Studied Impact, a design firm, has organized the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), an international design competition based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). LAGI seeks to design and build a set of large scale public art installations that can also produce clean energy. The idea is each land art sculpture will contribute significant amounts of clean energy back to the grid, enough for thousands of homes. ”The UAE Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) is a landmark initiative to bring together artists, architects, scientists, landscape architects, and engineers in a first of its kind collaboration. The goal of the Land Art Generator Initiative is to design and construct a series of land art installations across the UAE that uniquely combine aesthetics with clean energy generation.” While large-scale power generators will always be required, local, distributed energy production facilities don’t have to look bad. In fact, they can be even be integrated in urban and communities through better design. ”As the days of the gas or coal fired power plant at the farthest outskirts of the city come to a ... read more >>
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 Here’s an insight from relating human behavioral science to transportation: people who use a particular form of transportation such as driving or taking transit sometimes misunderstand the motives of those that use a different mode. We generally have a basic understanding of why we may take the bus, for example, but we make the assumption that the guy who drives is doing so because, well, he’s the kind of guy who drives. In fact, it’s not that simple. Except for those of us who are environmental purists – and I am not one – our behavior stems not (or seldom) from something intrinsic to how we feel about driving or transit but, rather, on our particular circumstances. For most of us, how we get somewhere depends on how well each available mode meets our needs. This sounds sort of self-evident, but unfortunately the fallacy – that people in [insert name of community] do not and will not use transit in the future, given evidence that they don’t use it now – still infects too many transportation planning and investment decisions.   Michael Druker, a student in behavioral neuroscience at Waterloo University in Ontario... read more >>
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Stimulated by the article published in the UK newspaper The Guardian titled 'Architects are often the last people needed in disaster reconstruction' by David Sanderson, several alumni and myself, pulled together by our former MSc Course Director, crafted a collective reflection on the issues raised therein. We want to share this on Polis to hear your thoughts and insights on the role of architecture in post-disaster reconstruction. In an article titled ‘ Architects are often the last people needed in disaster reconstruction’ (3 March 2010), David Sanderson recognises the need to “build back what can’t be seen as much as what can” in post-disaster recovery processes. Much of what he says is justified to some degree. Strangely enough, however, his claim does not acknowledge that the modus of practice in architecture in developing countries and especially in disaster situations has evolved on a similar path to that of humanitarian work. In fact, it seems that Sanderson does not recognise that architecture has significant power to reconstruct social networks, raise solidarity ... read more >>
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Waterfront Toronto, the innovative and ambitious plan to revitalize Toronto’s old harbour, has led to the development of Sherbourne Park, a new $28 million storm water treatment facility that will also function as an accessible public park. It’s a prime example of green infrastructure in action. The Star writes: “The idea that everything we build in a city should do double- (even triple-) duty is one whose time has come.” In a recent interview, Ken Smith, ASLA, a leading landscape architect, argued that green, multi-use infrastructure results from interdisciplinary teams. “If the problem in the past was having a single profession make a single-purpose infrastructure, then I think the solution in the future is really a multidisciplinary team of people who bring multiple interests and multiple functions to that infrastructure. I think we’re starting to see that more and more — it’s engineers, architects, landscape architects, and ecologists working together... read more >>
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Lovers of music and the landscape, this is for you. Well, and for myself, since I truly love what I'm about to share. I originally came to environmentalism, and eventually to smart growth and urbanism, from the conservation side. I grew up in the North Carolina mountains and would not, and will not, abide their destruction. Now I'm a dedicated city boy, and wouldn't have it otherwise, but for me there is no dissonance: the survival of the natural and rural landscape in the face of growth is utterly dependant on smart, livable urbanism. The science and the law and the transportation data and the emissions and all that came later. Much later. Without the spiritual underpinning, the raison d'etre, there's no way I could suffer all the policy details. Which brings me to today, Saint Paddy's. I have enjoyed beautiful landscapes far and wide, but none moves me more than that of western Ireland. Here, to the accompaniment of some of my very favorite Irish musicians, is a sampling of some of the best. First up are the mighty Saw Doctors, from Tuam, County Galway. They may be my favorite band ... read more >>
