Posts Tagged ‘green cities’
Seedbombing and the Guerilla Gardening Movement
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on August 11th, 2010
Source: Worldchanging
This article from Worldchanging provides a good insight and relevant links into the growing (sorry) Guerilla Gardening Movement, particularly in the USA:
The popularity of guerrilla gardening is growing. National Public Radio recently covered two stories on the subject, one on American seed bombing and another on night-time planting in London. We’ve covered guerrilla gardening at Worldchanging before (as well as the related topic of public food foraging and mapping), so we thought you might be interested to know about a new guerrilla gardening tool: tech savvy seed bombs that use biodegradable casings and are available at Etsy shops, ice cream trucks, grocery stores, and even vending machines! You can find seed bombs with local varietals categorized by geographic regions in the U.S. at Visualingual’s Etsy shop and at Anthropologie.
Common Studio founders Daniel Phillips and Kim Karlsrud have given new life to Karlsrud’s father’s old gumball machines and turned them into seed bomb dispensaries in a project they call Greenaid. For a quarter and a turn, the Greenaid vending machines dispense seed bombs made up of clay, compost and seeds to guerrilla gardeners in California, Minnesota, Illinois, and North Carolina.
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Read the full article by My Tam Nguyen and Amanda Reed.
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The Nature of Cities: Film
Posted in Visions by Kate Archdeacon on December 9th, 2009
Source: How It Grows
Image: Congress Avenue Bridge, by jessicareeder via flickr CC
University of Virgina professor Timothy Beatly premiered his new film, The Nature of Cities, at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Gillette Forum on October 29th. The film is an interesting overview of various ways in which nature and sustainable architecture are being incorporated into European and American cities. Geared towards people outside the design and science community, it’s a great introduction to the concept of urban nature. The film has several interesting vignettes, like a car-free development that is so eerily quiet you can follow the sound of waves to find a nearby beach. Or a week-long bio-blitz of a canyon in San Diego that allows kids who were previously warned about the ‘danger’ of the local canyon to explore it and identify the native plants and insects.
The most striking story in the film features the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas, famous for its bat colony. The city has gone from trying to torch the bats under the bridge to setting up a protected area where crowds of people assemble to watch 1.5 million bats emerge in the evenings. Now, new bridges in Texas are being specifically designed to house bat colonies. Imagine if more of our buidings and infrastructure were built this way! It’s fascinating to see the shift in construction from environmentally harmful, to environmentally neutral, to environmentaly positive.
Source: How It Grows
Green Cities 2010: People, Places, Performance
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on November 25th, 2009
Source: Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)
Green Cities 2010 – People, Places, Performance – is now taking bookings.
“Join us in Melbourne from the 21-24 February 2010 at the largest and most influential green building conference in the Asia Pacific region. Bringing together green building innovators and leaders from around Australia and internationally we will explore new ideas and share practical knowledge in the expanding sustainable building industry. ”
- Hear from renowned global green building experts including: Malcolm Smith – Director of Integrated Urbanism, Arup UK; Jerry Yudelson – Principal, Yudelson Associates USA
- Learn about the latest industry developments, techniques and strategies
- Network with global and domestic sustainability leaders
- Visit some of Melbourne’s latest Green Star certified buildings including CH2, The Gauge and Goods Shed North
- Brush up on your professional development at a Master Class
Re-Imagining Urban Spaces: PARK(ing) Day 2009
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on September 23rd, 2009
Source: Inhabitat
Image: rebar
On September 18, in cities around the world, artists, activists and citizens temporarily transformed metered parking spaces into public parks and other social spaces, as part of an annual event called PARK(ing) Day.
Originally invented in 2005 by Rebar, a San Francisco art and design studio, PARK(ing) Day challenges people to rethink the way streets are used and reinforces the need for broad-based changes to urban infrastructure.
“In urban centers around the world, inexpensive curbside parking results in increased traffic, wasted fuel and more pollution,” says Rebar’s Matthew Passmore. “The strategies that generated these conditions are not sustainable, nor do they promote a healthy, vibrant urban human habitat.
PARK(ing) Day is about re-imagining the possibilities of the metropolitan landscape.”
Re-using Infrastructure for Public Space: High Line, NY.
