Course:IGS585/OK2023WT2/PeterTruch
Peter Truch
- For your reflection on another class member's reflection, start by typing your name and using the 'Sub-heading 1' style from the pulldown men
Cole Hooper
I enjoyed our class with Peter, he had lots of valuable feedback for our projects, and he was clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about a topic that is central to sustainability. The topic of transportation and mobility planning is another topic that, I for one rarely think about, yet it has a major impact on our day to day lives. As Peter mentioned, they are the ones for planning the roadways, intersections, paths, trails, bike lanes and more. As interconnected beings we move around our environment a lot, and the ways in which we do that are purposefully planned, and designed. Whether or not those plans and designs have really involved sustainability as a concern is up for debate; although from our Peter's talk I got the sense that it was not considered historically but is becoming more and more important in a contemporary context.
I appreciated his exercise in class where he encouraged us to reflect on the relationship between our projects, in what areas do they align or not. It was interesting that essentially our projects are all targeting different areas, but in a core sense, they are related. Jared and Armita's community gardens need to be located in high density population areas, to be of service and accessible to those who live there. Emma and Wang's active transportation corridors aim to connect those high density population areas, allowing people more freedom to move between areas of amenities. In this sense, both of those projects are aimed at social sustainability, although they would have some environmental benefits as well. Meanwhile, Amir, Leo, and I's project is more focused on the environmental benefits alone. Yet, still, our conversation showed that there are mutual areas of benefit with the other projects. From a class project perspective this might not be the most relevant, but I can see how in a real project situation all of our projects could be combined as a part of holistic sustainability plan for Lake Country. At the very least we can consider these connections in our proposal for class, and use it to further tout the community benefits of our plans.
The more project specific feedback that he gave was great as well, and getting that from someone that has experience working with municipalities will be a great help to our proposal. Specifically we will aim to further integrate our project with existing Lake Country documents and groups that he identified for us such as the mobility master plan and "Walk around Lake Country". This will ground our project more strongly with the community, and align us with other stakeholders who may have similar priorities. Finding allies, and commonalities with existing policies is critical to enhancing the strength of our proposal.
JAJ: I thought Peter's emphasis on shaping projects to bring together multiple supporting constituencies was very important. To get broad public support, a project needs to appeal to the broad public. That broad public is made up of individuals with various values and goals. Otto von Bismarck is credited with the phrase "Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable - the art of the next best." I think any time we are trying to get something done in a community, we have to think about what is achievable, rather than what is ideal.
Leandro reflection of reflection
Peter's class left a lasting impression on Cole, emphasizing the pivotal role of transportation and mobility planning in our daily lives and sustainability efforts. The exercise in aligning projects was particularly enlightening, revealing how seemingly disparate endeavours could converge towards a common goal of holistic sustainability. Cole thought the feedback offered valuable insights for refining proposals, especially in integrating them with existing community documents and groups. This emphasis on collaboration strengthens proposals and fosters a sense of cohesion within the broader sustainability framework of Lake Country. Perhaps we can work together to offer a joint proposal that covers more sustainable aspects of that society in an interdisciplinary fashion.
Armita Tehranchi
This was a great lecture. We had the time to focus more on our projects and get deeper into them. His idea about each group project was interesting but the most enjoyable part was when Peter tried to connect all of the 3 projects. I mean I already knew that the goal of this course and all of our projects is to make the city more sustainable but I had no idea that we could relate all of them together. The way he found a connection between them was amazing. The highlight was Peter's adept synthesis of the three distinct projects, showcasing an unexpected yet coherent alignment of their objectives towards a common goal of urban sustainability.
The project led by Leo, Cole, and Amir delved into the essence of integrating natural environments within urban settings, focusing on how urban fauna adapt to modified landscapes. This approach not only acknowledges the resilience of nature in the face of urban development but also champions a vision where urban planning is inclusive of natural ecosystems. Their work illuminates the possibility of designing cities that embrace the coexistence of human and wildlife, advocating for a more holistic understanding of urban ecosystems.
Emma and Wang's project transcended traditional urban greening efforts, advocating for a holistic sustainable urban lifestyle that emphasizes active transportation. Their push for infrastructure that supports biking and pedestrian activities aligns with the broader goal of creating urban environments conducive to healthier living and reduced car dependency. This project highlights the crucial role of mobility and transportation in the sustainability narrative, underlining the need for integrated urban planning solutions.
