Chapter 14 Eco-Villages: Can Eco-villages be a ‘Build Back Better’ strategy after Tsunami Disasters?

Abstract

In 2004, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Bangkok, Thailand, and UN-HABITAT collaborated on an eco-housing project in the Asian region (UNEP, 2010). The aim was to promote eco-housing as a key disaster preventive measure in the Asia-Pacific region. Eco-housing is an evolving concept that applies sustainability principles into the entire lifecycle of a housing project: from design, through construction and maintenance to the “end of life” activities. The concept applies environmentally friendly and sustainable approaches to the design, site assessment, material selection, energy management, water management, and waste management to the household and community level. The project addressed four key areas: (1) knowledge building, (2) educational initiative, (3) networking, and (4) implementation. The eco-housing project involved countries such as Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. It was implemented in the 2004 tsunami-affected areas in Banda Aceh and Calang, Indonesia. As part of the tsunami recovery projects, an “eco-village” was established in Lagoswatta, located in the Kalutara district near Colombo in Sri Lanka. It was supported by Sarvodaya, one of the local NGOs. UNEP and UN-HABITAT initiated the eco-housing project in 2004 to build capacity and to increase awareness on this issue. A Regional Expert Group on eco-housing was established to provide technical input and train national architects on this concept. This study was focused on the eco-village project in disaster recovery from the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. In particular, it focused on the case study in Sri Lanka: “The project has implemented passive cooling techniques, solar panels on houses, segregation of waste, composting of bio-degradable waste, recycling of inorganic waste, sub-terra system for recycling waste water, and roof top water harvesting. Site layout and landscaping has been done to minimize disturbances to site, provide shading and improve indoor ventilation” (UNEP, 2010).

Citation

Abe, M., Shaw, R. and Takeuchi, Y. (2012), "Chapter 14 Eco-Villages: Can Eco-villages be a ‘Build Back Better’ strategy after Tsunami Disasters?", Shaw, R. and Tran, P. (Ed.) Environment Disaster Linkages (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 257-283. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-7262(2012)0000009020