Category: infrastructure
Rotterdam Crowdfunds a Walkway
Last week we looked at the potential for crowdfunding urban improvements. This week Springwise has a piece on efforts by the City of Rotterdam to crowdfund a pedestrian walkway: [A] wooden pedestrian bridge dubbed the Luchtsingel will span 350 meters and require 17,000 planks. Citizens are invited to chip in and help fund the effort [...]
Highway Deconstruction & Quality of Life
The City Fix highlights an interesting approach to improving the quality of urban life: The famed U.S. intellectual Lewis Mumford once said, “Forget the damned motor car and build the cities for lovers and friends.” The recently released report on freeway removal from by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and EMBARQ (the producer [...]
NRDC Reports on the Financial Payback from Green Infrastructure
Based upon case studies from Philadelphia and elsewhere, environmentalists with the National Resources Defense Council report that green infrastructure can save billions of dollars for municipalities throughout the US: In Philadelphia alone, we estimate a potential for $376 million in private investment, if innovative finance approaches are applied to harness the power of the market. [...]
How the Internet Transforms Cities (& Could Save them $Billions)
Fast Company reports on how the Internet and associated “smart infrastructure” are making a profound change in US cities–transforming them from inert structures to “virtual organisms:” With a little help from what’s called the Internet of Things, engineers are transforming cities from passive conduits for water into dynamic systems that store and manage it like [...]
When One Thinks of Lively, Upcoming Green U.S. Cities. . .
probably the last city you think of is Buffalo. Well, over at Next American City, Chris Hawley thinks you’ve got it all wrong: When gas is $8/gallon, living in Buffalo will be a luxury. Buffalo is compact, diverse, and connected. Thanks to a new zoning code in the words, we will continue to develop smart [...]
Looking for Something Else to Worry About?
Let’s see, there’s global warming, the global recession, the capture of one of America’s great political parties by a handful of zealots. . . Anything else we should be worrying about? Oh yes, our electric grid! The Economist‘s Babbage blog has a bleak overview of where things stand, how deregulation was a very mixed blessing [...]
