Communities that are concerned with ecological sustainability can use “urban metabolism” studies as a way to understand how much energy and materials are flowing...
Category - Columns
Ecotowns – safe from fires both local and… global climate change
You all know about the horrendous fires in Northern California in October. I think the arguments for ecocity fire safety solutions are water tight, so I’ll share an opinion piece...
Ecocity Snapshots, Chapter 11 – Freiburg, Germany: Doing well by doing good
Freiburg deserves its “Green City” brand. This 220,000-person city on the edge of the Black Forest in southeastern Germany has consistently been in the forefront of all things...
Green Buildings
The International Ecocity Standards identifies green buildings as an essential urban design feature (www.ecocitystandards.org). Specifically, new buildings and renovations are...
Cusco neighborhoods embracing Composting
Have you ever run across an advertisement saying dirt is good? Have you ever wondered what would need to happen for garbage to be considered beneficial? Well, garbage is just...
Environmentally Friendly Transport
The International Ecocity Standards identifies environmentally friendly transport as an essential urban design feature (www.ecocitystandards.org). Specifically, non-motorized...
The Full Broad Sun of Day – avoiding or addressing sea rise issues for the San Francisco Bay Area
In 2009 what could have been a threshold-crossing competition into a far healthier future took place on the future of San Francisco Bay Area. As far as I’m concerned the...
Ecocity Snapshots, Chapter 10, Nijmegen, Netherlands: Room for the river
Nijmegen, 2018 European Green Capital, fights climate change with renewable energy, compact development and a transportation system that puts bicycles in the driver’s seat...
Ecocity Snapshots, Chapter 9: Essen, Germany: Greening brownfields
Essen lies at the heart of the Ruhr Valley, at one time one of the world’s largest concentrations of the coal and steel industries. Since the mid-20th Century, this city of...
Ecocity Snapshots, Chapter 8: Ljubljana, Slovenia: River as centerpiece
Ljubljana, home to 283,000 people, is the capital of Slovenia, the mountainous republic surrounded by Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. After years of car-centric planning in...