Exercises: Reading the factors of a place before designing

When designing a stove for a rural community in the mountains, these factors come up. Classify them as social, economic, cultural or natural: the custom of cooking with firewood; the price of LP gas and of the tank; the cold mountain climate; grandmothers teach their granddaughters how to cook; the distance to the nearest town; firewood is gathered for free near the houses.

A neighborhood with frequent rain wants to set up a community clothesline area. State two natural factors and two social or cultural factors that constrain the design and explain how your proposal responds to each of them.

A community kitchen spends $\$350.00$ per month on firewood. A saving stove costs $\$2,300.00$ and cuts that expense by $\$230.00$ per month. Calculate in how many months the investment is recovered and explain which other factors, besides the economic one, the kitchen should consider before switching stoves.

A textile cooperative in Chiapas must decide between dyeing with natural dyes (local tradition, more expensive, less uniform colors, no toxic spills) or with synthetic dyes (cheaper, uniform, with polluting spills). Its main market is tourism and values artisanal work. Build a criteria table with the four types of factors (social, economic, cultural and natural) and justify the design decision you would make.