Jared and I focused on the role of community gardens in repurposing urban spaces for social and environmental benefits. These gardens are not just about creating green spaces; they're about fostering community ties and enhancing local food security, thereby contributing to the social fabric of neighborhoods. Our emphasis on strategically locating these gardens to optimize accessibility and environmental advantages reflects a comprehensive approach to urban planning.
Peter's insights into the challenges of promoting environmental initiatives within municipal frameworks added a layer of realism to our discussions. His experiences with both successes and setbacks in engaging city councils on environmental projects shed light on the intricate process of implementing sustainable urban practices. This aspect of the lecture was particularly enlightening, offering a glimpse into the complexities of navigating political and bureaucratic landscapes to achieve sustainability goals. Despite anticipating more transparency and public involvement in decision-making processes in a country presumed to be much more civilized and community-oriented, it became apparent that the realm of politics and governance often remains opaque, underscoring my limited understanding of these domains.
Overall, the lecture was a testament to the multifaceted nature of achieving urban sustainability, illustrating the interconnectedness of our projects and the shared vision they uphold for the future of urban development.
JAJ: Yes, politics is unavoidable, and those in positions to pull the levers of power seldom want it to be known that they are able to do so. I like how you saw in this the way that all three of your projects are part of contributing to sustainable, livable communities that have a healthy place for people and for nature. And of course, interacting with nature is known to be good for people's health.
Yuxiang's Reflection on Armita's Reflection
I strongly agree that the lecture was truly insightful and invigorating. It is the first time for us to think deeper about our respective projects and unearth the interconnectedness among them. Peter's adept synthesis of our diverse endeavors into a cohesive narrative of urban sustainability was particularly remarkable. It illuminated not only the overarching objective of our course but also revealed how each project, seemingly distinct, contributes to a unified vision of a more sustainable city.
I really appreciate your reflection as it helped me realize the intricate factors at play in achieving urban sustainability. The complexities of navigating political and bureaucratic landscapes mentioned by Peter and you are truly a new perspective for me at this stage. Thus, the common benefits and connections within our three projects are quite important. It's not just about implementing individual projects but also about fostering a collective vision and navigating the complexities of politics, governance, and community dynamics.
Jared Brown
Peter’s class was very engaging and was quite valuable to me. As one of the goals of our group's project is to make community gardens more accessible to Lake Country residents, his expertise on transportation and mobility was quite valuable to have. It was also very nice that he devoted a large amount of time to learn about and investigate each of our projects rather than simply delivering a general presentation on how his work relates to sustainability and resilience. Having the class engage in feedback with him for each group project was also valuable. Since we all come from a variety of academic and personal backgrounds, everyone had the opportunity to provide feedback based on knowledge and experiences that are exclusive to them. Having such an opportunity to receive feedback from a diverse audience like that is important for our group projects, but also for sustainability and resilience in general, given the multiple ways in which those concepts are defined within and outside of academia. It was also valuable to me in that it showed that everyone in the class cares about everyone having the chance to succeed in this course.
Peter's example of integrating each of our projects together into a single project was also a very interesting approach, as it was something I hadn’t (and probably wouldn’t have) considered until he engaged us in his activity on showing how it could potentially be done. It is certainly not an easy feat to accomplish due to the differences between each of our projects. Nonetheless, pointing out ways in which it can be done highlights an important aspect of making sustainability project proposals to municipalities. Those that are most likely to be implemented are the ones that are efficient or “kill multiple birds with one stone”, in the context of the benefits they provide. With limited human and financial resources, municipalities will want to focus on a smaller number of projects which can each provide multiple benefits for sustainability and resilience simultaneously, rather than focusing on a larger number of projects that individually provide a smaller number of benefits.
Peter also made an interesting point regarding resistance to proposed projects. I cannot fully remember all the details, but I remember something along the lines of him discussing how businesses on Leckie Road (at least I think it was this road) were initially concerned and upset about losing parking space as a result of increasing sidewalk/cycling space for pedestrians. Such resistance is important to consider, as it may be encountered for our group project as well. For example, residents who live directly adjacent to our proposed areas may be upset/concerned by the fact that more people would be around their homes. Some residents who are living near the park areas we have proposed as community garden sites may also become upset that their nearby, easy to access park is going to be converted into something else and that they may have to travel farther to access another park that can provide the same functions. Such resistance will be important to resolve in order move our project forward. In our case, I imagine that education surrounding the benefits of community gardens and information on the kinds of cultures associated with them will be the best path for resolving any resistance we encounter. These are elements that I will be considering when our group formulates our factsheet, since that document is meant more for public audiences compared to the policy brief and final report that we will be writing as well.
