Networked Urbanism

design thinking initiatives for a better urban life

Design critics: Belinda Tato and Jose Luis Vallejo, principals of Ecosistema Urbano

Con·den·sa·tion, the conversion of a substance (as water) from the vapor state to a denser liquid or solid state usually initiated by a reduction in temperature of the vapor.

Condensation, or condensation devices, haven’t been used in the design of public space yet but they have a strong potential, they can be used to generate water in arid humid environments especially where there are humid winds coming from the sea or the ocean in the morning or during the night. Many of these devices have been proven functional and in some environments even economically viable to produce fresh water but their application to the design of public space has to be investigated yet outside of the academic context.

Fog catchers in the Chilean desert, image courtesy of Cristian Ruz CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Fog catchers in the Chilean desert, image courtesy of Cristian Ruz CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Some fonts report that the first fog catching programs were developed for scientific purpose in Canada during the 1980s to collect fog samples to be analyzed, others date the origin of these devices back to the 1950s when a team of physics from the “Universidad del Norte” started investigating fog harvesting in the north of Chile, but surely it was in the mid 1980s when this technology has been developed further on in the norther Chilean desert to be used as a water collection device. (more…)


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