19 cities in the world with 20 million people in the 21st century. Read more on the mega trend of our century. The world is urbanizing rapidly whether you like it or not.
Yearly Archives: 2007
Compact Homes
Compact housing taken to the limits. More here. This is recycling at its best; using old containers to build housing.
Effect of Television
“There’s so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets?” – Dick Cavett.
Move Out and Join Up
[via the ever-so-excellent Jessica Hagy's Indexed.]
Brazos Valley Worldfest 2007
I used to love going to the Dogwood Festival in Piedmont PArk when I was living in Atlanta. The Brazos Valley Worldfest in Historic Downtown Bryan seems somewhat similar. This year’s event is scheduled for November 17, 2007 and has a variety of activities including performances, culture displays, vendors selling international goods, and best of all, international cuisine. I’m looking forward to attending it and just wish that my new DSLR would arrive in time.
Traffic Lights for Bikes
Bikes have their own traffic light in Budapest, Hungary.
Top 101 Cities, Counties, and Zip Codes List
This is an impressive list aggregated by City-Data. It presents top 101 U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes aggregated by many subjective categories.
Is the U.S. prepared for disaster?
The folks at Freakonomics pose an interesting question – What’s wrong – and what’s right – with American disaster preparedness and response? They talk with five experts who have an indepth understanding of disaster management and risk handling. Some excerpts:
Americans increasingly insist on living in dense, vertical cities near water. About 91 percent of Americans now live in places at a moderate-to-high risk of earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, high-wind damage, or terrorism.
We concentrate ourselves, and the mere fact of concentration makes for greater calamity when the hazard, whatever it is, strikes. That we concentrate ourselves in places that are naturally dangerous makes it worse. Ultimately, our disrespect and disregard for the environment (we assume we can tame nature) is something that, if unabated, will lead to more suffering.
Something that I have always believed and quoted.
When M.I.T. sues Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry’s unconventional walls have supposedly sprung leaks and are host to mold and other drainage problems causing The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T) to sue the renowned architect Frank Gehry. So is it merely an issue of inept construction or a genuine design flaw?
Leaning Tower of Pisa Knocked off
…the top of the list of leaning buildings. A German church steeple that leans at a 5.19 degree angle as opposed to Pisa’s 3.97 degrees now sits atop the list of leaning buildings.