Against all odds, municipalities, all over Greece, are in a race to propose projects for bioclimatic upgrading of public open spaces such as streets, squares, and parks. The “Bioclimatic upgrading for open public spaces” program is funded by the NSRF development program and guided by the Centre for Renewable Energy and Save (CRES). Its main [...]
When one thinks of a park, one usually imagines a large plot full of trees in the centre of the city with routes for walking or jogging, and shaded sitting areas where people can enjoy the fresh breeze during the hot summer days. But what happens in cities, like Thessaloniki, Greece, in which green spaces [...]
The Alley Flat Initiative is a collaborative project between the Gaudalupe Neighborhood Cooperation, the Austin Community Design and Development Center, and the University of Texas Center for Sustainable Development. The initiative’s goal is to demonstrate affordable and adaptable housing types with efficient design and sustainable technologies. The alley flats are “small, detached residential units, accessed [...]
Is rapid transit a key factor to unleashing a city’s economic potential? A new report from accounting giant KPMG indicates that this is certainly the case for Vancouver, British Columbia’s Broadway Corridor. The Corridor is a ten-kilometer stretch of roadway that spans the length between historic Commercial Drive and the largest university in Vancouver, the [...]
Work has been done to create “smart communities,” a concept which includes information technologies as indicators for future urban planning and development, but there is still some blurriness about what these transformations really intend to do. In a October 2007 report presented by Smart Cities in Europe, developed by the University of Ljubljana, Vienna University of Technology and Delft University [...]
Climate change is seen as the major problem of our generation, and confronting it will mean action on how energy is sourced and the levels of demand. In 1990, the United Kingdom signed an agreement for reducing emission levels at least 80% by 2050. The Northern Ireland government has set a bold target in relation [...]
What is the most effective method for rejuvenating neighborhoods that have seen chronic underinvestment for generations? This is a daunting question that major cities across the United States have struggled to answer for decades. While there may be no easy answer, the City of Chicago believes that they have developed a unique approach that will [...]
Easy access to a hospital is vital to a good hospital design. When we say “easy access,” we are referring to the ease with which cars and ambulances can access a hospital, especially considering emergency situations. Is this easy access concept possible for Athens, Greece – a city of approximately ten million people? Athens’s residents [...]
Science centers matter because they encourage some of the most memorable out-of-classroom learning experiences both throughout and after childhood. The imagination has an opportunity to explore itself, and ideas have the opportunity to linger in these non-profit havens. No matter how large or small, entire regions flock to these venues with reason: with each visit, [...]
Historically, port cities located their industrial zones near the waterfront for the convenience of transporting goods. Often times, highways or railroads were later constructed near the industrial waterfront. But as contemporary manufacturing and shipping processes are significantly more efficient and require less space (since transportation moved from bulk to shipping containers), these port cities are [...]
Kalamazoo Public Schools is the school district neighboring the Portage Public School District that I graduated from. Portage is a suburb of Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the most awful definition of that word, a small town established in 1963 because of white-flight from the city of Kalamazoo. Substitute teachers in the area, for some reason, felt [...]
The propulsion of urban planning is vital this day in age. Innovation and ideas must be at constant work and implementation, in order to create a positive vision. Within the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, the group 2015Vision, has embraced this platform and embodied key ideas in innovative design. This group is compiled of local business leaders [...]
Phoenix, Arizona is infamous for its sprawl, its little stucco boxes, and its dominant car culture. But an ambitious project spearheaded by the City of Phoenix, Arizona State University (ASU), and St. Luke’s Health Initiative called Reinvent Phoenix aims to change the way Phoenix’s light rail is developed around neighborhoods. The project is funded by [...]
As architect Bertrand Goldberg’s civic legacy was highlighted in his engagement with Federal regulators during the Marina City Project, another prominent building of his remains mired in a preservation struggle. The Prentice Women’s Hospital (pictured above) is considered an icon of modern design, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation just lost the fight to save it from [...]
Early on a Saturday morning, the Kapiolani Community College (KCC) Farmers’ Market in Honolulu, Hawaii, bustles as patrons compete to purchase 100% Kona Coffee, locally made honey, and Hawaiian-grown produce and flowers. This market is only one of several Saturday markets on Oahu. Honolulu’s urbanites flock to farmers’ markets in scores and often patronize weekday [...]
The coverage that natural disasters receive usually only captures an audience for a few days. While the initial visuals may shock and distress the viewer, the fast media cycle means that the recovery that follows the disaster is observed by comparatively few. The Christchurch earthquakes of 2010-2011 certainly fit this model. 181 people died, thousands [...]
For many urbanites, putting up with occasional construction is accepted as an unfortunate aspect of city living. In a rapidly developing city like Shanghai, however, it never stops. The construction of an ambitious redevelopment plan in the central area called “The Bund” will continue until 2020. First established as a British settlement area, The Bund [...]
The Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART as it is commonly known, is an expansive public transit system in California’s San Francisco Bay Area that has a reputation for being unsafe. Transit police is not a concept unique to just this system, but the BART Police are a strong presence throughout the 44 different stations nevertheless. [...]
Known as a predominantly industrial and blue-collar neighborhood, the Northeast Minneapolis District in Minneapolis, Minnesota has been experiencing a significant economic and physical transformation in the last few decades, and has become closely affiliated with sustainable living and its growing artist population. Historic warehouses and old factories have taken on a new purpose of artist [...]
The nongovernmental organization “Our Park” is behind a successful story of synergy between private and public actors, as well as participatory design, for the creation of an open public space in the heart of Athens, Greece. For over a year, “Our Skate Park” in downtown Athens has set a useful and optimistic precedent in urban [...]
