Urban Planning Final

Mental Speed Bumps

The smarter way to tame traffic is a practical, down-to-earth guide for residents, parents, health professionals and city planners that turns conventional wisdom on its head. Find out how to use mental speed bumps to instantly slow drivers without them being aware that they have slowed. Learn why removing all traffic signs, white lines, speed humps and traffic lights dramatically slow traffic and makes streets safer. Discover why building the social life of the street is the most effective way to tame traffic.

Oberlin's Environmental Studies Center

This solar-powered building has earned national acclaim as a showcase for green building technologies and operating systems. Photovoltaic panels on the center's roof and parking pavilion capture renewable energy from the sun and south-facing windows allow for passive solar heating. Indoors, a specially engineered wetland called the Living Machine purifies non-potable wastewater for reuse in toilets and the landscape. Flows of energy and cycling of materials are monitored and displayed by a sophisticated system (150+ sensors) that gives real-time feedback, teaching about sustainability in the built environment.

Eagle Street Rooftop Farm

Three stories up in the air, the power of an idea and fresh food is growing! The Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is an internationally acclaimed green roof and commercially operated vegetable farm atop a three story warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. On the shoreline of the East River and with a sweeping view of the Manhattan skyline, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is a 6,000 square foot green roof organic vegetable farm located atop a warehouse rooftop owned by Broadway Stages in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Biophilic Cities

Tim Beatley has long been a leader in advocating for the "greening" of cities. But too often, he notes, urban greening efforts focus on everything except nature, emphasizing such elements as public transit, renewable energy production, and energy efficient building systems.

Time Banks

Timebanking is a kind of money. Give one hour of service to another, and receive one time credit. For one person to earn a time credit, however, someone else has to agree to give it. Timebanking happens when a network or circle of members have agreed that they will give and receive credits for services that other members provide. Those networks are called "timebanks." That's almost it. To be successful, timebanks need leadership - or perhaps the better word is "governance." They need agreements around what's OK and what's not OK in relation to earning and spending.

MealConnect

To source more meals and help end hunger in America, Feeding America has created MealConnect™, a technology platform that makes it easier than ever to connect donors with surplus food to their local Feeding America member food banks and their partners. With MealConnect, you have easier pickups, easier tracking and easier receipt recording for any type of donation. Plus, you'll feel great knowing you're reducing food waste while providing hunger relief right in your community.

Urban Metabolism

Urban metabolism is a model to facilitate the description and analysis of the flows of the materials and energy within cities, such as undertaken in a material flow analysis of a city. It provides researchers with a metaphorical framework to study the interactions of natural and human systems in specific regions.

Portland's Vaux's Swifts

Vaux's swift is a small swift native to North America and northern South America. It was named for the American scientist William Sansom Vaux.

Bosco Verticale (Stefano Boeri)

Vertical Forest is a model for a sustainable residential building, a project for metropolitan reforestation contributing to the regeneration of the environment and urban biodiversity without the implication of expanding the city upon the territory. It is a model of vertical densification of nature within the city that operates in relation to policies for reforestation and naturalization of large urban and metropolitan borders.

Water Sensitive Urban Design

Water-sensitive urban design is a land planning and engineering design approach which integrates the urban water cycle, including stormwater, groundwater and wastewater management and water supply, into urban design to minimise environmental degradation and improve aesthetic and recreational appeal.

Floodable parks

Waterfront parks are communal recreational spaces that are intentionally designed to be flooded with minimal damage during storm or flood events. Waterfront parks are often spaces which were previously developed - whether for industrial, commercial, or residential purposes - which have suffered repeated flood damage over time and whose original use no longer serves its function. While most commonly created by public entities, it is not uncommon for a private development to include the creation of a waterfront park as a part of a larger site design. While most common along rivers, waterfront parks can be employed in coastal areas as well.

Solar Mallees (Adelaide, Australia)

We did refer to Adelaide's solar trees in passing, a couple years ago, when discussing the South Australian capital's win in the Solar Cities grant. But the Solar Mallee Trees are no mere affectation. In the city precinct where they appear, photovoltaic panels have also been installed on the nearby Parliament House, South Australian Museum, Art Gallery and the State Library. Plus the trees as part of the Green City project have spawn a dozen single solar street lights, with similar curvaceous looks. These feed electricity into the grid during the day and drawn some back at night for lighting. But they generate about 100kWh more electricity than what they use each year, making them greenhouse neutral.

Spalding Rehab Hospital (Boston)

a 132-bed rehabilitation teaching hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the official teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation[1] and the main campus of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. The hospital is a member of Partners Continuing Care under Partners HealthCare, a non-profit organization that owns several hospitals in Massachusetts.

