URBAN MURAL

1. You could get rid of your neighbour once and for all by melting their house with your solar panel windows

2. Create the cheapest outdoor festival EVER!!! by using a wind farm to create strobe lighting

3. Save up your compost heap and ask someone in the heavens to ensure it lights up (ok so it might combust- which is slightly different) every summers evening, for a good old BBQ

4. For a short period of the year, the new LED lightbulbs will give all of us the chance to a) put our foot down on the peddle and get out of the cold quicker without being stopped by the police or caught for driving through the red lights (I never said any of this was safe or moral) and b) use the money we would have spent on traffic fines to buy a special someone something extra special for Christmas

Ok so maybe these ideas are ridiculous, but the article by Heather Farris and Nick Masercola highlight some of the potential dangerous and harmful flaws with new green tech, but rather than rant about, let’s invite some techies, engineers and scientists to develop a better solution and if that doesn’t work we should get the builder to enforce proper construction design management solutions, so that I don’t have the chance to melt my neighbours home- because actually I quite like them.

This is a really interesting article because I think it really shows how difficult it is for cities like Detroit to try and find the solution to a dwindling population and low income. My only questions about this approach is how detroit will attract people to their city where some communities will be in darkness? What if some neighbourhoods become attractive again to a new class of people? How will those people living in Detroit who are hoping to see change and also seeing small signs of change view this policy to darken parts of the city? what effect will this have upon policing and other security and health services who still need to access local people?

visualoop:

Via

I wonder if this will set a precedence? Anyone know of any case studies where deprived communities have demanded access to renewable energy?

IM BACK!!!!!…and I feel so excited about the green economy especially as I’m doing my dissertation around it…any ideas anyone?

GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD PLANNING

Great introduction to the relationship between planning and food. I used this in conjunction with the new London plan in a recent essay and its really useful. At the moment food and spatial planning is not really built into my course, but its discussed in terms of sustainability, urban design and the contribution of planning to other fields.

Its inspired me enough to get in touch with Sustain and I’m currently doing some research on some case studies to update this document…wooo-ooo!!

Im currently researching  the challenges that planners in London face around building and supporting sustainable food resources and so this article by Kendra Pierre-Louis is particularly interesting to me at the moment.

In this article she talks about how marketing organisations and food producers are now targeting LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) with organic food which is not necessarily healthy and although organically produced is not necessarily sustainable . She identifies this as chocolate made from ‘organic coco’ and coconut water, both very popular with organic foodies .

As a Londoner from an ethnic minority group, a point within the article that really struck me was on the question of Western demand for quinoa

Personally I am not into this or is it a native food source of my parents, but to date with my research, I have found that many writers currently support the local independent shops and produce found in many inner city deprived neighborhoods as a good example of local access to healthy foods, supermarket rivalry and a more sustainable source. However, while I dont doubt that some of the carrots, potatoes and peas are healthy and maybe locally sourced , what about the Yam, plantain and casava? While these are healthy foods, these are not local in anyway, and if they are given our climate they are not organic.

So my questions around sustainable food and the potential of planning is:

1. In a globalised locality how do you grow organically and encourage better use of local traditional foods in a community where local is segregated, culturalized and sometimes feels entirely foreign?
2. While evidence of community growing and local farmers market is evident throughout the UK, what is being done to challenge less sustainable but organically produced foods that arrive by Air to UK supermarkets international isles and local shops?
3. Is there an educational gap on the ‘organic truth’ and are planners ready to challenge sections of the community on the less sustainable food choices?

Having only just announced that the northern line will be extended to Battersea to support the major regeneration of the Power Station in the heart of a new enterprise zone, administrators have been called to manage the mounting debts clocked up by Irish property tycoons Johnny Ronan and Richard Barrett.

The scheme consisted of 3,400 homes and 900,000 sq metres of retail and office space and was due to create 25,000 jobs. This will surely put the extension at risk and may increase other parts of South London’s chances of obtaining an extension….to Lewisham or Peckham???

NYC DOT PROJECT

This is a great introduction to vertical gardening and even gives some basic advice on how to start your own vertical garden. I also found some excellent pictures around the web of the stuff in action, although I am not sure if its all real or just some artistic impression.

What Future? Is the debate on urban cities being hosted by the Ove Arup Foundation and the Guardian on the 3rd November in London.

As well as discussing the usual debates around sustainable food, expansion of cities and spatial inclusion the debate will also aim to discuss and identify issues to be addressed by leaders, practitioners and teachers and mentors of the future such as:

• limited and pressurised resources
• Competition for space and rights to it
• Should we focus on changing our current cities or changing ourselves?
• Can we define the relationship between the real and virtual environment? and how will it affect the meaning and practice of ‘community development’ and its meaning?
• What will it take to be a planner, urban designer and architect and are we equipping future practitioners with the correct skills?
• Should we become ‘agents for the community’ or ‘social determinants’?

