Dépollution des sols : la Chine cultive les plantes" accumulatrices" Les premières mentions de fougères utilisées comme accumulateurs d’arsenic remontent à 2001, année de la publication d’un article dans Nature. Le 3 juin 2009, le China Daily a publié un long entretien avec Chen Tongbin, spécialiste des sols à la CAS (Académie Chinoise des Sciences). Ce chercheur explique qu’après de longues années de travaux, il a mis au point une remédiation des sols pollués à l’arsenic dès 1999. Chen continue ses recherches sur le sujet mais ses découvertes sont aussi utilisées opérationnellement, par exemple dans le Hunan, à proximité de sites miniers. Phytoremédiation : une technique "améliorée" Les sols peuvent être dépollués en 5 ans par la culture de Pteris vittata L ( Ptéris rubané), une fougère de la famille des Pteridacae. La pollution des sols préoccupe la Chine Source : Agence pour la diffusion de l’information technologique (Adit) Pour en savoir plus : Les métaux lours et les plantes (rapport du Sénat) La phytoextraction (Ademe) Voir le site
The Urb – Urban Beehive for Homes by Chris Weir Urban Beehive The reddot award winning Urban Beehive from Philips Design shows us that ant farms are obsolete and we should be gunning our attention on bees. The Urb is in line with the concept and makes beekeeping a ‘less daunting and more attractive process for novices.’ The biggest advantage is that you don’t need to adorn the protective garb when you handle the bin. You can observe the colony and use the technology implements to extract the honey easily. This hasn’t been explained clearly, but I am sure there must be a process in place to do it right. Designer: Chris Weir Istanbul: City of Seeds It was generous of the The Building Information Centre (YEM) and 34Solo to host an xskool event in their city last week. Our starting premise, after all, was that Turkey’s 30 year long construction boom is losing momentum. True, the sound of jackhammers was pervasive in Istanbul during our visit – but the cold winds of the global crisis are making themselves felt. An estimated 600,000 dwellings stand unsold in the city and, in January, a first attempt to raise private funding for a third bridge across the Bosphorous failed. Not a single company showed interest. Back in 1995, Mayor Erdogan of Istanbul declared that a third bridge would be “murder” for forests and reservoirs around the city. What drives this ecocidal policy? Trouble is, just because a property bubble is Too Big To Fail does not mean it will not fail. A next economy: already here This is where xskool comes in – as a kind of social seed exchange of the next economy. Centre and hinterland But a reality check is in order.
Maison Projets Greenroofs.com - Changi General Hospital The Changi General Hospital website states, "The hospital has made caring for the environment a priority, because the long-term benefits and savings help both people and the surroundings we live in. Patients are often worried and frightened when they come to a hospital. By beautifying the hospital with lots of plants and trees, we wish to create a more serene and restful environment for patients. Similarly, planting hydroponics on the rooftops provides food for the hospital, but also absorbs the heat from the roof, cooling the wards facing it. Our greening culture that started in the early 1990s at Toa Payoh Hospital has flourished and spread throughout the Hospital with the Green Fingers Club leading the way.
Générer des rendements plus élevés | VertiCrop VertiCrop™ provides a proven, cost effective alternative to typical crop production. Designed to grow in any climate and with an exceptionally small footprint in urban environments, VertiCrop™ uses only a fraction of the resources needed for field agriculture, while generating substantially higher yields. Growing with VertiCrop™ Yields are approximately 20 times higher than the normal production volume of field crops VertiCrop™ requires only 8% of the normal water consumption used to irrigate field crops Works on non-arable lands and close to major markets or urban centers Does not require the use of harmful herbicides or pesticides Able to grow over 50 varieties of leafy green vegetables Significantly reduces transportation distance, thereby reducing cost and carbon foot print Provides higher quality produce with greater nutritional value and a longer shelf life High levels of food security due to the enclosed growing process Scalable from small to very large food production operation
Imagining an Elastic City Planters and urban gardening tools at Kennedy Greenway in central Boston, the site of the Occupy Boston encampment. Last spring, after attending a panel about urbanism in Mumbai, I wrote a blog post about what I called the "entropic city" — one that is constantly changing and re-imagining itself. “Entropy,” I argued, “is a cultural and an economic necessity. Restricting and channeling change imposes a dominant idea of what change should be, and what existing conditions are undesirable. But it also stifles innovation and creates monocultural economic environments that are vulnerable to dramatic changes. And, let's be honest, it's a lot less fun.” This post got a lot of attention, which got my attention. But there is a lot more potential to tactical urbanism than placemaking. Layers of history have accumulated in Rome (although it's questionable whether Rome's status as a tourist destination and heritage site truly allows flexibility). Urbanism, and national strength, are cyclical. + share
Multifonctionnalité de l’agriculture urbaine à Montréal : étude des discours au sein du programme des jardins communautaires 1Depuis 2008, plus de la moitié de la population mondiale habite en ville (UNFPA, 2007). Face aux problèmes soulevés par le phénomène de l’urbanisation, l’ONU propose, à travers de nombreux rapports, la notion de ville viable. Cette notion s’inscrit dans un champ plus large, celui de développement durable. Ce dernier tend à corréler les dimensions économique, sociale et environnementale et se dote d’un outil de mise en application avec l’Agenda 21 local. Le recensement des écrits portant sur la notion de ville viable depuis Rio 92 montre qu’il existe une bonne connaissance des problèmes et des solutions soulevés par le contexte urbain mais, qu’au-delà de la rhétorique, les actions concrètes pour une mise en œuvre d’une ville viable ne sont pas à l’image des discours et peuvent être même qualifiées de décevantes (Brunet, 2006). Figure1. D’après Duchemin et al. (2008). 6L’agriculture urbaine joue un rôle dans le cadre de l’aménagement urbain en fournissant des espaces verts. Tableau 1.
