Forests in City Architecture

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 306-365

A forest planted by humans, then left to nature’s own devices, typically takes at least 100 years to mature.

Deforestation is actively destroying about 13 million hectares (32 million acres) of forest every year. The biggest, most valuable trees are logged for timber. Often the smaller, less valuable trees are left remaining… for a while. 

We need to do something about it.

Toronto Canada

For decades, legions of city planners and landscape architects have treated trees as mere decorations, or worse, removed trees altogether to make way for more glass and concrete, manicured lawns and decorative flowerbeds.

But those old attitudes are changing. Today,city planning bureaus around the world are making room for urban foresters, and experts are playing a key role in multidisciplinary teams of city planners, landscape architects, engineers, developers, geographers and sociologists.

Urban forests combat air and water pollution, they reduce water runoff, and they provide shade and protection. 

 What type of trees should be planted, and where? How large will they grow, and how long will they live?

Native city trees contained 25 times more bird and insect activity than their non- native counterparts.


On March 23rd and 24th, 2011 over 210 delegates from 16 countries gathered for the first Global Greenbelts Conference in Toronto, Canada. Delegates identified universal and well-established benefits to people who live and work in all greenbelts and surrounding communities. The result: a call to action to establish an International Greenbelt Network. The Network will maximize greenbelt benefits, and protect and expand their boundaries. 

Chile

If there's any power in design, that's the power of synthesis. The more complex the problem, the more the need for simplicity.


Chile, in 2010, was hit by an 8.8 Richter scale earthquake and tsunami, and architects were called to work in the reconstruction of the Constitución, in the southern part of the country. They were given 100 days, three months, to design almost everything, from public buildings to public space, street grid, transportation, housing, and mainly how to protect the city against future tsunamis. 

Here are some ideas that they came up with:

• What if, in between the city and the sea we have a forest, a forest that doesn't try to resist the energy of nature, but dissipates it by introducing friction? 
• A forest that may be able to laminate the water and prevent the flooding? 
• That may pay the historical debt of public space,and that may provide, finally, democratic access to the river. 
• So as a conclusion of the participatory design, the alternative was validated politically and socially, but there was still the problem of the cost: 48 million dollars. 
• So survey in the public investment system,  found out that there were three ministries with three projects in the exact same place, not knowing of the existence of the other projects. The sum of them: 52 million dollars. So design's power of synthesis is trying to make a more efficient use of the scarcest resource in cities, which is not money but coordination. By doing so,  the forest is today under construction.

Seattle USA

Forest in the midst of a turbulent, roaring city; it sounds like something from an amazing dream, but in Seattle it soon will be quite real. With the self-sustaining Food Forest, Seattle is bringing urban agriculture to a higher level, by creating a place where anyone and everyone can go to harvest fruits and vegetables for free.

The city decided to turn a seven-acre plot of land in the city’s Beacon Hill neighbourhood into an enormous food forest. The forest will contain all sorts of edibles; from apples to herbs and walnut trees. Even more exotic fruits won’t be excluded: pineapples or guaves, they will be there. All of this wll be available for free plucking to everyone that takes a stroll through the forest.
UK

The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts", containing proportionate areas, of residences, industry and agriculture.

Vietnam

300 Year Old Food Forest in Vietnam, A Families 28 Generation Old Food Forest That Provides Everything They Need All-Year-Round

Ideas for Reforestation

Halt deforestation, save the remaining trees and use them to shade and protect new food producing trees. Gradually introduce fruit and nuts trees and other beneficial plants such as bamboo and medicinal trees. Land like this is abundant worldwide. In some area it’s cheap enough every one can afford it.

Ideas under consideration for 1 hectare (108,000 sq. ft. = area 328’x328’): 

• drill a well and build a pump house; 
• plant a living fence around the perimeter to keep out neighbor’s cattle (build at least one gate for access); 
• grind up some of the least desirable trees for wood chip mulch; 
• save nitrogen fixing trees and any other useful trees; 
• run pigs through the area to fertilize the soil; 
• start a giant compost pile using local organic matter; 
• make ‘hugelkulture swales’ to slow runoff; 
• start planting some new fruit trees right before the rainy season and after the pigs are removed; 
• cover the area with nitrogen fixing groundcovers and straw and wood chips to suppress the weeds; 
• run drip irrigation to each new tree after the rainy season; 
• add compost around new trees and make a new compost pile each year;
•  gradually replace lesser value trees with more beneficial trees and plants over the next 2-3 years as time and finances allow.