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on June 29th, 2009
Source: Mason Curry, Metropolis Magazine, Newsletter 06, 2009
Image: High Line by Mason Curry via Metropolis Magazine
New Yorkers have been reading about the High Line for at least three and a half years. The project—which officially opened to the public on June 8—lives up to expectations. It is not only a beautiful and novel urban park, but a remarkably serene and even understated space.
“The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan’s largest industrial district. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park.” The High Line
Source: Mason Curry, Metropolis Magazine, Newsletter 06, 2009
Build Bright Green Cities is one of the 10 Big, Really Hard Things We Can Do to Save the Planet
Posted in Movements by Devin Maeztri on May 8th, 2009
As part of this Worldchanging post is a section on sustainable cities.
Traditionally, [Earth Day] is a day devoted to making green accessible to all. It’s a day when each of us is invited to take small, individual steps toward reducing our carbon footprints, limiting our waste, or restoring the environment. See how easy it is – and how fun – to do your part to save the planet? (Worldchanging Team)
9. BUILD BRIGHT GREEN CITIES
We are now an urban planet. In general, urbanization offers many benefits. But we need to design cities that allow people access to their greatest potential within a framework of sustainable prosperity. Bright green cities are designed so that residents have access to public parks, basic goods, entertainment, services and jobs within walking distance. Bright green cities include transit systems and mobility options to allow people to get from one place to another comfortably and on time without the use of a private vehicle. Bright green cities feature carbon-neutral buildings that are healthy for the people who live and work inside them. They use strategies like zero-waste plans and producer takeback laws to channel materials in closed loops.
Problems This Helps Solve: Because people who live close together use infrastructure and space much more efficiently, cities may just be our most powerful weapon against global warming. As the human population continues to grow on a planet that remains the same, our urban centers will continue to grow to accommodate those people’s needs for shelter and employment. If we design our cities well, they will become places where people can live in bright green prosperity, enjoying access to a larger number of goods and services. And with people concentrated in comfortable, happy, healthy cities, these urban centers will become incubators for the best ideas and innovations of the centuries to come.
To read more of the article visit WORLDCHANGING
Peter Garrett and Malcolm Turnbull to speak at Green Cities 09!
Posted in Events by fedwards on February 16th, 2009
Australia’s most innovative and influential green building companies will come together from 1-4 March to hear from two of the nation’s most experienced green politicians. Will your company be there? Don’t miss a rare opportunity to join our leading green thinkers at Green Cities 09, and hear from Peter Garrett, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, and Malcolm Turnbull, Leader of the Opposition.
Register online at www.greencities.org.au.
The Climate Group Plans To Develop Low Carbon Cities In China
Posted in Sustainable Cities by fedwards on January 28th, 2009
Please find an abstract from a news story posted on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development website. More and more sustainable cities can only be a good thing!
The Climate Group Plans To Develop Low Carbon Cities In China
ChinaCSR, 19 January 2009 – The Climate Group has announced plans to develop 15 to 20 low carbon cities in China in the next three to five years to encourage the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and address the problem of climate change. The Climate Group said in a report released in Beijing that China would miss the best opportunity to retain its technology advantage and core competitiveness in the world market if it lets slip the opportunities brought by the global financial crisis.
Wu Changhua, director for Greater China of The Climate Group, said that as a path for development, the core aim of a low-carbon economy is to increase energy efficiency and change the energy structure. She said that this would mean cleaner, more efficient and lower green house gas emission for China. Wu added that besides big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, the Climate Group would mainly target second-tier and third-tier cities in China for the low-carbon initiative as these smaller cities provide more opportunity for development.
To read the full story visit the World Business Council for Sustainable Development website.
A more usable SustainableCitiesNet.com!
Posted in Movements by fedwards on November 12th, 2008
SustainableCitiesNet.com has a new appearance with much thanks to our fantastic web support! The site is now easier to use – be it searching for local sustainability events, models, movements, research or policy – or for uploading your own sustainability initiatives online!
New features include:
- a better appearance – our banner has no distortion, we have more pictures of beautiful sustainable cities and the posts are easier to read and comment on;
- more succinct categories and pages – less tags with more clarity of topic, each category now comes with an explanation of what they mean; and
- added “register” and “log in” links at the top of the screen to allow you to register or sign in more quickly to post your environmental initiatives online!
SustainableCitiesNet strongly encourages people and organisations in cities around the world to post their urban sustainable initiatives directly online. In spirit with our goal “to deliver information, to connect people and projects, to accelerate the city’s sustainable transformation” please post your sustainable initiatives today!