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 Last week, a report was put out by a Kuwaiti research institution (chart above) forecasting global peak oil production by 2014. This follows a report last month by a broad-based British industry group that also predicted a global "oil crunch," or shortage of supply, by the same period. Very few metro regions, cities or businesses are prepared for the impact of these potential global issues on their economies or finances, operating budgets and mobility. I asked Richard Heinberg, author of numerous books about peak oil and other peaking resources (freshwater, fisheries, soil, etc.), if he agreed with the British industry report, which was partially backed by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group. Heinberg said that it appeared credible, and added that having a billionaire transportation industry CEO assert that we better get ready should make people at least take more notice. Cities, households and the economy will be impacted, as will industries. Some industries will be hurt (agriculture, retail, petrochemicals) and some sectors could be positively impacted ... read more >>
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 It was an honor to write about Cleveland’s growing land-based, self-help economy in “Cleveland’s Comeback: ReImagining the city from the ground up,” a feature in the spring issue of Next American City, a national magazine. The experience confirmed for me that Cleveland is truly on the vanguard, at least in the Rust Belt, for tweaking the old model that says bricks-and-mortar development is always preferred, no matter if the demographic trends point to the city shrinking for some time to come. Where some cities in the Midwest are still struggling to admit that they are shrinking, and that vacant land is an asset to be used to help its current citizens access healthy food and perhaps improve their economic situation, Cleveland—where adapting to a post-industrial economy led to decades of painful disinvestment—is learning to “ReImagine” a more sustainable use for land and natural resources, and bring the city in balance with nature. Online, Next American City published three excellent companion pieces to the Cleveland article. In “Land Bank Legislation Poised for Passage in Ohio”, Mara D'Angelo explains how a push by Cleveland leaders to form the state’s first... read more >>
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Today’s title comes from Jeff Holm, chair of the Board of Supervisors for Baldwin Township, Minnesota. Baldwin is a rural community struggling with its identity in the face of change. Holm, who grew up in the unincorporated township of around 6,500 residents, was participating in a discussion about Baldwin’s future hosted by Minnesota Public Radio.  As you can see in the first satellite image, Baldwin is north of the Twin Cities, about 40 miles from Minneapolis and in between the small towns of Princeton and Zimmerman. Its story is like that of many rural and once-rural places in America: First, a small community is populated with independent souls (very independent: even though Baldwin’s average household income is somewhat above the state average, only ten percent of eligible residents vote) who are drawn to the easy-going, peaceful lifestyle. In Baldwin, most have worked service jobs, although there are also some small farms. But, over time, others become attracted to the same lifestyle. And, if the town is located within driving distance of a job center, some of the newcomers are commuters... read more >>
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 HUD officials were in town last week explaining how Greater Cleveland could tap into a $150 million Sustainable Communities Initiative for walkable, affordable, green and transit-accessible development at a regional scale. But does the program’s requirement that metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) receive the funds put Northeast Ohio behind the proverbial 8-ball? Unless the feds decide to change the rules, the only shot we would have is NOACA, the region’s transportation MPO. That didn’t sit well with city of Cleveland officials, who note that the region and NOACA in particular have a dismal track record coordinating regional land-use and transportation planning. “Sustainability in regional plans tend to get watered down,” remarked Cleveland Planning Director Bob Brown. “NOACA’s policies are so broad, they can justify most projects, even those that induce sprawl. I think a plan that strengthens the urban core and doesn’t have to please so many constituents would work better.” Applicants would have to explain why regional partners are not involved, said Dwayne Marsh, HUD Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities... read more >>
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Yet another way in which Obama’s high-speed rail plans are derailing actual progress in getting Americans out of their cars: BUENA PARK, Calif. — Mayor Art Brown spent years pushing for a commuter train station combined with nearby housing in his community. But as townhouses are being finished around the $14 million Metrolink station, he’s facing the prospect that California’s high-speed rail line may plow right through his beloved project. “The only option they presented to us was either losing the condo units or losing our train station,” Brown said of an engineering presentation to city leaders last year. That a successful effort to get car-dependent Californians to embrace mass transit could be derailed by another transportation project may strike some as ironic. But it’s also one of the hidden costs — and a potential harbinger of delay — in the ambitious plan that would enable passengers to speed the 430 miles between Los Angeles and San Francisco in just 2 1/2 hours. By the way, the projected cost of a one-way ticket on the high-speed rail line from LA to SF has risen from... read more >>
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