Book Review - From Eco-Cities to Living Machines

From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: on applications of ecological design to multiple audiences

review by Lia Gudaitis

From Eco-cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design tells the story of the Todds’ experience as environmental advocates working on applications of workable alternatives to the fossil fuel world in which they found themselves. Insisting that cities can be ecologically designed, environmentalist Nancy Jack Todd and biologist John Todd begin their story by explaining the context of how they became personally involved in developing ecological solutions. They continue by walking the reader through a host of designs on many different scales, from simple water transportation to whole communities. Certain design themes re-occur on every scale though, such as the wide applications of water and sun as both heat mediators and filters, the necessity for locality, and the importance of the historical and biological context of any model. The authors’ style of storytelling, clear in the first chapter, is another element of the book which reappears in most chapters. The line between writing a story and conveying design information is often blurred, causing confusion for the reader and leaving them wondering if the authors would have been more successful having written either a story, or a more use-oriented ecological design guide.

Although the Todd’s story begins long before, From Eco-cities to Living Machines has a story of its own. The first edition of the book was written in the shadow of the Reagan era, where national priorities focussed on economic issues despite the fact that the effects of environmental degradation were becoming too well-known to shelve environmental issues. The 1960s and 70s saw a great deal of attention and research committed to environmental issues, painting the clear picture of a planet facing environmental crisis. At the forefront of ecological research, the Todds established their first ecological institute in 1969 with the goal of finding workable solutions to living without non-renewable resources.

From their beginnings working with bioaquatics, the Todds found that many of the basic principles of their designs could be applied on many scales, and with a few modifications, in a variety of environment. Always crediting the countless people with whom they collaborated, the Todds walk the reader through successful projects as far north as Canada, and as far south as Costa Rica. They found that through a careful interrelationship of plant and animal species in water, many forms of waste could be managed into fertilisers and process clean water. These “living machines” could reduce chemical-dependence, and when coupled with simple passive solar energy could additionally maintain comfortable air temperatures. With a few more additions, the Todds can easily create an entire bioshelter, supplying no only heat and waste management, but food.

Through narrative descriptions and sketched diagrams, the Todds walk the reader through the application of simple ecological designs such as these to their—and the reader’s—world. Starting with the model of their institutions’ built environment, the authors continue to prove how these ideas can work not only in rural environments, but also in urban settings. While always stressing the importance of being sensitive to bio-regionality, the Todds offer models of single-family homes, a block of row-houses, retrofitted historic buildings, and whole community plans.

At the community scale, the Todds offer their eco-ideas in the form of a community with a large block-sized bioaquatic vessels and canals running from them through the residential areas. This “vessel” which would much resemble a pond or a fountain, would be responsible for filtering solid wastes from the surrounding residences, along with acting as a water purification centre and a social hub for young and old members of the community. Along the canals, the authors suggest situating commercial shops in order to encourage life in the streets and a more meaningful civic life. The locality of all the treatment and consumptions facilities would additionally reduce oil-dependent transport needs, and having a social centre in the neighbourhood would encourage residents to walk around their immediate environment rather than drive to an external social outlet.

Throughout the wide range of ecological design applications the Todds offer, they remind the reader of both the greater picture and fundamental principles behind their work. Before describing in any great detail a specific design model, the authors use arguments ranging from the great psychologist Carl Jung to the words of First Nations Chief Black Elk in order to paint the picture of an existence unnecessarily spending beyond its capacity. In order to apply this epistemology to the workable world they developed nine precepts in order to articulate their design intentions.

The tone of the precepts, and therefore of their designs, surround themes of diversity, equality. locality, history, and continuity. These precepts urge that the living world be the matrix for all design, and that design follow rather than oppose the laws of life. That biological equity determine design, and that it reflect bioregionality. They advocate that projects be based on renewable energy sources, and that the design be sustainable through the integration of living systems. Design must be coevolutionary with the natural world, with the intent of healing the planet, and that it follow a sacred ecology. These precincts can mostly be summed-up into what has recently developed into the term “sustainability”, a word which has become a household name this decade much like “ecology” did when the Todds established their first institution.

With the introduction of every new design model, the Todds are careful to establish a narrative context for the reader. The authors use a narrative, storytelling style in presenting their ecological designs, maintaining a tone of intimacy and personality with the reader, using people’s names rather than just relationships when a new personality is introduced to the narrative. The book proceeds in a relatively chronological order of the Todds' experiences, shifting to a historical narrative when necessary in order to emphasize the role of context and continuity in their work.

Although the narrative style of the authors does successfully convey a sense of story, much of the material is technical. As suggested by the title, this book guides the reader through principles of ecological design. This duality was likely intended as a an attempt to bring technical material to the minds of regular people who have the means of implementing them; the simplicity of ecological design is mimicked in the writing style of the authors in order to cement their notion that ecology is do-able in the normal world. Rather than presenting potentially technical information to a non-technological audience though, the authors have written a book which is neither technical enough to be useful to designers, nor conceptual enough to be entirely accessible by the general public.

One example is the authors’ use of diagrams. With the exception of the boat diagrams, hardly an endeavour which the general populous would attempt, and Dr. Paolo Soleri’s epic community design “Acrosanti”, the Todds use rough-edged sketches to illustrate their vision. These sketches use an uncertain, almost sloppy style, much like the narrative, which neither clarifies their ideas to the general public, nor offers any descriptive details which would assist a designer.

While some readers of From Eco-Cities to Living Machines may possess the design expertise required to consider the feasibility of some of the more epic designs the authors offer, such as the large-scale community design, the book also has something for regular people who may consider building ecologically on a smaller scale. These results could also be analysed as leaving half the readers alienated half the time. Perhaps it would have been more effective for the authors to have written their narrative including appendixes with design details rather than blurring the two into the same paragraphs and sketches.

In From Eco-Cities to Living Machines, Nancy Jack Todd and John Todd offer their wealth of knowledge on the subject of ecological design to a wide range of readers. While maintaining design details’ role in a larger spectrum of sustainability and the continuity of the Earth and its populace, the authors narrate their ecological life-story. Their chronology reveals a list of design models which cover a wide-range of useful alternatives workable in a variety of North American environments, whether large-scale, small-scale, urban, or rural. Although the book succeeds at maintaining a tone of continuity, the blur between material interesting to the general public and that of interest to designers leaves the reader wondering if a more focused or more clearly partitioned approach might be more effective for conveying ecological design principles to both audiences.