“Building” is a powerful metaphor that has long structured how we think about progress and accomplishment. What might be the new metaphors, the new rubrics, for an epoch of repair? How might professions premised on growth and consumption — new buildings, new landscapes, new cities — adapt to the new urgencies of reuse, preservation, and degrowth?

Image: Vacant lot, Second Avenue and Second Street, New York City, July 2024. [David Gissen], Places Journal.

Field Notes: Repair explores these questions and more through an ambitious eight-part narrative survey, featuring observations from nearly 100 scholars, designers, planners, activists, and artists. Contributing authors take us to locales around the world, from Belgrade to Chicago; Delhi to the Blue Pacific; Johannesburg to New York City, Malmö, and London, among many others.

In the installments, you’ll discover thoughtful, nuanced, and urgent calls for practices of repair, reuse, preservation, maintenance, and care. Some are hyper-practical, concerned with the lifespans of artifacts and structures. Others revise or propose philosophies of repair that might address the overlapping crises of climate change, economic inequality, and racial injustice. More than a few acknowledge that repair can only take us so far. “Field Notes: Repair” follows an earlier series in Places, Repair Manual.

Pedestrians face the greatest risk of automobile collisions when crossing a street: the longer a crossing, the higher their exposure is to oncoming cars. Despite the relevance of crossing distance, few studies have considered its variance within or across entire cities. Given that, we probed pedestrian crossing distance at the municipal scale, leveraging both OpenStreetMap and satellite imagery to quantify crossing distances at roughly 49,000 formal crossings (those parts of the roadway designated for pedestrians to cross), both marked and unmarked, at intersections and at midblock.

We measured formal pedestrian crossings throughout a dense European city (Paris [France]), a dense American city (San Francisco [CA]), and a less-dense, more car-centric American city (Irvine [CA]). This granular approach—covering roughly 49,000 total crossings—identified inter- and intraurban spatial patterns in the distribution of pedestrian crossing distance, including clusters of long crossings that likely deter walking and increase its risk. By overlaying recent pedestrian–vehicle collisions on these novel data sets we found that longer crossing distance correlated with increased likelihood of collisions, raising the salience of traffic-calming interventions.

Read more: Moran, Marcel E., and Debra F. Laefer. “Multiscale Analysis of Pedestrian Crossing Distance.” Journal of the American Planning Association (2024): 1-15.

Giant wooden cargo ships that braved the oceans for thousands of years are still being made in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Even as metal motorised ships became the norm, some shoreline communities in South India continue to craft this wooden cargo ship. In a blend of reason, creativity and hard work the communities engineered their past to forge a future. This book traces the transition of this tradition over time.

The authors have created a photo documentation using hundreds of images that capture the shipyard’s atmosphere to offer a narrative and the manufacture of these ships at each step of their construction. It analyzes the conditions of their economic viability and how it has evolved over time. Through visual anthropology this book offers a narrative of wooden cargo ship building and craftsmanship in south Asia.

The open access book can be downloaded from https://www.ifpindia.org/bookstore/wild-craft/.

There is also a video about the project: Of Wind and Wood. Sustainable cargo ships in France and in India.

Ivan L. Collins created historically accurate models of horse-drawn vehicles using painstaking research to ensure that every detail was authentic. Built at one-eighth scale, these models represent transportation technology before the automobile. Collins saw this work as more than a hobby; his models were a way to preserve history for future generations.

See and read more:

https://www.ohs.org/museum/exhibits/models-in-motion-ivan-collins-miniature-vehicles.cfm
http://www.scalemodelhorsedrawnvehicle.co.uk/(Ivan%20Collins).htm

Thanks to David Barnes.

Image: Oregon Historical Society.

Image: Ducts in a row. Photo: Daniel A. Barber. Taken from: After Comfort: A User’s Guide.

Comfort is a construct. Many new commercial and institutional buildings built over the past few decades rely so heavily on fossil-fueled mechanical HVAC systems that they would be uninhabitable without them. Many of the stylistic and programmatic debates in architecture in these same decades similarly relied on HVAC for their explorations and innovations. In other cases, often at the residential scale, buildings have been produced with an expectation of cheap energy, which has meant that adequate insulation, cross ventilation, and other design-based passive thermal measures have not been considered. Our determinedly slow, casual move away from fossil fuels, with limited political or socio-economic support, is already resulting in “green inequity” and novel forms of thermal violence. Over the decades to come, enclaves where upper-class neighborhoods engage with expensive “green tech” such as electric vehicles and heat pumps will coexist alongside poorer areas that cannot afford to make any transition from the carbon-fueled lifestyles they need to get by.

After Comfort: A User’s Guide is a project by e-flux Architecture in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Liverpool, and Transsolar.