JAJ: Anticipating and addressing sources of resistance is an important aspect of moving a project forward. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. One of Peter's projects was designing the Lake to Lake bike route system for Penticton. There has been vocal resistance there, which lead to the council putting a stop to all bike lane development not already underway for three years (https://momentummag.com/penticton-protected-bike-lanes/). The opponents were able to tie issues like government waste, tax increases, traffic congestion, etc. and build enough support that the city council was sufficiently worried about loosing votes that they chose to put a stop to further barrier separated bike lanes. Opponents also build coalitions.
Emma reflection on Jared's reflection
I quite liked Jared’s point about possible resistance to projects by the municipality. I think one of the best ways to avoid these issues is conversation. Asking people’s views on a project and being open to their thoughts (even opposition) is necessary. The whole public outreach/community engagement phases of municipal projects are often not taken into consideration enough, poorly planned, or rushed. I’m thinking back to Jared Kassel’s presentation and his discussions of the difficulties of convincing other departments the importance of community engagement. People have busy lives and municipalities much actively pursue methods of community engagement rather than sitting back and having a survey on their website. Few people will see that. But, having a booth at farmer’s markets can gain a larger exposure. This is not to say surveys don’t haven their place, but a booth can both inform and engage at the same time while providing human connection that a survey cannot. Employing multiple methods for community engagement is the best way to ensure you can include most people’s concerns and avoid large amounts of push-back.
Emma Carey
I really enjoyed Peter’s presentation and talk. He works in the same sector as my project for this class, active transportation, so it was very relevant for that reason. I’m also quite personally interested in safe transportation, especially for pedestrians, and so I found his work to be quite inspiring. Drivers in Kelowna are not good at looking for pedestrians and there have been at least 3 times that I was very nearly hit walking, and I’ve only been in this city for 6 month. I would have excepted Toronto to be worse for pedestrian safety since it is such a big city, but I feel safer there as a pedestrian there than I do here. I think part of the problem in Kelowna is the way the walking lights function. In Toronto they always come on every light cycle, they do not need to be pushed by a pedestrian to activate them. Pushing the button in Toronto can make the lights change faster so that pedestrians don’t have to wait as long, but the white walking sign always comes on with each light cycle. In Kelowna, you have to press the button to make the light come on and at some intersections this means you need to wait for a full light cycle before the light comes on for you to walk. Some people walk even without the white walking sign, because it is quite a hastily to wait for so long if you are at an intersection that doesn’t have an instantaneous response to you pressing the button. But, this can be quite dangerous as cars then don’t expect you in the intersection. Although they also aren’t good at expecting you even when the light is on.
Safety is a large barrier to active transportation in Kelowna, particularly for pedestrians. In the winter months, when sunlight hours are low, the problem becomes even worse as drivers have less visibility to see pedestrians. I would love to see the way that the lights function in Kelowna change because it is quite nerve wracking to almost be hit by a car. Most of the time it doesn’t change my decision to walk to a place instead of driving my own car, but it does make my walks much more stressful than they need to be. Being on constant alert to ensure a car doesn’t hit you is not how people should have to walk the streets.
Anyways, I’m quite glad Peter is working on this issue of safety along with other active transportation issues. He discussed this more at the end, but I had not thought of roundabouts being a safety measure because crashes cannot be head on, they will be at an angle. People do make mistakes and so designing to allow for this makes a lot of sense to me. I also really enjoyed his discussion of designing for people with disabilities. I did not know those yellow bumpy pads on the ground are for blind and low vision people to know better where to stand for a bus for example.
JAJ: Planning and design for humans. Round abouts are a great safety measure, and on balance they actually are more effective for moving traffic than intersections where people have to stop. There is a great podcast that talks about roundabouts (https://freakonomics.com/podcast/should-traffic-lights-be-abolished-ep-454/), with the interesting suggestion that they are not popular in the US because US drivers don't want to have to think. With stoplights, a driver just does what the light says. In a roundabout, the driver needs to decide when to enter, paying attention to other moving vehicles.