Links

https://www.ted.com/talks/alejandro_aravena_my_architectural_philosophy_bring_the_community_into_the_process/transcript?language=en

http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/greenbelt/pages/261/attachments/original/1395758222/Toronto_Declaration_for_Global_Greenbelts_FINAL.pdf?1395758222
http://www.naturalbuildingblog.com/transition-forest-gardens/
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=778FCADEFE5591AE1DA3F1177108B978

Chewing Gum Tree

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 305-365

Other Names

Sapodilla (Manilkara zapota)

Description

The sapodilla tree is a slow growing evergreen that can reach heights of 100 feet. Strong and wind-resistant, it maintains an extensive root system. Within the tree’s bark is the white, gummy sap the tree is famous for, called chicle. The glossy green leaves are clustered in spirals at the tip of forked twigs. Sapodilla flowers are small, bell shaped and cream colored. The fruit is shaped like an egg with rough, brown skin when ripe, which protects the grainy yellow fruit inside.

The unique chewing gum called, Chicza, is made from totally organic rainforest ingredients that will biodegrade in around six weeks.  

In less ideal conditions when disposed of on tarmac or concrete roads and pavements, it will biodegrade in around three months. 

Chicle  is a natural gum traditionally used in making chewing gum and other products. It is collected from several species of Mesoamerican trees in the Manilkara genus, including M. zapota, M. chicle, M. staminodella, and M. bidentata.

The tapping of the gum is similar to the tapping of latex from the rubber tree: zig-zag gashes are made in the tree trunk and the dripping gum is collected in small bags. It is then boiled until it reaches the correct thickness. Locals who collect chicle are called chicleros.

The scars are permanent to the tree. Chicleros, or the extractors, generally mark trees with their own unique symbol so that they can keep track of when a tree was last tapped. Preferably, the trees were left untouched for five years between cuttings to ensure that they would continue to produce latex.

Chicle is collected from the tree by cutting into the bark, much like rubber, which causes the tree to excrete it and it runs down the trunk. And yes, it can also be extracted from the leaves. When plucked from a branch, the leaves will produce a small amount of latex as a way of protecting the tree from damage by insects or herbivores.

The greatest concentration of indigenous sapodillas are found in Quintana Roo, and are probably the remnants of active cultivation by the ancient Maya or were simply spared by ancient farmers when they cleared the forests for their fields. 


When the bark of the sapodilla is cut with a machete (a large knife that chicle extractors use) or attacked by insects or animals, the tree produces a milky fluid that forms a protective layer over the damaged area .

It is this substance, known as chicle latex, that has been used for hundreds of years in the Americas as chewing gum. Natural latexes, such as chicle and rubber, are usually a white, thick liquid, although at times they can be clear, 

yellow, red, or orange and runny. Latex generally has no smell, which makes it 

quite different from plant resins such as pine tar and copal incense that contain 

oils, and have a strong scent.

The contemporary Maya refer to the sapodilla tree astzicte’ ya’, “wounded noble tree.” 

This is a descriptive name that reflects the way in which the latex is obtained. Chicleros (chicle extractors) harvest the chicle by cutting a machete into the flesh along the length of the tree in a zigzag pattern, and allowing the latex to run down the tree. 

This is a process that the Maya have likely been using for hundreds, if not thousands of years, as the ancient Maya recognized that chewing this rubbery resin quenched thirst and staved off hunger.

Ancient Mesoamericans saw copal and rubber as the “blood of the tree” and used it as a primary ingredient for creating offerings to their gods, as well as for everyday uses. 

It is quite likely that they similarly viewed chicle latex as a natural product that could serve ritual and practical purposes. While it was certainly not traded as widely nor was it as prevalent in ritual settings as copal and rubber, we know that the Maya have used chicle as a kind of incense, as well as wrapped it on the outside of ritual copal offerings.

How did the Aztecs view chicle?

The Aztecs had very strict social norms, which thankfully are documented in an amazing resource known as the Florentine Codex. This is a series of twelve books that was written under the supervision of the Spanish friar known as Bernadino de Sahagunstarting in 1540. In it, he noted what “good” and “bad” people did in society. “Bad” people included men and married women that chewed gum in public – only children and old women were allowed to get away with this shameful behavior. 

Men and women who failed to follow these social norms were socially ostracized as “whores” or “sodomites” in an attempt to discourage this behavior. 

 Some researchers believe that Maya elites controlled the access to the trees by growing them in their city centers. 

Four hundred years later, proper young ladies, for example, should never chew gum in public because “watching someone chew gum is, as older generations say, like watching a cow chew its cud.” Yet, it was still sold in the public marketplace because the Aztecs knew it served a practical purpose of cleaning teeth and freshening breath—they just didn’t want people to actually use it in front of anyone.

Fruit

The sapodilla tree produces a sweet egg-shaped fruit known as “sapote” that was used as an ancient Maya and Aztec food source.

Habitat: 

The sapodilla tree is native to southern Mexico, Belize and northeastern Guatemala.  It also grows in the West Indies and the Old World tropics, where it was introduced for cultivation centuries ago.

