REFLECTIVE REPORT

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

Bsc. (Hons) Architecture

________________________________________________________________

SIOW YEE THONG | 0333816

SUSTAINABLE LIVING | ARC61704
DR. SITI NORZAINI
REFLECTION ON THE MODULE

To begin with, the Sustainable Living module had provided a series of frameworks, concepts and case
studies to explore. Throughout the semester, I am able to understand the idea of liveability that
includes the intangible aspect of a city such as the climate, user experience and culture. Besides that,
the tangible aspects such as movement pattern, form and activities are also not to be neglected. This
module had also taught us that sustainability is not only environmentally friendly but it helps to shape
society and makes a better living community. In addition, I was astonished by the ideas and effort put
into by some sustainable cities in the world because it helps the planet. For instance, the efficiency of
town planning eases our way of living and reduces the cause of catastrophe in the future. Most
importantly, the crucial part of this module is understanding the solution proposed for the problems
occurring in an urban area. These practices inspired me to learn and produce ideas for the less
fortunate community.

Over and above that, the module creates an opportunity for discussion with lecturers and among team
members. It improves my thinking skills while engaging in the conversation as well as
communication skills. Furthermore, the topics in this module really challenged me to be critical in
rectifying issues in a city and provide a better and strategical solution. Other than that, I am able to be
concerned and aware of my surroundings due to the awe-inspiring lessons I have learned in lecture
classes as a reminder. After all the lessons, it has changed my perspective towards city planning and
develop a civic responsibility to consider the issues while developing a design. Last but not least,
although there is much information to digest, I believe these knowledge are needed in the future not
only in the architecture field but it can be applied to other sectors as well.

REFLECTION ON ASSIGNMENT 1 & 2

In the first assignment, we are required to study and compare cities that adopt sustainable system. The
purpose for this assignment is to understand the social, personal, environmental and personal aspects
to resolve an issue with a sustainable decision. This assignment was divided in a group of four people.
At the beginning our group was indecisive in executing the project, we have studied about six cities
for phase 1 and phase 2 to select two cities with the same typology for comparison. In the end, we opt
to study Seattle in the United States and Manila in the Philippines as city framework. Through doing
research we found out that, Manila’s city planning has affected the quality of living such as water
pollution, the rising urban heat island, increased solid waste management and slum settlements.
Hence, we have implemented some sustainable planning we learned from Seattle to the issues mapped
out in Manila. From this project, I have learned about government’s effort to resolve the causing
concerns to their cities. Apart from that, I am grateful to my creative team mates because I have also
learned how to strategized and overcome the issue of a densely populated area.

Meanwhile in the second assignment, we were assigned to convert a future design concept to an A1
illustration. First of all, we had to study some concerning topics that might happen from the year 2040
to 2050 such as the destruction of the rain forest that which will affect our medical resources or the
overpopulation chain that leads to many other problems. Thus, we question ourselves whether we can
resolve these issues as an architecture student who wants to adopt sustainable ideas. As a result, I have
decided to make an approach towards the environmental sustainability to reduce carbon footprint first
by reducing traffic congestion and overcrowding. The idea of Time Frame City is for the locals to stay
within their area and practice self-sustaining in their own homes in order to prepare for worst case
scenario such as shortage of resources and energy depletion. From this assignment, I have learned that
the chains of problems are interrelated with all the others similarly to the Covid-19 pandemic that has
caused many unemployed and difficulties to human’s well-being.
REFLECTION ON HOW THE CONTENT OF THIS MODULE CAN HELP YOU IMPROVE
YOUR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE/FINAL YEAR OF BAT IN THE FUTURE

The module sustainable living had helped me by applying the knowledge that I have learned to
promote and adopt sustainable concept and lifestyle. Additionally, it also helped me to capture the
reason why a city was built in that way and propose a liveable city with healthy community. As an
architecture student now, we may think that sustainability is vital because of its innovative design
strategies. However as an architecture practitioner in the future, the content of this module may have
assisted me in understanding the context of some cities so that I could apply some existing ideas to
some communities that have yet to experience. Aside from being able to apply active or passive
design strategies, this module had also reminded me to be mindful of the surroundings while
designing because architecture affects the psychology and basic needs of the community. For
instance, the changes in social behaviour of a community. It is because in this technological advanced
world, human’s standard of living are improving and the culture is changing. Therefore, we play an
important role in planning a satisfactory and functional space considering the past, present and future.

As my final year in architecture school is approaching, I deeply believe that this module would
improve my architectural studio projects due to an extensive amount of imagination and visualization
that takes place while completing the second assignment. These skills had encouraged me to bring a
healthier living solution and design a place that has bad living condition with sufficient justification to
my design ideas.

Finally yet importantly, I have grasped the importance of a well-balanced city due to the fact that
they’re adaptable when evolved. For example, sustainability solutions that were implemented in
Seattle or Singapore has increased the economy and tourism sector of the city. In a nutshell,
sustainable living has brought advantages and understanding of resilience, adaptability, spatial
organization and flexibility of urban sustainable concepts to my learning experience.

1012 words
REFERENCE LIST

https://www.businessinsider.com/ways-the-world-will-be-terrifying-in-2050-2015-3#more-than-half-
of-the-worlds-population-may-not-have-adequate-access-to-water-3

https://uavcoach.com/agricultural-drones/

https://theconversation.com/historic-amazon-rainforest-fires-threaten-climate-and-raise-risk-of-new-
diseases-
146720#:~:text=The%20fires%20in%20the%20Amazon,all%20likelihood%2C%20may%20be%20w
orse.

https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth

https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/livability-start-neighborhood-singapore-urban-practice-
part-1