The European Platform on Mobility Management (EPOMM) just unveiled a new interactive web tool that makes it easy to compare transportation data between cities internationally. Now analysts, designers, and planners can conveniently view data on transportation habits in hundreds of cities. Unfortunately, all of this data highlights how far behind American cities are compared to European cities.

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Post tags: alternative transportation, bikes, bus, cars, commute, epomm, european platform on mobility management, green transportation, interactive map, subway, switchboard, tems, train, transit, urban transportation, walk

The American Society of Landscape Architects just released an incredible useful and comprehensive database of 479 case studies of successful “green rainwater infrastructure” projects. It exemplifies various techniques of collecting rainwater and filtering it naturally before it flows into urban waterways as polluted runoff. Moreover, the study found that the use of green infrastructure is rarely cost-prohibitive. In fact, 75% of the projects in the database reduced development costs or had no impact on them.

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Post tags: American Society of Landscape Architects, apache nitrogen products, Bioswale, chapel hill, david baker, eco-art, graywater, Green Building, green infrastructure, green roof, greywater, h2o flow, harvesting, michael roy layne, rain garden, rainwater, rainwater storage, solar gain inc., stormwater, sustainable design, tassafaronga housing village, vegetated roof

We are eagerly awaiting the 2011 A Better World by Design conference coming up this weekend, Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, on the campuses of the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University. We have covered this energetic, exclusively student-run conference on socially conscious design in the past, and will be attending once again to bring you the highlights. If you’re as excited as we are, tickets are still available with an 80% student discount!

Read the rest of A Better World by Design Kicks Off This Weekend in Rhode Island!

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "sustainable architecture", a better world by design, abwxd, better world by design, better world challenge, brown university, cannon design, common, continuum, design for america, Disaster Relief, eco design, elizabeth johansen, emergency shelter, green architecture, Green Building, green design, john fetterman, Kate Stohr, makeshift magazine, peter haas, quadror shelter, reboot, rhode island school of design, risd, rob schuham, shelter, steven bingler, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, trung le, wolfgang feist

Customized fixies may be all the rage in urban America nowadays, but even the simplest, cheapest bike is a rare sight in rural Africa. Fortunately, the bamboo from which to craft bikes grows on trees – or rather in groves. However, the labor and money to manufacture bicycles does not. That is where Zambikes comes in. In partnership with the non-profit Akerfa, this Zambian bike manufacturer sells hand-crafted bamboo bikes to the West and invests the profits back into its community.

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Post tags: Africa, akerfa, alternative transportation, bamboo, bamboo bike, bicycles, bikes, green materials, green transportation, handcrafted, handmade bike, rapidly renewable, Sustainable Materials, zambia, zambike, zambikes, zambulance

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Post tags: costumes, DIY, Installation, installation art, installation art fair, interactive, nasa, providence, recycled art, recycled material, recycled newspaper, rhode island, space, space pod, space station, the steel yard, to the moon, WASA, wooly fair

Boston’s new bike-share program, dubbed the Hubway, officially launched yesterday with over 600 bicycles geared up and ready to rent. For those unfamiliar with the city’s narrow and winding roads, it has long been derided as one of the least bikeable cities. However, the popular support behind Hubway signals a great change. Boston is now striving to be a center of public bike travel in the Northeast. To celebrate the launch of the system and demonstrate how easy, inexpensive and green biking can be, Hubway members rode 200 of the bikes around the city!

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Post tags: alta bicycles, bike share, bixi, boston, Boston bike share, hubway, mayor Menino, new york bike share, New York., Northeast, velib, washington d.c.

MIT researchers, in collaboration with China’s Tsinghua University, have recently created a new set of tools to evaluate the energy performance of large-scale development projects. The tools are a response to China’s rapid urbanization and succession of ever-larger housing and infrastructure projects. The researchers’ goal was to help shape the process of urbanization one neighborhood at a time, producing cleaner energy patterns than would otherwise exist.

