Part 3 – Compelling Measures

[Editor’s Note: as written twice – once here and once here – before, I am embarking on the humble mission of creating Vancouver’s most sustainable balcony. I’ve written a vision and conducted a SWOT analysis of my plan and am now moving on to a free-flowing brainstorm that will create a list of solutions and measures to help move this project forward].

This will be a simple post. In order to create the most sustainable balcony in Vancouver, I will need to answer the following question:

What do we need to reach a successful outcome?

• 100% shared-Bornk! Vision.
• Buy-in from the Strata Council (if not for the entire project, at least for the things that we can’t hide on the balcony).
• The mental and physical horsepower of Geoff Horn (gardener, builder, adventurer).
• Spatial audit and floor plan created by Stewart Burgess (local Architect-in-Training, DIY Living Enthusiast, and Founder of S||A Thinking).
• Locally sourced patio chairs and a table, preferably from pine-beetle-infested wood or wood from the waste-stream.
• Several native (and delicious non-native) species of plants (ie. cedar hedges, heirloom tomatoes, herbs, squash, beans).
• A barbecue that lives-up to all or most of the following qualities:
  • Excellent at cooking food
  • Solar and/or rain powered
  • Second-hand
  • Cost-efficient
  • “Cool” looking
• Yearly balcony-grown food supply that starts with 5% (2012) and reaches at 30% (2015).
• Two chickens.
• The space is beautiful in myriad ways as well as a functional space for cooking, entertaining, reading, gardening, harvesting, and sleeping when it gets really hot.
• From the inside, the balcony also looks beautiful – it’s not a place devoid of aesthetics and purely a functional food-providing space.
• Composting facility for the balcony – like this one!
• People who visit the balcony between the summer of 2011 and the summer of 2012 will be given a brief exit survey that will probably include three of the following questions:
  • What are were your three favourite things about your visit today?
  • How many balconies/decks have you visited in your time on this planet?
  • What does “sustainability” mean to you?
  • Of the balconies you visited, where would you rank this one in terms of “sustainability”? For example, is it “first” or “second” overall?
  • What are your age, gender and occupation?

Alright. Good brainstorm. I’ll see you on the balcony!

Did you enjoy this post?

May we also suggest:

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Down to Action: Building Vancouver’s most Sustainable Balcony So there it is. Key players in the action plan will be, obviously, my lovely (and understanding) wife, Michelle, and I. Other folks will be crucial to the success of this project, too. They are, in no particular order, Geoff Horn, Ed Burtnyk, Janet Horn, Stewart Burgess, the Strata Council of Villa Sophia, the City of Vancouver, the Daily Gumboot,...