Nature and cities can live together successfully – if we pursue a long-term vision that recognises and embraces the value of green infrastructure and biodiversity to society.
In his post on cities under stress, Bruce Sterling encourages us to ask what we want from our cities. The answer, surely, must be ecologically rich urban environments. As Tom Armour noted, planting large species trees in urban environments brings a host of social, environmental and economic benefits. Who wouldn’t want to share their city with plants that have been shown to improve physical and mental health, reduce hospital recovery times and increase workplace productivity?
I’m a chartered landscape architect with specific interests in infrastructure, environmental design and urban design, based at the...
Around the world, algae are being cultivated...
Little by little we are turning our lives over to...
This article was co-authored by Markus Schmidt...
For some early twentieth century commentators, the twenty-first century was going to be about electronic mediation of space. For others it was about speed and vectors of movement. But fundamentally people often believed that the same urban paradigms...
Many of us are accustomed to observing our world...
I’m writing this from Belgrade – a...
Although many people have tried to improve our...
Using the efficiency of the natural world to...
Wouldn’t it be better if people were...
If it were possible to make a time-lapse film of...
The UK has a goal of attracting 80 international...
Our world is changing; it always has and it...
How do we decide what we like and what we choose?...
Cooling is becoming an increasingly hot topic. As...
In Australia, as elsewhere, public-private...
The past two years have brought highs and lows for infrastructure and property investors around the world. In Australia, I’ve watched several large, complex infrastructure projects go awry as a result of unforeseen technical and operational...
Planting large species trees in urban...
The launch of the US$25 Raspberry Pi – a credit-card sized computer built by a charity on open source principles – makes programming on pretty capable hardware widely accessible. Add to this the huge amount of data, such as maps,...
Look at the nature of a national economy and...
![Lego blocks to illustrate "[Agile city design] means thinking more Legoland than Disneyland.](/App_Images/Posts/Medium/Agile_Cities_Lego_190x126.jpg "Lego blocks to illustrate \"[Agile city design] means thinking more Legoland than Disneyland.")
If we are to make cities work for people in the...
When it comes to predicting the rate of electric...
There has been already been a lot of excitement (and heated debate) about the contribution biomass can make to our energy needs. The fact is that although biomass is renewable, it’s not unlimited. There simply will never be enough to meet all...
What is the right scale for designing our future...
We all need water to survive. But if we’re...
As Google hits the headlines for changes to its...
With debate raging in the UK about legislation to...
Back in January, I was on a panel for an...
In this tough economic environment, there is much...
Following the disastrous earthquakes that have...
The financial storms battering the global economy...
The World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in Switzerland is over for another year.
The annual event took place against the sobering backdrop of the Euro-crisis and the continuing after-shocks from the global financial crisis. However, the mood...
The recent news that Kodak has filed for...
Design lies at the heart of what Arup...
The spectacular Metropol Parasol in...
In creating the Social Firefly – an artwork...
‘Design’. It’s a word that's...
I believe that everyone is born with creative...
As the end of 2011 rolls around, I’ve been...
Densely populated Hong Kong relies almost...
If the UK’s building sector supply chain is to achieve energy efficiency targets it will need to overcome an accepted culture of fragmentation and recognise the value in working together.
You don’t have to look far to see the benefits...
Following Debra Lam’s engaging post on the...
Today (29 November 2011), the UK Chancellor made his Autumn Statement against a backdrop of tough economic forecasts for the country.
The Office for Budget Responsibility is forecasting growth of just 0.7% in 2012, which comes on the back of a...
Right now, the international community is...
Chairing a recent debate at the Barbican in...
The Leveson Inquiry is investigating the practice...
As the current economic downturn looks set to...
The death of Apple CEO Steve Jobs has focussed...
I am arguing against the motion in an Arup-organised debate that “This house believes that London will never have world class integrated transport infrastructure”. Why? Because I believe that London already has world-class integrated...
The designers of our future are people who can...
The formal announcement that the global...
Like many countries, Australia is becoming...
Why can’t grey infrastructure such as...
Good design is cool, right? Definitely. But good...
A colleague of mine favours the expression that...
As you may have heard, the new carbon price is...
We are living in unforgiving, unpredictable times...
Communication is a key factor in the success or failure of any project. Keeping everyone on board and informed is vital, but the volume of digital communication we send, receive and post on the web is increasing exponentially.
While this constant...
The media called it the “Brian Cox Effect”. And right up until some spoilsport pointed out that Prof Cox’s excellent series about the universe was broadcast well after the discovery that more young people were making the choice to...
I’ve been excited about growing my own food...
Like many young, second-generation Singapore...
Last year we celebrated the arrival in Melbourne...
Government says it wants to empower communities...
In the building design, review and construction process, little if any attention is given to the subject of risk. For example, risks of fire, falling, or earthquakes are rarely discussed or acknowledged, except in terms of code compliance.
Do...
With the disastrous £11bn NHS computer...
Many people do not realise the crucial role that...
It is often thought that we can engineer our way out of problems, manmade and natural. Sea walls are designed to protect against storm surges, tsunamis and hurricanes. Buildings are designed for life safety during an earthquake. There are endless...
A significant proportion of construction...
The UK government has published its...
The Arab Spring and events in Libya are currently...
The world’s population is forecast to reach seven billion on 31 October 2011, according to the United Nations, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity for us all. With more than half of these people living in urban areas, new ways...
‘Arup is different’. This is a phrase that I use frequently within the firm and with our clients.
The idea of Arup being different goes right back to the founding principles of the firm and echoes throughout Sir Ove Arup’s Key...
UK entrepreneur Lord Sugar prompted an outcry when he fired an engineer from his TV show The Apprentice, saying, "I've never yet come across an engineer that can turn his hands to business".
There are countless examples of engineers being...
Winston Churchill understood the impact of design...
Reading through a couple of pieces recently about heat mapping for district heating systems and another about rethinking city resilience took me back to Sarajevo during the Bosnian conflict and some real-life lessons in innovation and resilience...
Those who run the world’s major cities are...
Fossil fuel energy provides the majority of our...
Cities will not be able to achieve significant...
How can building design reduce the spread of tuberculosis?Haiti has the highest TB rate in the Americas. In 2007 it had an estimated 306 TB cases per 100,000 people compared with 4.4 per 100,000 in the US. Up to 70% of people in certain housing...
Many development project teams are trying to...
Two months ago, I was in rural Nepal, mixing...
The traditional definition of logistics...
It was late 2005 when Arup's eco city design team...
A recent report by the Institution of Mechanical...
Queues, queues, queues. Whether shopping or...
Recession in the west has brought a temporary respite in the planning arena through reduced pressures on land and lower growth in both traffic levels and household formation. It has also brought new challenges in the form of neighbourhoods blighted...
Today’s internet is intrinsically human focussed. For decades it has been used as a vehicle for allowing humans to share and consume information. But a shift has been occurring over the past decade. You may be reading this "directly" on the...
Is there finally a case for large-scale solar...
Are hospitals with 100% single patient bedrooms...
Is pressure washing roads and applying dust...
The number of people in the world aged 80 or over is expected to almost quadruple by 2050, rising to 395m or 4.3% of the global population. With older people more likely to experience chronic conditions such as poor mobility, sensory losses and...
Thoughts /
The best solutions can only come about by continually listening, learning and challenging. That’s why we’ve created Thoughts - a place for experts, practitioners and enthusiasts to talk about the issues affecting the built environment now and in the future. Please join us.
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