Human Practices
"Human Practices is the study of how your work affects the world, and how the world affects your work."
🙉 Scroll to See Stage at a Glance
📘 Overview
- This year, we will create a Living Building Material (LBM), a sand-hydrogel scaffold with Cyanobacteria. Our ultimate aim is to generate an effective Bioconcrete-generation mechanism and product that successfully substitutes traditional concrete in consolidating building structure. Upon this basis, we could implement entrepreneurship and community-oriented investigation for our project, which includes a collection of different social interactions running through all 5 stages, maintaining robust and mutual connections with the world in all time. We engaged communities involved in the problem in different phases, such as producers, manufacturers, researchers, non-profit, disposal-related people, user, business development experts, and the general public. When we were designing the project, multiple values were practiced, including environmental sustainability, social engagement, scientific inquiry, and moral responsibility.
- We initially saw many concerns expressed by the public regarding the feasibility, we thereby saw the need to conduct large-scale public education and communication as our project continues to mature. This value of listening emphasizes the importance of actively listening to the community's feedback and engaging in open dialogue to ensure the project's transparency and responsiveness to real-world challenges.
- Below is our Human Practice journey that constructed a conversation with the world.
👀 1. Find out a problem
Students’ Brainstorm
- Our approach to human practice is guided by our goal of addressing real-world challenges. We aim to begin by addressing local issues to make our approach more relatable to our audience. In the first phase, our team was able to brainstorm different ideas through not only comprehensive research but also by tapping into personal experiences. Our teammembers were able to use personal experiences, such as cat urine in local communities proposed by Dorothy, as she is bothered by this problem in her home compound, to demonstrate our approaches toward local issues. Another example of the usage of local issues is an idean on bio concrete. Here, we hoped to solve building cracks during earthquakes as well as the damage of traditional concrete, initially inspired by our students’ notice towards the outrageous proportion of CO2 concrete production releases in her local area (responsible for 8% in all global CO2 emissions by category, and especially the huge role China plays in producing it). Additionally, recent events like the Turkey-Syria earthquakes in 2023 further attracted our attention, seeing the need for earthquake-resistant construction materials with lower environmental impact.
Grouped into Three Categories
- One by one, our team generated a variety of ideas, including skin whitening products, bio-concrete, DNA data storage, diabetes solutions, cat urine disposal, gut microbiota, biodegradable dyes, and the use of plant volatile organic compounds in food preservation, among others. In addition to individual brainstorming, we established three distinct teams to further categorize and expand upon these initial brainstormed ideas: the Environmental Protection Group, the Daily Needs Group, and the Food Nutrition Group.
- Moving on to the second stage, we engaged in numerous discussions, and gradually narrowed down our ideas to two main topics: spermidine and bio-concrete. This progression laid the foundation for our second and third stage, during which we focused our research specifically on bio-concrete.
💭 2. Weighing the Problem: Human Impact
Public Survey
Context:
- After finding out the problems of current building material and spermidine production, we decided to delve deeper into them and see if they truly possess valid social and technological feasibility and a potential to reshape the shared future of the world we live in. The best way to do this is by asking the ultimate audience and possible instructors of our work––the public and experts. In the second stage of our Human Practices, we seek for robust justifications for our new-born project ideas through investigation based upon surveys and interviews that reflect the society’s attitude toward our project ideas. The feedback we collected helped us to make our final decision on which project to build upon in the rest of the year.
- The first step we made in this stage is conducting a public survey on the two potential project ideas we came up with, which would let us see how the general public think of the two ideas and what questions they might raise. This becomes crucial in our decision of project idea elimination.
Rationale:
- When it comes to social investigation, survey is an effective tool that collects responses. In the feedback of the survey, we can clearly compare and contrast the two project ideas in terms of their social and technological feasibility and the concerns they raise. The more need the respondents show toward a project, the more likely we are going to adopt it at the end.
What we learned:
- Through our survey, we gauged public opinion on our idea and the two problems at hand. We also explored the need for potential solutions.
- Our findings revealed that many individuals possess creative and reliable solutions for spermidine-related challenges. However, they generally seem content with the status quo, perceiving the adoption of bio-engineered spermidine as costlier due to factors such as risk, human resources, and time. Moreover, they do not view resolving spermidine issues as having a significant impact on people's lives since it is not considered a necessity for most individuals. Many respondents also indicated that they had never encountered or used spermidine before. These insights prompted us to reevaluate the significance of the problem we were addressing. We realized that focusing on concrete, a material encountered by nearly everyone daily, could have a more substantial impact.
- Despite the familiarity of respondents with concrete, they were unaware of bioconcrete solutions. This observation aligns with our understanding that many Chinese citizens have limited exposure to sustainable building materials in their homes. Conversely, respondents from other countries mentioned that many households there opt for sustainable sources and seek information from websites like "Conserve Energy Future." These responses also demonstrated in-depth knowledge of analyzing a building's carbon footprint and implementing measures to reduce it.
