Philadelphia Ghost Signage Project

Here is an interesting site about Philadelphia ghost signage...
I stumbled upon it while doing some research about PHL history, and the photographs and information are pretty interesting. Enjoy.

http://www.lawrenceotoole.com/signs/signs.html

3D Urban Farms

I found this article about an interesting approach to urban farming. These design proposals show fruit, vegetables and even animals grown in skyscrapers. I'm not exactly sure how they function but the renderings are nice.

Urban Farming in 2050?

Earth Hour '08 and random thoughts

I'm sure most people are probably aware of this, but Earth Hour '08 is this saturday, where we're supposed to turn of our lights "to make a statement about climate change". An article in Time recognizes that turning the lights off for one hour doesn't do much in terms of reducing carbon emissions, but that the purpose is to influence politics and that the language of politics is largely symbolic.

I understand all this, but I'm a bit confused by the argument because I don't know how turning off the lights for one hour is going to affect policymakers, or influence them to change policy. It's not a raucous movement that impedes social life or progress on a daily level (especially when hotels and other businesses are capitalizing on this with moonlight specials) nor will it flood mailboxes.

To me, it makes more of a statement that we, the public are aware of global warming and that it is an issue that we're concerned about. Nothing much beyond that. What are we demanding here? What do we want when we all turn of our lights for one hour? I think that in order for this to be more effective, that needs to be me made much more clear because right now, it's just saying that we're aware and that we're willing to live without electricity for an hour. The demand for change (to go Obama on you) is implicit, when I think it needs to be explicit. Much more explicit. Policy makers, it seems, historically have not often responded to implicit demands from the people they're supposed to represent. I'm not entirely convinced that the language of politics is purely symbolism, particularly when it comes to global warming. it's a problem that politics, at least US politics, has denied the existence of for so long, that reliance on symbolism seems to be a naive and extremely slow-moving process that is overly dependent upon the ability of policymakers to be more action-oriented than they have been in the last 50 years.

Nonetheless, I will be joining the rest of the world in darkness at 8pm tomorrow.

here's the time article if you're interested: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1725947,00.html?cnn=yes

The Catholic Church weighs in on pollution

Last week, the Vatican released a list of new sins that emphasize social responsibility in today’s world. Included among the seven new don’ts are pollution, causing social injustice, and causing poverty—all of which contribute to the unsustainability of communities. For more check out NPR’s coverage which includes an interview with Rev. James Martin, SJ.

The suburbs are going to be America's next slums?

The sub prime mortgage crisis is causing many homes in tidy little suburbs to be foreclosed. Vacant homes have become the target of vandalism and others are occupied by shady renters. According to this article a structural change is underway in the housing market. Trends are shifting and people are moving back to the cities from the suburbs. Will these people move into sustainable neighborhoods????

Check out this link for more information
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/subprime

Start buying bottled water...

Feeling high on a little more than sustainability? According to a recent review of 'treated' water in many cities throughout the country, prescription drugs are making it through the filtration process and into the public drinking supply.

"Officials in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city's watersheds."

You can read more about here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/10/pharma.water1.ap/index.html

Sustainability in the Desert?

Here's a thought-provoking article and video about an new "ecocity" development currently under construction in the United Arab Emirates, where the per capita ecological footprint is larger than the United States:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/masdar-roundtable.php

Ecoterrorists Attack!

I thought you guys might get a chuckle out of this ecoterrorist attack on "Green" mansions in suburban Seattle. Not that fires aren't serious business, but there's some discussion here on whether or not new "rural cluster developments" are actually green and compatible with older homes in rural areas. What is your take on luxury green homes?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/us/04homes.html?ei=5070&en=ccb47a6d2ee06676&ex=1205298000&adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1204654929-NOY7MPDqf4gZny5cWEOmvg

Eco-terrorism vs. Green building

Arson as a way to implement a vision of sustainable communities?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/us/04homes.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Neighborhood Associations & Info - Callowhill

http://www.callowhill.org/

My neighborhood has a pretty active neighborhood association. They do various things from security to maintaining a neighborhood garden. The website is fairly informative with a lot of information about community events and links to business and organizations within the neighborhood.
It also defines the boundaries of the neighborhood (roughly 3 x 6 blocks) and lists past/future accomplishments such as implementing a new recycling program.

