Systems theory and ecological settlement design: A pilot project in rural Hungary

Borsos, Béla

doi:10.1556/hstud.23.2009.2.2

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…From the GST perspective, it seems that ecovillage can address the human configurations of space but entails the need to reconfigure them via ecological consciousness by limiting itself to physical eco-sensitive designs. Moreover, treating ecovillage from the GST perspective tends to ignore the social aspects and human actions [8].…”

Section: Literature Review: System Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting Ecovillage as a Sustainable Settlement from a System's Perspective- A Case of Bandipur, Nepal

Singh

Shrestha

Bajracharya

et al. 2020

J. Inst. Engineering

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Many ecovillage advocates, especially from academic and grey literature, emphasise that intentional community like ecovillage (EV) represents a local level sustainable settlement of living as a response to the widely discussed unsustainability of modern lifestyles. From the researchers' point of view, theoretically, it bypasses existing planning policies and development processes that cover the broader area and includes stakeholders such as government, experts, and other authorities. Practically, EV focuses on short term local projects often developed separately in each dimension of sustainability. It often leads EV to be an oddity in broader surroundings. Based on a system perspective, the article aims to analyse EV as a sustainable settlement within a broader region. The approach considers that the dynamic regional structures and relationships influence the ecological, economic and social aspects at the local level. The article presents the historical development of Bandipur as a case example. The researcher assesses the system theory as a strong methodological framework for understanding EV concept in an integrative manner, spatially and temporally. The article starts with the literature review of scientific journals, narratives, conference papers on sustainability, ecovillage, and system perspective. The article uses observation and open-ended interviews with various stakeholders conducted in Bandipur and then triangulated with other secondary sources on Bandipur. The findings indicate that to broaden the spectrum of EV and SD, spatially, the components of EV are represented as sustainable interconnectedness and relationship and then scaled up to the regional level. Temporally, cultural values represent the relationship and interconnectedness that could be handed over to future generations. The article concludes that from a system's perspective, it seems that the EV strategies need to correspond to polices and vice versa for sustainable relationships.

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Section: Literature Review: System Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting Ecovillage as a Sustainable Settlement from a System's Perspective- A Case of Bandipur, Nepal

Singh

Shrestha

Bajracharya

et al. 2020

J. Inst. Engineering

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“…Decomposers are completely missing from the system. The system as a whole is irreversible (Borsos 2009). The flow of processes is linear in design, the positive feedback loops inherent in the technical solutions are further reinforced by the dominant growth paradigm of economic theory and in addition to dissipated, irretrievable energy, much of the material input becomes disorganised and unavailable for further processing.…”

Section: Technical Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The "solution" has an impact on the natural system which in turn feeds back to the social system, creating an even more complex and comprehensive problem. The new, more advanced solution has an even more detrimental impact on the natural systems, which again feeds back to the social system, and so on, in a positive feedback loop of ever growing dimensions and ever more complex consequences (Borsos, 2009). This triggers more and more intervention into the natural systems at the cost of both natural and human-made system integrity, called the ecological and environmental crisis.…”

Section: Type One Error: the Cause Of Failurementioning

confidence: 99%

Type One Error and the Impact of Human Societies on Large Rivers

Borsos¹

2013

JGG

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This paper deals with the management of large rivers from systems theory and human ecology perspective. Natural systems, hierarchy and equilibrium have been widely discussed earlier on, but their relations with human-made structures and modifications on large rivers is a less covered area. One of the key statements in this field is Type One error, the inherent conflict between human-made structures and natural processes. The renewable energy concept, when applied to water resources, has some traps and misleading implications. In fact, renewable sources – including water – can also be depleted if their rate of replenishment is exceeded. Economy-driven river regulations and land use practices triggered a series of events where the system feedback of the river was not taken into account. As a result, the need for yet further manipulations and interference kept on returning, entailing even more and more costs, increased risks and destabilising natural systems. Sustainable river management takes a fresh look at the problem, with historical examples from places like the Carpathian Basin, Mesopotamia or citing recent practices from Thailand.

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“…A summary of this trend can be found in the thematic issue of Néprajzi Látóhatár (Ethnographic Horizon), where both the spiritual aspects (the study of the Krishna valley dwellers: Farkas 2013;Giczi 2013;Varga 2013), and the movement aspects (the views of eco-villagers from Nagyszékely to Visnyeszéplak) are represented. A monograph and several studies deal with the analysis of the conceptual framework and implementation of the probably best known eco-village, Gyűrűfű, written by one of the founders, Béla Borsos (Borsos 2009;2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

Ecological Anthropological Research in Hungary. Foreword

Babai¹,

Borsos²

2017

Acta Ethnographica Hungarica

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Ecological anthropology in Hungary was never studied on such a broad scale and as systematically as it was in the English speaking countries. The theoretical and methodological issues of this discipline were covered more in details [beside a couple of papers by Mihály Sárkány, a man interested in and open to all and any theoretical problems of anthropology (Sárkány 1979; 1984-85)] primarily by Balázs Borsos, one of the guest editors of this volume, who also contributed to the appearance of ecological anthropology -in the sense it is understood in the English speaking world -at the universities in Hungary. 1 At the same time, ecological issues, the relations between the natural environment and human culture raised the interest of many Hungarian research scientists, and there are problem areas (for instance flood plain management, ecovillages, ethnobotany), -even though no schools of thought were inspired by themwhich were and are subject to a broad scale discussion. For all these reasons, in the following a restriction on the expounding of a mere outline should be exercised not only due to limited scope herein, but also as a result of the fragmentary nature of the available information, when taking account of the research practices of environmental issues in Hungarian ethnography and border areas without claiming completeness.Just as in the international arena, the methodology called cultural ecology by Steward was the trigger opening up research dealing with the connections of natural environment and culture in the Hungarian landscape. The professor in Debrecen, who has always been very responsive to the anthropology of the English speaking countries, Béla Gunda set off in several of his articles in the wake of Steward. However, while natural environment was in the focus when he studied ancient crops (Gunda 1983), in other works, such as Nomads providing services (1981) or the 'cultural ecology' of an implement, the rake (1992) the choice of the title is more of a catch phrase. As Mihály Sárkány put it: 'Béla Gunda suggested an application of the cultural ecology concept in which you can not really follow him.' (Sárkány 1997:430-431). However, the impact exerted by Steward still lingers on: Gyula Viga (1995) for instance investigated the landscape transforming 1 Ecological anthropology was introduced as an independent subject both in basic training programmes and master courses (Budapest, Miskolc), as well as in doctoral schools (Budapest, Szeged)

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Systems theory and ecological settlement design: A pilot project in rural Hungary

Cited by 5 publications

References 2 publications

Revisiting Ecovillage as a Sustainable Settlement from a System's Perspective- A Case of Bandipur, Nepal

Revisiting Ecovillage as a Sustainable Settlement from a System's Perspective- A Case of Bandipur, Nepal

Type One Error and the Impact of Human Societies on Large Rivers

Ecological Anthropological Research in Hungary. Foreword

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