- In summary, our survey confirmed the need for a solution, leading us to establish two primary goals for our project:
Interview with Dr. Chen
Context:
- We wish to roughly confirm the bioengineering feasibility first. After conducting a public survey, our team spent a month in deep research and discussions. We've outlined a potential engineering design for producing bio-concrete using Cyanobacteria
- We wish to receive professional advice from a researcher working with the model organism of cyanobacteria to evaluate the feasibility of our preliminary experimental designs and to suggest improvements that can be made to our experimental design. This will help our team to achieve the production of bio-concrete with the optimal method.
- With this purpose in mind, we interviewed Dr. Chen, a biology researcher specializing in work with cyanobacteria. Dr. Chen received his bachelor’s degree at Tsinghua University, received his Doctorate degree from Tianjin University, and is currently a Post-Doctorate in Shenzhen University.
What we learned:
- Since we want our product to be drought-tolerant, there are a few aspects that Dr. Chen suggested we do. We may find drought-tolerant cyanobacteria at the start, such as transferring the gene of desert cyanobacteria or overexpressing the anti-osmotic substance. There are also algae that may lose water and live again with water that we may use.
- Dr. Chen also gives some advice on the system we are using. First, the algal-bacterial symbiotic system will have problems with the two bacteria's survival and growth. We may need to do more research and rethink the system since a single-cell system may also work for our project.
we are using cyanobacteria for the process; Dr. Chen points out that it will take up a long experimental process. Glucose may be used to speed up, but mold will also grow very fast and cover up our bacteria.
🛫 3. Studying the Technicals of Concrete
1️⃣ Life Cycle 1: Producer (Extraction, Production)
China West Construction Group Co., LTD
Context:
- As reading different relevant literature went on, we at the time were able to understand concrete roughly, and had an idea of using cyanobacteria. In last stage, we have roughly first confirmed that our potential bioengineering of cyanobacteria is doable with the help of a cyanobacteria-specialist. In this stage, we wish to further understand concrete life cycle and its technical mechanism to better see how this bioengineered thing can kick in to help and pertain to its current usage and help adapt and transition production methods. This largely relies on consulting some large construction and real estate corporations whose services are closely related to the use of building material. Our interview with China West Construction Group is an example of this type of practice.
- Our goal is to explore the major players in the concrete supply chain and interview each one to create a comprehensive narrative of the entire supply chain.
Reaching Out:
- China West Construction Group is a pioneering service provider of building materials in the construction industry in China. We learned about China West Construction Group in news and contacted them via e-mail.
- Click here to learn more about China West Construction Group.
- We tailored a list of interview questions that is specific to the key points we hope to learn about concrete before we planned interview sessions with construction companies. These questions guided us to have in-depth conversations with the leaders in the construction industry, and prompted us to rethink about our project’s engineering. If we hope to substitute traditional concrete with novel bio-based building material, we have to be 100% sure about current traditional concrete’s cost, functions and attributes, and interview with construction company who produces traditional concrete establishes a credible source of information.
- We wish to receive professional advice from a researcher working with the model organism of cyanobacteria to evaluate the feasibility of our preliminary experimental designs and to suggest improvements that can be made to our experimental design. This will help our team to achieve the production of bio-concrete with the optimal method.
What We Have Learned
- From the meeting, we learned about the current requirements in the concrete industry for concrete in general. We learned about what we needed to do to take our bioconcrete up to that level. In China, there is a series of requirements that are named 864 requirements. These include standards on how to create the concrete, what amount of aggregates to use, what amount of sand and rocks to use, and how to mix it all together etc.. These also include standards on compressive strength etc. After the interview, we were able to look for this so we could better design our testing system when working in the wet lab.
- Other than this, we also learned about the need for our solution. We learned that though some companies were worried about the strength problems of bioconcrete. Companies also tried their best to decrease the amount of CO2 emission from traditional concrete to fit the country’s guidelines. However, sometimes, CO2 would leak from their factories. They have also tried to optimize their ratios so there is less cement in the concrete. However, the most they can do is decrease the use of cement from 200 kg to 180 kg per one block of concrete. This still isn’t the most optimal solution. They can’t continue to optimize this since cement is the most important material that acts like a strong glue.
- Also, though there isn’t a great need for a biobrick, there is a great need for biosealent in these companies. Concrete can crack easily if it isn’t set properly because of errosion or temperature changes. Once it cracks, it’s really hard to repair.
- Finally, his attitude towards our project was that most green solutions are still very young and they often have problems on safety and effectiveness or cost. They do use them at times, however, they normally use them with traditional concrete together and not to replace them. This is because they are worried about the aforementioned problems. Hence, if there is indeed a green solution that doesn’t have these problems, they would be happy to use it.