Atelier d'architecture autogérée Atelier d'architecture autogérée (aaa - Studio for Self-managed Architecture) is a practice based in Paris co-founded by architects, Constantin Petcou and Doina Petrescu in 2001. aaa acts as a platform for collaborative research and action on the city and much of their work is carried out with other specialists, artists, researchers and institutional partners such as universities, arts organisations and NGOs, as well as the eventual users of their spaces. Whilst the founding members of aaa remain, the practice operates as a collaborative network that forms around each project. aaa's projects are experiments in the temporary reuse of leftover urban space through the setting up of an enabling infrastructure that is slowly taken over by local residents and transformed into self-managed spaces. Other Work AAA and PEPRAV (eds.), UrbanACT (Montrouge: Moutot Imprimeurs, 2007). Doina Petrescu (ed.), Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space (London: Routledge, 2007). Connections
ARCH'IT architetture / BRANZI, BARTOLINI, LANI. Eindhoven, un modello di urbanizzazione debole IL SISTEMA OGGETTUALE. Un tempo oggettuale dunque succede a un tempo dei grandi simboli urbani. Esperienze teoriche hanno origine dentro a una idea di industrial design e non certo a quella di composizione architettonica tradizionale. Una sorta di diffusione planare dei processi costruttivi corrisponde alla logica di una civiltà senza cattedrali, agricola più che industriale. Le nuove frontiere del design si muovono oggi nella direzione che va a collocarsi nell'estensione del sistema oggettuale alla scala del territorio metropolitano. Una direzione teorica e progettuale che vede oggi la città come un sistema di micro-strutture di servizi e di relazioni, che solo in minima parte possono essere attribuite all'architettura tradizionale, compositiva e metaforica, e in grande parte sono di competenza di attitudini progettuali diffuse, deboli, oggetto di un urban management capace di gestire e sviluppare la concorranza urbana, ma non di produrre scelte irreversibili.
Urban Agri_Polis - Project Library Rikke Hedegaard ChristensenEva Margret Reynisdottir4. term, Urban Design, Master (Master Programme) Urban Agri_Polis er et visionær by bykoncept der forsøger at genskabe et bæredygtigt forhold mellem det urbane byliv og landbrugs produktion. Urban Agri_Polis er en fusion mellem to verdner; en verden hvor urbanitet møder rural landbrugsproduktion, hvor det grå beton møder den grønne natur og hvor byboerens pulserende liv møder bonemandens hverdag. Urban Agri_Polis forsøger at fremme et afbalanceret forhold mellem den byggede by og landbruget, som formodes at ville understøtte hinanden i harmoni og med respekt for hinandens eksistens. Tiltel Urban Agri_Polis beskriver kombinationen af urbanitet, defineret som byens tætte struktur, landbrug, defineret som kommerciel landbrugs produktion og Polis som referer til storbyens pulserende liv.
Urban Farming The practice of cultivating food and raising animals in an urban environment is referred to variously as urban farming or urban agriculture. Whilst small-scale and localised food production has a long history, including individual allotments which have been popular in Europe since the late C18, it is the integration of such farming practices within the economic and ecological system of towns and cities that is a newer development. This means that urban resources such as compost from food waste and waste water from urban drainage is made use of, whilst urban problems such as the pressure on land and development also have to be negotiated. The recent of example of Cuba has proven the effectiveness of urban agriculture, where it played a critical role in ensuring food security after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Other Work Andre Viljoen (ed.), Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes: Designing Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Cities (Oxford: Architectural Press, 2005).
Eat The Suburbs!