I thought the Sustainable Cities Network audience would find the following article interesting. As climate change approaches so too does innovation arise in building techniques! Have a read below of the abstract about how the city of Beijing is embracing such change.

Date: June 24, 2008 — Updated 1427 GMT (2227 HKT)
Beijing embraces Brave New World of buildings
By Stephanie Busari, For CNN, URL

LONDON, England (CNN) — China’s new found wealth has seen an explosion in the number of new developments springing up in what is, arguably, the world’s biggest building boom.
The construction of the Linked Hybrid project is underway in Beijing.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Beijing, which has transformed into a virtual construction zone as the city undergoes an Olympic makeover.

Once a flat cityscape in the shadow of the formidable Forbidden City, Beijing has been struck by skyscraper fever.

The city is now an architect’s playground with foreign “starchitects,” like Norman Foster flocking to the country armed with individual creations that push aesthetic and technological boundaries.

And the latest addition to the Beijing skyline is no exception.

Standing on the edge of the former site of the city’s historic walls are a series of eight asymmetrical towers that bestride the smog-laden landscape like a colossus.

Dubbed the Beijing Linked Hybrid, this architectural maverick has certainly pushed the design envelope to its very limit.

The brainchild of New York architect Steven Holl, the mixed-use unit is a ring of eight 21-story towers, linked at the 20th floor by gently sloping public sky bridges, lined with galleries, cafes, restaurants, bars and shops.

The development has been widely praised for its forward thinking sustainable design that includes a waste water recycling plant that sits beneath the complex and one of the world’s largest geothermal systems, which eliminates the need for boilers or electrical air conditioners.

The section below is republished with permission from the Going Solar Transport Newsletter #68, 15 July 2008, compiled by Stephen Ingrouille. Going Solar, www.goingsolar.com.au/transport.

Electric Cars in Paris
“First came self-service bicycles. Now Paris is to provide electric cars that drivers can pick up and drop off anywhere in the city. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe has announced that, from the end of next year, 4000 electric cars will be placed around Paris and its outskirts for drivers in the scheme to help themselves for short journeys. … In less than a year, Paris’ army of cheap, on-street hire-bicycles, called Velib, has transformed transport habits. The company behind that scheme, JCDecaux, has had talks with the City of Melbourne to launch a similar scheme in Australia. The fleet of carbon-neutral hire cars, called Autolib, is the Socialist Mayor’s next phase in green transport. Paris city hall said 700 Autolib pick-up points would be set up, including 200 underground. Recharging points would be scattered across Paris.

‘There will be a computerised system which allows you as soon as you collect the car to announce where you’ll drop it off, so there will be a parking space available’, Mr Delanoe said. It would operate much like the Velib bike scheme. Users would take out an annual subscription or be able to approach a hire point on the spur of the moment or perhaps pay by using their public transport pass. One target group is young couples with children who occasionally need a car but cannot afford to run their own.”
Ref: Angelique Chrisafis, The Age, 21/6/08, URL

For more information please visit SustainableRotterdam.com.

October 16th is World Food Day, a day coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This year’s theme is the “Right to Food”.

There’s word going around the international foodies circuit to encourage those interested to write about issues related to the “right to food” to raise awareness of this issue in the media. As a “foodie” myself - and as the moderator for SustainableMelbourne.com, I support this initiative and welcome any posts people may like to contribute to post on SustainableMelbourne.com and on our international site, SustainableCitiesNet.com.

Topics could reflect environmental and social justice issues as they relate to food, such as the right to food, hunger, urban agriculture, food miles, water and carbon costs, food security and even issues such as green roofs and vertical spaces for food production, among many more!

As stated from a fellow foodie:

Here’s the idea: what if those of us who do some occasional writing for newspapers or the web agreed to publish something for our audiences that day on the right to food? Maybe all it will add up to is a handful of op-eds and blog posts, but that’s how awareness-raising starts.

In addition to the good this could achieve at home, such a group effort would also represent a statement of solidarity with people and groups internationally working on these issues.

Bread for the World has a good summary of world hunger facts here: http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-basics/hunger-facts-international.html You might check with some local agencies to see what the level of food insecurity is your own area and make a connection. Use the day to toot your own horn by telling readers what you and your group are doing to insure that more people in your area have access to nutritious food. Write a futuristic piece about what you’d like your community to look like 13 years from now foodwise, i.e your “2020 Vision”.

Information from the FAO’s Right to Food website can be found at:
http://www.fao.org/righttofood/

YouTube is a great resource for videos on sustainable cities. Here is one.