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‘Shitscape: Mumbai’s Landscape In-Between’ is Penn Design alumnus Bret Betnar’s plan for an ‘entirely functioning landscape built from human excreta.’

Recent Penn Design graduate Bret Betnar has spent a lot of time thinking about human excrement.

Inspired to impact positive change by a trip to Mumbai, India, Betnar began work on a project that would eventually be known as “Shitscape: Mumbai’s Landscape In-Between.”

Betnar’s project earned him the 2010 American Society of Landscape Architecture Award of Excellence in the analysis and planning category. In his project statement, Betnar explained his goal of “making of an entirely functioning landscape built from human excreta.”

Betnar explained that there are over 750 million Indians who lack adequate sanitation.

When exposed to a community that lacks proper sanitation, Betnar found a unique take on a studio project for his master’s degree in landscape architecture.

His project aims to solve sanitation problems for residents living on the western boundary of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park by “implementing a few small-scale insertions where there are open-air composting toilets that can be managed by a family or a group of families,” he said.

But the project goes beyond simply providing toilets. “The toilets break down feces and that gets applied to fields, improving the soil and making it agriculturally viable,” Betnar said.

Upon hearing the term “landscape architecture,” many people conjure up images of well-kept lawns and carefully planted shrubberies, he said.

However, Betnar explained his “personal effort is to broaden people’s horizons,” adding that, “[landscape architects] are in the business of improving people’s lives.”

Anuradha Mathur, Penn Design professor and one of Betnar’s faculty advisors, praised her student for his ability to go beyond simply “beautifying things.”

“[Poor sanitation] is something that confronts you when you go to a place like Mumbai,” Mathur said. “Most people are overwhelmed by it, but for him to take on this project and make it a productive landscape is a good thing.”

Betnar now works for the Washington, D.C.-based design firm Lee and Associates. He said he hopes the ASLA award will bring him exposure to non-profits, which may provide funding to ultimately implement his project in the future.

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