Read the rest of Philadelphia Plants Its Very First Bus Stop Green Roof!

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Post tags: bus stop green roof, city green roof, green bus stop, green spaces, green urban planning, philladelphia, philly, roofmeadow, sustainable urban planning, urban green roof, urban planning

Read the rest of Our Cities Ourselves: Ten Global Cities Reimagined for Sustainable Transport

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Post tags: bicycle pedestrian priority, Buenos Aires, city development, ITDP, MARQ, Our cities ourselves, Sustainable Transport, Sustainable trasit, sustainable urban planning, town planning, Transport development

When reflecting on sustainable design we often get caught up in buildings and their individual points for sustainability. Though we love watching zero-energy homes and LEED certified office buildings go up, sometimes we forget about the bigger picture — the urban planning picture. A new study released by NASA on the urban heat island effect in the northeast United States has drawn special attention to the immense problem. The new study says that some cities in the northeast can be on average up to 16 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than their surrounding rural areas. With climate change issues growing ever so rapidly, this problem is expected to worsen in the coming years.

Read the rest of NASA Photographs Highlight Urban Heat Island Problem

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Post tags: city planning, heat islands, nasa heat island photos, nasa satellite photos, northeast heat island, sustainable city planning, sustainable urban planning, Urban design, urban heat islands, urban planning

The passing of Measure R at the end of 2008 provided Los Angeles County with funds for up to $40 billion in transit-related projects over the next 30 years. The measure also inspired a competition to design new transport solutions, and Paris-based Odile Decq and Bonit Conrnette Architects have proposed an extensive plan to make the ‘freeway city’ a little greener. The project proposes large stretches of green space, a system of small vehicles with designated transportation lanes and parking stations, and a complete overhaul of the city’s streets, overpasses, culverts, right of ways, power lines, and underutilized rail lines.

+ ODBC

Via Design Boom

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Post tags: Green LA, inhabitat, Inhabitat LA, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Transportation, Measure R, odile decq and bonit cornette architects, sustainable urban design, sustainable urban planning

As the construction process for Hudson Yards drags on in New York, we’re glad to see green urban design is alive and well in Chicago. The windy city is no stranger to sustainable building, and this urban park, located on the fringe of the city’s downtown, will certainly give Chicago even more green cred. Perkins + Will, the architects behind the design, developed the park to create more open space for the city, but the greenway also proves to be a pedestrian-friendly gateway that connects the existing downtown to any future development across the Kennedy Expressway.

Read the rest of West Loop Park Infuses Chicago With Green Urban Space

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Post tags: chicago city planning, Landscape Architecture, sustainable urban planning, Urban design, urban expansion, urban park, urban planning, urban restoration, urban revitalization

Are you a cyclist who bemoans the fact that comfortable biking clothing isn’t stylish? NYC’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy (LVMH) teamed up to present a challenge to FIT’s students to create stylish and practical activewear for cyclists. The students worked for a semester to develop designs for a poncho, jacket, and travel bag under the mentorship of their professors and designers at Donna Karen New York (DKNY). The top three finalists and their designs were honored at a conference in early June; read on for more, including the winner!

Read the rest of Louis Vuitton and FIT Team Up for Bike in Style Competition

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Post tags: bicyclists new york city, biking style, donna karen new york, eco friendly active wear, fashion institute of technology, fit nyc, louis vuitton moet hennsey, nyc cycling traffic, nyc summer streets, student competition, student fashion competition, sustainable style, sustainable urban planning, transportation planning

With alarming reports of crude oil prices now hovering close to $145 US dollars per barrel, and home mortgage lending going bust, it is increasingly apparent that the 1950’s inspired American Dream of cul-de-sac ‘oases’ and paved highway transport is really on the verge of an all-out collapse. The environmental costs of suburban life were starkly highlighted in a feature story in the NY Times earlier this spring – a harbinger of sorts to the summer of 2008 where cries about SUV-fill-up costs have supplanted soccer-mom chat. Andrew Revkin at Dot.Earth also addressed the topic with a provocative blog piece that suggested ‘retrofilling’ suburbia as a means to ‘uninvent’ the mindless sprawl. Whatever the strategy to come, it is more apparent than ever, that reinventing our consumption habits and our notions of living ‘the good life’ will be a vital action item as we search for new ways to define sustainability in lieu of behemoth malls and suburban plots of American neighborhoods.

Read the rest of Uninventing Suburbia and the American Dream

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Post tags: California suburbs, Dot Earth Andrew Revkin, Dot Earth Suburbia, grist, suburban retrofilling, Suburbia and Sustainability, Suburbia and the American Dream, sustainable suburban planning, sustainable urban planning, The End of Suburbia documentary film, Uninventing Suburbia, worldchanging, Worldchanging Alex Steffen