New York 2140

a 2017 climate fiction novel by American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson. The novel is set in a New York City that has been flooded and altered by rising water. the book is set in a New York City suffering from a 50-foot rise in seawater. However, scientists suggest a rise between 3 and 15 feet is more likely by 2140.[4][5] A rise on that scale would likely mean that some portions of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens would be flooded, but not to the extent as featured in the novel.[5] According to Robinson, he set the novel in 2140, as he wanted the setting to be recognizable, while the sea-level rise in the novel was possible but "extreme"

Slow Money

a 501(c)3 non-profit organisation based in Boulder, CO, has had considerable early impact pursuing its mission: To catalyze the flow of capital to local food enterprises and organic farms, connecting investors to the places where they live and "bringing money back down to earth." Through their national gatherings, regional events and local activities, over $40 million has been invested into more than 400 small food enterprises around the United States. Twenty-five local networks and 13 investment clubs have formed. Over 30,000 people have signed the Slow Money Principles. Slow Money events have attracted thousands of people from 46 states and 7 countries. Slow Money investing has begun in Nova Scotia, Switzerland, France and Belgium

Pearl River Tower (Guangzhou, China)

a 71-story, 309.6 m (1,016 ft),[5] clean technology neofuturistic skyscraper at the junction of Jinsui Road/Zhujiang Avenue West, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China. The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with Adrian D. Smith and Gordon Gill (now at their own firm, AS+GG) as architects.[6] Ground broke on the tower on 8 September 2006 and construction was completed in March 2011. It is intended for office use

Hasselt, Belgium

a Flemish city and municipality, and capital of the province of Limburg in Belgium. The Hasselt municipality includes the original city of Hasselt, plus the old communes of Sint-Lambrechts-Herk, Wimmertingen, Kermt, Spalbeek, Kuringen, Stokrooie, Stevoort and Runkst, as well as the hamlets and parishes of Kiewit, Godsheide and Rapertingen. On 31 December 2007 Hasselt had a total population of 71,520 (34,951 men and 36,569 women). Both the Demer river and the Albert Canal run through the municipality. Hasselt is located in between the Campine region, north of the Demer river, and the Hesbaye region, to the south. On a larger scale, it is also situated in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion

Evergreen Cooperatives (Cleveland)

a connected group of worker-owned cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. They are committed to local, worker-owned job creation; sustainable, green and democratic workplaces; and community economic development.

High Speed Rail (e.g. Spain's AVE)

a foundation whose stated goal is to help producers in developing countries achieve better trading conditions. Members of the movement advocate the payment of higher prices to exporters, as well as improved social and environmental standards. The movement focuses in particular on commodities, or products which are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries, but also consumed in domestic markets (e.g. Brazil, India and Bangladesh) most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, wine, sugar, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers and gold.[1][2] The movement seeks to promote greater equity in international trading partnerships through dialogue, transparency, and respect. It promotes sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers in developing countries

Fair Trade

a foundation whose stated goal is to help producers in developing countries achieve better trading conditions. Members of the movement advocate the payment of higher prices to exporters, as well as improved social and environmental standards. The movement focuses in particular on commodities, or products which are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries, but also consumed in domestic markets (e.g. Brazil, India and Bangladesh) most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, wine, sugar, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers and gold.[1][2] The movement seeks to promote greater equity in international trading partnerships through dialogue, transparency, and respect. It promotes sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers in developing countries.

Park Royal Hotel

a luxury hotel located in the Central Area of Singapore.The building's "hotel-in-a-garden" design has been lauded for its unique architecture that incorporates 15,000 m2 (160,000 sq ft) of elevated terraced gardens

Genuine Progress Indicator

a metric that has been suggested to replace, or supplement, gross domestic product (GDP). The GPI is designed to take fuller account of the well-being of a nation, only a part of which pertains to the size of the nation's economy, by incorporating environmental and social factors which are not measured by GDP. For instance, some models of GPI decrease in value when the poverty rate increases.[1] The GPI separates the concept of societal progress from economic growth

Local Food Hub

a nonprofit organization that partners with Virginia farmers to increase community access to local food. We provide the support services, infrastructure, and market opportunities that connect people with food grown close to home.

The Creative Class

a posited socioeconomic class identified by American economist and social scientist Richard Florida, a professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. According to Florida, the creative class are a key driving force for economic development of post-industrial cities in the United States

HyperLoop

a proposed mode of passenger and/or freight transportation, first used to describe an open-source vactrain design released by a joint team from Tesla and SpaceX.[1] Drawing heavily from Robert Goddard's vactrain, a hyperloop is a sealed tube or system of tubes through which a pod may travel free of air resistance or friction conveying people or objects at high speed while being very efficient

Complete Streets

a transportation policy and design approach that requires streets to be planned, designed, operated, and maintained to enable safe, convenient and comfortable travel and access for users of all ages and abilities regardless of their mode of transportation.

Roundabouts

a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is given to traffic already on the junction. Helps with traffic decongestion.

The "Big U" (or the "Dryline")

addresses New York City's vulnerability to coastal flooding with a protective ribbon in Southern Manhattan. The 12 km-long infrastructural barrier incorporates public space with the high-water barrier doubling as parks, seating, bicycle shelters or skateboard ramps. Embankments add green areas and spaces beneath elevated roadways are built out with pavilions for public use. In an emergency, the shutters close forming a flood water barrier.

Pier to Plate

an exciting new program, Pier to Plate, to create demand for lesser-known seafood. A small group of area restaurants, a fish market and a catering company will serve locally-caught dogfish and skate to their customers. Cape Cod small-boat fishermen sustainably catch "under-loved" species like skate and dogfish, also called Cape shark, in abundance right off our shores, but most of this plentiful, white fish is shipped overseas to restaurants in Europe and Asia. Pier to Plate is making a consistent supply of these healthy, delicious fish available locally for the first time. By ordering dogfish and skate, diners will be supporting sustainable fishing on Cape Cod, a healthy marine environment and a new local fish movement

Slow Food

an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds, and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It was the first established part of the broader slow movement. Its goals of sustainable foods and promotion of local small businesses are paralleled by a political agenda directed against globalization of agricultural products

Waste

based industries - is a provider of non-hazardous solid waste and recycling collection, transfer, and disposal company in the southeast United States. The company has over 1.9 million service points.The company is dedicated to creating a better world through its Full Circle Project. In 2007, Waste Industries also began the process of reducing its number of diesel trucks with compressed natural gas powered trucks. On October 10, 2018, the company announced its intentions to merge with a Canadian company for an undisclosed amount. The company will continue to operate as Waste Industries in the US and will be headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina

Water Plazas

can be placed in strategic places around the city and take different forms. In some areas they might be public squares, but the idea could be equally applied to playgrounds, skateparks or basketball courts. (Check out this short video to see how those can be combined, too. It's in Dutch, but you'll get the idea) The principle is the same - creating holding areas that catch water and soak it away in more controllable ways.

