ECOTOPIA: Redefining the future of sustainable living

Abstract

As the climate crisis and the subsequent threats to modern-day living become more and more apparent, many countries have started to shift towards more sustainable living practices. We see many examples of projects that aim to design self-sustainable cities and communities, with some largely varying designs, like the Line project in Saudi Arabia, which focuses on modern technology and AI integration as the solution, or the Broset Project in Norway, which aims to minimize energy use and climate impact, keeping environmental sensitivity and a shift towards mindful living practices as its base. Pakistan is rapidly urbanizing, and as a country predicted to be hit hardest by climate change, it needs to rethink its living practices to be able to cope with the way the modern world is changing. There is an increasing trend of people moving to urban areas in search of better opportunities, most of whom settle around the city’s periphery. Peri-urbanization is a global phenomenon strongly linked to socio-demographic and settlement dynamics. Peri-urban areas, due to their proximity to a major city, provide a site that is urbanized to an extent, while still retaining some of its rural characteristics, thereby making it an ideal site to integrate modern technology with vernacular practices, resulting in a self-sustainable design. The thesis aims to propose a modern and resilient off-grid community, to exist as normalized micro-communities, generating an environmentally and socially harmonious ecosystem. The project will attempt to come up with a self-sustaining village, keeping in mind elements of social, economic, and environmental sustainability, that seamlessly integrates with the natural environment while meeting the needs of its residents and promoting sustainable practices. By analyzing and studying patterns of urbanization in Islamabad and understanding the challenges caused by it, this thesis aims to formulate a holistic strategy for designing and implementing self-sustaining village modules in peri-urban areas, demonstrating their potential for scalable and adaptable solutions to a global challenge