RELATIVE LOCATION
Relative location is related to the
placement of areas of use and circulation on the site. Putting
things in the right place is essential for making useful connections.
A useful connection is one in which "the inputs needed by
one element are supplied by other elements in the system; and
the outputs needed by one element are used by other elements in
the system." (Bill
Mollison and Reny Mia Slay, Introduction to Permaculture, pg.
6) Design, the arrangement of elements on a site, concerns
itself with relative location in a four dimensional manner. The
effect of not paying attention to relative location is work, extra
effort to meet needs not met within the system, and pollution,
outputs that are wasted in the system. To place elements in the
right place we must know their potential connections. A basic
pattern of analysis of elements that includes identification of
intrinsic characteristics, needs, and products and behaviors has
been developed in permaculture. Aggregating design elements will
bring varied activities together to share space, reinforce each
other and eliminate long trips from one area to another. We are
always searching for connections between parts of systems and
between seemingly disparate systems to establish appropriate relationships
in our design.
The act of determining relative locations is, in fact, what we
call design. We examine elements to understand their needs and
outputs and we attempt to put them together so that each serves
the other and the system is free of conflicts and uncollected
outputs. Unless outputs are used by some other part of the system
we create work and pollution. Elements are, therefore, located
in relationship to each other to establish an efficient and effective
transfer of services and materials. Wetland treatment systems
are an example of using a 'waste' output to resupply the ground
water, improve wildlife habitat, and, in some cases, provide recreation
and agricultural nutrients while purifying water.
John Lyle, in Regenerative
Design for Sustainable Development, provides further insight
to the problem of design and relative location (pg. 42). He points
out that many functions of a landscape are typically viewed as
separate and distinct items. For example, water supply is one
system, and storm water drainage, sewerage and irrigation, while
still dealing with water, are each seen as separate and distinct
systems. There are even separate boards and agencies dealing with
each one. Nature does not work this way. All is connected and
related. We can see that stormwater and treated wastewater can
be thought of as potential contributors to the water supply. The
outputs of one become the inputs to the other. One of our problems
in design is to find potential connections by being creative and
imaginative. All landscape functions are not as obvious as the
water example.
Lyle also points out (pg. 39-40) that the problem of our not seeing
or seeking appropriate connections is our very training in scientific
process. Early in our schooling we are taught to pull things apart
to see how the pieces function. We can understand a part and even
construct a simplified design that will work to resolve a singular
issue. However, trying to then reassemble these pieces into an
integrated whole may be nearly impossible. Lyle terms this process
'disaggregation' and we see it in our cities, farms, universities
and businesses where elements and ideas that should be connected
are separated, never to be joined.
It is in the realm of the principle of relative location to be
an aggregator. In Lyle's regenerative design thinking, as in permaculture,
it is concern with the "... interactions among parts, the
connections ..." that is as important as the thinking about
the parts themselves (pg. 40).
In thinking about relative location we need a way to consider
the elements in our designs. In Laurie Garrett's, The Coming Plague,
( New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994) there is a description
of a virus (pg. 155). This spherical flu virus is a well contained
and protected entity, much as elements in design are viewed by
disaggregators. But, protruding from the virus core are many replications
of two proteins. The job of the long rod-shaped ones is to grab
red blood cells and clump them together; the job of the other
is to clip off the cell membrane enclosing newly formed viruses
so they can get on their way to infecting more cells. If we viewed
each element in a design, not as a discrete smooth-edged entity,
but as having protrusions for connections of inputs and outflows,
it might help us to better make usable relative location decisions.
