Posts Tagged ‘Sustainable Cities’
Retro-Fitting Suburbia: TED Talk
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on July 16th, 2010
Source: TED
Images above: Suburban retrofits contribute to sustainability in a variety of ways, most of which are manifest at Belmar in Lakewood, CO. It replaces an auto-dependent, private mall with an urban, walkable, and bus-served mix of uses and public spaces. It provides a range of housing types, diverse architectural styles, and variety of cultural activities, including but not limited to shopping, with the intention that it function as a downtown. It also uses green bonds to finance rooftop photovoltaics and a small wind farm.
Ellen Dunham-Jones fires the starting shot for the next 50 years’ big sustainable design project: Retrofitting Suburbia – dying malls rehabilitated, dead “big box” stores re-inhabited, parking lots transformed into thriving wetlands. Ellen Dunham-Jones teaches architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is an award-winning architect and a board member of the Congress for the New Urbanism. She shows how design of where we live impacts some of the most pressing issues of our times — reducing our ecological footprint and energy consumption while improving our health and communities and providing living options for all ages.
Dunham-Jones is widely recognized as a leader in finding solutions for aging suburbs. She is the co-author of Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs. She and co-author June Williamson share more than 50 case studies across North America of “underperforming asphalt properties” that have been redesigned and redeveloped into walkable, sustainable vital centers of community—libraries, city halls, town centers, schools and more.
Watch the TED talk.
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Cities and their Regions: Catalysts for Change
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on June 9th, 2010
The Golden Jubilee Congress of the Eastern Regional Organisation of Planning & Human Settlements (EAROPH)
Congress Objectives and Philosophy
The main theme of the Congress is the impact of population change related to climate management and the associated issues that are being debated at an international level including infrastructure planning, water security, renewable energy and sustainable tourism. The conference aims to draw these themes together to allow debate about their impact on the Asian Pacific rim. The key purpose of the conference will be to focus the various opinions presented by international speakers into a forum that allows for policy directions coming from the Congress to be directed to the EAROPH Executive, the Planning Institute of Australia and all spheres of Government within the region.
Local Government Caucus
A parallel session to be hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide, The Right Honourable Michael Harbison, will be conducted at the Town Hall on Wednesday, 3rd November 2010 to allow visiting Mayors and Executive Local Government Staff to address the topic of Leadership as a Catalyst for Change within the region. It is proposed that the Lord Mayor will lead a forum of speakers during a morning session that will focus upon the need for strong leadership at a Local Government level to address the impacts of growing cities on environmental sustainability through ‘green initiatives’. The afternoon will be devoted to inner-city inspections of buildings and sites devoted to the principles of sustainability. The conducted tour will be undertaken on the World’s First Solar Electric Bus, “Tindo”.
Student Forum
On Sunday, 31st October 2010, the combined Universities of Adelaide, Flinders and South Australia will come together to present a forum for students and young professionals. The objective of this forum is to provide a platform for students and young professionals to raise issues and concerns related to congress themes. The guest speakers will include those delivering keynote addresses to the Congress. The forum wil be facilitated to enable students and young professionals to focus on the topics from their perspective and learn from each other.
October 31 – November 4, 2010
Adelaide, South Australia
Visit the website for registration and further information.
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Communicating Visions: Designing Sustainable Cities
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on June 2nd, 2010
By Rasmus Brønnum, Sustainable Cities (Denmark):
New media always transforms the way we communicate. Now, it’s not that we havn’t seen moving-pictures before, but the fact that architects have begun to produce short movies presenting how they think, work and define architectural qualities, is something new and still-to-see from a lot of firms. In this case the issue is sustainability presented in, not one, but three fast shifting projects.
Watch the new shortmovie “Designing Sustainable Cities, three aspects – three plans“ from the danish architect office Vandkunsten.
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The Future of Personal Transportation in Megacities of the World: Study
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on March 29th, 2010
Source: University of Michigan Transport Research Institute via Going Solar Transport Newsletter
Image: Real-time Bus Map by kecko via flickr CC
From “The future of personal transportation in megacities of the world” by Luoma, J., Sivak, M., Zielinski, S.
Summary:
This study examined the future personal transportation in megacities of the world. Of particular interest was the future role of personal vehicles. To span ranges of geographical, political, and economic factors, the following 15 megacities were included in the analysis: Chicago, New York, London, Moscow, Paris, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Sa?o Paulo, Bangalore, Calcutta, Delphi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The current and future values of the following factors were considered: population, wealth, level of motorization, public transportation, and modal split. Also discussed were selected urban transportation plans and strategies.
Based on the analysis, projections through 2025 were made for each megacity for changes in ownership of personal vehicles; distance traveled per capita by personal vehicle within inner core, for commuting, and for leisure; and for number of road fatalities per capita. The forecasts include the following:
• The largest increases in personal vehicle ownership will occur in the four Indian megacities and Shanghai.