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Post tags: "clean energy", "energy efficiency", china, chinese, chinese policy, chinese sustainable development, Christopher Zegras, Dennis Frenchman, energy proforma, green design, MIT, MIT School of Architecture + Planning, neighborhood pattern book, planning policy, proforma, sustainable design, Tsinguhua UNiversity, Urban design, urban planning, urban planning tools

Multidisciplinary design firm Except recently unveiled its Polydome concept for meeting the world’s skyrocketing agricultural demands. Using advanced greenhouse technology, meticulously planned crop groupings and absolutely no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, the system can produce an abundant 10-15 lbs per square foot of  vegetables, fish, and even honey. If grown atop rooftops, this bounty of food could even provide the majority of New York City’s food supply.

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Post tags: advanced greenhouse technology, agriculture, alternative agriculture, brightfarms, closed greenhouse, companion planting, crop cluster, crop clusters, crop rotation, crops, dutch, eco design, except, food supply, greenhouse, hydroponics, new york city, plants, polyculture, polydome, rooftop agriculture, sustainable design, three sisters, urban agriculture, zero waste

1.2 billion people worldwide lack access to a clean water supply, and nearly 2 million children die each year just from diarrhea (which is often water-borne). SODIS solar water disinfection systems offer a solution to these pressing issues by disinfecting contaminated water using the sun’s UV-A rays. Over the course of six hours, exposure to solar energy destroys harmful viruses, bacteria, and protozoa, rendering the water safe to drink. Although specially-designed SODIS bottles exist, ordinary PET plastic bottles work just as well – plus they are abundant, durable, and allow UV radiation to pass through them. In some places, this technique has reduced the incidence of diarrhea by over 85%.

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Post tags: appropriate design, appropriate technology, bottle, clean water, green design, heierle, PET, sodis, Solar Bottle, solar water disinfection, water bottle, water contamination, water disinfection

Arlington County and MetroBike are currently in the process of scaling up the area’s bike share service by doubling the amount of stations, but instead of figuring it out themselves, they’re asking the public where the new racks should go. In an innovative and very participatory new program, the county is receiving public comments from residents and businesses on the new station locations. Rather than simply install the new racks and then advertise the service to prospective city cyclists, an interactive map has been released that locals can use to make suggestions.

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Post tags: alternative transportation, arlington, Arlington County, bicycle, bicycling, bike, Bike Rack, bike share, bike sharing, bike station, bikearlington, biking, crowd source, crowd sourcing, crowd-sourced, crowdsourced, crowdsourcing, green transportation, interactive bike share map, metro bike, metrobike, participatory

We’ve covered a wide variety of urban agriculture projects in the past – the rooftop farm Brooklyn Grange, the Battery Conservancy’s new turkey-shaped farm, and futuristic vertical farms, to name a few. Our view of them has generally been positive, but perhaps urban farms deserve a second look. Edward L. Glaeser, PhD, a professor of economics at Harvard University recently put forth his radical view that urban farms reduce metropolitan density levels, and thus do more harm to the environment than good. But does his argument really hold water?

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Post tags: alternative agriculture, battery conservancy, Brooklyn grange, carbon dioxide emissions, edward glaeser, energy use, environmental design, food miles, green, Green Cities, green design, harvard, harvard economist, harvard university, rooftop farm, turkey farm, turkey-shaped farm, urban agriculture, urban density, urban farm, vertical farm, vertical farms

Central Saudi Arabia is a difficult, if not impossible, location in which to create a new sustainable development. Summer temperatures can reach 120 degrees Farenheit, annual rainfall rarely exceeds 4 inches and anyone designing there must account for unpredictable duststorms. Yet this is precisely where the King Abdullah Financial District, Henning Larsen Architect’s master-planned area for the city of Riyadh, is rising. This Danish firm set strict guidelines for all buildings in the district to ensure low levels of heat gain and energy use, as well as adherence to traditional design principles. Their Crystal Towers, with construction scheduled to reach a milestone in several weeks, exemplify the firm’s progressive sustainability code.


