Santa Luzia Island and Catalina: Conversations with Arthur Davis: Urban Planning Advisor

Project Side Bar Notes: Author and Bob Barboza had a few good phone conversations about creative ways to integrate the research about the Cabo Verde Tenth Island Enhanced STEM Program with some of the island off the coast of Southern California. Bob Barboza has been having conversations with USC Engineering instructors about Catalina Island. At the time of this conversation Author Davis did not realize that Santa Luzia, Cape Verde was a protected island by the country of Cape Verde. Our project is still a virtual project and we will not do anything to harm the island of Santa Luzia. Keep following these notes for more information or send your questions to Bob Barboza at Suprschool@aol.com.

March 30, 2012

I decided to research the size of Santa Luzia after I wrote my preliminary ideas out for you and sent them.

I found out it is 35 km2

So I looked up 2 local islands that I know: Santa Catalina and Anacapa, both are part of the overall channel islands off the coast of Southern CA as you know.

Well, what do you know?! Catalina island is exactly the same size as Santa Luzia!!

And when I looked up the population of Avalon, the main village, it is just over 3000 people! Which is what I prescribed for one of the cities!

so Catalina is a very nice initial model for Santa Luzia as far as policies, visitation, and resource use.

Take care,

Arthur

Part Two:

I forgot to talk a little about Anacapa Island:

It is basically half the size of Santa Luzia and it is all preserve. but there are a few buildings that include a small greenhouse and a large water storage facility. then there are 2 campsites that are very limited in size! this island is an amazing model for research and management!!! I can tell you much more about it. But this is probably a more advisable model and path for Santa Luzia but on a very slightly larger scale. they are also doing huge research and management for the fisheries and wildlife! very successful!!! and NO WIND TURBINES!!! but they have solar. And I will be giving them a new proposal for water catchment, which might be an invention.

Then there is Mykonos, one of the amazing Greek Islands! It is 41 km2, which is only 6 km2 larger than Santa Luzia.

I visited there as part of my trip to the ancient Egyptian sites and the Greek islands back in the early 80s.

at that time the population was only 5500 and it seemed like that should be the maximum! there were no cars allowed.

now you can see the population has nearly doubled!!!

and if you do an image search, you can see it has been almost inundated by development! a real eyesore! Even though I really love Greek style architecture and villages! which basically amounts to whitewashed and very compact but individualized and adjoining.

Back when I was there, the development was only centered at the very end of the peninsula and then there were scattered little farmhouses over most of the island. it was quite reasonable and the beautiful landscape was the dominant feature.

now the population is over 9000 and that’s far too much for reasonable community size! and the development is not planned or limited!

This cannot be allowed to happen on Santa Luzia…and really shouldn’t be allowed to happen anywhere! Including especially, the other islands of Cabo Verde! Which is exactly going to happen if we don’t start planning preserves and limiting development now!

hope this can be of use to you…

Arthur

Initial proposals for the Santa Luzia “Tenth Island Project”, Cabo Verde Islands

by Arthur Davis, The New Human Project

hello bob…

I am gradually preparing documents for you that describe “the new human project” process for design, decision-making, management, production, and economics. of course you will not want to just jump right into using this process. I only intend for it to be an additional research and practice tool at this time.

In the mean time, I am happy to offer you some very general advice regarding your questions:

On the island of Santa Luzia:

1. First and foremost! Santa Luzia is a PRISTNE island! it must be treasured! I think we must contemplate the possibility of it becoming a natural preserve! there are many islands where this has been done. The Channel Islands national park is just one example.

On a preserve island it is still possible to have some base facilities and then offer the opportunity to have temporary habitation. the temporary habitation can be part of an international design process and monthly or annual competition! people and organizations from all over the world can submit proposals to design and construct temporary habitation, food production, energy production, waste treatment, and water provision facilities which would be established for a month, quarterly, or annually and then removed for the next winner.

This process allows Santa Luzia to become a world showcase on a continual basis! and it encourages a constant flow of new ideas that can be used all over the world!

a base would be set up as the foundation and that may be more permanent and that could also house the research facilities and habitation for researchers.

part of the overall habitation, which would mostly be the temporary facilities, would be for guests/tourists, including students of all ages, who would have to participate in an educational program and maybe even in the construction/dismantling process.

there would also be facilities for artists, musicians, and photographers with studios and guest units.

2. if the decision is made to develop permanent cities then most important will be to first establish the largest percentage of area as natural preserve with only very small areas allowed for permanent development.

a. research all aspects of island and create preserves for the most important areas of scenic and natural value

b. create areas with strict boundaries for urban development and habitation.

c. city size must be limited to 5-7000 people and no larger than 1 square mile of land area. this establishes a good size to maintain good community interaction and respect, and limiting the land area to 1sq mile allows for everyone to walk easily from any part of the city. New cities cannot have cars within them other than small electric carts or service vehicles. the general form and functions of the city are designed. when the city approaches its 7000 population limit preparations must be made to limit new population and/or begin developing a new city. the overall island plan will allow for a maximum number of 7000 population limit cities. when all urban space is developed on the island then the only new development allowed will be transformation type development, that which transforms old structure into new but maintains population or reduces it by moving it elsewhere. everyone will be aware of the population limits so they will have to plan on moving to other areas of the world when the limits are reached or not have babies.

this is an extremely important process that is rarely addressed in current societies until now when we are in a crisis. we have to manage population according to land and resources. Santa Luzia can be a great showcase for this process!

overall, humans must be able to have children and reproduce! what this means is that we must expand off the earth! and we were prepared to begin doing this way back in the 70s! But funding for mars exploration was completely cut off and invested in Vietnam and continued war! a disgrace!