Monad Terrace (Miami Beach)

composed of fifty-nine individually designed waterfront luxury condos for sale in Miami (South Beach) arrayed around a glittering lagoon on Biscayne Bay, Monad Terrace provides brilliant light and expansive private outdoor space while being sheltered by climbing gardens that feature native Bougainvillea and Passion Vines. Nouvel artfully directs the play of daylight and water throughout the project. The flourishing and special neighborhood of South Beach Bay, minutes from the organic beauty and cultural attractions of all of Miami Beach, but with a character all its own, provides a natural setting for the unique waterfront living to be found at Monad Terrace.

The Bullitt Center (Seattle)

designed to have a 250-year lifespan.[1][2] In 2016, the Bullitt Center produced nearly 30 percent more energy than it needed for all uses, from the solar panels on its roof. As a result, it is one of the largest "net positive" energy buildings in the world. Energy is generated by a large solar panel array (composed of 575 panels) on the roof of the building, along with energy conservation measures that cut the building's energy consumption to approximately 15% of a typical office building of similar size

Rockwool (proposed WV manufacturing plant)

is a Denmark-based company that manufactures stone wool insulation. This type of product is used in buildings, industrial applications and acoustic ceilings. It's a fiber-based insulation produced from natural stone and recycled content. A year ago, the company announced it would build a second U.S. facility in Jefferson County, West Virginia. Their first U.S. plant was built in Marshall County, Mississippi. But several Jefferson County residents are concerned, because the plant is being built just a few miles from four public schools and will have a smokestack that will release a range of chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene.

Sewer mining

is a concept where municipal wastewater (sewage) is pumped from a trunk sewer and treated on-site to accommodate a range of local, non potable water needs.[1] It is a strategy for combating water scarcity. It combines decentralized wastewater management and water reclamation.[1] Since 2012, it is used as a tool for improving water management and promoting reuse of water in Australia.[2]

American Copper Buildings (NYC)

is a dual-tower residential skyscraper in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The building was developed by JDS Development and Largo and was designed by SHoP Architects.[2] The building is one of several major collaborations between JDS and SHoP; others include 111 West 57th Street,[3] also in Manhattan, and 9 DeKalb Avenue,[4] in Brooklyn

Monterey Bay Aquarium

is a nonprofit public aquarium in Monterey, California. Known for its regional focus on the marine habitats of Monterey Bay, it was the first to exhibit a living kelp forest when it opened in October 1984. Its biologists have pioneered the animal husbandry of jellyfish and it was the first to successfully care for and display a great white shark. The organization's research and conservation efforts also focus on sea otters, various birds, and tunas. Seafood Watch, a sustainable seafood advisory list published by the aquarium beginning in 1999, has influenced the discussion surrounding sustainable seafood.

Import Substitution/Replacement

is a trade and economic policy which advocates replacing foreign imports with domestic production.[1] ISI is based on the premise that a country should attempt to reduce its foreign dependency through the local production of industrialized products. The term primarily refers to 20th-century development economics policies, although it has been advocated since the 18th century

Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED)

is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge, London, England. It is in the London Borough of Sutton, 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town of Sutton itself. Designed to create zero carbon emissions, it was the first large scale community to do so.[1]

Aquafence

is constructed of marine-grade laminate panels engineered with edge reinforcements, structural supports, and flexible membranes. The interlocking blue panels can be flat-packed and stored within mere minutes. Their initial cost is comparable to sandbags (a panel costs between $300 and $700 a linear foot), but AquaFence can be reused up to 60 times. It also can take well over 100 people twelve hours to set up sandbags, whereas ten people can install or dismantle 150 feet of AquaFence barricade per hour.

Xeriscaping

is landscaping and gardening that reduces or eliminates the need for supplemental water from irrigation.[1] It is promoted in regions that do not have easily accessible, plentiful, or reliable supplies of freshwater, and is gaining acceptance in other areas as access to water becomes more limited. Xeriscaping may be an alternative to various types of traditional gardening

Bird Friendly Glass

is specially designed to make glass a visible obstacle to birds. ... A variety of approaches, such as fritting, silk-screening, or ultraviolet coating, create a pattern that breaks up the reflectivity of the glass and alerts birds to its presence.

Indirect Potable Reuse

is the blending of advanced treated, recycled or reclaimed water into a natural water source (groundwater basin or reservoir) that could be used for drinking (potable) water after further treatment.