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Post tags: "leed", "sustainable architecture", alternative transportation, Architecture, capital of saudi arabia, crystal towers, danish architecture firm, danish architecture firms, Danish design, desert architecture, desert urban design, footbridge, footbridges, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green masterplan, green transportation, henning larsen, henning larsen architects, islamic architecture, king abdullah financial district, leed certification, masterplan, monorail, Riyadh, saudi arabia, shade, skybridges, skywalk, skywalks, Solar Power, sustainability code, sustainability guideline, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, sustainable masterplan, Urban design

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", 8 tallet, Architecture, big, Bjarke Ingels Group, copenhagen, copenhagen school, copenhagen x, copenhagenx, Eco Architecture, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green roof, harbor, harbour, inhabitat, jww architects, jww arkitekter, low energy class 2015, oslo opera house, sluseholmen, snohetta, south harbor school, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, sydhavn skole

Scrap aluminum slivers were worked into the Sworth Lamp, an exploding cloud of gleaming metal by designer Ilsa Parry and collaborator Tom Sutton. The curly slivers that the lamp is constructed from are ordinarily worthless by-products of the shipping industry, known as swarf. However, in Ilsa and Tom’s hands, they take on a valuable and visually softer form. If you’re struck by this LED lamp’s dynamic look and creative reuse of materials, give it your vote in the Bright Ideas Lighting Competition.

VOTE FOR THE SWORTH LAMP >


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Post tags: bright ideas lighting competition, bright ideas lighting contest, bright ideas lighting design competition, by-products, Competition, contest, eco friendly lamps, eco lamps, eco lighting designs, energy efficient lamps, energy efficient lighting, energy efficient lighting designs, green lamps, green lighting, green lighting competition, green lighting designs, ilsa parry, inhabitat and philips bright ideas lighting competition, inhabitat and philips lighting contest, inhabitat bright ideas, inhabitat lighting competition, lampshade, LED, led lamp, LED lamps, led lighting contest, led lighting design competition, led lighting design contest, led lighting fi, Light, lighting design competition, pendant lamp, Philips, philips bright ideas, Philips led bulbs, philips lighting, reuse, scrap metal, swarf, sworth, sworth lamp, tom sutton

Sometimes we want to shake things up around our apartments, but aren’t ready to buy any new decor. The Pillbug Lamp solves this problem by functioning as a wall sconce, table lamp, or even a chandelier depending on how wide its shade is opened or closed. Inspired by the natural forms of armadillos and pillbugs, Kristof Kovacs created this versatile lamp to fit any flat or angled surface. Although fabricated from high-impact polystyrene, the designer is currently searching for a recycled plastic alternative. If you dig the versatility of this Bright Ideas finalist then give the Pillbug your vote!

VOTE FOR THE PILLBUG LAMP >

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Post tags: biomimicry, bright ideas lighting competition, bright ideas lighting contest, bright ideas lighting design competition, Competition, contest, eco friendly lamps, eco lamps, eco lighting designs, energy efficient lamps, energy efficient lighting, energy efficient lighting designs, green lamps, green lighting, green lighting competition, green lighting designs, high-impact polystyrene, inhabitat and philips bright ideas lighting competition, inhabitat and philips lighting contest, inhabitat bright ideas, inhabitat lighting competition, kristof kovacs, lampshade, LED, led lamp, LED lamps, led lighting contest, led lighting design competition, led lighting design contest, led lighting fi, Light, lighting design competition, Philips, philips bright ideas, Philips led bulbs, philips lighting, pillbug lamp, versatility

Just last week a team of inspiring designers began to ride their hand-built bamboo bikes across America to share the story of the Alabamboo initiative. Alabamboo is a collaborative effort by non-profits and businesses that recently shot up to bring sustainable bamboo production to Alabama. Centered in Greensboro, Alabama, home of Rural Studio, one of the initiative’s many branches is the Alabamboo Bike Lab. Inspired by Brooklyn’s Bamboo Bike Studio, the lab works fast-growing bamboo into stylish, sustainable and sturdy rides. It simultaneously brings clean, affordable transportation and green employment opportunities to the rural area’s low-income population.


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Post tags: alabama, alabamboo, alex bogusky, alternative transportation, bamboo, bamboo bicycle, bamboo bicycles, bamboo bikes, bicycle, bicycle laboratory, bicycles, bike, bike lab, bike laboratory, bikes, common, common cycles, green transportation, greensboro, greensboro alabama, john bielenberg, project m, sustainable transportation

Organelle Design’s series of Hangelier 1.2 lampshades is thoughtfully crafted from off-the-shelf plastic hangers and salvaged bike components. The surprisingly intricate hangers are arranged in a manner that references classic chandeliers from afar, while revealing the designer’s unique material choice up close. The repeated use of the mundane hangers brings the issue of landfill waste to light. A finalist in the Bright Ideas Lighting Competition, we think it also exemplifies how LED lighting can both be innovative and elegant.