Cole Hooper Reflection on Emma Carey
It is interesting to see Emma's thoughts on her own experiences with active transportation as someone new to Kelowna. I think for those of us that grow up in BC, we may forget about this perspective. Growing up here, your own vehicular transport is pretty much required, this is something that is not necessarily unique to BC, but it's importance is overwhelming here. Our medium to small cities are not well connected and organized to facilitate living without a vehicle, that is a simple fact. I have travelled to a lot of places internationally, and many of the people I meet around the globe express a lot of interest in coming to visit here; I encourage them, BC is one the most beautiful places on Earth. However, when they inevitably ask "Can you visit cheaply?", the answer is no. There are a number of components to this answer, such as flights, food, accommodation, but one transportation is the one piece that always stands out in my mind.
You need a car, is standard in my response to those interested travelers, and that is not cheap. To move freely in this province, see all that it has to offer, and access the amenities that are present. You need your own transportation, a personal vehicle. Thus, to return to Emma's reaction; the average BC citizen who is driving their car is not expecting the pedestrian. It goes against what is normal here. Everyone has a car, to walk places is unusual.
Cleary this perspective is flawed in many ways, but I do think it is representative of the average driver in BC. Using a vehicle for every small trip is not sustainable, and it is simply not equitable, as that cost of ownership or renting is a significant barrier. More people in this current model, would mean more cars. All of that results in more traffic, more green house gas emissions, and a less safe pedestrian environment. Looking to the future, this should be a primary concern for city planners in our small and medium sized cities, especially when we consider the growth that they are expecting.
Yuxiang Wang
It is excited to get detailed suggestions and valuable insights for our project from Peter. He seems quite knowledgeable and familiar with the map context. I was very fortunate to be invited to the podium to present my planning and project about the active transportation line that I had done, and he gave us a lot of thought on both my project and my classmates' project. He said that sustainability was not given enough priority in planning in the past, but it is becoming more and more important in today's planning. He tried to find the connections between our projects and encouraged us to form our projects into the whole one as possible as we could. The combined sustainable plan and its social benefits could be more easily accepted by the government and relevant stakeholders.
Especially, it is easy to find commonalities between my and Emma's active transportation line and Jared and Armita's project: community gardens. Firstly, a community with high population density is suitable for us so we have a chance to build them in a similar area. Secondly, our projects all bring real benefits to residents, especially in public services and transportation. Thirdly, compared with Amir and Leo’s ecological corridor project, we have potential environmental benefits but not as straightforward as theirs. However, Peter finally found some possible locations to bring the three projects together. He also guided us to make our projects correspond with the current Lake Country documents such as the mobility master plan and "Walk around Lake Country". If a project combines multiple benefits, it seems more likely to be accepted by the government and the public because of the constraints of funding and resources
Last but not least, his concerns about traffic safety in Kelowna resonate with me. The Seattle examples (I didn't remember the name here) he mentioned may be quite suitable for the Okanagan and my projects.
JAJ: I have travelled to China a few times, and have been struck by how effective one can get around without needing a personal vehicle. Busses, taxis, ride hailing, and renting small motor cycles or bicycles were the ways we travelled, and seldom were we waiting long to continue our journey. I think the much higher population density in China contributes to the efficiency of these approaches. However, we have also built our towns and cities to be dependent on the personal motor vehicle, something that makes retrofitting for more public modes and/or human powered modes difficult. Hopefully Lake Country is able to take some inspiration from the projects the class is developing.
Jared Brown - Reflection on Yuxiang's Reflection
I greatly enjoyed reading Yuxiang’s reflection on this class. It has given me some important information for me to think about for within and outside this class. He makes a strong point about how his and Emma’s project would work well in collaboration with our group’s project, given that both are largely based on social benefits for sustainability and resilience in Lake Country. While it is certainly true that our projects do not have as many direct environmental benefits like Cole, Amir, and Leandro’s project, both an active transportation network and community gardens have indirect environmental contributions to sustainability and resilience. Having an active transportation network does this by encouraging more residents in Lake Country to use less carbon-intensive methods for getting around, and having more community gardens does this by encouraging less carbon-intensive opportunities for recreation and socializing. I would be interested in seeing the potential economic contributions to sustainability and resilience from the other group’s projects, as that has been something Armita and I have been thinking about with our project, and none of us have majorly discussed the potential economic benefits of our projects with each other.
