January 2010
60 posts
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Sending Solar Cookers to Haiti →
youandusandme:
One of the biggest challenges facing post-earthquake Haiti is the disruption in the power supply. Fortunately on such a sunny island, solar power can fill in some of left by downed power lines and…
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Landscape architecture at its best: Tanghe River...
imaginemileend:
Kongjian Yu of Turenscape took a slum and a garbage dump and turned it into this:
(photo found here.)
If they could do that, then certainly we think of something respectable for an abandoned field (that is already 90% of the way there) in the Mile-End, n’est-ce pas?!
I love it, what a great design.
Instead of simply laying grass and putting up street lights and benches...
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At a crossroads
basementoffice:
Checking in with the local paper of Fargo-Moorhead, I was pleasantly surprised to see two articles dealing with important issues of urban planning. I have made it known before that I find the place devoid of anything resembling a unique identity, and I fear the worst for it.
One article discussed a report detailing the projected urban sprawl that the city will face by 2030. The...
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Cities get rebuilt more often than you think →
townsandcities:
By the year 2035, approximately three-quarters (75%) of the built environment will be either new or renovated.
That makes me more optimistic about my job prospects after grad school. It couldn’t get worse than right now, right?
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“DETROIT — With $6,000 and some Hollywood-style spunk, four friends opened this...”
– In Detroit, Entrepreneurs See Opportunity in Hard Times - NYTimes.com (via dulceloud)
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how far we've come
subtilitas:
Rego Park, Queens 1935. Via
Palm Jumeriah, Dubai 2007. Via
Train movement notification
Living in a city where the trains came first is difficult because the city just naturally grew around the tracks. But now our culture is so busy with bikes, smartcars, mopeds, trucks, etc. A long train in the middle of our town literally shuts us down and we are there idling in our cars. There has to be a better way to direct us when a long train is approaching the city. Any ideas? I would...
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Architecture for Humanity →
townsandcities:
I hadn’t heard of this organization before, but it sounds like they could be very useful once the immediate humanitarian crisis in Haiti turns into a longer-term rebuilding effort.
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“Cities enable people to become smart by learning from other smart people”
– Why Cities Matter | The New Republic (via photourbanism)
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WatchSmart responses to Haiti. Check out crisis mapping at Ushahidi.
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Hot (and crowded) Child in the City: How...
Matthew Clay, United States
TGKW via Flickr
I love cities. For the mass transit that lets me zone out and read my magazines or listen to my iPod on the train when I need to get from point A to point B. For the blinding, beautiful lights when I’m flying over them at night. For the diners that serve the food you will only find in a big city (how many Nigerian restaurants do you find in...
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“She sees the city growing, she sees it growing urged on by its own lively...”
– Dulce-Maria Loynaz, Jardin (trans. Claudia Lightfoot) (via tentacular)
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Homeless services agency replaces paper-based...
IBM and Global Bay Mobile Technologies have worked together with the agency to replace a cumbersome paper process with mobile handheld devices that relay real-time information. As a result, the number of housing inspections the DHS conducts every month has increased 57 percent.
In the past, field inspectors had to complete a multi-step process, which could take several days. Inspectors would have...
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Green Roads
While the recent explosion of interesting and application of Green Streets is well documented, the announcement of a new program to provide sustainability metrics for Greenroads comes at an opportune time when infrastructure seems to be one of the only things getting funded. From the website (which is still under construction): “Greenroads is a sustainability performance metric for...
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New York City is ready for electric cars according to the consulting firm, McKinsey. Green Inc., conveying the report’s findings in advance, says that one fifth of New Yorkers are “early adopters” who are likely to buy an electric car.
CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities
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“The $219 million recently awarded to two Houston energy companies as part of the...”
– Smart meters put users in charge of electric bills | Viewpoints, Outlook | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
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Watchsmarterplanet:
Mexico City is one of the most congested cities in the world. Traffic causes major economic, societal and environmental challenges for Mexico City and its citizens. This video looks at the traffic congestion issue in Mexico City and potential solutions.
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“IBM made good headway in its 2009 strategy of building a “Smarter Philippines”...”
– IBM’s ‘Smarter Philippines’ program makes business, gov’t more efficient | Manila Bulletin
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Next 5 in 5
landscapearchitecture:
“IBM has released the fourth annual edition of its Next 5 in 5, which is a list of five innovations that the company predicts will change cities over the next five years as cities face massive urbanization and stressed infrastructure.” (eWeek article)
Prediction 1: Cities will have healthier immune systems
Prediction 2: City buildings will sense and respond like living...
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Watchsmarterplanet:
Smarter Cities | Healthcare
Technology alone can’t cure what ails us. But it can help those who treat our illnesses, heal our injuries and find new ways to battle diseases do it even better. It can also help healthy individuals to make smarter choices about their health and care. To build a smarter system, healthcare solutions need to be instrumented, interconnected, and ...
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Computers guide traffic lights to reduce...
Traffic systems — and the stoplights that are their highway sentinels — are complex networks that must be synchronized with Balanchine precision or rush hour will descend from the normal headache into commuter hell.
Washington Post
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The SmarterCity: Healthcare →
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“The 19th century was a century of empires, the 20th century was a century of...”
– SiliconRepublic.com: Smart cities - Green Tech
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“District of Columbia Water & Sewer Authority to automate water and sewer...”
– IBM and DC WASA Flow Technology into Washington DC’s Water and Sewer System (via smarterplanet)
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Smarter Cities: The 21st Century Governance Model →
ajmacisaac:
On Saturday March 13th the National League of Cities will conduct a Leadership Training Institute Seminar in conjuction with the Congressional City Conference. One of their seminars will be focused on Smarter Cities. The abstract for the seminar is below.
“As cities wield increasing economic, political, and technological capabilities, they are gaining better control over the...
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ragtag:
IS IT GREEN?: Las Vegas CityCenter
It looks great but in the desert can anything be green and sustainable? Six LEED Gold certificates - does it call in to question the criteria for LEED?
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“Editor’s Note: This post, from Chicagoan John Tolva, was also posted on his...”
– Data. Our second city | A Smarter Planet Blog
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“Last spring Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess invited David Kennedy and Gary...”
– Jesse Ellison, with a history of antiviolence. (via newsweek)
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CityCenter, Las Vegas: If Not a City, then What? |... →
builderonline:
What it is is a handsome, varied, occasionally ingenious, occasionally even beautiful piece of very expensive, very dense urban planning for 67 acres of short- and long-term housing, luxury shopping, eating and drinking, gambling and other entertainment in a conurbation unique in the world. Presuming it survives, perhaps even helps to turn around that place’s’s near-disastrous...
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