Renew Cities: Environmental Sustainability

The government promised that the public would get parks where citizens could exercise and stay strong – shared open spaces that would be theirs forever, places that would inspire and invigorate.
But one park became a Las Vegas hotel.

"This is low-income housing superior to anything Philadelphia has done in half a century. Not only are the rowhouses stylish and modern both inside and out, they are among the most energy-efficient ever built in the United States. Produced by Onion Flats, the quirky firm that designs, builds, develops, and sometimes markets its own residential projects, the homes are the first in Pennsylvania to be certified by the demanding International Passive House Institute, based in Germany. Nationally, there are about 30 projects that qualify as "passive" because their energy consumption is near zero, and several more without certification.

Stuffed with insulation and topped with rooftop solar panels, the Logan houses are designed to produce almost as much energy as the owners use. That's important because they will be occupied by the poorest of the poor, families who are trying to escape the nomadic life of homeless shelters and temporary quarters, and put down roots. With annual incomes of less than $25,000, the last thing residents need is high energy bills."

Cornell Tech releases new renderings of its 12.5 acre campus on Roosevelt Island designed by SOM and Morphosis, which features what will be one of the largest energy neutral buildings in the US.

Completed in 2006, architect and urban planner Christian de Portzamparc completed one of the most unique mixed-use developments in recent years, De Citadel.

"Little green dots are popping up in Seoul’s predominantly grey skyline, as an increasing number of roofs are being turned into gardens, farms and tiny ecological parks. With little vacant space left and land prices soaring high, Seoul is looking at the roofs of its numerous concrete structures as an untapped frontier for public green space....Seoul City is actively promoting this rooftop revolution, offering incentives of as much as 70 percent of the installation costs. Its green roof project, which started in 2002, resulted in about 243,000 square meters of green space atop some 550 commercial, public-purpose and residential buildings. Nearly 40 billion won have been spent in incentives so far."