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Archive for July, 2009

Hangzhou Expands Bike-Sharing Program to 50,000 Bikes

Posted in Sustainable Transportation on 07/31/2009 | 1 Comment »

According to Tree Hugger, Hangzhou’s Public Transport Corporation (HPTC) is expanding access to its publicly accessible bike-share program in order to provide a “seamless connection of bicycle-based slow-speed traffic to metro and bus-based public traffic facilities.” Hangzhou’s bike share program will grow to 50,000 bikes from the currently available 15,000 bikes, surpassing Paris’s popular Velib bike-share program, which offers more than [...]

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U.S. Postal Service’s 2.5-acre Green Roof Park

Posted in Education, Green Roofs, Landscape Architecture, Policy and Regulation on 07/30/2009 | 2 Comments »

The New York Times wrote about the new 2.5-acre green roof on the U.S. Postal Service’s Morgan processing and distribution center near mid-town Manhattan. In addition to providing the usual benefits of a green roof, the U.S. Postal Service’s green roof also provides park-like recreational space for employees, including ”benches, billowing grasses and a view of the skyline that [...]

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Seoul Rediscovers Its Urban Waterways

Posted in Sustainable Design, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization, Water Management on 07/28/2009 | Leave a Comment »

The New York Times wrote about the USD 384 million Cheonggyecheon waterway restoration project in Seoul, South Korea. During the pre-industrial era, the stream was a centerpiece in Seoul. However, The New York Times notes that it became an open sewer, “forgotten beneath a lacework of elevated expressways as the city’s population swelled toward 10 million.” With the [...]

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Sustainable Transportation Resource Guide

Posted in Sustainable Transportation on 07/24/2009 | Leave a Comment »

ASLA created a new online resource guide on sustainable transportation. The guide contains lists of organizations, research, concepts and projects related to sustainable transportation, including siting, planning, and designing sustainable transportation infrastructure. Developed for students and professionals, the resource guide contains recent reports and projects from leading U.S. and international organizations, academics, and design firms. The guide is separated into six sections: Sustainable Transportation Planning Siting [...]

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International Urban Landscape Awards Call for Entries

Posted in Opportunities on 07/23/2009 | 1 Comment »

Eurohypo AG, an investment bank based in Frankfurt, Germany, is partnering with Topos, a leading landscape architecture journal, on the International Urban Landscape Award (IULA) competition. The competition seeks “exemplary urban design projects for sustainable development in Germany or the United Kingdom.” In 2007, Parc Central de Nou Barris in Barcelona won the IULA’s EUR 50,000 prize. Parc Central is the [...]

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U.S. Secretary of State Clinton in India: LEED Platinum Building Is a “Monument to the Future”

Posted in Climate Change, Green Roofs, Policy and Regulation, Sustainable Design on 07/23/2009 | Leave a Comment »

In one of her first stops in her recent three-day visit to India, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the ITC Green Center in Gurgaon, one of the world’s largest LEED platinum office buildings. Clinton said in remarks: “ITC Green Center may not be a regular stop on the tourist map, and no one would [...]

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Recreating a Natural Bayou to Prevent Flood Damage

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Design, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization, Water Management on 07/22/2009 | Leave a Comment »

Kevin Shanley, ASLA, now CEO of the SWA Group, partnered with the local Sims Bayou Coalition in Houston to re-design a massive federal flood damage reduction project. The flood mitigation project was originally planned to be a straight, man-made, concrete channel; Shanley instead proposed a natural, meandering bayou. According to The Houston Chronicle, “the flood-control project was of an entirely different scale: [...]

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Interactive Dream Grove

Posted in Exhibits, Gardens, Technology on 07/22/2009 | Leave a Comment »

Azure Magazine wrote about Dream Grove, an online exhibition that is an ”intriguing combination of the interactive, the digital, the botanical and the aural.” The site “doubles as a treasure trove of dreams, which at one point took real-life narrated form as an interactive sound installation in an Athenian garden.” A number of “dreams” have already been [...]

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International Conferences on Climate Neutral Cities, Green Schools

Posted in Opportunities on 07/21/2009 | Leave a Comment »

Two upcoming conferences focused on sustainable design: UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Committee on Housing and Land Management’s Seminar on Climate Neutral Cities: “Climate neutrality is not simply a goal in the fight against climate change, however. It is a means to address some of the major environmental, economic and social challenges comprising the broader sustainability [...]

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Call for Ideas from USGBC, Congress for New Urbanism (CNU)

Posted in Opportunities on 07/20/2009 | Leave a Comment »

Two new call for ideas: U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC): “The USGBC invites the public to participate in a LEED Call for Ideas. This call is meant to provide a way for new ideas to be brought forward to help inform improvement to the LEED rating system. USGBC is looking for input on improving existing technical [...]

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