Tag: Urban

Urban Farming NYC Style

In the city of the future will be cows, and grass, and clean air! Urban farming is not a new idea as there are already plenty of community gardens in urban centers. The scale that is being suggested by a professor at Columbia University has not been tried before – farming in skyscrapers.

Imagine a cluster of 30-story towers on Governors Island or in Hudson Yards producing fruit, vegetables, and grains while also generating clean energy and purifying wastewater. Roughly 150 such buildings, Despommier estimates, could feed the entire city of New York for a year. Using current green building systems, a vertical farm could be self-sustaining and even produce a net output of clean water and energy.

Via TreeHugger

Cyclists and Pollution

TreeHugger has a summary of what cyclists can do to protect their lungs from car pollution. If you’re worried about cycling in cities because of pollution, just remember that the health (and environmental) pros of cycling outweigh the cons.

By cycling instead of driving or taking public transport, you are doing your part to keep the air clean. The problem is that you have to cycle through all the pollution created by people who aren’t making any effort.

The Spacing Wire has information on what Canadians can do to get the federal government to support cycling.

Roundabouts Save Fuel

Some research in the USA that examined intersections that switched from stoplights to a roundabout proves that roundabouts are greener.

Intersections with roundabouts generated between 55% and 61% less carbon dioxide, depending on the time of day. Emissions of hydrocarbons, also greenhouse gases, dropped by between 62% and 68%. His paper, which is admittedly a bit of tough read, is here.

Less Smog, More Design

odd sculptureElegant Embellishments has created some groovy tiles that clean the air and add some aesthetic flair in cities. The tiles are still being developed, but this idea is really cool. The tiles are modular and can be mounted as a stand alone sculpture or attached to a building.

The technology behind the tiles is still being tweaked. Essentially, the tiles absorb pollutants that are generated from cars that lead to smog, while letting other gasses float on by. The tiles need to be located near the pollution source in order to be the most effective of course.

“The tiles provide councils, developers, and designers with an easy way simultaneously to improve the air quality and visual appeal of urban spaces. A London- and Berlin-based, interdisciplinary collaboration between innovators and materials manufacturers, architects and city councils, Elegant Embellishments produces lo-tech, interactive tiles in all shapes and sizes together with Millenium Chemicals TiO2. The tiles are modular and can thus be assembled to cover any surface or create any shape desired.”

Stockholm Syndrome

from wikipedia The Toronto Star has an article about how Stockholm is dealing with traffic. They are going to vote on permanently implementing a congestion charge like London’s. They performed a pilot test for the charge and people hated the idea, then people saw the benefits of a congestion charge and opinion switched quickly.

The article does a bit of comparing and contrasting with Toronto, but concentrates on the good policies that Stockholm has adopted.

“”We have too many cars and too few roads,” says Soderholm. “We had to do something. Traffic was growing worse and people were getting more and more annoyed. For the Social Democrats, the environment was the primary concern. For the conservatives, it was to make Stockholm more attractive to business.”

The charges were in force from Jan. 3 to July 31. Though there were many exemptions, most drivers had to pay a fee ranging from $2 to $3.50, to a daily maximum of $10, every time they drove in and out of the designated zone. The fee applied Monday to Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The cost of the trial, about $500 million, was paid for by the national government.
Needless to say, the majority of Stockholmers were adamantly opposed to the fee when the idea was first raised last year.
“Resistance was highest before the program started,” says Gunnar Soderholm, Stockholm’s deputy chief executive officer. “Basically, the Green Party forced the ruling Social Democrats to support the congestion zone. A lot of Social Democrats thought it was political suicide. The media had also been strongly opposed to it, but switched immediately. People could see with their own eyes what the benefits were — better traffic and environmental conditions.”