2️⃣ Life Cycle 2: User (Business Construction)
Zhenye Co., LTD
Context:
- Our interview with company Zhenye is another example of this consulting some large construction and real estate corporations whose services are closely related to the use of building material in its supply chain.
- This time, we spoke with Zhenye Company, a real estate company that purchases and constructs buildings using concrete from other companies, acting as a customer. Zhenye is a well-known and established company in China, founded in 1989, and became an IPO company in 1992.
- During the planning stage of our project, we need to conduct extensive research on the market for our bio-concrete. We interviewed the CEO of the company, Mr. Cai Zhen, who is also the founder.
Reaching out:
- Firstly, we want to understand the factors that influence their choice of concrete. This will help us establish success criteria for our own product, as our aim is to bring our product to the market. Secondly, we want to learn how consumers use concrete in practical applications, which will assist us in designing our concrete to better meet their needs. Lastly, we want to understand the real estate company's attitude towards using "living concrete" in their buildings, which will provide us with information for future public education activities.
What we learned:
- Mr. Cai provided us with detailed data on the proportion of concrete materials in a building, emphasizing the importance of concrete in modern construction. He stated that "concrete, as the most popular building material, is durable, stable, and cost-effective. It is an irreplaceable material in modern construction." This information solidified the concept that concrete is the most popular building material in the market today. It confirmed that our project has a relatively wide market in the field of construction.
- Additionally, Mr. Cai mentioned that quality is always his company's top consideration when choosing concrete, and sustainability is another important criterion. He highlighted that the sustainability department of his company strictly controls waste management. This information reminded us of the need to ensure the quality of our bio-concrete and inspired us to design different performance tests for our product. It also reinforced our belief that sustainability plays a crucial role in modern construction.
- Furthermore, when we introduced our bio-concrete to Mr. Cai, he expressed willingness to use our product if it passes performance tests and demonstrates clear advantages over traditional concrete. He suggested that bio-concrete could reduce waste in the production process and increase the durability of the concrete. This information motivated us to focus on sustainability as our competitive advantage and strive to surpass traditional concrete.
3️⃣ Life Cycle 3: Disposal Related People (Repair & Recycle)
Beijing Zhongye Baocheng Building Restoration Technology Co., Ltd.
Context:
- The previous two companies helped us a lot in understanding the technicalities of concrete production, giving us a full picture of its production methods and environmental impacts brought. We then wish to engage in activities that would reinforce our understanding of the disposal, reparation of concrete, since we understood that concrete could deteriorate depending on its different production methods, implying the fact that frequent renewal, reparation, recycling are actually involved. This process of having short-lived concrete replaced adds on our concern that the process of instability and more environmental impacts. We then did research online, hoping to reach to a concrete-reparing company. Luckily, we were able to contact a typical building restoration company in China through their website’s phone numbers.
- "Beijing Zhongye Baocheng Building Restoration Technology Co., Ltd. is a professional organization specializing in concrete crack treatment, concrete defect repair, concrete durability restoration and protection, crack investigation, and diagnostics, with its headquarters located in Beijing."
- Through the phone call, we were introduced to their major job descriptions and a few examples of concrete investigation and crack treatment they did before, and how we can hope to reach out to them if we have any specific crack in concrete that needs their service.
4️⃣ Life Cycle 4: Non-Profit Oriented Support
Context:
We also recognize the presence of numerous nonprofit organizations with a sustainability focus that actively embrace state-of-the-art solutions, primarily through technological advancements and creative problem-solving approaches. These organizations often harness various technological methods, with a particular emphasis on those rooted in biological and environmental sciences. Consequently, we have identified a strong alignment with these organizations and believe they would be receptive to our ideas. We are keen to learn from them regarding concrete pollution and their insights into potential new solutions.
We reached out to a mature nonprofit that focuses on ecology and environment, called "Operation Earth Environmental Expedition". It is basically a nonprofit platform provided to youths to experience field trips in different ecological environment and learn experentially, and also host panel discussions and other educational contents. We reached out to its Founder, Ms. Ma, for their perspective on the issue and their attitude towards our project. After scheduling the first meeting, Ms. Ma said she would love to connect us with an expert in their board for more information, and suggested us to do a proposal, or a question list to send to the expert. We then did so, and it was a very valuable experience as they shared about information on the projects they did with bio-based materials, and how governmental incentive had an impact on business decisons.
We sent our proposal to Mr. Wang Zhidong, an expert in Photovoltaic Architecture at China Construction Technology Group Co., Ltd. In 1994, he transferred to China Architecture Science Research Institute, where he engaged in work related to air conditioning, HVAC, purification, energy-saving technologies, and engineering. Since 2013, his focus has shifted towards the application of photovoltaics in buildings, green architecture, and building energy efficiency. Mr. Wang also served as the Executive Director of the Fire Protection and Comprehensive Technology Branch of the Architectural Society of China.