I accompanied Graham Haughton and his ‘Sustainable Communities’ class on a fieldtrip to see Saltaire, a old industrial town that has been regenerated as a sustainable urban development. There are some interesting tensions here between historic preservation and aims to improve the energy performance of buildings. We also visited the Greenhouse in Leeds, a refurbished building with impressive sustainability credentials.
A fascinating article in the New York Times about exploding manholes in Rio de Janeiro. The explosions occur when gases condense underground and interact with frayed and sparking electric lines. This results in dangerous conditions where urban infrastructure ‘bites back’.
My friend, Ric Frankland, has designed and built an inspiring housing prototype, Dwelle House, that has optimised performance in a small package. I visited during an open house and was impressed by the build quality and attention to detail.
A photo in the International Herald Tribune on 23 November 2012 showing a house in Wenling, an eastern Chinese city, in the middle of a new road (the homeowner refused to sell).
I recently visited Milan where I was invited to give a talk at Milan Polytechnic on ‘The University as Urban Catalyst: Facilitating Sustainable Development’. Thanks to Ciu Lui for the invitation. I also had the opportunity to check out some of the city and ran across the ancient canal network (currently drained for maintenance).
I recently visited Helsinki where I attended a conference at the Aalto Business School on ‘Energy and Society’. Fortuitously, my hotel was located directed in front of the Baana, an old subterranean rail line that has been converted into a hike and bike trail. It’s a Finnish interpretation on New York City’s High Line!
I attended the Royal Geographical Society annual meeting in Edinburgh where I presented a paper on ‘Zero Carbon Housing in England and the Emergence of Meso-Scale Energy Provision’. I stayed in one of the dormitories at the University of Edinburgh and the toilet in my room included the following sticker: ‘This is an eco fill toilet, please flush a second time if required.’
The 3 June 2012 issue of the Observer Magazine includes a new article by Catherine Deveney on the reemergence of microhydro in the UK. The article profiles landowners who have restarted ageing mill infrastructure or who have created new hydroelectric systems to harness water energy on their properties. The author also speculates on larger systems that could be run by communities. There are some interesting tensions on reaping the benefits of this renewable energy source versus the potential impacts on wildlife who use the waterways.
Gardiner Harris of The New York Times recently published a fascinating article about the increasing problem of monkeys in New Delhi. Packs of aggressive primates are harassing human residents while efforts to control the expanding populations are confounded by Hindi religious customs, individual behaviour (feeding the monkeys), lack of financing, and arguments over governmental responsibility.
The author Ernest Callenbach has passed away at the age of 83. He was well-known in environmental circles for his 1975 novel Ecotopia in which the Northwest US seceded from the rest of the country to form its own ecologically conscious nation. While some elements of the novel are a bit dated today, he contemplated many ideas about bioregional habitation that inspired thousands of writers, activists, and residents to reconsider and reconfigure their lives to create more improved futures.
Andrew Karvonen 