LINKS

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102002132

http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/artefacts/chewing-gum-tree

http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/kids/species-profiles/sapodilla

Cecropia Tree Medicinal Use for Obesity, Diabetes Asthma, Kidney Disorder

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 304-365

One of the most interesting symbioses in the rainforest exists between the Cecropia tree and the Cecropia ant (Azteca sp.) The Cecropia trees recruit ants to live in them and protect the tree.  

The ants drive off herbivorous insects, attack herbivorous vertebrates, and remove epiphytes and competing plants.  Their wastes also provide a lot of nitrogen to the plant.   The plant provides them with housing (inside hollow stems) and gylcogen-rich  bodies.  At least, that's the simple explanation of the relationship.

The Cecropia leaf is quite popular among the Amazonian Indian tribes who use it for its anti-inflammatory qualities in the treatment of lung, kidney and rheumatic inflammations. For instance, these tribes prepare a tea made of leaves to treat respiratory problems and diabetes. 

It is further used to cure liver disorders and to stimulate menstruation. People from Trinidad take these leaves as a remedy for colds, fever, flu, snake and scorpion bites. The Palikur indigenous people resort to Cecropia leaves when they need to take care of bruises, wounds, bone fractures and mostly to clean the genitalia and relieve the pain felt after childbirth.

Cecropia is a Neotropical genus consisting of sixty-one recognized species with a highly distinctive lineage of dioecious trees.

The genus is easily identified by its large, circular, palmately lobed leaves, about 30–40 cm in diameter and deeply divided into 7-11 lobes. The trees consist of very few branches, usually with candelabrum-like branching system. In Costa Rica, three-toed sloths are often spotted easily in Cecropia trees because of Cecropias’ open, leafless branches compared to other trees. 

Cecropia trees have a hollow trunk and branches, which are divided into a series of chambers by partitions. The tree produces special structures in velvety-brown glandular patches under the leaf stems, providing nourishment for Azteca ants, which defend the leaves.

Common nameTrumpet tree, embauba, trompettier, snake wood, yagruma, bois cannon, Yagrumo hembra, ambay, sandpaper tree.


FamilyMoraceae (Mulberry family).

Medicinal Uses

The trumpet tree or embauba is widely used in traditional medicine throughout Central and South America.Virtually every part is used – bark, roots, sap, leaves and fruit – to treat a diversity of ailments. 

Each country has different uses for extracts of this plant, such as treatment for bronchitis and snakebites in Trinidad and a cure for diabetes and hypertension in Guatemala.

Recent scientific research on the trumpet tree has shown 

• potential for treating obesity, as well as 
• bacterial infections and 
• cancer. 
• The tree is regularly used throughout the world by herbalists for treating respiratory disorders and 
• diabetes.

Suriname's traditional medicine. - 

• The leaves of Embauba are used against: albumin in the urine and 
• have a good effect on the urinary passages, 
• bladder and 
• kidney disorders.

Tea made from the leaves is used as

•  a cure for asthma, 
• cough and 
• other upper- respiratory complaints such as bronchitis, 
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), 
• emphysema, 
• pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Trumpet tree is also used to treat 

• high blood pressure, for 
• childbirth and 
• menstruation and 
• to strengthen the heart.

The other parts of the plant are also useful: 

• the bark decreases mucus, 
• the roots ease bile problems and 
• the fruit greatly soothes the skin thanks to its emollient qualities.

 In many parts of Latin America, Cecropia tea is considered to be 

• a miraculous cure for asthma and apparently it is brewed from its leaves.
• Cecropia has a beneficial effect in patients who suffer from type 2 diabetes. 

Dosage
Tincture: 1 - 3 ml daily
Infusion (herbal tea): 1 - 2 cups daily

Plant Chemicals

Trumpet tree has among its plant chemicals: glycosides; lipids; alkaloids; flavonoids; isoorientin; chlorogenic acid; tannins; resins; ambain; cecropin; cardenolid; leucocyanidin; methyl-salicylate; proanthocyanidins; ursolic and stearic acids. The latex contains an alkaloid, cowleyin.

Reforestation

Cecropia trees are common in the rainforest - and in the tropical dry forest as well.  The trees are often seen along the roadsides as well. They are related to the mulberry tree.  

They often invade disturbed areas (hence their presence on roadsides) and are considered a pioneer species.  They don't do well in the shade; in the rainforest they depend on the appearance of openings due to treefalls, landslides, fires, etc.  

They are very quick-growing and shed the lower limbs (this shedding epiphytes as well).  In addition to the ants, the Cecropia trees have a number of chemical defenses including latex ducts (which gum up the mouthparts of feeding insects) and tannins.