Solarpunk Urbanism

Liveable Streets gets a 2.0 — the book has been updated by the son of the original author. Sarah Goodyear interviews him.

Not sure how many people follow Miser but he’s been a big influence on pushing for change in the NYC area. Apparently Mamdani asked him to come up with a plan to make the city’s streets better and this is what he came up with. Pretty incredible work and I hope it can be implemented!

This is Akkudoktor’s (Andreas Schmitz) home energy management and optimization system. Some people will know Andreas by his YouTube channel @akkudoktor in which he discusses DYI home energy systems. That channel was born out of a frustration how technical hurdles were obstructing the energy transition in Germany. Among other things, Andreas showed that one can build a home battery with a fraction of the cost of commercial systems - provided that one has engineering knowledge - and he is a control engineer.

Cheap, lightweight hydroponics systems that use material recycled from plastic bottles reduce the “heat island” effect and can be installed on just about any kind of structure - even those that could never support the weight of a conventional green roof.

A decade of organizing has turned trash-strewn lots into edible parks. Now Boston is expanding food forests as part of its climate action plan.

Despite federal roadblocks, an ambitious agroforestry program is feeding people, cleaning the air, and helping offset climate change.

At just 200 m^2 tiny forests in urban areas are planted in heavily-amended soils all at once (multiple levels of canopy and groundcover). The result is forests that are mature in 10 years instead of 100.

As Spain takes a breath after yet another brutal summer heatwave, with temperatures above 40C in many parts of the country, the residents of the sherry-making town of Jerez de la Frontera have come up with a novel way to keep the streets cool.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/50353146

Walk outside into 100-degree heat wearing a black shirt, and you’ll feel a whole lot hotter than if you were wearing white. Now think about your roof: If it’s also dark, it’s soaking up more of the sun’s energy and radiating that heat indoors. If it were a lighter color, it’d be like your home was wearing a giant white shirt all the time.

Hundreds of monkeys can now safely cross roads in Alta Floresta, a city in the southern Brazilian Amazon. Seven canopy bridges have reconnected rainforest fragments that were separated by urban roads.

Head to the link to see the pictures of this literally green building

In our new study, we compare children's use of such spaces in Auckland, New Zealand, and Venice, Italy. Our findings present a paradox: playgrounds built for safety can stifle creativity and mobility, while self-organizing open spaces offer rich opportunities to explore and belong.

Doesn't sound like much, but waiting for a bus on a bench can make a huge difference.

VIENNA — At the edge of a wide, grassy park in Vienna, there's a modern building with lots of windows and a sleek wood facade. For the past six years, Sebastian Schublach has lived here with his family in a light-filled four-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo has floated a plan to “revegetate” 500 Parisian streets to make the city more liveable. Critics say it would deepen divides between urbanites and commuters.

archived (Wayback Machine)

Spain, like other countries, is having to adapt to more extreme weather. And, in the Valencia region, EU-funded innovation has spawned a new solution, right under people’s feet.

archived (Wayback Machine)

This guy in Pisa, Italy, has planted 4 trees in a public space and by speaking to nearby people he agreed with some of them to provide water during summer time. Moreover he repaired a public drinking fountain that the administration closed (to avoid repairing), also to help provide water needed for nearby plants.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) holds the secrets to designing more resilient homes, cities and critical infrastructure.

In the mid-1990s physicists Geoffrey West and Louis Bettencourt collaborated with biologists to study allometric scaling laws, where it is generally found that larger organisms are more efficient consumers of energy than smaller ones. After mathematically explaining these laws through fractal network effects, the researchers began applying them to the human built environment, particularly cities.

As storms and floods become more frequent, intense, and expensive in terms of finances and lost lives, city life is becoming more precarious.

archived (Wayback Machine)

The conservation story of Totonicapán – a city in Guatemala home to half a million people – begins with its people’s relationship with the land.

In Finland, there is a Housing First approach which provides homeless people with housing and support services to help individuals rebuild their lives.

This post uses a gift link with a very limited view count limit. When it runs out, there is an archived copy available

The study was published in Landscape and Urban Planning.

Vienna's Affordable Housing Paradise

See also the wikipedia page.

"Sardex, an Italian fintech, created a mutual credit system where businesses exchange goods and services without cash.

This is just an imagined version of Dresdens Postplatz by the artist loom for Realutopien. The current state is this:

(Let me know if this is inappropriate for the community)

Glasgow: how free transport drives better health and happiness.

On a Montréal, Canada project to design a space in the city for kids, rather than for cars.