Urban civilizations continue to evolve and history is testimony that great civilizations have crumbled either due to onslaught of natural disasters or gradual shift in economic trends. Environmental Graffiti takes a look at 5 such cities in the United States that may be endangered. Like before, climate change and changing economies continue to influence the state of our cities.
Category Archives: Changing World
Dubai's Next Island
Just because you can doesn’t always mean you should. “This gleaming hunk of urban development is about to rise on an artificial, perfectly square island off the coast of Dubai” [source]. Dubai has been going crazy creating all these islands off their coast probably because coastal properties enjoy greater demand and thus elicit higher prices. But in the long run, these islands are proving to be an environmental disaster as they end up destroying the marine life and coral reefs in the vicinity which are an integral part of the ecosystem. This 6.5 square kilometer mini-city is being designed by noted architect, Rem Koolhaas. Why would you care for the environment when your paycheck from this job alone can let you retire in riches?
Science on Urbanization
The current issue of Science has a special focus on cities and urbanization especially in the developing world. Covering a vast range of topics like transportation, housing, pollution, and future trends, this promises to a must-read for all urban planners and urban policy researchers.
Mechanisms of the Market
The Long Johns (John Bird and John Fortune) on the mechanisms of the market that takes a poor black man sitting on a crumbling porch in rural Alabama to High Structured Enhanced Credit Funds. Hilarious but tragically true.
The changing Tokyo skyline
This time-lapse video depicts 35 years' worth of construction in Tokyo's fashionable Shibuya district in ten seconds.
Reaching Beyond
“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises
Looking beyond our usual perspectives can not only be enlightening but also mighty useful for sections of populations that have escaped our attention thus far. The National Design Museum in New York is hosting a Design for the other 90% exhibit. Another set of designers called themselves Designers without Borders. Interesting stuff [via].
Floating Homes
In today’s age of unpredictable weather and rampant flooding, the Dutch are leading the way with creating amphibious houses. As I mentioned before, we can forget about controlling nature (levees, etc.) and instead focus on adapting our living to minimize damages when weather turns foul.
Rejuvenating Urban India
co-authored by Rohit Pradhan
Back in the days when Doordarshan (Indian state television) ruled the airwaves, if you tuned in during the weather forecast, you wouldn’t be completely off the mark if you thought that India’s urban regions comprised solely of Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras – conveniently located in four corners of India. It was the natural corollary of India’s development since independence that has always been centered on its millions of villages. The idea of making villages self-sufficient drew its sustenance from the rather utopian Gandhian ideals. India’s early leaders also believed in heavy industrialization which led to development of cities like Jamshedpur–modeled primarily along industrial cities like Detroit in the developed world. The ‘Great Leap Forward’ (in stark contrast to its Chinese counterpart), came only after the post-1991 liberalization when India embarked on a path of economic reforms and globalization. The impact of rapid liberalization and expansion of opportunities were profound especially on the morphology of Indian cities.
Tate Modern – Global Cities
Global Cities looks at the changing faces of ten dynamic international cities: Cairo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Design for Sustainability
A practical approach for developing economies – Design for Sustainability.