Membrane bioreactor (MBR)

is the combination of a membrane process like microfiltration or ultrafiltration with a biological wastewater treatment process, the activated sludge process. It is now widely used for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment.[1]

Photovoltaic (PV) panels/energy

is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. A photovoltaic system employs solar panels, each comprising a number of solar cells, which generate electrical power. PV installations may be ground-mounted, rooftop mounted or wall mounted. The mount may be fixed, or use a solar tracker to follow the sun across the sky. Solar PV has specific advantages as an energy source: once installed, its operation generates no pollution and no greenhouse gas emissions, it shows simple scalability in respect of power needs and silicon has large availability in the Earth's crust.[1]

Solar hot water heating

is the conversion of sunlight into heat for water heating using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for residential and some industrial applications.[1] A sun-facing collector heats a working fluid that passes into a storage system for later use. SWH are active (pumped) and passive (convection-driven). They use water only, or both water and a working fluid. They are heated directly or via light-concentrating mirrors. They operate independently or as hybrids with electric or gas heaters.[2] In large-scale installations, mirrors may concentrate sunlight into a smaller collector.

Geothermal energy

is the heat from the Earth. It's clean and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth's surface, and down even deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma.

Solar Bike Paths/SolaRoad

is the world's first bike path made from solar panels, and is a prototype project testing the feasibility of various proposals for smart highways. The 72-metre (236 ft) path opened in the week of 21 October 2014,[1] and was designed by a consortium of organizations, which built the pathway in Krommenie, Netherlands.

Dark Sky Lighting

it's a campaign to help reduce the amount of light pollution. Light pollution is mostly caused by the overuse of poorly designed lighting fixtures. ... Here's a 101 on making sure your modern outdoor lighting is Dark Sky Compliant. Bonus: All of the lights featured in this post are Dark Sky friendly.

Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility (SMURRF)

one of the finest examples of the future of dealing with polluted stormwater/urban runoff to the maximum extent possible to protect our coastal waters for future generations. The project is a joint effort of the City of Los Angeles and the City of Santa Monica. treats dry weather runoff water (from excessive irrigation, spills, construction sites, pool draining, car washing, the washing down of paved areas, and some initial wet weather runoff) that used to go directly into Santa Monica Bay through storm drains, taking with it pollutants such as litter, oil and animal waste -- anything that finds its way onto a surface exposed to runoff.

CitiBikes (New York)

privately-owned bicycle share program.

Positive Energy Buildings

produces more energy from renewable energy sources, over the course of a year, than it imports from external sources. This is achieved using a combination of microgeneration technology and low-energy building techniques, such as: passive solar building design, insulation and careful site selection and placement. A reduction of modern conveniences can also contribute to energy savings, however many energy-plus houses are almost indistinguishable from a traditional home, preferring instead to use highly energy-efficient appliances, fixtures, etc., throughout the house.

The Intervale (Burlington, VT): a dynamic non

profit in Burlington, VT that implements innovative, replicable and place-based solutions to address some of global agriculture's most pressing problems. We are transforming the food system from one that is degrading, anonymous and industrial, to one that is restorative, familiar and human-scale. We are working to foster a local food economy that is good for people and the planet.

Passive Survivability

refers to the building's ability to maintain critical life-support conditions in the event of extended loss of power, heating fuel, or water.[1] This is proposing that in a disaster situation whether it be a storm that causes a power outage and is unable to keep the interior of the building cool in severe climates, a drought which limits water supply, or the gas pipes get disconnected and the building is without gas, designers should incorporate ways in which the building is then capable of continuing to shelter the inhabitants for an extended period of time.

Oyster

tecture - envisions an active oyster reef that diversifies aqueous marine life and recreational potential in the New York Harbor. The project was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 2009 for the Rising Currents exhibition, an initiative to develop adaptation strategies for New York City in the face of climate change and sea level rise.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the world's largest cities, with a population of 18.89 million people in the Greater Dhaka Area.[14][7][15] It is also one of the most densely populated city in the world. Dhaka is the economic, political and cultural center of Bangladesh. It is one of the major cities of South Asia, the largest city in Eastern South Asia and among the Bay of Bengal countries; and one of the largest cities among OIC countries. As part of the Bengal plain, the city is bounded by the Buriganga River, Turag River, Dhaleshwari River and Shitalakshya River. The city is located in an eponymous district and division

Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RIDE) Project

the first tidal energy project to be issued a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).[2]The first of three phases of the project was prototype testing from 2002 until 2006 when the phase 2 demonstration began. The six full-scale tidal turbines installed in the river bed constituted the "world's first operation of a grid-connected tidal turbine array".[3] They provided power for a Gristedes supermarket and the adjacent Motorgate parking garage on Roosevelt Island.

Oslo Opera House

the home of The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the national opera theatre in Norway. The building is situated in the Bjørvika neighbourhood of central Oslo, at the head of the Oslofjord. It is operated by Statsbygg, the government agency which manages property for the Norwegian government. The structure contains 1,100 rooms in a total area of 38,500 m2(414,000 sq ft). The main auditorium seats 1,364 and two other performance spaces can seat 200 and 400. The main stage is 16 m (52 ft) wide and 40 m (130 ft) deep.[2] The angled exterior surfaces of the building are covered with marble from Carrara, Italy and white granite and make it appear to rise from the water. It is the largest cultural building constructed in Norway since Nidarosdomen was completed circa 1300.

Rockefellers 100 Resilient Cities

to help more cities build resilience to the physical, social, and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. Cities in the 100RC network are provided with the resources necessary to develop a roadmap to resilience along four main pathways: Financial and logistical guidance for establishing an innovative new position in city government, a Chief Resilience Officer, who will lead the city's resilience efforts; Expert support for development of a robust Resilience Strategy; Access to solutions, service providers, and partners from the private, public and NGO sectors who can help them develop and implement their Resilience Strategies; and Membership of a global network of member cities who can learn from and help each other.

