Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings has planted the first seed of a bioswale demonstration unit for the Future of Design Ghana Project at the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park. Installed in the constituency of the MP for Klottey Korle Constituency, the demonstration unit is part of an experimental landscape project borne out of an award from the British Council’s Future by Design COP26 Open Call, which went to Cove Park, an international artists’ residency located on Scotland’s West Coast. The Cove Park Future by Design Award involves a collaboration between Ghanaian-Filipino agrowaste designer Dr. Mae-ling Lokko and Scottish architect Tom Morton of Arc Architects to collaboratively design and implement a global virtual exchange and local co-design and co-building of projects with young people, addressing Scotland and Ghana’s markedly different Atlantic coastal contexts, connected through the impact of climate change on water.

For the Ghana project, the designers focused the co-design and co-build on the concept of bioswales which are systems used throughout cities around the world particularly in landscaped urban areas, to slow down and absorb water runoff before draining into the municipal water system. Typically, bioswales are composed of different grades of permeable stones, soil media as well as appropriate variety of plants that can absorb water according to rainfall patterns onsite.

Dr. Mae-Ling Lokko noted that “A bioswale allows us to promote the use of local materials and flora as part of the landscape of Efua Sutherland Children’s Park; so we can integrate and study the performance of a variety of soil water retention media and indigenous plants. We have chosen soil retention media and plants that are flood tolerant and also increase biodiversity, health and maintenance of the bioswale across the wet and dry seasons”.

To build the demonstration unit, the team put larger gravel at the bottom to store water, then coconut soil media to transport the water to the roots of the plants introduced to the unit – a number of indigenous plants that are very good at absorbing water.

Dr. Lokko further noted that there are “We have a ton of really amazing materials that are good at absorbing water; coconut fibre, soil retention media, we have plants that are flood tolerant. We haven’t created enough space and territory for them in our city to grow and thrive and take care of our problems around water. So, what we are doing with this demonstration bed is putting them where they are most effective, and we hope to do this at a few different locations across the city.

For the demonstration, the designers invited Dr. Zanetor to plant the Amankwatia rice seed which were donated by the Crop Research Institute, Kumasi with the guidance of Dr. Maxwell Asante and Daniel Gyameyah who visited the site. The team noted that the Amankwatia rice was expected to grow to approximately 1.3m tall in 120-125 days.

Ms. Selassie Atadika, founder of Midunu Institute which is a collaborator on the project noted that “There are different types of indigenous rice found in Ghana but the Asian rice hybrids are the ones that is most prevalent because it has been developed to give a higher yield. There is little research on the African varieties when they potentially have more nutritional value and can secure our biodiversity. So, we are excited to see what we learn and encourage through this project.

In her remarks after planting the first seed, Dr. Zanetor said she was excited to see how the project was going to engage the young people around the area, trolling the traffic lights and begging motorists for food. “We should find a way to engage them on this project. They can help maintain the projects, get money in their pockets, clean up and reengage professionally with society”.

She also noted that the demonstration was a great idea for a proof of concept that could motivate supporters to help build multiple units across the Klottey Korle constituency. The MP whose campaign was fueled by her impassioned response to the June 3rd flooding which killed about 200 people has been a strong advocate for urban flood management since coming to office some 6 years ago. She noted that “I am particularly excited about the different levels of this project, taking the concept of climate change, breaking it down into tangible attainable goals and developing specific projects that involve and engage young people to design and maintain systems such as the bioswales for flood mitigation”

Dr. Zanetor also expressed her excitement at the complementarities with other urban initiatives she is working on. “This is great because people need to see that urban farming is feasible and can work. I understand the inner perimeter of the bioswale can be set aside for a variety of plants, ornamentals and other plants that can grow with grey water. It’s also interesting because the output here could be used as a substrate for our mushroom project because we will need a place for the spawning and the seeding of the mushroom as well as composting”.

Commenting on the circular design of the bioswale, Dr. Zanetor said “This is perfect and it’s interesting the shape it’s in because it gives a sense of using resources in a mini-circular economy. Even the plastics that come down the gutter can be recycled here”

To the young people from the Ashesi Design Lab, another collaborator on the project, and the other volunteers, she noted “This is amazing, and I just want you to remember that you are pacesetters for this kind of project. We will make sure we put in the structures to maintain the project. I hope you will regularly come by and make sure your hard work in not in vain. We are excited to support implementation in other parts of the constituency and we hope that some of them will have cleaner water and produce food that can be consumed”.

The Future by Design Ghana project is funded by the British Council and the Culture and Business Fund, Scotland. The collaborators are Willow Technologies, the Midunu Institute, the Ashesi Design Lab and the Together We Build Initiative of the Office of the MP for Klottey Korle Constituency, Honourable Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings. It is developed by Dr. Mae-Ling Lokko, Selassie Atadika, Ato Annan, Latifah Iddriss and supported by Emmanuel Taye (mentor) and Ashesi Design Lab fellows, Eugene Daniels, Christiana Ocran,  Kenneth Korah,  Abena Konadu Osei-Akoto, Andrea-Michelle Akotey , Emmanuel Addiakwe, Kwaku Appiah, Linda Arthur and coordinator, Kwabena Akuffo.