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According to a comprehensive study of bumblebees in the US, the populations of four of the most common species have declined by 96% in the last few decades, and their geographic ranges have declined 23%-87% in the past twenty-odd years. And the shocking figures are not unique to the US; in the UK, three of 25 bumblebee species are already extinct, and half of the remaining species have shown......read more
Philips, the multinational Dutch electronics giant, made a big splash at the recent Dutch Design Week with its innovative Microbial Home, a net-zero vision of household appliances and fixtures that all work together in an "integrated cyclical ecosystem." Aside from the Bio-digester -- the design's main hub -- which converts solid kitchen and human waste (ewww) to methane gas......read more
Created by Brooklyn filmmaker Keith Ehrlich, the excellent web series Made By Hand profiles various pockets of artisinal activity around New York City. The latest episode departs from the black-and-white look of the first two episodes, with a beautifully shot, sun-soaked view of a rooftop beekeeping operation in Brooklyn. Local farmer Megan Paska has witnessed beekeeping as it......read more
When esteemed architecture firm Foster + Partners first unveiled its plans for Masdar, “the world’s first zero-carbon city†on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, it was dismissed by many as gimmicky, a Disneyland-ish attempt at sustainable planning. Well, the first phase of the Masdar development is complete, and the design's technical brilliance is dispelling those early......read more
Christoph Gielen's aerial studies of suburban land use patterns provide a revealing perspective on the sprawl that dominates America's built landscape. Shot from a helicopter, the abstract and geometric patterns look almost otherworldly, forcing the viewer to evaluate the artificiality and unsustainability of suburban 'hoods and highway infrastructure. “With these pictures, I......read more
What can the world's poorest 'hoods teach us about city planning? Lots, according to architects and urban designers Pavlina Ilieva and Kuo Pao Lian. Grist discusses sustainable urban design lessons from the slums. It's a Tree Life: The first offline project from The Cool Hunter will feature tree homes designed by top architects from around the globe. The exhibition is slated to......read more
James Bowthorpe is bad ass. Last year, in a bid to raise awareness for Parkinson's, he rode his bike around the world in 174 days, setting a new world record. Earlier this fall, he built a boat from construction waste and rowed it down the Thames. Now he's doing the same thing on the Hudson River. Feel lazy now? Same. Read an interview with the man at Nowness. Everyone is going off......read more
The second section of New York City's elevated urban park has officially opened to the public. Built on the disused elevated railroad running through Manhattan, the mile-long High Line is a marvelous example of reclaiming urban space for the greater (and greener) good of the city. The park and walkway, which was designed by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, runs from......read more
While American cities tend to bend over backwards to accommodate vehicle traffic, cities in Europe are going the opposite direction, making planning changes that make it prohibitively annoying and expensive (if not downright illegal) to drive cars in the inner city. NYT environment reporter Elizabeth Rosenthal discusses the traffic-tormenting situation in Europe: Cities including......read more
We hear a lot about the "liveability" of cities. The Economist, Monocle, Business Week, all of them have their own an annual index of city liveability. But what about sustainability? What makes a city sustainable? In a recent interview, Harvard Professor Joan Busquets expounds on the idea. The former head planner of Barcelona says that cities are sustainable when natural geographic features......read more