Hailing the Ferry, oil on canvas painting by Daniel Ridgway Knight, 1888, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Medieval manuscripts resisted obsolescence. Made by highly specialised craftspeople (scribes, illuminators, book binders) with labour-intensive processes using exclusive and sometimes exotic materials (parchment made from dozens or hundreds of skins, inks and paints made from prized minerals, animals and plants), books were expensive and built to last. They usually outlived their owners. Rather than discard them when they were superseded, book owners found ways to update, amend and upcycle books or book parts.

These activities accelerated in the fifteenth century. Most manuscripts made before 1390 were bespoke and made for a particular client, but those made after 1390 (especially books of hours) were increasingly made for an open market, in which the producer was not in direct contact with the buyer. Increased efficiency led to more generic products, which owners were motivated to personalise. It also led to more blank parchment in the book, for example, the backs of inserted miniatures and the blanks ends of textual components. Book buyers of the late fourteenth and throughout the fifteenth century still held onto the old connotations of manuscripts—that they were custom-made luxury items—even when the production had become impersonal.

Owners consequently purchased books made for an open market and then personalised them, filling in the blank spaces, and even adding more components later. This would give them an affordable product, but one that still smacked of luxury and met their individual needs. They kept older books in circulation by amending them, attached items to generic books to make them more relevant and valuable, and added new prayers with escalating indulgences as the culture of salvation shifted.

From: M Rudy, Kathryn. Piety in pieces: how medieval readers customized their manuscripts. Open Book Publishers, 2016.

Image: Parchment diptych with the measurements of Christ’s length and side wound, inserted into a French book of hours. Paisley, Renfrew District Museum and Art Gallery, Ms. 1, fol. 13–14 forming a diptych. Photo © Author, CC BY 4.0.

The Ironwood bicycle is a wooden framed bike that people could make themselves with commonly available materials. It has a laminated wooden frame and fork to which standard bicycle components are bolted. The frame can be made with basic carpentry and metalwork skills, without the need for welding or soldering. The design is intended for small scale bicycle production that would support local employment as an alternative to importing bicycles from around the world. More: http://www.ironwoodbicycle.com.

Low-tech Magazine now offers its complete book collection in epub format. Find all ebooks in our online bookshop: https://payhip.com/LOWTECHMAGAZINE

Patrons get free access to all ebooks: https://patreon.com/lowtechmagazine.

“The electrical system was without a doubt the most daunting task of our DIY camper van conversion. Our goal was to design and build an off-the-grid electrical system that’s safe, reliable, simple, and intuitive (yet no compromises on functionality). After over 4 years of full-time VanLife, we’re happy to report that our system is working flawlessly, nice!”

“Designing and building an electrical system isn’t really straightforward, there are so many concepts to grasp: solar power, alternator charging, shore power, 12 volts, 120 volts, inverter, battery bank, etc. But with our background as engineers and full-time vanlifers, we’re in a good position to make this intimidating task within your reach and help you put the pieces together with the following guide!”

Read more: Electrical System Guide for DIY Van Conversion.

Image: Works on Badacsony (Badacsony 1952).

In 2020 Low-tech Magazine published an article about “fruit trenches”. During the first half of the twentieth century, Soviet citrologists grew (sub)tropical plants in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius – outdoors, and without the use of glass or any fossil fuel-powered assistance. They managed to do this by planting creeping citrus plants in trenches of up to two metres deep.

The success of the Soviet undertaking remains controversial. One commentator to the article writes: “I suspect you’ve been duped by the Soviet Union’s tendency to exaggerate its successes, and downplay its failures.” That could be, because there are no independent sources.

Michael Saalfeld adds: “some ten years ago I came across reports that similar methods for growing citrus were used in Hungary in the communist era”. He wrote about this in an old citrus growers forum post called ‘The Communist Oranges of Hungary”. The pictures were adapted from a publication in Hungarian, hosted at the web-site of the Elte Botanic Garden in Budapest.

“In the early 1950’s trees were planted in deep trenches, so they could be completely covered in winter. This was mainly on the south-facing slopes bordering Lake Balaton – a large area of water which provides some local modification to the cold winters.” However, this was so unsuccessful that it spawned a liberal political magazine by the name “Magyar Narancs” (Hungarian Oranges) to refer to the goofiness of the Hungarian communist system of that era.”

“The attempt was also parodied in Péter Bacsó’s famous movie: “The Witness” (1969). In one of the scenes we see a party leader visit the co-operative where scientists experiment with orange-growing and learn that the comrade would like to taste an orange. As the only ripe orange is accidentally eaten, he is given a lemon instead, accompanied by the following explanation: “Its’ the new Hungarian orange, a bit more yellow, a bit more savoury, but it’s ours.”