Passive Solar

windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unlike active solar heating systems, it does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices.[1] The key to design a passive solar building is to best take advantage of the local climate performing an accurate site analysis. Elements to be considered include window placement and size, and glazing type, thermal insulation, thermal mass, and shading.[2] Passive solar design techniques can be applied most easily to new buildings, but existing buildings can be adapted or "retrofitted".

Forest Bathing (Shinrin

yoku) - Shinrin-yoku is a term that means "taking in the forest atmosphere" or "forest bathing." It was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine. Researchers primarily in Japan and South Korea have established a robust body of scientific literature on the health benefits of spending time under the canopy of a living forest. Now their research is helping to establish shinrin-yoku and forest therapy throughout the world. The idea is simple: if a person simply visits a natural area and walks in a relaxed way there are calming, rejuvenating and restorative benefits to be achieved.

The Vertical Farm (Dickson Despomier)

"The vertical farm is a world-changing innovation whose time has come. Dickson Despommier's visionary book provides a blueprint for securing the world's food supply and at the same time solving one of the gravest environmental crises facing us today."--Sting. Imagine a world where every town has their own local food source, grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to nature's grocery store - imagine the world of the vertical farm. When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought up. Despommier's stroke of genius, the vertical farm, has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Despommier explains how the vertical farm will have an incredible impact on changing the face of this planet for future generations. Despommier takes readers on an incredible journey inside the vertical farm, buildings filled with fruits and vegetables that will provide local food sources for entire cities. Vertical farms will allow us to: Grow food 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Protect crops from unpredictable and harmful weather. Re-use water collected from the indoor environment. Provide jobs for residents. Eliminate use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides. Drastically reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Prevent crop loss due to shipping or storage. Stop agricultural runoff. Vertical farms can be built in abandoned buildings and on deserted lots, transforming our cities into urban landscapes which will provide fresh food grown and harvested just around the corner.

Solatube

A Solatube Daylighting System is an amazingly simple and affordable way to brighten any dark room in your home or office. Using our revolutionary design, you can capture sunlight on your rooftop, redirect it down a highly reflective shaft and diffuse it throughout your interior space.

Arcata, CA

Arcata, originally Union Town or Union, is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2010 census, Arcata's population was 17,231. Arcata, located 280 miles north of San Francisco, is home to Humboldt State University.

BioWorks (Kolding, Denmark)

As part of an urban renewal project, a rundown area behind several housing blocks in Kolding was redeveloped for an ecological wastewater treatment plant powered by electricity from photovoltaic cells. The heart of the Bio-works is this four-storey pyramid containing a series of ponds on different levels stocked with algae, plankton and fish. Waste water from neighbouring houses filters down through the ponds to end up purified in an adjoining reed bed. Some of the cleaned water is recycled back to the houses (but not for drinking). The ponds inside the Bio-works grow plants and flowers for sale.

Greywater (v. Blackwater)

Blackwater is wastewater from bathrooms and toilets that contain fecal matter and urine. Also called sewage or brown water, it can carry disease causing bacteria that are harmful to man. ... Greywater is wastewater that comes from sinks, washing machines, and bathtubs.

Brooklyn Grange

Brooklyn Grange is the leading rooftop farming and intensive green roofing business in the US. We operate the world's largest rooftop soil farms, located on two roofs in New York City, and grow over 50,000 lbs of organically-cultivated produce per year. We also operate an apiary, keeping bees in over 30 naturally-managed honey bee hives, on roofs dispersed throughout NYC. In addition to growing and distributing fresh local vegetables and herbs, Brooklyn Grange also hosts events and educational programming, provides urban farming and green roof consulting and installation services to clients worldwide, and partners with numerous non-profit organizations throughout New York to promote healthy and strong local communities.

Singapore's Smooth

Coated Otters - Smooth-coated otters are often sighted in our mangroves, mudflats and coastal areas. Such as at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Pasir Ris, Pulau Ubin as well as Changi. According to Baker, in Singapore, they are also reported from the Western Catchment Area. It was previously known as Lutra perspicillata.

Oasia Downtown Hotel

Designed by noted architecture firm WOHA, the 27-storey 314-room Oasia Hotel Downtown is a breath of fresh air and welcomed greenery in Singapore's Central Business District. A true respite in the city, the tropical skyscraper is refreshingly sleek inside, thanks to the modern functionalist style of architect and renowned designer, Patricia Urquiola.

Drift card releases

Drift cards are often released as part of an oil spill response exercise or drill. Our goal in releasing the cards is to gather information about the possible drift of an oil spill. Drift cards can also indicate where other things, such as stricken fishing boats, marine debris, plankton, or even sewage, might drift. Drift card studies have a number of benefits to us. They are inexpensive, allow us to do a small study over a broad range of environmental conditions and over a fairly long period of time, and give us the advantage of volunteer assistants.

Falling Fruit

Falling Fruit is a massive, collaborative map of the urban harvest. By uniting the efforts of foragers, freegans, and foresters everywhere, the map already points to over a half million food sources around the world (from plants and fungi to water wells and dumpsters). Our rapidly growing user community is actively exploring, editing, and adding to the map.

