Cities

Ecocities Emerging

Fri, 2012-08-03 23:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Jerry Erbach

Ecocity Builders

Mission and Vision

Ecocity Builders reshapes cities for the long-term health of human and natural systems.

We develop and implement policy, design and educational tools and strategies to build thriving urban centers based on “access by proximity” and to reverse patterns of sprawl and excessive consumption.

Ecocity Builders and associates’ definition of “ecocity” is conditional upon a healthy relationship of the city’s parts and functions, similar to the relationship of organs in living complex organism. We are concerned with city design, planning, building, and operations in an integral way and in relation to the surrounding environment and natural resources of the region, utilizing organic, ecological and whole-systems lessons to actually reverse the negative impacts of climate change, species extinction and the destruction of the biosphere.

We believe the form of the city matters, that it is within our ability, and indeed crucial, to reshape and restructure cities to address global environmental challenges.

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Sustainable Development

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Solutions

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How To Make Cities More Resilient - A Handbook For Local Government Leaders

Tue, 2012-05-22 18:17 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Kay Goss

unisdr.org - March 2012

A contribution to the global campaign 2010-2015 Making Cities Resilient – 'My City is Getting Ready!':

This handbook provides mayors, governors, councillors and other local government leaders with a generic framework for risk reduction and points to good practices and tools that are already being applied in different cities for that purpose. It discusses why building disaster resilience is beneficial; what kind of strategies and actions are required; and how to go about the task. It offers practical guidance to understand and take action on the "Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient" as set out in the global campaign "Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready!".

(CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION)

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Global

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Cities

Disaster Risk Reduction

Resilience

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Solutions

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The City as Lab: 21 Metropoles Prepare to Prototype

Sat, 2012-05-05 23:15 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Living Labs Global co-founder Sascha Haselmayer addresses the crowd in Rio de Janeiro

submitted by Albert Gomez

good.is - by Zak Stone - May 4, 2012

In a megapolis like Mexico City, any planning initiative that moves citizens from cars to busses will pay off in reductions to traffic and air pollution. A major deterrent to using public transportation in the city? Comfort, according to Dr. Julio Mendoza, director of Mexico City's Institute of Science and Technology. Many would rather drive than experience that particular breed of public transportation-pegged anxiety: waiting helplessly on the street corner for a bus that feels like it won't ever arrive.

After participating in the Living Labs Global Award program, a competition designed to help cities solve planning challenges, the Mexican capital may have found a fix. In February, Mexico City and 20 other LLGA participants around the world put out an open call to companies to pitch solutions to important but fixable problems.

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Resilience Alliance

Sat, 2012-01-28 13:29 — mdmcdonald

There are many definitions of resilience from simple deterministic views of resilience anchored in Newtonian mechanics to far more dynamic views of resilience from a systems perspective, including insights from quantum mechanics and the sciences of complexity. One baseline perspective of resilience sees it in terms of the viability of socio-ecological systems as the foundation for sustainability. For those that are ready to look beyond resilience as the ability to return to the "normal state" before a disaster, take a look at:

http://www.resalliance.org/

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Global

US - West

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Solutions

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Mesh Cities

Sat, 2012-01-28 12:54 — mdmcdonald

What does it take to become a smart city? Why are mesh cities important to sustainability?

For more information:

<http://www.meshcities.com/>

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Sustainable Development

Technology

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Solutions

Problem

Gallup Poll: 37% Support Occupy Wall Street Movement

Mon, 2011-10-24 08:08 — mdmcdonald

A recent poll is showing that very large numbers of Americans support the Occupy Wall Street movement and that this support may be growing. This story also shows the general difference between OWS protesters and Tea Party protesters. OWS protesters are tending to blame the private sector. The Tea Party protesters are tending to look at government as being at the heart of the problem. As the OWS movement grows many Tea Party protesters are realizing that they too are part of the 99% embraced by the Occupy Everywhere movement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/23/occupy-wall-street-poll_n_1027109.html

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Guardian: Maps and Lists of Occupy Everywhere Sites

Mon, 2011-10-24 07:42 — mdmcdonald

The below Guardian article provides a map and lists of where Occupy Everywhere protests are emerging. They are primarily, but not exclusively in the U.S. and Europe, in countries where the economy is in significant decline and inequities are significant. In most of these places, the youth fear that their future will be worse than their parents, due to the greed of a global elite insensitive to the destruction they have caused economically and environmentally.

The list includes 951 cities in 82 countries.

To see the story and full list, go to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/oct/17/occupy-protests-world-list-map

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Global

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Solutions

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Guardian: Snapshots of the Occupy Everywhere Protesters Views

Mon, 2011-10-24 07:25 — mdmcdonald

This Guardian photo slideshow depicts how the Occupy Everywhere movement is growing globally. The protesters talk about what is motivating them. In generzl, they are talking about how their governments have failed to provide the fundamentals of resilience to their generation. They intend to take these matters into their own hands.

Occupy protests: Rita Maestre, Madrid