 Michelin Star Restaurants in Hong Kong

How has the food culture changed?

• in Hong Kong, there used to be many "street stalls", they sell canto-styled junk food, now it is more urbanized and more civilized with more restaurants. 

Planting Seeds

One of the first projects we started on was planting seeds. We planted many different herbs, such as basil, lettuce, rocket, curly red, curly green, mint and many more.







After a few weeks we had thin out the plants so that there would be more space in the cells for the plants to grow.





















We had a passion fruit in the bokashi compost and instead of throwing it away we decided to plant the seeds inside the passion fruit.

Bokashi Compost

Bokashi composting is one of many methods of composting. It is an Japanese, eco friendly composting method, which utilizes the food waste and turns it into fruit juice, which can be used in the garden and around the house. It uses an anaerobic process to break down the organic materials. The same process is used on wine and pickles.

The positives of this method is that it is not as time consuming as many other methods. Instead of taking months, it can take days, depending on how long it takes to fill the bucket. If it is done properly, there shouldn't be any bugs or insects.

The process includes layering food waste and bokashi mix. Because the box is air tight and we have added micro-organisms, the waste ferments. It doesn't decompose, but reduces in size as the water drains out through the grate at the bottom of the bucket. When the bucket is full, the food waste is transferred outside and buried in to ground to continue the composting process.



In the picture to the right is our bokashi bucket. We collect food waste from the tuck shops everyday and put it into the bucket, adding a little bokashi mix every time.

We make sure to cut the pieces as small as possible and try to remove most water.

Making a Propagator and Irrigation System

One of the first things we started doing was making a propagator and an irrigation system. A propagator is a shelf to put the plants on the protect them from weather, animals etc.

We used bamboo and string to build.

While some people were building a propagator, others were setting up an irrigation system. An irrigation system is a water system which waters the plants. It helps us so that we don't have to keep watering them everyday or so they don't die during a holiday and there was no one around to water them.

Taking Care of Our Plants

We set up a rotation system for each week. Every lunch one person will check on the plants and see if the irrigation system is working. We also made a rotation for collecting left over food for the bokashi compost.

What to consider when growing herbs and lettuce? + Factors affecting the school garden site?

There are a lot of factors to consider when growing plants, for example:

• lighting (sunlight)
• space
• seeds, to check if its genetically modified
• fertilization
• water
• pest control
• carbon dioxide levels
• pH of soil
• warmth
• composts
• health of the plants
• irrigation system 

Why set up an urban garden?

Why do people set up urban gardens? 
Basically, what urban gardens are, are small little gardens that are set up in urban areas, for example, a garden on top of a roof of a building. Urban gardens help the environment a lot because, 1) it helps to produce more fresh air, and 2) it makes the people in urban cities also aware of the issues of their health and how it can be changed by gardening.

What is the urban sustainability challenge?

The urban sustainability challenge is basically a challenge that we will be doing at the end of this course, with all the information we've learned, we are to produce a meal sustainably in which we include food which we have grown ourselves, and produces from Hong Kong.

What Urban Survival Means to Us

For our elements course we chose Urban Survival. When we first started this project we knew nothing about what to expect during this project. We opened our eyes to how important it is to know where our food comes from and how to make it more sustainable. We found out that our food can come from many different places without us knowing what is included inside. For example there was a big crisis in Europe, where horse meat was sold as normal meat and people were unknowingly eating horse meat which was injected with hormones and toxic chemicals.

During this course we will take part in many different activities such as, gardening, cooking sustainable food, learning about sustainable living in Urban Cities and many more. We look forward to learning how to make our bodies more healthy and take our health in our hands:)