• There will be no increase in the use of personal vehicles for inner-core transportation in any of the megacities.
• No increases are expected in the use of personal vehicles for commuting. • The largest increases in the use of personal vehicles for leisure traveling (and the largest increases in road fatalities) will take place in Shanghai, followed by the four megacities in India, Rio de Janeiro, and Sa?o Paulo. Overall, no substantial decrease in the reliance on personal vehicles is foreseen in the next 15 years anywhere in the examined megacities. To the contrary, an increased role of personal vehicles is forecasted for the megacities in India, China, and Brazil.
The above trends are based on treating the different transportation modes as independent and exclusive options. However, there is growing implementation and use of new mobility networks—integrated networks that provide a variety of connected and IT-enhanced transportation options door-to-door. Although such networks are expected to reduce the reliance on personal vehicles, the magnitude and nature of this effect remain to be ascertained.
Vancouver on course to meet or exceed Kyoto targets
Posted in Models by Daria on December 22nd, 2009
Vancouver, British Columbia, has the lowest per capita greenhouse gas emissions of any major city in North America and is on target to meet or exceed Kyoto Agreement targets, Mayor Gregor Robertson said. The announcement came December 10, 2009, as the Mayor prepared to leave for the Climate Summit for Mayors in Copenhagen, Denmark. New statistics show the development of energy efficient buildings, increased use of public transit, walking and cycling as well as innovative projects like creating heat and electricity from methane gas captured from the City’s landfill have all contributed to greenhouse gas (GHG) levels last seen in 1990.
“Vancouver continues to show leadership in Canada and North America on greenhouse gas reductions,” the Mayor said. “By making smart decisions for our future, whether it’s the many energy efficient features of the Olympic Village project, our approach to land-use planning, or the city’s transportation options, we are going to meet our Kyoto targets and in the process set the standard for major North American cities.”
Vancouver GHG emissions have been reduced by 11 per cent from their peak in 2000 to 2.7 million tonnes per year. The city is on track to meet Kyoto targets for 2012 of 2.5 million tonnes. Vancouver’s drop in GHG levels is concurrent with a 27 per cent population increase since 1990 and an 18 per cent growth in employment since 1991.
The conventional wisdom is you can’t reduce emissions with a growing population and economy.
Read the rest of this entry »
Walk Score: Walkable Cities Calculator
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on July 22nd, 2009
Source: Going Solar Transport Newsletter
Walk Score in the US helps “you find a walkable place to live by calculating a Walk Score for any address.” …
The cities at the top of the Walk Score rankings have density, mixed use, transit, short blocks—and almost everything else on the walkability checklist. Most importantly, these cities have lots of destinations near each address, which is the strongest indicator of whether people walk.
The top three cities are: #1 San Francisco, #2 New York, #3 Boston. At the bottom of the list are: #38 Charlotte; #39 Nashville & #40 Jacksonville where “It’s difficult to get by without a car (or even walk to a nearby restaurant) in these sprawling cities. More time in the car means more money at the pump, less exercise, and more pollution.
Sustainable Cities for the Future
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on July 9th, 2009
Image: amirjina via Flickr
Graduate Research Conference: Sustainable Cities for the Future
Globally, economies are facing challenges to future sustainability and are investing in strategies to mitigate, and adapt to, the potential of new climatic realities. People are increasingly moving into urban areas, placing stress on transport and other basic infrastructure. Australia provides an excellent ‘laboratory’ to review the future sustainability of cities, with climate scientists suggesting it will be one of the first countries to be impacted by climate change. Read the rest of this entry »
“Know the Number” Campaign & Carbon Counter
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on July 2nd, 2009
Source: GreenRazor, the GreenPages Newsletter #89
Image: Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors
The Carbon Counter and “Know the Number” campaign is part of a groundbreaking climate change awareness and education initiative sponsored by Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors group with scientific data supplied from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and include all long-lived greenhouse gases covered under the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols (24 gases excluding ozone and aerosols). The Counter, which stands over 21 meters (two stories) serves as a blatant reminder of our continuing damage to the atmosphere.
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
Healthy Cities Conference
Posted in Events by fedwards on March 10th, 2009
Please see message below from Sophie Secombe, Healthy Cities Conference Secretariat. More information is available at www.healthycities.com.au.
There are only 2 weeks remaining until the Healthy Cities Conference being held at the Holiday Inn, Surfers Paradise 25th – 27th March 2009. The Conference will be a platform for Government, Academics and Industry sector professionals to consider health, sustainability, natural resource management, climate change, urban design and the implications for public policy. The future will present some exciting challenges, what do we need to meet these challenges and how will it effect the way we live and work?