Food Miles

Food miles is the distance food is transported from the time of its production until it reaches the consumer. Food miles are one factor used when assessing the environmental impact of food, including the impact on global warming. The concept of food miles originated in the early 2018s in the United Kingdom.

School Daylighting

For several years, educators and school designers, convinced by research that daylighting can improve a learning environment, have pursued strategies that enable natural light to permeate classrooms and other parts of a school facility.

Fredensreich Hundertwasser

Friedrich Stowasser, better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser, was an Austrian-born New Zealand artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection.

Gotham Whale (NYC)

Gotham Whale is a source of education, advocacy, and science for the inhabitants of New York, terrestrial and marine. We contribute to the improving health of New York's marine environment, for the betterment of both humans and whales.

Stream Daylighting

In urban design and urban planning, daylighting is the redirection of a stream into an above-ground channel. Typically, the rationale behind daylighting is to revert a stream of water to a more natural state, for the purposes of runoff reduction, habitat creation for species in need of it, or for aesthetic purposes.

Industrial Symbiosis

Industrial symbiosis is a central part of a circular economy, a model in which resources and energy are recycled and recovered instead of moving linearly from extraction to disposal. Industrial Symbiosis a subset of industrial ecology. It describes how a network of diverse organizations can foster eco-innovation and long-term culture change, create and share mutually profitable transactions - and improve business and technical processes.

Naked Streets/Intersections

Involves the removal of all hard safety measures, including safety barriers, traffic lights, warning signs, speed humps, pedestrian crossings and road markings. These are all replaced with road surfaces that do not clearly distinguish between vehicle and pedestrian space, ambiguity in defining traffic rules, and a street environment that fosters eye contact and human interaction. WOONERF

Joel Salatin and Polyface Farm

Joel F. Salatin is an American farmer, lecturer, and author whose books include Folks, This Ain't Normal; You Can Farm; and Salad Bar Beef. Salatin raises livestock using holistic management methods of animal husbandry on his Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley.

Kalundborg, Denmark

Kalundborg is a Danish city with a population of 16,523, the main town of the municipality of the same name and the site of its municipal council. It is situated on the northwestern coast of the largest Danish island, Zealand, on the opposite, eastern side of which lies Copenhagen, 110 km away.

Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH)

Khoo Teck Puat Hospital is a 660-bed hospital located at Yishun in Singapore. The hospital was officially opened by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on 15 November 2010, but began seeing outpatients and day surgery patients on 28 March 2010.

Singapore's Landscape Replacement Policy

Landscape replacement policy for buildings to include vertical greens, rooftop farms: URA. Singapore's greenery landscape replacement policy for buildings will be enhanced to allow vertical greenery, inaccessible green roofs and rooftop urban farms as additional options.

Living Machines

Living Machine is a trademark and brand name for a patented form of ecological sewage treatment designed to mimic the cleansing functions of wetlands.

Urban Hardwoods (Seattle)

Made from salvaged trees. Our furniture is made using trees felled from Seattle neighbourhoods due to hazard or declining health.

Meadow Creek Stream Restoration

Meadow Creek, one of the city's major waterways, was selected to undergo a significant stream restoration. The restoration will result in a stable stream system and improved water quality, as well as enhanced aquatic habitat and aesthetic values.

Green Cycle Routes (Copenhagen)

On this podwalk - or rather podride - you experience the city ' on the inside ' and passes a number of places where the new architecture, new seats and new parks now alter the sight. With on the tour is the then mayors Mads Lebech and Klaus Bondam, which tells about the vision for the city's development, and on how the Copenhagen must become the world's number 1 bicycling city.

Patrick Blanc

Patrick Blanc is a French botanist, working at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, where he specializes in plants from tropical forests.

Phipps Conservatory (Pittsburgh)

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden set in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a City of Pittsburgh historic landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Pier Into the Night

Pier Into the Night invites adults and kids to observe marine activity that occurs in the Puget Sound from a night-time perspective. Submersible lights are anchored off the end of Jerisich dock to illuminate underwater activity in Gig Harbor Bay. In the same way that porch lights attract insects, the underwater lights attract marine species that are seldom seen during the day including ambushing squid, sparkling ctenophores, and wriggling sea worms!

Roger Ulrich

Roger Ulrich, PhD, is perhaps the most cited and influential evidence-based healthcare design researcher in the world. His studies have been lauded for their scientific rigor, and his findings continue to be readily implemented by healthcare managers, clinicians, design practitioners, and policy makers in the United States and abroad. Without question, Ulrich's work has directly impacted the design of many billions of dollars of hospital construction, and improved the safety and health outcomes of patients across the globe.

Slow Cities

Slow Cities have less traffic, less noise, fewer crowds, less pollution. They aim to be litter- and graffiti-free. Members encourage diversity, support local culture and traditions, buy local produce and products, work for a more sustainable environment and encourage healthy living. A Slow City prefers local shops to homogenous shopping centres; it encourages people to talk to one another and "get back to basics"

Ocean Sprawl

So-called ocean spatial planning seeks to balance development and ocean protection by using science to identify the most delicate ocean areas and directing industry elsewhere.

Cape Town/Day Zero

South Africa's drought-stricken Cape Town has pushed back its estimate for "Day Zero," when taps in the city run dry and people start queuing for water, to 2019 from August of this year, and data show dam levels rising elsewhere in the country. ... Elsewhere, the water situation has been improving.

Community

Supported Art - is an exciting new model of art support and distribution for artists that establishes relationships with local collectors and patrons. ... Each member share includes one piece from each of the nine CSA featured artist works over the season at pick-up events.

