This Big City is an award winning online publication sharing ideas for sustainable cities.
Our Tumblr is all about the short form and is curated from London and Taipei.
“We will see huge steel gates that automatically rise up from the earth to block floodwaters. River-mouth barrages, many kilometres long, will hold back storm surges, while giant self-inflating bags, that mould themselves to contours, will seal off tunnels and underground railways from encroaching water. Many people will live in houses that, quite literally, float up as the water rises, trailing flexible cables and pipes.”
Peter Madden’s vision of future cities.
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London’s Thames Barrier exists to protect the city from water. Should other cities be thinking about re-engineering themselves for flood resistance? We take a look in our latest post.
“We have drinking water in great quality for the rich, and water tanks for the poor. We can’t allow that inequality to continue any longer. We shouldn’t settle for drinking water within 100 metres from the home, people in Latin America should have drinking water in their home not once a week but all day, every day.”
José Carrera, Development Bank of Latin America
“There are two very stark things happening in this animation: the rapid development of Las Vegas into the desert and the dramatic reduction of water in the nearby Lake Powell reservoir. The connection between the two should be obvious.”
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We’re not maximising the potential of roads. Check out an awesome idea for reimagining roads on This Big City.
我們尚未將道路的潛能發揮至極，《城事》作者提出另一項構想。
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Could these rooftops be used to harvest water? Yep.
這些屋頂能否用來收集雨水？當然可以！
“Just like Henry Ford delivered cars out of his factory at an incredible pace, we can deliver customised CAD drawings and designs at a rate of about 1 every 10 minutes. In the foreseeable future, we could provide all the designs that the planet needs to provide clean water.”
Monroe Weber-Shirk on how his water treatment innovation is ready to change the world.
「一如福特（Henry Ford）能以極快速度生產汽車，我們每十分鐘即可量身訂做一份CAD設計圖，在不久的將來，我們將能提供世界各地所需的設計。」
Monroe Weber-Shirk說明，自己提出的創新水質處理技術如何改變世界。
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It might not look like much, but this technology has brought clean water to eight communities in Honduras. Read an interview with its creator on This Big City.
這項技術或許看似平凡無奇，卻已為宏都拉斯八個社區帶來淨水。發明者訪談請見《城事》。
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Philadelphia has some revolutionary plans for controlling stormwater. Read all about it on This Big City.
為了妥善處理水資源，美國費城規劃出與眾不同的方案。全文請見《城事》。
Water clock in Osaka station, Japan. Simply amazing.
日本大阪的水時鐘，好神奇
The Future City Is A Smarter City
via futureoftech:
“Proposals include natural water storage and filtering solutions such as rain gardens (native vegetation planted near waterways), kerbside planters and green rooftops. Porous asphalt, concrete and paving slabs will also be installed in car parks and on streets. Taken together, these technologies should prevent between 5 and 8 billion gallons of wastewater from overflowing each year – that’s up to 50% of the total for the area.”
Philadelphia is revolutionising the way it approaches storm water management.