The neighborhood has a huge arts community with many galleries in the old loft buildings, and the Folk Arts - Cultural Treasures Charter School is located at 10th and Callowhill. There are also other schools, restaurants and many business from manufacturing to independent clothing design.
Spring Garden provides a nice jog to the Schuylkill past the art museum, there is a yoga studio, and Fairmount Park and several fitness clubs are in close proximity.

In addition, there is a greenway project proposed for Vine St. to serve as a community connector.

http://www.pps.org/vineonline/

And last but not least for all the preservationists...

http://readingviaduct.org/

I see the Reading Viaduct from my window and walk under it daily. The site seems to be a bit out of date and minimal, but it would be interesting to investigate this project further to see any proposals.
It would make an interesting greenway if it could be made safe... It already has a lot of plants growing on it.

quantifying happiness

here's the book that judges quality of life by alternative indicators...

apparently the government of Thailand has created a Gross Domestic Happiness Index??? now if only Philly had one...

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0446580260/105-8098510-6675641?SubscriptionId=19BAZMZQFZJ6G2QYGCG2

Local food

Op-ed piece in the Times this morning. Apparently the federal government doesn't like local food...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/opinion/01hedin.html?th&emc=th

Redwoods vs. Solar Panels

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/02/29/redwoods.vs.solar.ap/index.html

Argument of the lesser of two...goods? Entertaining article about a dispute between two neighbors concerning redwoods infringing upon a neighbor's right to collect energy from his solar panels.

My choice quotes:
"Treanor and Bissett, who drive a hybrid Toyota Prius, argue that trees absorb carbon dioxide, cool the surrounding air and provide a habitat for wildlife.

Vargas, who recently bought a plug-in electric car, counters it would take two or three acres of trees to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as much as the solar panels that cover his roof and backyard trellis."

Philabundance

This is news to me but I'm sure someone else has heard of this...

Philabundance has been around since 1984 and provides meals and food for low-income families in the greater Philadelphia area. Recently they've started their "Fresh For All" program, where they've set up two pilot sites in Delaware County, PA and Salem County, NJ - with three more planned in Camden, Burlington, and Delaware Counties in NJ - this spring. Their goal is to provide 250 households at each site with 5 pounds of fresh fruit and veggies each week. New Jersey has a 17.5% obesity rate for children ages 2-5 (typically in low-income families), highest among all U.S. states. The notion stems from the fact that fresh produce is so expensive (as I'm sure we're all aware of being poor college students...) and most low-income families would rather spend less money on food, most of which are the worst nutritional options.

Check out their website ... www.philabundance.org

Check out the "Fresh for All" program here ...

So I told some of you that I would show you the website for Whistler2020, Whistler, British Columbia's sustainability plan. The website is incredibly interactive, and may be of help to our class when working on our evaluation scheme. The 2020Explorer (http://www.whistler2020.ca/whistler/site/explorer.acds) links the priorities and the strategies of the Whistler2020 plan to their corresponding actions and indicators. The Whistler2020 Monitoring Program (http://www.whistler2020.ca/whistler/site/allIndicators2.acds?context=1967970&instanceid=1967971) also details all of the indicators. A quick click on "Show All" will list all of the indicators used by the plan.

Of the two issues we have not covered with our list of elements of a sustainable community (health and historic preservation), Whistler2020 addresses them to some extent. Health is paired with Social issues. Indicators for Health & Social include: community trust, health status, length of tenure (permanency of residence), birth weight, health insurance, resident satisfaction, sense of belonging, unlawful incidents (safety and security), and volunteer rate. Indicators relating to historic preservation are dwelling density, housing affordability, and development footprint.

Sustainability Video

This video gets to the point of what sustainable development is really all about... FYI it's kinda perverse.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=boomerang+sustainability&search_type=

GE introduces a possible competitor to LEED products

Although not billed as such, GE's new Ecomagination Homebuilder Program appears in my mind at least as a potential competitor for LEED when it comes to home construction. It is not a rating system like LEED, instead GE's program combines energy efficient GE appliances and systems, construction techniques to reduce energy and water consumption and the related emissions. The system also sports as a monitoring system in order track energy use and savings.