Santa Luzia can become the “new planet” where we finally begin to develop land and resources RESPECTFULLY! leaving most of the “planet” or island or area, in its natural state and developing only a small portion for human use. and it can become an international showcase for this process!

d. Since water is a very scarce resource all over the world and especially on Santa Luzia, we must use waterless toilets! and people must be educated in low water use! we can integrate water catchment systems into every structure in urban areas. We must integrate water-recycling facilities into all structures and functions. we must create a water desalination plant. all habitation must be mostly self sufficient in water provision.

before constructing a water desalination plant we must first analyze how much water is really necessary so that the plant can be kept as small as possible.

e. Food production: we can make sure that the inhabitants and visitors on the island of Santa Luzia are self sufficient in food production.

there should be no land animal food and only a minimal amount of fish for food. animals are far too destructive to land. they require too much water and food themselves! killing animals for food is not nice or necessary! animal slaughter and processing is terribly toxic and unhealthy! animal food is not very healthy…only in protein. But some plant-based proteins are as good or better.

plant food can be grown in planned and limited land areas and greenhouses using minimal water. key plants to be used are: non- THC hemp, amaranth, quinoa, nopal, potato, einkorn wheat, and then a full range of fruits, nuts, and green leaf trees and plants. most food sources should come from sprouted seeds. hemp seeds, amaranth, quinoa, potato, and einkorn wheat all provide full, high quality protein…as do nuts. eating the sprout provides the highest available nutrition. you may research this on your own if you wish. coconut is a fruit, included above, but deserves special note for its water/milk and oil.

“industrial hemp” provides a vast range of other products. I do not use marijuana! and it is not the same.

greenhouses make food production extremely energy, water, labor, and waste efficient! and everyone in the community can participate in a “work is fun and fulfilling” way! 🙂

fish is healthy, especially if eaten raw, but again, the fish supply is being overused and must be repaired! and the processing of fish for food is subject to a vast array of health problems and energy use.

From a cultural point of view, current Cabo Verdean food might be centered on cooking and using some meat but this was mostly based on traditional Portuguese and African diets, which aren’t necessarily native at all! nor are they really the best for humans and the earth…or the animals! 🙂

f. energy production can be self sufficient through the use of solar. see example below:
http://www.energias-renovables.com/pv_solar-19771-71-Cabo%20Verde%20island%20goes%20green%20with%20solar%20micro_grid

This project is a great example of the process that can be used to develop energy on Santa Luzia!

wind generation should NOT be used! For the following reasons:

the wind does not always blow

large turbines are extremely expensive

large turbines cause significant scenic destruction! They destroy one of the most important and valuable resources of Santa Luzia!!!! DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO BE CONSTRUCTED NEAR SANTA LUZIA!! OR ANY TOPOGRAPHICALLY SIGNIFICANT ISLAND OR LAND! Sale is an example of a less important topographic island and yet, just its pristine flatness is special. SAVE LARGE WIND TURBINES FOR AREAS OF VERY LITTLE OR NO SCENIC VALUE! BUT MOST IMPORTANT IS THAT WE DONT NEED LARGE WIND TURBINES!!!! SOLAR IS A FAR BETTER SOLUTION! ESPECIALLY IN THE MID AND LOW LATITUDES!

large wind turbines allow the energy corporations to control large populations and force those people to pay money and expand the profits of the corporations! Very small, private wind generators and overall solar electric generation allow individuals and small communities to be self-sufficient and not be dependent on a large corporation for their energy needs!

Santa Luzia might be able to develop its own photovoltaic cell and battery production facility if they can be done ecologically. But otherwise, the future inhabitants of Santa Luzia could be allowed to help participate in off-island photovoltaic cell and battery production to offset the cost and to participate in their self-sufficiency.

Once photovoltaic cells are installed, they have a minimum life of 20-30 years.

As noted in the above link and article, energy needs should be extremely low! especially if there is a focus on raw, vegetarian food consumption! which is the healthiest and most nutritious! So, aside from a desalination plant and maybe some manufacturing, energy needs for Santa Luzia can be very efficient and low!

We can supplement solar energy with small individual scale wind generators and hydrogen power.

g. Transportation. all transportation within the villages and cities must be pedestrian or bicycle! This is healthy, low energy, and allows people to be “in-touch” with each other! it encourages community interaction and healthy fitness! there can be small electric vehicles if necessary.

Outside the city, transportation can occur through rental electric cars…again, very small and lightweight. range for electric cars can now be around 250 miles! and we can use a system of battery changing at stations if necessary. all car batteries can be recharged using solar! very easily!

We can create both electric monorail and electric or hydrogen powered bus transit as well.

Those are my initial ideas and recommendations.

Overall I would recommend:

1. Santa Luzia becomes a nature preserve island.

2. 2 permanent, small cities limited in population to 3000 people for 1 and 1000 people for the other, one at 2 different ends of the island.

3. Up to 10 very small temporary outpost areas for temporary habitation that get dismantled and rebuilt on a quarterly basis. these can even just be campgrounds. Maybe I would adjust this down much further after research.

4. Self sufficient in water, food, and energy. Food will be raw vegetarian based and become a new native cultural food standard for all Cabo Verde. fruit trees including coconut palms and nut trees, will be grown in small areas. limited land-based agriculture will be established in areas near the cities. most food will be grown in greenhouses. energy will be solar and hydrogen based supplemented with some small scale, non-visually obtrusive generators.

5. Pedestrian oriented…all over the island for improved health and fitness and community interaction…and low energy consumption!

I hope this can be of value to you…

Thank you,

Arthur Davis, Urban Planner
Palm Spring, California