Community

Supported Fisheries (CSF's) - an alternative business model for selling fresh, locally sourced seafood. CSF programs, modeled after increasingly popular community-supported agriculture programs, offer members weekly shares of fresh seafood for a pre-paid membership fee. The first CSF program was started in Port Clyde, Maine, in 2007, and similar CSF programs have since been started across the United States and in Europe. Community supported fisheries aim to promote a positive relationship between fishermen, consumers, and the ocean by providing high-quality, locally caught seafood to members. CSF programs began as a method to help marine ecosystems recover from the effects of overfishing while maintaining a thriving fishing community.

Austin's Mexican Free

Tailed Bats - The Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat is a medium-sized bat that is native to the Americas, regarded as one of the most abundant mammals in North America. Its proclivity towards roosting in huge numbers at relatively few locations makes it vulnerable to habitat destruction in spite of its abundance.

The BeltLine (Atlanta)

The BeltLine is a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia, under development in stages as a multi-use trail. Some portions are already complete, while others are still in a rough state but hikeable.

London Congestion Charge

The Congestion Charge is an £11.50 daily charge for driving a vehicle within the charging zone between 07:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday.

Flint, MI

The Flint water crisis first started in 2014 when the drinking water source for the city of Flint, Michigan was changed from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the cheaper Flint River. Due to insufficient water treatment, lead leached from the lead water pipes into the drinking water, exposing over 100,000 residents.

Hundertwasser House (Vienna)

The Hundertwasserhaus is an apartment house in Vienna, Austria, built after the idea and concept of Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser with architect Joseph Krawina as a co-author. This expressionist landmark of Vienna is located in the Landstraße district on the corner of Kegelgasse and Löwengasse.

Miami's Underline

The Underline will connect communities, improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety, create over 120 acres of open space with restored natural habitats, encourage a healthy lifestyle, provide an easily accessible place to exercise, create a mobility corridor that integrates transit, car, biking and walking, provide a 10-mile canvas for artistic expression, attract development along US1, and generate significant economic impact.

Landscaping Rebates (Cash for Grass)

The Waterworks Districts offer customers a rebate for removing water-inefficient grass with drought tolerant landscaping. The Rebate Program assists customers with reducing their overall water consumption.

Biophilia

The biophilia hypothesis also called BET suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book, Biophilia. He defines biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life".

Blue Urbanism

The book explores issues ranging from urban design and land use, to resource extraction and renewable energy, to educating urbanites about the wonders of marine life. Beatley looks at how emerging practices like "community supported fisheries" and aquaponics can provide a sustainable alternative to industrial fishing practices. Other chapters delve into incentives for increasing use of wind and tidal energy as renewable options to oil and gas extraction that damages ocean life, and how the shipping industry is becoming more "green." Additionally, urban citizens, he explains, have many opportunities to interact meaningfully with the ocean, from beach cleanups to helping scientists gather data.

Kids in the Canyon

The group takes kids from a sometimes tough environment and trains them over several months to hike the Grand Canyon. But Kids in the Canyon is about much more than the climb. It's about community, responsibility and stopping at-risk teenagers from becoming statistics. Teens like Maria Gaskell of Central Falls.

Oyster Gardening

The idea is to raise Eastern oysters — the Bay's native oyster species — in cages or floats attached to docks. These oysters are later returned to the Bay to help replenish the once-teeming population, which has been decimated by disease, poor water quality, and overfishing.

Extensive Green Roof (v. an Intensive Green Roof)

The intensive green roof uses planting mediums that have greater depth than the extensive green roof. This deeper soil allows intensive roofs to accommodate large plants and dramatic plant groupings. Another term for these green roofs is "rooftop garden."

Brooklyn Bridge Forest

The much-loved wooden boardwalk of the historic Brooklyn Bridge will need to be replaced soon. The traditional material- chosen for strength and beauty - is naturally durable tropical hardwood. Unfortunately, tropical hardwood is often obtained in ways that encourage rainforest destruction, and harm local cultures and economies. Rather than using a substitute material (like plastic lumber), we propose an innovative strategy to use ethically sourced hardwood. A dedicated Brooklyn Bridge Forest would be endowed by sponsors like you, and managed and harvested in a way that surpasses even the strictest global standards. This sustainable forest would ensure that the Promenade boardwalk has the wood it needs for centuries to come, and that the global environment has a new and powerful ally in the people of New York City and the friends of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Perth Urban Wetland

A Wetland is a freshwater ecology which is home to plant and animal species once common throughout Perth, including native fish, frogs and invertebrates. It has a stage making it an ideal spot for events, and steps which provide seating for audiences or passers-by looking for a peaceful spot to relax.

100 Mile Diet

A Year of Local Eating is a non-fiction book written by Canadian writers Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. In the book, the authors recount their experiences, including motivations and challenges, on restricting their diet, for one year, to include only foods grown within 100 miles of their residence.

Food Deserts

A food desert is an area, especially one with low-income residents, that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. In contrast, an area with supermarkets or vegetable shops is a food oasis.

London's Ecological Footprint

A location's ecological footprint is a measure of the land needed to support human activity in a particular area. This report examines ecological footprinting and its contribution to measuring our impact on the environment.

Rain Gardens

A rain garden is a garden of native shrubs, perennials, and flowers planted in a small depression, which is generally formed on a natural slope. It is designed to temporarily hold and soak in rain water runoff that flows from roofs, driveways, patios or lawns.