According to GE the program is "designed to lower overall household energy consumption, resulting emissions and indoor water consumption, the ecomagination Homebuilder Program combines building science technologies with high-performance products to create new homes inspired by ecomagination."

To find out more go to the Homebuilder Program website

For your enjoyment watch the commercial entitled "Tree" here

A different kind of "S" word...that's right, "Seeds"

So this is sustainable, especially following a nuclear holocaust.

Sustainability Conference at UPENN

Check out the website and register to receive some 'sustainable' goodies.

http://www.upenn.edu/penniur/unspokenborders08/con_summary.htm

2008 Philadelphia Sustainability Awards

Monday, March 3, 2008
5:30 - 7:00 PM
Pennsylvania Convention Center

FREE Philadelphia Flower Show entry with registration.


Presented by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and partners, the Philadelphia Sustainability Awards are the first-ever awards in the Philadelphia region to recognize businesses, non-profits, community organizations, individuals, schools, and government agencies in the region who are leading the way to a more sustainable future.


Details:
http://www.philadelphiasustainabilityawards.org/

Registration:
http://www.philadelphiasustainabilityawards.org/rsvp

Diversity: The Word of Last Week

Looks like it's a double-blogging day. Per our conversation last week, found an article on cnn.com that points to the importance of diversity in creating a sustainable neighborhood and town, and how government can make that happen. Here, it's diversity of income.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/02/12/subsidized.paradise.ap/index.html

Community within exclusivity

Some of you may have seen this, but the Times ran an article this last weekend about the lack of community at the newly renovated Plaza Hotel/Condo building right off Central Park. It's interesting to see that these people bought their condos to live in luxury but are now lonely because they have no neighbors. Nothing to do with green building, but more to do with sustainable communities...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/fashion/17plaza.html

Behind the curtain of LEED-ND

This article from Planetizen draws back the curtain--a bit--on the LEED-ND formulation process and some of the tensions that had to be resolved. It is also revealing about the goals of LEED-ND--and, by extension, the limits of what the market can be expected to do re sustainable communities.

This will also be good background for Jennifer Henry's visit this evening.

Enjoy, Randy

http://www.planetizen.com/node/28493

Unsustainable communities in Texas

This morning's New York Times reports on the waning fortunes of exurban communities around Dallas...
RM
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/us/20exurb.html?ref=us

Your House is Making You Look Fat

This article appeared recently on the NY Times blog website:

http://arieff.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/is-your-house-making-you-look-fat/index.html

Energy Star @ Home

A new web application on the Energy Star Web site lets you to explore each room in a house to get tips on how to save energy. It's not only kind of cute but informative. Swell! There are also tips for renters and a video podcast that shows how to execute minor home improvements that will help cut energy use and costs.

Traditional neighborhood planning articles

The Once and Future Neighborhood: http://www.nd.edu/~ndmag/w0708/urbanism.html
Ten Principles of Good Neighborhood Design: http://www.nd.edu/~ndmag/w0708/urbside.html

These articles were part of cover story for the most recent issue of my alumni magazine. It follows an urban planning studio at Notre Dame's School of Architecture that used Cooperstown, NY as its subject. Many of the principles the are incorporated in the studio's work are certainly related to new urbanism, but the work seems to be addressing other social issues as well--affordable housing for example.

Given that our course focuses on existing neighborhoods, I found this perspective relevant for considering the qualities that make up a sustainable community.

Article About Love

I realize it's off-topic, but if you're interested, here's a link to that nytimes article about long-lasting love and variety in dates:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/health/12well.html?ex=1360472400&en=c3614a4ad91d22e5&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Charter of the New Urbanism

Five years after the Awahnee Principles, the Congress for the New Urbanism published another set of principles outlined in the movement's official official charter:

http://www.cnu.org/charter

* I tend to think it articulates New Urbanist principles a bit more clearly than the website recommended on the syllabus [newurbanism.org].

PLANETIZEN Podcast - The Rise of Walkable Urbanism

I know my fellow CPLNers know PLANETIZEN.com very well, but for those of you might not be familiar, it is a great site listing news feed and job listings about planning and development. They also have a podcast which you can subscribe to via iTunes or you can listen to the latest installment here:

http://planetizen.com/node/29625

Their most recent podcast is an interview with Christopher B. Leinberger, author of "The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream."

http://www.islandpress.org/books/detail.html/SKU/1-59726-136-X

Leinberger discusses the current shift in the real estate market from "drivable sub-urban" to "walkable urban" development. He discusses the necessary accompanying lifestyle shift in terms of health, social, and environmental terms.