VOTE FOR THE HANGELIER 1.2 >

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Post tags: Alex Witko, bike rim, bright ideas lighting competition, bright ideas lighting contest, bright ideas lighting design competition, clothing hangers, Competition, contest, Courtney Hunt, eco friendly lamps, eco lamps, eco lighting designs, energy efficient lamps, energy efficient lighting, energy efficient lighting designs, green lamps, green lighting, green lighting competition, green lighting designs, hangelier, inhabitat and philips bright ideas lighting competition, inhabitat and philips lighting contest, inhabitat bright ideas, inhabitat lighting competition, lampshade, LED, led lamp, LED lamps, led lighting contest, led lighting design competition, led lighting design contest, led lighting fi, Light, lighting design competition, organelle design, Philips, philips bright ideas, Philips led bulbs, philips lighting, repurposed hangers

“Abstraction” is a series of modular pendant lamps laser cut from recycled and recyclable materials and designed by Brandon Perhacs of Lichen and Perhacs Studio. In a clever and playful move, the designer made the leaves of the lamps interchangeable with one another. This allows for a wide variety of design possibilities as the different patterns, colors and materials within the series are mixed and matched. One of the finalists in our Bright Ideas Lighting Competition, the shades will be available by the end of the summer to be creatively separated and recombined.

VOTE FOR THE ABSTRACTION LAMP SERIES >

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Post tags: brandon perhacs, bright ideas lighting competition, bright ideas lighting contest, bright ideas lighting design competition, Competition, contest, eco friendly lamps, eco lamps, eco lighting designs, energy efficient lamps, energy efficient lighting, energy efficient lighting designs, green lamps, green lighting, green lighting competition, green lighting designs, green lighting fi, inhabitat and philips bright ideas lighting competition, inhabitat and philips lighting contest, inhabitat bright ideas, inhabitat lighting competition, interchangeable lamp, lampshade, LED, led lamp, LED lamps, led lighting contest, led lighting design competition, led lighting design contest, led lighting fi, lichen studio, Light, lighting design competition, modular, perhacs studio, Philips, philips bright ideas, Philips led bulbs, philips lighting

The Flock Floor Lamp is a coiled beauty set in bloom by the hands of dedicated and talented craftsman Tom Raffield. Delicately handcrafted out of steam bent FSC-Certified Sycamore wood, the shade is suspended atop a minimal, solid steel tripod base to create a dramatic and unique floor lamp. If you’re a fan of this innovative design then vote for it in our Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition!

VOTE FOR THE FLOCK FLOOR LAMP

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Post tags: bright ideas lighting competition, bright ideas lighting contest, bright ideas lighting design competition, Competition, contest, eco friendly lamps, eco lamps, eco lighting designs, energy efficient lamps, energy efficient lighting, energy efficient lighting designs, flock floor lamp, forest stewardship council certified, FSC, fsc certified, green lamps, green lighting, green lighting competition, green lighting designs, green lighting fixtures, inhabitat and philips bright ideas lighting competition, inhabitat and philips lighting contest, inhabitat bright ideas, inhabitat lighting competition, lampshade, LED, led lamp, LED lamps, led lighting contest, led lighting design competition, led lighting design contest, led lighting fixtures, Light, lighting design competition, Philips, philips bright ideas, Philips led bulbs, philips lighting, steam bending, Tom Raffield

Designed by Meridian 105 Architecture, V Tower is a grand, green residential high rise emerging from a base of retail, restaurant, cafe, and parking space. The project seeks to create a new ground plane atop this volume by providing residents with a rooftop urban park that occupies the entire building footprint. Among the amenities featured at this level are generous open areas of grass, a pool, and a community garden.

Read the rest of Latticed Mixed-Use V Tower Rises From a Rooftop Park and Garden

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Architecture, boulder colorado, community garden, condensation collection, condenser dryers, Daylighting, Green Building, green roof, irrigation, meridian 105 architecture, mixed-use, rainwater collection, residential tower, rooftop park, sustainable design, V tower