green cities
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Trees lining California streets are worth an extra $1 billion a year
A new study calculates the value of the trees that line the state’s roads.
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Meet the skyscrapers of the future: Band-Aids, balloon forests, and underwater spheres
This theoretical skyscraper, the winner of eVolo’s annual skyscraper design competition, would collect, purify, and store water in the Himalayas, helping to conserve and regulate it. It looks like a half pack of cigarettes in fancy holders, but it’s not even the weirdest-looking skyscraper, not by a long shot. Below are some of the strange […]
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Grimy to green: Three cities that have cleaned up their acts
Jad Daley with the Trust for Public LandPhoto: Hanna Welch All right, we know that no place with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants deserves to be described in these terms — but let’s face it, some cities are known for being dumps. Yet every dump can be cleaned up. Few understand this better than Jad […]
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Can we turn mining pits into underground cities?
Architect Matthew Fromboluti designed this inverted skyscraper to make use of abandoned open-pit mining operations in Bisbee, Ariz. The 900-foot underground building (maybe we should call it a mantle-scraper?) wouldn't just be for residences -- it would comprise an entire self-sufficient subterranean city, including crops fed by skylights.
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Critical List: A second leak in Shell's North Sea rig spurting oil; Chinese protest chemical factory
A second leak at the Shell oil platform in the North Sea is proving harder to stop than the first.
A Chinese protest against a chemical factory was one of the largest in three years -- at least 12,000 people -- and may herald a shift towards more public action in the country.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is exchanging ideas with leaders in Rio about greening their cities. -
A closer look at Siemens' green cities rankings
Attempts to measure, score, or rank things for greenness aren't perfect or foolproof, but they do get us talking about what's important.
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Reviving a river in Mexico City
Mexico City has treated its rivers badly: They tend to be paved over and filled with sewage. But Elías Cattan, a green building leader in Mexico City, wants to turn one of these f*cked-under resources back into a healthy, flowing river. Under Cattan’s guidance, the trash-clogged Río Piedad would become a viable waterway with a […]
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Green buildings can now eat smog for breakfast
The aluminum giant Alcoa has designed a building panel that cleans both itself and the nearby air. The secret to this feat is titanium dioxide, the same compound that allows sunscreen to block the sun. In this application, when the sun hits a coat of titanium dioxide, the compound begins spewing electrons. According to Alcoa, […]
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Sci-fi skycrapers of the future
The cities of the future could combine dense living arrangements with energy innovation, according to the winners of architecture mag eVolo's annual skyscraper design competition. This design collects lightning and uses it to power hydrogen fuel cells. Some of the other winning skyscrapers are habitations, but others are recycling centers, turbines, and water purification facilities […]