Ecology

The late architecture critic Reyner Banham and social historian Mike Davis had opposing viewpoints regarding Los Angeles' ecology, but in many ways their disparate takes complemented each other, writes urban planner Jonathan P. Bell.

July 24, 2015 - UrbDeZine

In a column for Fast Forward Weekly, Steven Snell explores the complexities in lessening the domestication of the automobile and its perceived necessity in our day-to-day lives.

November 21, 2014 - Fast Forward Weekly

How can the contemporary concepts in ecology studies—adaptability, resiliency, and flexibility—advance urban planning practices?

June 19, 2014 - Steven Snell

A visit to Cal-Earth in Hesperia leads aspiring environmental designer Daniel Ebuehi to examine how some aspects of desert living could translate to an urban environment.

March 18, 2014 - UrbDeZine

The often arbitrary boundaries drawn up to define territory limits how most planners determine the extents of their projects. Neil Chambers argues why we, and the planet, would be better served if we planned according to natural characteristics.

September 28, 2012 - Metropolis POV Blog

Nathaniel Rich reports on a different kind of urban regeneration that has taken place in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward where the "cartoonish pace of vegetation growth" conceals an ecology of wild animals, tires, and occasionally humans.

March 26, 2012 - The New York Times

The term Green Urbanism keeps showing up unexpectedly in newspaper articles, conference session titles, blog posts, and casual conversation.  While there is an innate, intuitive sense of the meaning, green urbanism may also seem as elusive as it is evocative.  Having given this topic a fair amount of thought over the past several years, I, and my colleague and collaborator Ted Bardacke, arrived at the following working definition: green urbanism: the practice of creating communities mutually beneficial to humans and the environment

October 1, 2010 - Walker Wells

Dongtan Eco City was planned for completion for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. By that time, 5,000 people should be living there. However, the planned housing, water taxis, sewage‐recycling plant and energy park all failed to materialize.

January 12, 2010 - The Urban Reinventors Online Urban Journal

Among the installations at the Ecological Urbanism exhibit at Harvard's Graduate School of Design is a collection of smells from 200 Mexico City neighborhoods.

April 19, 2009 - The Boston Globe

Architects form the University of British Columbia are calling on cities to "go wild" -- mainly by integrating ecological features into the cityscape to make it more self-contained. The result would be both sustainable and exciting, they say.

January 24, 2009 - The Tyee

Ecotopia is a '70s cult novel that imagines a future where the Pacific Northwest secedes from the U.S. to become an environmentally-conscious utopian state. The NY Times reflects on the influence of this under-recognized novel.

December 25, 2008 - The New York Times

Between the invasive species, questions of drinking water safety, and dipping water levels, the Great Lakes have been taking a beating lately.

December 3, 2008 - The Christian Science Monitor

Authors of a recent study have concluded that California is unprepared to face global warming challenges, and water and electricity agencies in particular have been urged to act immediately.

November 19, 2008 - The San Francisco Chronicle