Archive for the ‘energy’ Category
newburg
“Newburg: Embracing High Density at the Urban Fringe”, published by the Sustainable Urban Development Association (SUDA), presents an illustrative and descriptive example of a high-density city-building concept for the fringes of urban areas. It is an urban form concept developed at SUDA that is inherently environmentally progressive, fosters social vitality, is economically efficient, supports a high number of jobs within the community, and reduces the impacts of future energy shocks.
wuhan train station
Looks like we’re going to have to start playing catchup with the Chinese. What a fantastic station!
no subway
Frumination asks what would Manhattan’s central business district – 60th street and south – look like if there were no subway and all commuters came to the city by car? He did the math and the geography and … well, it’s not pretty. Here is the daily capacity –
from 8:00AM to 8:59 AM on an average Fall day in 2007 the NYC Subway carried 388,802 passengers into the CBD on 370 trains over 22 tracks. In other words, a train carrying 1,050 people crossed into the CBD every 6 seconds.
At best, it would take 167 inbound lanes, or 42 copies of the Queens Midtown Tunnel, to carry what the NYC Subway carries over 22 inbound tracks through 12 tunnels and 2 (partial) bridges. At worst, 200 new copies of 5th Avenue. Somewhere in the middle would be 67 West Side Highways or 76 Brooklyn Bridges. And this neglects the Long Island Railroad, Metro North, NJ Transit, and PATH systems entirely.
The map above is a sketch of the additional parking space and bridges and tunnels that would be required to pull it off. No doubt there are lunatics out there that will interpret this interesting study as a beneficial proposal and will try to implement it – like the crackpot airport scheme.
Now for a bit of editorializing. This quick study speaks volumes about what energy and space and infrastructure hogs cars are. I like cars but everything in moderation. In a sense the author is taking Manhattan and asking what it would be like if it were LA, or nearly every other American ‘city.’ I think it’s time to start talking about how the form of the city – dense vs sprawl – affects energy consumption patterns. Taken seriously, mass transit vs car transport has an enormous impact on the environment and on per capita energy consumption – an impact almost noone is talking about.
I found this on kottke.org.
abandoned at sea
What happens when the rig made at enormous expense in the gulf of Mexico delivers its final barrel of crude and the company packs up and heads off to fairer pastures? Make a luxury hotel say Morris Architects. These are images that show some of their ideas which include floating pod condos and the refurbished rig. It’s an extravagant idea: living on a mechanical island with nothing but sea around you: extravagant in terms of the extreme environment and too, in terms of its cost.
For a construction that is in the sea, this project is remarkably separated from it. Perhaps it’s an American sensibility; a fear of the water, an inability to swim. On the new rig hotel, you are either in your pod in the air with the sea way below or you are in the dive bell submerged below the water line. There is a small marina, but aside from that no substantial connection between life on the rig and the water body that supports it: I think a reminder of how we build, grounded in fear and without an understanding of genius locii – the spirit of the place.
velowala
Velowala is a site that documents mostly through photos bicycle commerce in India. A wala is someone who does something and a velo is a bike. Wala is a common tag put on the end of a job title. Like – a dishwala is a guy who washes dishes, a dhabba walla is a guy who delivers dhabba (lunch) and a sodabottleopenerwala is someone who opens soda bottles. You get the picture.
commuting in mumbai
A fashion producer in transit in the maximum city. From Urban Age.
Train, rickshaw, scooter, taxi, Mahalaxmi, Bandra, Khar, all in a day’s work. That’s why I love this city, everything gets done really fast, no arguments, no fuss, she says.
Peter Rudd
strawdogs 
