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Archive for August, 2009

Athenaeum Hotel’s Eight-story Green Wall

Posted in Green Buildings, Green Roofs on 08/31/2009 | 4 Comments »

Wired magazine wrote about the eight-story green wall on London’s Athenaeum Hotel. Patrick Blanc, a French botanist, designed the wall, which includes 260 species and 12,000 actual plants. According to Wired, other projects from Blanc include interior green walls in Portugal and Kuwait that are larger than “four tennis courts.” The green wall is supported [...]

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Israeli Park Built on Garbage Dump Will Now Include 50,000-seat Amphitheater

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Public Spaces, Technology, Urban Revitalization, Waste, Water Management on 08/31/2009 | Leave a Comment »

Israel has been finalizing plans for a new 2,000-acre park on the site of a former garbage dump near Tel Aviv. Ariel Sharon Park will also now include a 50,000-seat amphitheater, says Haaretz. Concerts at existing Tel Aviv stadiums create massive traffic jams throughout the city, which is why the city seeks to move events to the [...]

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The Economic Benefits of Parks

Posted in Public Spaces, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 08/28/2009 | 1 Comment »

The Gotham Gazette argues that the economic development benefits of urban parks shouldn’t be underestimated, citing a report from the Central Park Conservancy that contends Central Park contributed USD 1 billion to the city’s economy in 2007. Another assessment by the Center for City Park Excellence of The Trust for Public Land calculated the “real economic benefits that parks provide, using examples [...]

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India Focuses on Forestry in Fight Against Climate Change

Posted in Forests, Policy and Regulation on 08/27/2009 | Leave a Comment »

India’s Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, unveiled a plan to protect Indian forests, stating that preventing additional deforestation and increasing afforestation are key parts of India’s strategy to fight climate change. Ramesh said in comments to AFP: “we are amongst the few countries in the world who are not just stopping deforestation but are actually [...]

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U.K. Zoo’s Vertical Farming System

Posted in Agriculture, Technology on 08/27/2009 | 2 Comments »

The Paignton Zoo in South Devon has implemented a new vertical farming system. According to Greener Buildings, Paignton Zoo is using the VertiCrop system developed by Valcent Products, which is capable of producing 11,000 heads of lettuce every month. ”Eventually the farm will have vertical plots of red chard, mizuna, mixed leaves, various herbs, edible flowers, wheat grass [...]

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Interview with Professor Peter Newman, Author of “Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change”

Posted in Climate Change, Policy and Regulation, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Design, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 08/26/2009 | Leave a Comment »

Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University, Australia, recently wrote a book “Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change” along with co-authors, Timothy Beatley, University of Virgnia, and Heather Boyer, Island Press. In “Resilient Cities,” Newman argues that cities are unprepared for dramatic climate change or changes in energy use brought on by the end [...]

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Winner of Reburbia Competition Would Turn “McMansions” into Water-Filtering Wetlands

Posted in Exhibits, Opportunities, Real Estate Development, Renewable Energy, Residential Design, Sustainable Design on 08/25/2009 | Leave a Comment »

Inhabitat and Dwell magazine have announced the winners of Reburbia, a suburban design competition, which sought new ideas for “retrofitting surburbia.” (see earlier post). After receiving hundreds of entries, Inhabitat and Dwell narrowed the selection down to 20 finalists, then three winning entries, along with one People’s Choice Award. The grand prize went to “Frog’s Dream: McMansions turned [...]

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Call for Entries for Expanded Version of “Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn”

Posted in Agriculture, Residential Design on 08/25/2009 | Leave a Comment »

Fritz Haeg’s project, Edible Estates, was turned into a book by Metropolis magazine’s publishing arm in early 2008. Haeg and team are now expanding the book for a 2010 edition, and have released an open call for entries. Haeg asks: “Are you growing food on your front yard? Do you live in USDA hardiness zones 3,4,5, or 9?” [...]

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Material Ecology

Posted in Sustainable Design, Technology on 08/20/2009 | Leave a Comment »

Azure magazine included MIT architect / artist / researcher, Neri Oxman, in its “Ten Designers = Ten Great Ideas” feature. Oxman is pursuing a Ph.D in the computation group in MIT’s architecture department. According to Azure, Oxman’s research is so cutting-edge, it doesn’t quite have a name yet. Oxman uses the term “Material Ecology,” which explores ”the idea that artificial matter continuously informs [...]

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Census of Marine Life

Posted in Education, Environment, Technology on 08/20/2009 | Leave a Comment »

The Census of Marine Life, a project started in 2000, is a global effort to identify and catalogue every species in the world’s oceans. Researchers are building a registry of every form of marine life, mapping where the species live and travel, and determining past, present, and expected future populations for each species. The decade-long, USD 650-million project is expected [...]

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