Environnement

Sustainable Sydney 2030

what is the vision?- Sustainable Sydney 2030.

Sustainable Sydney 2030 is a vision for the sustainable development of the City for the next 20 years and beyond. Sustainable development is not just about the physical environment, but about the economy, society and cultures as well, and how addressing each, with bold ideas and good governance, will result in better outcomes now and for future communities.

Voralberg

Le développement durable dans la conception urbaine et architecturale

• Un dossier du CAUE 78 

Except Architecture: Concept for an Applied Sustainable Urbanism

Except Architecture: Concept for an Applied Sustainable Urbanism.

Concept for an applied Sustainable Urbanism A sustainable city is a livable city, indentifiable and created by its inhabitants, in tune with its local climate, culture and operations. The creation of a generic solution is therefore only possible on a very abstract level, and the generation of a method for a sustainable city only interesting and valuable when applied to a real world scenario. In this project a concept was developed for an approach to sustainable decision making for program (denisty, type, distribution etc), mass, logistics, and quality of environment. Applying this necessarily becomes a process rather than just a set of rules. This project generates this process and applies it to a 10 acre downtown site in Boston, currently occupied by parking lots, and right next to the central business district and the ICA of Diller Scofidio.

Filter Park Parking Garage - Chicago

Two Projects by Leven Betts Studio Architects.

Filter Park Parking Garage Chicago Filter Park is one of the first-place winners of the 2003 Chicago Prize Competition (see the other winner here) for a thousand-car parking facility. Our proposal begins with three basic strategies: to reconsider the parking facility as part of a larger system of urban infrastructure; to challenge preconceptions of how a parking structure functions, both technologically and environmentally; and to change the way parking lots look.

+ Leven Betts Studio

Quartier écologique de Vauban, Allemagne

Quartier écologique de Vauban, Allemagne.

Le quartier est situé dans une zone militaire de 38 hectares laissée libre après la chute du mur de Berlin et achetée par la ville en 1993, qui décida d'y réaliser un projet exemplaire de quartier écologique, terminé en 2006. Le quartier de Vauban à Fribourg en Allemagne est un exemple significatif prouvant qu'il est possible de répondre aux principes de durabilité avec une approche holistique du projet. Le quartier est situé dans une zone militaire de 38 hectares laissée libre après la chute du mur de Berlin et achetée par la ville en 1993, qui décida d'y réaliser un projet exemplaire de quartier écologique, terminé en 2006. La définition du projet et son développement se sont basés durant le processus de décision sur une participation active des habitants et des futurs propriétaires, organisés en groupes, auxquels des petits lots à bâtir ont été attribués.

+ Présentation en Anglais

Etude Comparative des politiques environnementales aux USA

Publications.  

By Richard Florida & Tracy Gordon

Regions and cities in the United States and around the world are developing new tools and strategies for linking the environment to economic development. For much of the past, it was assumed that environmental progress and economic development were at odds. The environment was viewed as a source of raw materials and energy and a place to dispose of industrial wastes. Often, it was thought that environmental progress generated costs that came at the expense of wealth generation, industrial expansion, and jobs.

But, today, the environment is increasingly seen as a key element of economic development. Innovative cities and regions are forging new strategies for integrating environmental assets into their economic development agendas by targeting environmental technology firms, supporting efforts to implement advanced pollution prevention technology in industry, positioning firms to tap into rapidly growing green markets, and improving their quality of life through investments in their environmental amenities or natural capital. Across the world, many regions have sought to unify their economic development, social, and environmental agendas under the rubric, "sustainable development".

To both help motivate and monitor their ongoing efforts, regions are developing new measures, indicators and benchmarking systems - referred to as environmental/sustainability indicators - to chart their progress toward joint economic, social, and environmental goals.  

This report examines leading regional efforts around the United States to develop environmental or sustainable development strategies, focusing on regional projects on environmental performance/sustainable indicators.

This report has 4 parts :

• A review & Assessment of indicator projects
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2 
• Appendix 3 

New Green Building Policy

New Green Building Policy.

High performance green building presents one of the best solutions to improve environmental performance while strengthening the local economy and keeping buildings affordable in the long term. Recognizing the many benefits of green building, in 2007, Portland City Council directed the Office of Sustainable Development to develop policy options to improve the environmental performance of commercial and residential buildings community-wide. The resulting proposed High Performance Green Building Policy also addresses City Council's goal to identify steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.

+ Policy Document > Téléchargement HPGBP_document_web

+ Economic Assessment > Téléchargement HPGBP report FINAL draft WEB 120208

Kennedy Expressway Green Corridor

Kennedy Expressway Green Corridor 

Ralph Johnson, of the Chicago-based firm Perkins & Will was commissioned by the Chicago Architecture Foundation to participate in their exhibit Invisible City, where Johnson and two other Chicago architects (Brad Lynch of Brininstool + Lynch and Joe Valerio of Valerio Dewalt Train) created designs in response to three different city master plans. Johnson chose the Central Area Plan and responded with the Kennedy Expressway Green Corridor.

Although submerged west of the Loop, the Kennedy Expressway is a physical barrier between the east and west, the former primarily office space and the latter mostly residential. Bridges link the two sides physically, but the neighborhoods lack the continuity of other parts of the city. Johnson's project looks at the possibilities that might arise for both office and residential development if an approximately 1.5 mile

length of the expressway were covered with parkland. Spurred in part by Perkins and Will's recent completion of the Skybridge residential high rise adjacent to the Kenndedy, Johnson expanded part of the Central Area Plan which proposed covering a much smaller portion of the expressway.