I cant wait to see what the outcome of the discussions will be.

An interesting article, which looks at the shape of planning and urbanism today and some of the challenges which we will face tomorrow. In sum, the following challenges were identified:

• The public will reclaim the private.

In some ways this is already happening with private shopping centres incorporating leisure activities so that people feel like they could be on the high street in public spaces.

• Our perception of ‘good or suitable’ places to live will change

Again in some ways this is already happening , Manchester and Birmingham are great examples of where city centre living has become more desirable. In addition there is still the tendency to want to live in an inner-city up and coming with all the grit and sense of chick, remember what we used to think of Brixton, Shoreditch, New Cross, Forest Hill, Peckham??? Its funny how more people are wanting to live there these days.

However in future, this maybe challenged more, with ‘private’ spaces becoming prime locations (no not squatting!) but interesting building like Pinewood Studios where proposals for re-dovelopment have been submitted. We have already seen schools, churches and hospitals as well as prisons converted in this way so why not?

• High Rise living

High rises are controversial but in the future, there maybe little choice. Besides they are already making a come back with support for a 53 storey residential building in croydon getting approval from academics, architects and sustainable designers.In the future, we could see challenging designs which enable direct street access (without the need for a lift) to the 10th or 30th floor…

• Third world regeneration projects by urban regeneration companies like Urban Splash

With growing populations at a time when they are becoming world class economic leaders and thus attracting a new work forces, slums in Brazil and India may welcome western urban regeneration companies input and we in the west could be moving to a rejuvinated mumbai slum for work.

• Greening of space

To some degree this is already happening, take the southbank centre, growing food in parks projects and roof top gardening (as planned by Renewal in their design for the new London Sports Village in South London). But could this become more militant, with work place garden or allotment terraces? car park conversions or more high rise roof gardens as intended by the developers Renewal?

• More interesting Architecture

Obvious? Well take a look at recent winners and runners up in the RIBA awards, I think the look of a building and its relationship to its surroundings will become a greater concern. Although this article does not mention it, I think the design of urban transport and layouts will also change in future. I did an article on some of the bicycle design competition in the USA and they certainly aim to challenge how we will use bicycles in the future.

• Fear of Suburbia

With inner London experiencing riots, why did it all kick of in Croydon- its a suburb! Well perhaps its loosing its suburban village identity with all the big chains? or perhaps opportunities are as limited as the inner-city areas? how about transport- any issues there? have housing officers finally got it right with mixing communities? Gentrification of the inner-cities pushed those on lower incomes out? Perhaps the answer is all of the above?

But whatever the correct the answer we are seeing some of our suburbs become increasingly ‘challenged’ places.

Ever had one of those days when your Oyster, Octopus or Clipper card has run out of dough???

Well it looks like a new technology maybe on its way (once an investor gets on board).

Once introduced though, it could be transformational when buying train, plan and other bus tickets. I can even imagine it being used on the congestion road / pay as you go road systems.

Good luck UrbanScale!

Londoners hoping to rent out their homes during the Olympics are being warned they could be breaking the law and left facing a fine.

BBC London has uncovered stark variations in councils’ positions on the practice.

Short term letting can be extremely problematic to long term home owners and renters, I mean who wants to permanently live in a hotel environment? Furthermore having a transit community, makes developing a place, economy and local community extremely difficult.

Its good that Westminster apply this rule all year round but it is a shame that those in Westminster and other local authorities will not get to share in the benefit of making some extra cash during the Olympics.

This is a really interesting article that looks at how the history and contribution of the gay and lesbian community in city centres and some of the challenges which are arising out of the blurring lines between the city centre and suburbia. What is interesting about this article is that it focuses upon the political impact that the gay and lesbian community have had upon city centres and their success in suburbia and the potential for continuing political advocacy in the urban realm if more communities relocate to suburbia and beyond.

It is clear that while some of the stereotypical ‘small mindedness’ ‘villager’ ‘homo’ attitudes maybe tackled in suburbia and beyond, there maybe a dilution of political advocacy in cities, where diversity, difference and variety are in abundance and perhaps the gay and lesbian community have some of the most difficult challenges.

In addition, where there is a vibrant gay and lesbian community there is also a local thriving arts, culture and local business economy as well as political advocacy. The question is can inner citiy areas cope without these- Manchester? vauxhall? clapham junction?, san francisco?…what would these places be like without the gay community and is suburbia appropriately equipped with the infrastructure and social support structures to cope with an influx….with changes to planning laws, these issues may become increasingly significant in the UK