Chimney Swift Towers

Across the state, volunteers and bird lovers are taking swift action to help protect Audubon North Carolina's Bird Friendly Communities 2016 Bird of the Year - the Chimney Swift. Chimney Swifts are in steep decline, and the chimneys where they roost are rapidly disappearing as old chimneys are capped or torn down.

Global Cooling Prize

An innovation competition to develop a climate-friendly residential cooling solution that can provide access to cooling to people around the world without warming the planet

Bishan

Ang Mo Kia Park - Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park is a major park in Singapore, located in the popular heartland of Bishan. Serving the residents of Bishan and Ang Mo Kio, the park sits entirely within Bishan, running along the Ang Mo Kio-Bishan boundary line, which is situated at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1.

Bird Friendly Design Guidelines

Bird friendly strategies for windows deter birds by making glass more visible, making it appear as if spaces are too small to fly through, and/or by reducing reflections.

Credit Valley Hospital (Toronto)

Credit Valley Hospital is a regional hospital located in Mississauga, Ontario. Officially opened on November 5, 1985, it is now part of the Trillium Health Partners hospital group and primarily serves the communities of north Mississauga: Streetsville, Meadowvale, Erin Mills and the surrounding area.

Edmonton, Canada

Edmonton, capital of Canada's Alberta province, sits on the North Saskatchewan River. Its past is recreated at Fort Edmonton Park, a living history museum with an 1846 fort and streets from 1885, 1905 and 1920. The city's contemporary landmarks include the Royal Alberta Museum, with aboriginal-culture and natural-history galleries, and the futuristic-looking Art Gallery of Alberta, known for its First Nations art.

Eco

Enterprise Center (Minneapolis) - The Green Institute's flagship and a national model of comprehensive sustainable design. The building was a pilot for and helped inform the creation of the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), which has in the last ten years risen within the green building movement as the preeminent national green building standard

Circular Metabolism (v. Linear Metabolism)

Urban metabolism - from linear to circular. ... The main difference lies on the fact that nature essentially has a circular zero-waste metabolism where every output by an organism is also an input which replenishes and sustains the whole living environment.

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

a type of wind turbine where the main rotor shaft is set transverse to the wind (but not necessarily vertically) while the main components are located at the base of the turbine. This arrangement allows the generator and gearbox to be located close to the ground, facilitating service and repair. VAWTs do not need to be pointed into the wind,[1][2] which removes the need for wind-sensing and orientation mechanisms. Major drawbacks for the early designs (Savonius, Darrieus and giromill) included the significant torque variation or "ripple" during each revolution, and the large bending moments on the blades. Later designs addressed the torque ripple issue by sweeping the blades helically

Capital City Bikeshare

all owned by these local governments and operated in a public-private partnership with Motivate International. Opened in September 2010, the system was the largest bike sharing service in the United States until New York City's Citi Bike began operations in May 2013.

Road Diets

also called a lane reduction or road rechannelization, is a technique in transportation planning whereby the number of travel lanes and/or effective width of the road is reduced in order to achieve systemic improvements.

Living Building Challenge

an international sustainable building certification program created in 2006 by the non-profit International Living Future Institute.[1] It is described by the Institute as a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification program that promotes the most advanced measurement of sustainability in the built environment.[2] It can be applied to development at all scales, from buildings - both new construction and renovation - to infrastructure, landscapes, neighborhoods and communities and differs from other green certification schemes

Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP)

born 25 years ago out of a desire to prevent night-migrating birds from flying into the lights shining from office towers. FLAP soon learned that window collisions during the day far eclipsed the night-time issue...both in homes and corporate buildings. Since then all our efforts have been poured into protecting migratory birds from the life-threatening dangers of human-created environments.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

bus-based public transport system designed to improve capacity and reliability relative to a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes roadways that are dedicated to buses, and gives priority to buses at intersections where buses may interact with other traffic; alongside design features to reduce delays caused by passengers boarding or leaving buses, or purchasing fares.

iNaturalist

iNaturalist is a citizen science project and online social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its website or from its mobile applications.

Negative Emissions

refers to a number of technologies, the objective of which is the large-scale removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.[1][2] Among such technologies are bio-energy with carbon capture and storage, biochar, ocean fertilization, enhanced weathering, and direct air capture when combined with storage.[1] CDR is a different approach than removing CO2 from the stack emissions of large fossil fuel point sources, such as power stations. The latter reduces emission to the atmosphere but cannot reduce the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. As CDR removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it creates negative emissions, offsetting emissions from small and dispersed point sources such as domestic heating systems, airplanes and vehicle exhausts.[3][4] It is regarded by some as a form of climate engineering,[1] while other commentators describe it as a form of carbon capture and storage or extreme mitigation.[5] Whether CDR would satisfy common definitions of "climate engineering" or "geoengineering" usually depends upon the scale on which it would be undertaken.

Gotham Greens

technologically advanced, urban greenhouse facilities, located in New York City and Chicago, provide our customers with a year-round, local supply of premium quality, pesticide-free produce grown under the highest standards of food safety and environmental sustainability

NEWater (Singapore)

the brand name given to reclaimed water produced by Singapore's Public Utilities Board. More specifically, it is treated wastewater (sewage) that has been purified using dual-membrane (via microfiltration and reverse osmosis) and ultraviolet technologies, in addition to conventional water treatment processes. The water is potable and is consumed by humans, but is mostly used by industries requiring high purity water.