The basic plan of the project features the aforementioned green covering over the expressway - punctured by openings for exhaust and views to the roadway below - that extends to embrace adjacent developments, and additional towers that help to define the corridor as an appealing frontage for future development. Johnson's towers are articulated to further the sustainable basis of the park, with raised gardens and facades fronting the park shaped to act as wind scoops to circulate and clean the air, along with the park, of the submerged expressway.

Although no chance of realization for the project currently exists, the effect of the project is twofold: to illustrate the creative possibilities of the City of Chicago's Central Area Plan and to create a dialogue within the city (if not beyond) for architects and the city to propose large-scale, sustainable solutions to existing problems within the city fabric. With the recent expansion of office spaces west of the Loop, and the concurrent expansion of the University of Illinois and other west-side developments, Johnson's Green Corridor is a relevant, if dreamlike vision for the future unification of these two areas.

+ agence Perkins + Will

+ Chicago Architecture Foundation

World’s first hydrogen city

Inhabitat » WORLD’S FIRST HYDROGEN CITY.

H2PIA really does look like an otherworldly utopia, but the designers make a point of having us know that this is not a fantasy. No, we can have a fully sustainable lifestyle, free of addiction to oil, coal and gas, well before the widely projected date of 2050. If all goes well, H2PIA will begin contruction in 2007.

Here’s how it works: “The renewable energy comes from solar or wind power and is used to split H2O ? ordinary water ? into H2 and O2 ? hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is vented into the atmosphere, which already contains about 20 percent O2. The hydrogen is used in fuel cells that can produce energy, for instance in the form of electricity and heat. In the fuel cell, the energy is created by silent electrochemical processes with no pollution. The only product left over when the hydrogen is used up, is pure water. During periods with low energy demand, we can store the hydrogene".

• Le site H2PIA

• La présentation du projet : Téléchargement H2PIA <="<" li="li">

Las Vegas CityCenter Set to Green Sin City

Inhabitat » Las Vegas CityCenter Set to Green Sin City.

June 9, 2008 Las Vegas CityCenter Set to Green Sin City by Evelyn Lee Las Vegas is taking the lead in green development by planning the largest privately financed development in the history of North America vying for the USGBC’s LEED certification. At 18 million square feet, the new sustainable spot on the strip called CityCenter boasts a square footage that is bigger than all current LEED certified buildings combined. Currently under construction between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts, the center’s first building, Aria, is scheduled to open at the end of 2009. An $8 billion venture between MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World, CityCenter is bringing sustainability to the forefront, rightfully earning the tag of one of the world’s largest environmentally sustainable urban communities.

The sustainable buzz around CityCenter starts with the team. At the core of the design are some of our favorite green-minded architects including Pelli Clarke Pelli, Foster + Partners, and Rafael Vinoly. The developers have also employed hundreds of sustainability consultants to bring a whole systems approach to the project, and the tradesmen carrying out construction are educated in green building practice. MGM MIRAGE has trained over 10,000 construction trade and craftsmen on green building techniques that are already being forged into the site.

 

CityCenter is making some pretty big efforts to tout itself as a model of sustainability. Green building practices like recycling construction waste, using eco-friendly materials, boosting natural lighting, and incorporating an onsite co-generation power plant are just a few of the ways that the project is earning its eco-credentials. Materials from the imploded Boardwalk Hotel (cleared for the site of CityCenter) are being recycled into the project, crushed to be recycled into material going into the project, and bathroom fixtures are being shipped to other countries wrapped in the old drapes and carpeting from the original hotel to be used again.

 

Read more :

• Le site du projet : La Vegas City Center

San Francisco’s Transbay Terminal gets the green light

Inhabitat » San Francisco’s Transbay Terminal gets the green light.

May 28, 2008 San Francisco’s Transbay Terminal gets the green light by Mike Chino San Franciscans rejoice! The Transbay Joint Powers Authority just approved a stunning green design for the new Transbay Transit Center to be constructed in downtown SF. Planned by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the project consists of a graceful glass tower paired with an elegantly sweeping transit center topped with a five-and-a-half acre public park. Both structures will showcase a stellar set of sustainable features and will fulfill the project’s aim of centralizing the region’s transportation network while providing the SOMA neighborhood with a valuable community space.

Pelli Clarke Pelli’s design does an excellent job of balancing the center between three principles: transit, community, and sustainability.

City Park is constructed as an expansive 5.4 acre green roof that will be freely accessible to the public and will host a variety of cultural activities. It will also be an educational resource, “exhibiting several local ecologies and sustainability strategies, and presenting interpretive information for each” (...).

 

 

 

Read more :

• Transbay Transit Center
• Le site de l'agence d'architecture : Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

 

 

San Francisco in 2108 ?

Materia: San Francisco in 2108?.

San Francisco is already one of the greenest cities in the US, but check out this wild new concept from IwamotoScott Architects to completely remake the city into an ecotopia by 2108 The design, which is as visually stunning as it is thought-provoking, recently won the History Channel’s City of the Future competition. It’s a full-scale urban system that combines the most innovative green technologies with San Francisco’s unique microclimate and geologic conditions, to produce a compelling vision for the future. Hydro-Net, as the project is known, will bring the lovely city-by-the-bay (which many Inhabitants call home) squarely into the 22nd Century with algae-harvesting towers, geothermal energy ‘mushrooms’, and fog catchers which distill fresh water from San Francisco’s infamous fog. Hydro-Net is perhaps the most remarkable, modern and futuristic concept ever envisioned for San Francisco - considering global warming and the hunt for alternative energy sources in the coming century. It is an extensive network of above ground and underground systems that fulfill infrastructural needs for the movement of people, water, hover-cars, and energy throughout the city.

 

Related post

• The hydro-net vision of the futur in Habitat