“Apparently ‘Magyar narancs’ is still used in Hungary as an expression meaning ‘an impossible task’ or ‘a stupid enterprise which will doubtless fail’.”

The Villány citrus plantation (1952)

Fruit trenches in Cserszegtomaj 1951-1952.

The appearance of the first flowers (Keszthely).

Hi Kris,

First of all, congratulations on your wonderful Low-Tech Magazine. I’m telling everyone around me about it.

I love to tinker but I have “two left hands” (I come from a family of intellectuals), so I’m forced to go for the simplest.

After making a very basic pedal-powered washing machine that gives complete satisfaction, I set about making a pedal-powered flour mill a few months ago, as I happen to have a large stock of wheat. I picked up an old exercise bike at the landfill, and coupled it – using an old dryer belt – to an old cast-iron grain mill (the Diamant Grain Mill D525 makes very fine bread flour in a single pass using two grinding stones made of granite) with a few bolts, a wooden board and two wooden beams. The belt is tensioned using very small wooden edges. Everything is easily dismantled in a matter of minutes.

The mill works just fine – it is way easier to pedal than to turn the wheel by hand. The trick is to add the wheat very gradually. You can do this while still on the bike, as shown in the photo. At slow pace, it takes me 15 minutes to obtain 500 grams of very fine flour in a single pass (I tested both wheat and buckwheat). I showed it in the little ‘repair café’ I set up in my village. Like the pedal-powered washing machine, kids love it.

Fun fact: all the males who saw the mill wanted to add improvements to it, tilt the mill, add a gear reduction, etc. The mill was just too simple for them – nothing really impressive there. I replied: “It works just fine the way it is, why would you make it more complicated?” ;- ) I don’t know what could possibly go wrong with this mill, except for the dryer belt maybe – but you can find as many dryer belts as you want for free at the landfill.

My new pedal-powered project is a water pump inspired by the one by MayaPedal. It’s not finished yet. I can’t wait to use it.

Anyway, thanks for all your inspiring articles in a crumbling world. Keep up the tremendous work!
Jean-Baptiste (Vorey-sur-Arzon, Auvergne, France)

Unfortunately, the researchers only calculate the environmental footprint of the laptop in terms of global warming potential and resource depletion, not energy consumption. Nevertheless, the study is interesting for its detailed breakdown of components, with the display and the electronic circuits responsible for the largest environmental damage. The total impact for the Framework Laptop is estimated to be 200 kg CO2e. Almost 70% of this is due to the production phase.

Read more:

• We are not sustainable. And neither is any other device maker (Framework announcement).
• Life Cycle Assessment of the Framework Laptop 2022 (study)

Previously:

• The monster footprint of digital technology (Low-tech Magazine)
• How and why I stopped buying new laptops (Low-tech Magazine)

“In 1909, inventor George Cove posed in front of an early rooftop solar panel of his own design for a photograph. One hundred and ten years later, the resulting image was reprinted in the official journal of the US’ most prestigious research institute – but Cove was nowhere to be seen.

Using a range of sources such as newspaper archives and historic city maps, Bellingcat sought to establish the seeming mystery of Cove’s ‘disappearance’ from the photograph. This analysis of archival material from the pioneering days of solar energy tells a cautionary tale about the ease of misattributing historic photos.”

Read more: Untangling the Mystery of the World’s First Rooftop Solar Panel. Foeke Postma, Bellingcat, August 2023. Image by Bellingcat.

Extensive landscape with travellers and windmills, a town beyond, Jan Brueghel (II). Made between 1622 and 1678. Dimensions: 17.7 x 27.6 cm. Source: Netherlands Institute for Art History.

This is a guest post by Mikhesh The Steamer.

It does not have to be just about the winter regarded with apprehension, which did not prove to be as much problematic in Europe at all. In the outlying hills, there is a lack of electricity or gas source. On the other hand, there is usually water and wood nearby. A steam heater can be assembled from things you find in a garbage dump, thrown away in a workshop or in a hobby market.

In a cabin with a fireplace after thirty minutes, the temperature is at best slightly higher, but with steam heating, a T-shirt is enough for that time. You can also spread the steam behind several corners and you don’t have to rely on heat radiation. Wood consumption is equal to a regular fireplace. The difference is in how we deal with its energy.

Steam, that’s what it’s all about.

It is not surprising that many cities used steam for heat distribution in the past. Steam has a much greater heat capacity than water. A supply of 10 liters of water in the tanks is enough for my system to heat a 30m3 brick house from an internal temperature of 5-10°C to 30°C within 3.5 hours. The heat will then pass into the walls and I will last until the morning at 18°C with an outside temperature of 5-10°C. I reach a comfortable temperature within 30 minutes.