I particularly found this comment on accessibility noteworthy--he says that 1/3 of the US population do not have an automobile because they are too young, old, or poor, thus "drivable sub-urban" development, which means that much of the infrastructure of this country is inaccessible to this segment of our population. I think this figure has major implications for the concept of equity in social sustainability.

* "Sub-urban" is a recent term that New Urbanists have started using. I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's just "suburban" with a hyphen added. Maybe they think that the spelling change will get us to look at the word a little more carefully?

What's a Preservationist to Do?

An article that is relevant to Hart's point about carrying capacity as a crucial component of sustainability:

http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/L/LAKE_MEAD_DRY_UP?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-02-13-06-47-48

Development patterns in the West have spurred an unsustainable demand on water supply. Much of the West seems like a New Orleans type of situation...some environmentalists might say that we shouldn't have built out there at all. The land isn't meant for human habitation--it's a desert!

Will reinvestment in historic structures and neighborhoods help or harm this situation? Should we focus instead on land conservation to abate the effects of population growth? Should we help existing older communities strive for LEED-ND standards even if they aren't exactly "sustainable"?

Interesting Article on Sustainable Zoning

I am putting an article from Planning magazine in the course folder for anyone who is interested. It is about the movement to create sustainable zoning codes, which is very relevant to the class. Many of the issues we discuss are present in the article, and for anyone interested in planning's response, this is a good article to read.

Walk Score

http://www.walkscore.com/

This website uses Google Maps to calculate the walkability of an address. The more goods and services available within walking distance, the higher the score. Categories include: grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, movie theaters, schools, parks, libraries, bookstores, fitness, drug stores, hardware stores, and clothing and music stores.

If you navigate through the links at the top of the page, you will find that their definition of "walkable" has similar elements as what we have discussed as "sustainable," for example: healthy living, reduced greenhouse gas, more transportation options, increased social capital, and stronger local businesses, high density, mixed use, mixed income, parks and public space, proximity to schools and jobs. The "Walkable Neighborhoods" page also compares maps of a compact neighborhood versus a suburb to show that compact neighborhoods are more walkable (more sustainable). The "How It Doesn't Work" page is also valuable for people like us who are thinking about how to improve on known sustainability issues.

BREAKING NEWS: suburbs are not sustainable

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/fashion/10suburbs.html?ref=style

Cities and Climate Change

Cities are hitting roadblocks on the way to reducing greenhouse gasses...
via NYT

And the Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement is a lot harder than people thought.

Environmental Career Fair

As we discussed this week, there's an Ivy League Enviro Career fair next Friday (2/15) at Columbia. Click here for the website that helpfully lists who's coming.

Consumer Count

In attempting to determine how much "Green" has crept into our our daily existence, I counted the number of ads in the New Yorker which prompted one to "go green and save our environment." You will be pleased to know that Louis Vuitton, Chevron, and Toyota are all active proponents of the green movement. Jaguar, however, just want you to buy their cars.

"Diane Keaton celebrates the nature all around her by doing her part to keep our world a greener place by picking up items left on the beach, buying antiques, and driving a Toyata Highlander Hybrid."

America's Greenest (re)Built Town

"When a gigantic, 1.7-mile wide tornado barreled through Kansas last May, it zeroed in on the town of Greensburg. Whipping its way down Main Street, the tornado virtually destroyed the town while killing 11 of its 1,400 citizens. Greensburg plans to rebuild itself as an example of small-town green living."

http://greensburgks.org/
http://www.greensburggreentown.org/

ontario lifts ban on clotheslines

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/285166

19.20.21

found this on a design blog:

http://www.192021.org/

"Focusing on 19 cities with populations greater than 20 million people at the turn of the 21st century, 19.20.21. is a 5 year initiative to study the global effects of urbanization. The project plans to use the data collected to become a tool for urban and business planning."

more food for thought...

... pun intended...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16wwln-lede-t.htm

randy

greetings

welcome to the hspvcpln742 blog, everyone...
look forward to reading what you have to say!
randy