This Big City

“If a building’s only going to be used by office workers who go home by six, then there’s no point putting a solar heating system on the roof, just to win a point towards a good rating.”

—	Mili Majumdar on flawed sustainability ratings.

3 months ago 53 notes

“This is a significant achievement and Tokelau should be congratulated. Small island states around the world are in grave threat from climate change, aside from being extremely vulnerable to oil price shocks. Reducing dependence on importing fossil fuels will generate employment and free financial resources to invest in initiatives to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.”

—	Anne Wheldon congratulates the world’s first solar-powered state.

4 months ago 31 notes

As we prepare to say goodbye to 2012, we give you our ten most popular blog posts of the year. Happy new year everyone, and see you in 2013!

4 months ago 38 notes

Sustainable cities don’t just happen - they need good planning. We take a look back on the sustainable cities blogosphere in 2012 and 5 of the best blog posts about Planning.

4 months ago 77 notes

How can people contribute to the development of sustainable cities? (and does public karaoke count?) We take a look at 5 of the best blog posts on this topic in the first of our recaps of 2012.

4 months ago 48 notes

Solar panels? Green roof? Grey water recycling? This zero energy home has been touted as South Korea’s most sustainable.

7 months ago 112 notes

humanscalecities:

The above picture is a snapshot of the city of Indianapolis, as seen through its greenhouse gas emissions.

(…)

This image comes from the Hestia Project, a software system just developed by researchers at Arizona State University that can estimate greenhouse gas emissions across a city’s landscape, right down to its individual buildings and roadways.

7 months ago 71 notes

Solar panels and water recycling on the exterior, shared living space in the interior. Bevis Watts thinks it is the recipe for a future sustainable society.

7 months ago 101 notes

“As a society, our focus on sustainability is hugely biased towards environmental issues, on developing new products and technologies to address climate change. Yet the reality is, these solutions will not be effective unless we are all inspired as human beings to take more responsibility for our everyday lives and the decisions we make.”

—	Bevis Watts on creating a future sustainable society.

7 months ago 76 notes

Unsustainable building? Rather than tearing it down, why not encase it in a hyper-sustainable box like in Cambridge, Canada?

7 months ago 140 notes

How can new developments help encourage sustainable communities? Our latest tweetchat resulted in lots of ideas, but what do you think?

7 months ago 42 notes

Innovation is highly dependent on (informal) small scale meetings, often in public places such as coffee bars. So are coffee bars the magic ingredient for creating sustainable cities? Check out our post from Tallin.

7 months ago 17 notes

“Material reuse clearly is not just a simple task of force-fitting a material into a building for the sake of reuse: it is a viable, sustainable alternative to incorporating newly created materials, and can be done so in ways that are attractive and appealing.”

—	Adam Nowek on why material reuse should be commonplace in architecture.

7 months ago 23 notes

Today’s complex environmental problems require innovative solutions from all parties involved. Check out our latest post on recycling and reuse in the architectural industry.

7 months ago 33 notes

A traditional Parisian scene. But there’s some untraditional approaches to urban sustainability happening in the French capital. Read our latest post on urban algae farms for sustainability.

7 months ago 52 notes

#sustainability

“If a building’s only going to be used by office workers who go home by six, then there’s no point putting a solar heating system on the roof, just to win a point towards a good rating.”

“Material reuse clearly is not just a simple task of force-fitting a material into a building for the sake of reuse: it is a viable, sustainable alternative to incorporating newly created materials, and can be done so in ways that are attractive and appealing.”

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