I heat these 10 liters of water in pipes which are forming a tank with a total volume of 20 liters. I expect a reserve due to bubbling water and easier regulation. The water itself evaporates according to the intensity of the heating. You will know the appropriate volume after a few tests of your setup and its sound: It manifests itself with a strong bubbling sound.

Disadvantages and risks

The system works with minimal pressure, at a rough guess up to 0.3 atmospheres. I solve the risk of overpressure with a plug loaded with a small weight directly on the tank. I covered this part with a metal cover into which I enter through the small door.

Blowing the plug could be unpleasant. It would flood the room with rapidly cooling steam, which is why I cover it. This has never happened in practical use. The steam must have free passage through the pipe at all times. For this reason, I lead the steam through a rubber hose near the ceiling and gradually slope it downwards so that at no point can the condensing water freeze.

It is not necessary to vent the heating steam system. The penetration of steam through the system and the displacement of air is spontaneous. Only at the end does another exhalation occur – plain water, which I take out of the building through the walls. The captured water can be reused.

Common use

I pour water before starting the fire, never during it, because I might get scalded. The heating does not retain heat and cools down immediately after the fire burns out or the water runs out. In practice, however, the room stays warm for many more hours. Then I repeat the cycle.

Kit sheet

When constructing tanks, you cannot avoid welding. The evaporation containers are sunk into the interior of the fireplace and pass through the plate. They consist of 4 pipes connected in pairs and these are immersed in the combustion space itself, which reduces the internal volume of the fireplace. A tank placed on top of the stove alone would not be efficient enough.

We need:

*A fireplace with a cooking plate that will be adjusted for:
*Thick-walled non-galvanized pipes with a wall of 4 mm and a diameter of 40-50 mm for the tank itself in the fireplace. We plunge these through the stovetop and connect them at the top. Their shape therefore resembles a “C”. From there, we lead the couple further to…
*Ordinary water pipes with G thread. An oakum impregnated with vaseline is wound on the screw-threads. Never use a rubber gasket. The steam continues to..
*Brass taps for regulating the given distribution branch. Previously, these taps were used for gas in Central Europe. From here we take the couple out to…
*Thick-walled rubber hoses of the required length. Hoses from compressors for the distribution of compressed air have proven themselves. Subsequently, the steam passes into..
*Old radiator. We are already draining the water from it outside the building.

Tips:

*All elements must be resistant to 100°C.
*Try to assemble the device in a smaller version in the workshop. You will learn to regulate it and check if it makes sense for you.

I successfully conduct steam up to ten meters away. But it depends on your enthusiasm for experiments. I built my system myself from scraps from work and landfills. Even yours can be unique, where the steam will warm you, also with a great feeling of using discarded items and well-done work.

Plan:

Steam heating (10m)

1. The wall
2. Possible retention of condensed water
3. Pipe weldment with a diameter of 100mm
4. An old tin heating element
5. Tilting (drainage of condensed water)
6. Water
7. Partition without a hole
8. Partition with a hole
9. Water heater insulation
10. Silicone funnel cap
11. Weight
12. Valves resistant to 100°C
13. Hose resistant to 100°C
14. Different forms of enlargement of the transmission area
15. The body of the steam generator placed on the stove instead of the hot plate.

Images

1. Overall view:

2. another example of a heating element:

3. Evaporation tank inside the fireplace:

4. Opening to fill:

5. Fulfillment:

6. Operational water supply:

7. Heating distribution throughout the building:

8. An old heating element is enough:

9. Demonstration of transition of rubber hoses:

10: Securing the hole, the steam does not escape, but no explosion can occur:

DIY: How to build your own bike generator.

Low-tech Magazine’s bike generator powers a record player. No batteries are involved: a buck converter in the control panel keeps the voltage output constant at 12V. Power use is very low and pedaling is easy. Record: Jean-Jacques Perrey et son Ondioline.

Build your own bike generator.

We also published a video of our pedal powered video projector.

Human-powered dot-matrix printer. Direct power. No batteries are involved. Directly powering a dot-matrix printer is challenging, especially when printing longer documents. The power demand is variable and can increase suddenly for a short time. You must pedal very fast to anticipate these peaks. If you fail, the voltage drops, the communication between the printer and the laptops breaks down, and the machine prints the document all over again. Capacitors could solve this. A laser printer has a very high power use during startup and is incompatible with a bike generator (or a small-scale solar installation).

DIY manual for the bike generator: https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2022/03/how-to-build-bike-generator.html.

History of office equipment: https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2016/11/why-the-office-needs-a-typewriter-revolution.html