Although this does not relate to my group’s project as much, I also found Yuxiang highlighting traffic safety concerns in Kelowna to be interesting. As I drive from West Kelowna to get to the university, I know how reckless drivers in this area can be. Yet at the same time, traffic safety is generally an issue I do not think about. I think it is easy for this to happen when you are always driving to get around, given that drivers are not nearly as vulnerable to getting seriously injured by another vehicle compared to pedestrians and cyclists (TIRF, 2014). Traffic safety will certainly become more of an issue in Kelowna going forward and will likely affect Lake Country too, given that the Okanagan valley in general is expecting a large increase in population and many people commute from Vernon and Lake Country to Kelowna for work. As a result, we need to make sure that we increase the amount of infrastructure that makes walking and cycling safer, but also increase awareness and education surrounding traffic safety issues in the Okanagan so that drivers in the area are more conscious about them while they are driving in high pedestrian-cyclist areas.
References:
TIRF. (2014). The Issues—Vulnerable Road Users. Traffic Injury Research Foundation - Young and New Driver Resource Centre. https://yndrc.tirf.ca/issues/vulnerable.php
Leandro Biondo
Peter made me think a lot about our connections to planning and the group proposals' relation to an actual implementation for Lake Country. Simplistic solutions can often be the best ones. Peter helped us discuss our proposals. Regarding transportation mobility in the projects, the first step for the ecological corridors is to locate possible corridors in the region. We can then use the ideas generated from our class brainstorming to improve the projects.
Apparently, Peter liked the way we used the Voronoi model to propose corridor areas (faster and less complicated choice), which could also be simplified by hexagon (h3 from Uber) for the naturalized area interaction with the urban area. We should include land use and correct lake information, including environmental, wildlife, and water data sources. We must keep in mind that the government is not transparent about corruption in various forms. It may not be obvious, but interests outside the public discussion often drive decisions.
Another important aspect for me was he pointed out the possibility of integrating the three projects with active transport locations, community gardens, and natural corridors. For the Lake Country proposal, include a financial roadmap for planning. Proposals with broad effects on the population might be better received. It is good to include natural influences on mental health as part of the discussion. People's relationships with the corridor must be modelled on top of the natural and landscape data.
Outside our proposals subject, Peter expressed that self-driving vehicles are detrimental to society as they make us more individual and less community-oriented. They may reduce dialogue inside families and between friends, and this change may be faster than we think, as we have seen a transformation in how kids go to school, from walking to riding in cars, in only one generation. These constant behaviour changes can also influence the outcome of sustainability projects as they switch individual priorities over time.
Lastly, I found it interesting to hear examples of how to set up transportation systems to minimize collisions between roundabouts, side collisions, and tourist drivers, not the first thing you think when talking about sustainable transportation planning. That highlights that we need to include other essential aspects that only professionals from the areas to be transformed might point out. These changes would make the proposal stronger and can be done with the help of the affected people inside the community.
JAJ: My concern about self driving vehicles is the very thing that I look forward to. Namely, being able to work or sleep in the vehicle, rather than having to drive it. Doing that will enable sprawl even more than the personal automobile has so far done. If the 'cost' of the time spent commuting is reduced, because one can do something else useful with the time, then people will commute further. This would mean people living further out, consuming more natural space, and further adversely impacting the natural environment.
Amir's reflection on leo's reflection
Leo has always been faced with various layers of information through his expertise in mapping. He's naturally inclined to combine the features of different data layers by overlapping these layers to achieve the desired results in each map. It's natural for him to have a keen mind for blending the features of all three projects together. What Leo appreciates about Peter's discussions regarding the fear of technology and its threats to future generations, especially in sustainability, resonates with his paternal concerns. He also highlighted a crucial point from Peter's talk, which is the tourist nature of the city, necessitating more comprehensive driving regulations in the city to reduce traffic complexities for travelers. What's fascinating about Leo's work is that software, as a tool, has vast potential for creation. It can combine layers of information that are beyond human comprehension, and Leo's role as the ultimate decision-maker on the software's work is pivotal.
Suggesting simple yet pragmatic ideas align perfectly with the spirit of functional design, and I really struggle to achieve this goal because I've always been trained as a designer to think within a broad range of ideas and not consider the execution difficulties and constraints during the design phase, so that I don't self-censor beforehand. However, Leo, through working with the facts of maps, has a better opportunity for a functional design. This point from Peter's talk, as something interesting to him, is quite the opposite of me, as even abstraction and detachment are important to me alongside functionality.
