I’m not a city planner. I took one class in college, so I don’t even pretend to be qualified. However, living in a city and trying to commute without a car has led to some insights that I would not get out of a book. Last year I wrote a piece called “The Hegemony of [...]
Archive for the ‘Sustainable Development’ Category
Designing Cities with People in Mind
April 29th, 2012 
Eric Wilson Army Not Messing Around with $7 Billion in Energy Projects
March 5th, 2012 Justin Manger Over the next 30 years, the U.S. army is aiming to buy solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and other alternative fuels to the tune of $7 billion dollars. Here is the draft proposal in which they are looking for 99 large-scale renewable projects. This is all part of a plan to have renewable energy at or [...]
HUD Proposes $100 Million for Sustainable Communities
February 23rd, 2012 Eric Wilson Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced $100 million in Regional Planning and Community Challenge Grants as part of the 2013 budget. According to the press release, these “grants are part of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which is an association between HUD, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and [...]
Posted in Business, Economics, Eric Wilson, Sustainability, Sustainable Development 
Tags: EPA, Urban Planning 
No Comments »Building Energy Efficient Homes on the Crow Reservation
February 14th, 2012 Eric Wilson As a follow up to last month’s post about BOULD, a Colorado-based social venture that is working to “end substandard housing through green building education,” comes another story from Boulder, Colorado about green homes for under-served populations. In this case, it is the University’s Sustainable Housing Project, which is part of the Mortenson Center in [...]
New Exhibit at MoMA Highlights Reimagined Suburbs
February 13th, 2012 Eric Wilson On Wednesday February 15th, a new exhibit will open at the Modern Museum of Art (MoMA) in Manhattan. Running through the end of July, this installation looks at how to reconstitute the suburbs in a more integrated fashion. In other words, scrap the current plan. Titled “Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream” the project “is an [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Real Estate, Sustainable Development Tags: Calendar, New Urbanism, New York City, Urban Planning No Comments »FFF: Fastest Growing Metropolitan Regions in the World
February 3rd, 2012 Justin Manger A very comprehensive report by The Brookings Institute reveals just how rapidly the cities of the developing world are growing. In the midst of the largest human migration from the countryside to cities, the report portends a rise in living standards for millions as well as highlights the challenges in sustainably providing energy and food for the inhabitants [...]
Posted in 2nd Green, China, Five Friday Facts, Justin Manger, News, Sustainable Development Tags: Environment, Urban Planning No Comments »Starbucks Store Made from Recycled Shipping Containers
December 14th, 2011 Chris DeArmond Though it seems like you can get Starbucks coffee just about anywhere, only one store (located in Tukwila, WA) can serve it to you from inside old cargo containers. A little over a week ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that construction is underway to build a Starbucks out of four repurposed shipping containers (40′ long, 8′ [...]
Chinese Power Plants Fined for Sulfur Pollution, False Data
November 30th, 2011 Chris DeArmond Although China has faced harsh criticism for its lackadaisical enforcement of environmental regulations, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) recently issued fines to eight large coal-fired power plants. In each case, they were found to have exceeded the permissible limit for sulfur dioxide, and six of them disabled monitoring equipment or falsified emissions data. China [...]
Posted in China, Conservation, Energy Efficiency, News, Policy, Sustainable Development Tags: Chris DeArmond, Coal, Electricity Generation, Environment No Comments »Apple’s New Headquarters: A Spaceship in the Woods?
October 12th, 2011 Justin Manger In the video below, Steve Jobs presents plans for Apple’s new massive corporate building to be built on 150 acres in Cupertino. The speech before the Cupertino city council was given June 7th, one day after his final Apple keynote presentation (introducing iCloud) and what may have been his final public presentation. Though he is [...]
21st Annual Tour of Solar Homes Oct. 1st & 2nd in Washington, D.C.
September 28th, 2011 Justin Manger For those living in the Washington, D.C. area, you can visit any of 50 energy-efficient homes around the region this weekend to learn about solar power. 2nd Green Revolution visited a home on the circuit two years ago and found the experience pretty interesting and educational. Here is the information from an email we received about this [...]
