Human Interest

Via Lauren Moss

A complete lack of natural resources is prompting the urban island city-state of Singapore to generate its own green infrastructure. Its rapidly growing population, which is one-and-a-half times that of the city of Los Angeles but spread across an area half the size, is another driver. And while the green push is most visible in the walls and bays of vegetation that garnish its stock of high-rise apartments and offices, its impact is far deeper. That’s thanks in part to a government-led sustainable-building certification program that aims to green 80 percent of the city-state’s existing building stock by 2030...

Via Lauren Moss, dilaycock

Design collective Penda has developed a concept for a flexible, portable hotel made from rods of bamboo, designed to bring guests closer to nature.

One With the Birds was developed by Penda – based in Vienna and Beijing – for the AIM Legend of the Tent competition in China, which challenged architects to develop low-impact tent-themed hotels offering a closer connection with the outdoors.

Penda came up with a concept for a flexible bamboo structure that can be easily expanded horizontally and vertically. Find more details at the article.

Via Lauren Moss

A pair of skyscrapers by Boeri Studio are nearing completion in Milan, featuring as many trees as could be planted in a hectare of forest.

The studio led by Italian architect Stefano Boeri came up with the concept of Bosco Verticale, or Vertical Forest, as a way to combine high-density residential development with tree planting in city centres.

The first project born from this concept is now nearing completion in the Isola area of Milan's fast-developing Porta Nuova district. Two towers, measuring 80 and 112 metres, are set to open later this year and are already home to 900 trees.

"The project is set to create a new standard for sustainable housing," said engineering firm Arup, who is working alongside Boeri Studio to deliver the project...

Via Lauren Moss

These cities that are doing the best at embracing the future are focusing on improving technology, equality, sharing, civic participation, and more.

Over the past several years, the idea of the being "smart" has emerged as a key mechanism for cities to find innovative solutions to the challenges that they are facing. Increased demand for infrastructure, housing, transportation, jobs, energy, food and water are all straining city governments and infrastructure, as people around the world flock to urban centers in hopes of a better life and more opportunity. For many years, the push to create smarter cities was led by technology companies looking for uses (and buyers) for their products. But in recent years, cities have begun to think more holistically about what being a smart city could mean, and have innovated new ways to modernize how a city serves its citizens.

Via Lauren Moss, GTANSW & ACT

A new study on the environmental burdens of beef, pork, chicken, eggs, dairy and plant products finds that beef is by far the worst offender.

According to the study, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a prominent ...

A spiraling, green high-rise designed by Paris-based Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut is currently under construction in Taipei, Taiwan. It will add interest to XinYi District’s existing mixture of buildings which range from LEED Platinum EBOM-rated Taipei 101, the world’s tallest green building, to a traditionally Chinese-styled Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall built in 1972.

Via Lauren Moss

A report on India's historic Green Revolution.

Via Allison Anthony, Jessica Robson Postlethwaite