Amir Rahsaz
The meeting we had with Peter had many positive points. One of the most important ones was that Peter wanted to teach the topics by referring to the work we had done practically, instead of just giving some general data and guidance to each group. He wanted to give specialized guidance to each group based on their project, especially considering that his field of work was transportation, which could benefit the to Emma and Wang’s project.
Another important point about Peter's discussions was that he tried to extract the essence and core of each of the three projects and create a synergy between them. To achieve this, it was necessary to reduce less important details of the projects and combine the main framework of each project with a specific direction that could be compatible with another project. However, in my opinion, at times, Peter focused too much on the outcomes and overlooked conflicting realities of some projects. For example, the Emma and Wang’s project, which aimed at active pathways, had great potential to merge with the COMMUNITY GARDENS project by Jared and Armita. But our project, which is about creating ecological corridors, has structural contradictions with those two projects and pursues completely opposing goals in some aspects, making it difficult to integrate them together.
I particularly liked Peter's recommendation to consider people with disabilities in design. This resonated with me especially because I had researched this topic in the previous semester and realized that having a world towards disability inclusion is much more beneficial than a world without it. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the rights and comfort of these individuals as a key factor in design.
One thing I wanted to ask Peter, but unfortunately forgot, was about how Canadian cities are designed around cars and are not very pedestrian-friendly like European cities. However, with the widespread adoption of sustainability approaches, encouraging people to walk is essential. But how can cities like Kelowna, which are already built, and where design solutions are only applicable in development areas, shift towards becoming pedestrian-friendly?
Certainly, for a city like Lake Country, which still has room for design revision, practical pedestrian designs that consider the needs of all users can be employed, and I hope we'll witness that in the Emma and Wang project. Another aspect is designing for multisensory experiences in urban design, which can be done in line with environmental justice design practices, not solely focusing on visual features as the dominant sense, but also providing a richer experience of the environment for ordinary and healthy members of society, while enabling people with disabilities to have an equitable living opportunity in the city.
As a student without a personal car, I often experience many inefficiencies in the transportation and road system of cities like Kelowna. Pedestrians often have to spend a long time waiting at red lights, and not having a car makes life difficult. Surely, appropriate urban design can reduce our reliance on cars instead of facilitating car presence. Prioritizing the comfort and peace of pedestrians over cars is essential. On a different scale, when designing an ecological corridor, priority should be given to animals first, then to humans who are there for recreation in that area.
JAJ: You may have heard about hysteresis and path dependence. Many of the cities outside of North America were largely built before the private vehicle became popular. There were a few large cities in the Americas prior to European contact, but these were depopulated either for environmental reasons (Anasazi, Mayans) or European conquest and disease (Aztecs, Incas). Older, cities in Eastern North America have dense urban cores. However, their rapid growth since the popularity of the automobile lead to large areas of these cities having very low densities and no practical way beyond driving to access the things that people need on a regular basis. This puts us in a real bind, as we have to spend substantial resources to build transportation infrastructure - active transportation corridors, rapid transit systems, long distance trains and such - to enable dense residential development were people can live and function. The electorate often doesn't want to pay for these things, since the electorate that is there now mostly relies on their private automobile. Future residents can't vote.
Armita's reflection on Amir reflection
Because of my acquaintance with Amir, I often find myself marveling at his different perspective, perhaps outside the box he has for his profession, and I try to blend my engineer's viewpoint with this kind of design thinking. The point Amir made about creating an inclusive environment and not limiting his expectations to fulfilling the needs of just the disabled community resonated with me. He mentioned that even healthy individuals can benefit from multisensory design by experiencing a richer environment. It's a recent realization for me in engineering that while we aim to address fundamental needs and existing gaps, our solutions should also encompass a broader horizon, especially in fair environmental design, which was an enlightening reminder.
Amir's idea about ecological corridors and reversing the roles of humans and animals was very intriguing to me. The concept of humans being restricted and safe within a corridor while animals have complete freedom within the ecological area seems aligned with their group's goal, which comes from a forward-thinking and animal rights perspective. Facing this idea, I reminded myself why I always think within conventional paths and don't take advantage of the infinite freedom and choice I have to reach an effective solution.