(re)affirming the culture of nature:examining the cultural geographies

of excrementVanessa Develter and Derek Pokora

Ryerson UniversitySchool of Urban + Regional Planning

PLE 835: Ecological DesignWeek 12: November 19, 2014

Source: http://www.unwater.org/worldtoiletday/home/en/

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dirtyboxface/8791395879/in/photolist-eoScH2-ettWMK-eoS7fn-etyoHJ-etyssY-etx4Uf-epNgDW-epNkqL-etwW3u-eoSaFR-etx2K9-etx7y3-etv53D-epPT25-etueuX-etx1HE-etxkj3-ettXhe-epNXTd-ettMBB-etx6N7-etxik9-ettWbe-etwYGd-epNpvU-eoSdUM-epNy21-etxham-ettQND-etv5B8-epNoG7-ettQbr-epNq2G-epNtd9-eoSdqk-etu4pP-eoS3nH-etx21U-etu9it-ettX2c-etxnjd-etwX8w-eoS5n4-eoS3Qg-etx1VJ-eoS4ei-eoS53a-ettLYV--

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Cummings_S-bend.jpg

Italy

Source: http://noplasticshowers.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/pescara3.jpg

Ancient Rome: Public Toilets

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Ostia-Toilets.JPG

Japan Turkey

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/einalem/555624272/in/photolist-7d1kor-bw2QZT-Rr9ny-R8hWZ-R6HJQ-5vuJak-nn6CBN-9axMmW-9wRDez-8MFhay-fs3pUa-a67ZuW-SHHRY-mzuhA5-7iczzk-6pgpR1-6RL6jw-9wRDr2-84nskZ-9Naxwa-cBogc-PNUsa-bw2Uan-ideXW-3jEw6-o8JjDT-73efYw-6XD1pD-5Jw71f-5DHgea-5z3pE4-nGKtwv-LiKze-3zxe-8Vxk7V-ciajq-6hFPWy-gag2nP-eb6vxk-ny1GUM-nqvzZ1-k5h9b-7pRHJ1-2nqQKQ-doYrsV-4ZSZyd-gacwrF-2WzrnQ-nGKtye-96asJL

Source: http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/3080/ok-were-all-adults-here-so-really-how-on-earth-should-i-use-a-squat-toilet

India India

Source: http://la-vida-gitana.blogspot.ca/2011/03/i-am-happiness-that-you-meet.html

Source: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/jmp2012/fast_facts/en/

Top 12 Open Defecators, by Country, 2012

India

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq6WGFle-Ko&list=UUhX9iJfMSEvk3aUDGsxIN1Q

http://riceinstitute.org/wordpress/2014/07/01/new-maps-which-country-has-the-most-open-defecation-in-the-world/

Open Defecation in the World, by Country, 2012

Source: http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/39183_UNICEF-fights-against-open-defecation

Source: http://www.dailyslave.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/india-open-defacation.jpg

“By expanding the understanding of a landfill mound from a sculptural mass to a temporal flow of matter and waste, we begin to overcome our visual conceptions of landscape that inhibit us from seeing the disturbed landscape for the place of circulation and exchange that it is and was.”

– Meyer, 2007, pg. 5

Sh*tscape: Mumbai’s Landscape In-Between

http://www.asla.org/2010studentawards/332.html

Sh*tscape: Mumbai’s Landscape In-Between

http://www.asla.org/2010studentawards/332.html

Sh*tscape: Mumbai’s Landscape In-Between

http://www.asla.org/2010studentawards/332.html

Sh*tscape: Mumbai’s Landscape In-Between

http://www.asla.org/2010studentawards/332.html

How can we reconnect with our waste products?

Sources: vice.com + http://www.radiolab.org/story/poop-train/

Source: http://www.ostara.com/saskatoon

Source: http://www.halton.ca/cms/One.aspx?portalId=8310&pageId=19509#Q2

“To achieve the new partnership with nature, the past must be understood in terms of its ecological and human histories, and negative outcomes must be reassessed. Environmental history often shows an era fraught with the exploitation of a natural resource with little regard to long-term consequences. It teaches us that many past interventions have been ecologically shortsighted. Eco-revelatory design seeks to remedy such errors.”

–Carolyn Merchant, Partnership with Nature, (1998).

Discussion Questions

1. Although an increased number of public and private latrines in India has somewhat reduced the amount of open defecation in India, many still prefer to defecate in public. What other approaches can be taken to incentivise India’s citizens to adopt the usage of toilets?

2. If you were a planner proposing to develop a facility that converted biosolids into fertilizer, such as the one in Saskatoon, what benefits and drawbacks do you think would be brought up at a public meeting?