Green building? Feh. Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow looks at the movement towards biomimetic architecture, buildings that create living, sustainable ecosystems of their own.
Biomimetic buildings use natural systems to create zero-waste, closed loop systems that produce no net waste.
Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow writes, "According to its proponents, this approach has the potential to be vastly more ecologically sustainable than current building practices, even those dubbed green, and they see a profound shift in this direction as crucial for architecture, not to mention the planet. Ultimately, they raise the prospect of a future where the built environment works in a radically different way - not as a foil for nature, but as seamlessly integrated with it as possible."
Read the full story: It's alive!
A Wind Turbine Acting Like a Palm Tree Delivers Five Times the Electricity
It's still a longshot for full-scale production, but a unique research partnership has produced a unique example of biomimicry: a wind turbine that borrows from palm trees to achieve new levels of energy production.
Green Buildings of the Future
WebEcoist has pulled together a fascinating gallery of imaginative designs for green dwelling and living spaces, including a design for co-op housing inspired by Anasazi cliff dwellings.
A Biological Approach to City Building
Architecture and biomimicry are joining forces. A new city being planned in a flood-prone region of India is using the concept of mimicking nature to build a city that better responds to its environmental conditions.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
‘Going backwards:’ Baltimore mayor, students rally against state's transit funding plan
Maryland's proposed six-year plan provides no funding for Baltimore’s BMORE bus program and reduces its road maintenance funding.
Detroit to transform waterfront with $2.2 billion investment
Developers will convert about 18 acres of unused parking lot space into civic spaces.
Battered from federal attacks, Louisiana's offshore wind industry refuses to give up
State Representative Joe Orgeron expressed hope that the state could revitalize its wind industry once President Trump leaves office.
Data center developers are using lawsuits, cash offers to ‘overwhelm’ rural America
Newsrooms in five states worked together to uncover the tactics big tech developers use to buy land from reluctant communities.
U.S.-Iran war may have ‘devastating’ impact on cost to warm homes
Vermont and Maine residents may see a 76% increase in the cost of warming their homes this winter.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
One Hundred Miles
County of Mendocino
planning NEXT
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority