Brent Toderian at Day 3

Q & A with Mathis Wackernagel, Jennie Moore and Carolyn Finney at Day 2

Audience Q & A with Mathis Wackernagel, Jennie Moore and Carolyn Finney

Auroville, The City That Unites Humanity

It is easy sometimes to get sidetracked by all the nifty technology and planet-saving goodness that comes with ecocities and forget about the people part. Mad Architect puts a little focus on the social aspect in this post.

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With more and more people talking about globalization, Lalit Bhati, an architect and urban planner, took the first step in creating a world where equality and harmony rules among people, disregarding the part of the Earth they are from, the language they speak or the color of their skin.

For this, he designed a city that will host 50,000 people in which the only rule for those who want to live there will be their desire for a harmonious lifestyle. Auroville would be the model for cities of the future, which should combine the possibilities of the modern age with the delight of great landscapes, nature having an important role in the day-to-day course of life.

 

[ Read the rest of this post ]

Two More Ecocity Stories, courtesy CNN

Ecocity thinking and practices are rising in world consciousness, as evidenced by CNN running two stories today with connections to the Ecocity World Summit.

[ Building The Future ]

LONDON, England (CNN) — It’s easy to overlook the impact buildings have on greenhouse gas emissions, but the places where we live and work contribute over 30 percent of global greenhouse emissions.

An artist’s impression of how the Dongtan eco-city will look like when it is completed. The first stage is due to open in 2010.

Although the term “green architecture” was only coined about 20 years ago, architects have been embracing environmental or sustainable design for decades.

Today, architects are transforming our urban landscapes in ways which were previous unimaginable. Aided by cutting edge design and construction techniques, the bold new structures of today owe much to the techniques used by pre and early industrial pioneers. [Read this article]

And Peter Head was given his own profile, talking about his work in Dongtan.

[ Future Player: Peter Head ]

(CNN) — Peter Head is Director of urban design and development at Arup, the global design and business consulting firm.

Peter Head, of global design and business consulting firm Arup, is a noted pioneer of sustainable development.

Head is in charge of planning and development for Dongtan, the eco-city planned for construction on Chongming Island near Shanghai. Head himself describes it as: “the world’s largest sustainable development project.”

It was while he was overseeing the construction of the Second Severn Crossing — a bridge across the Bristol Channel linking England and Wales opened in 1996 — that he first became interested in sustainable development.

[Read This Article]

Your Ecological Footprint

Global Footprint Network: Your Ecological Footprint

We featured Mathis Wackernagel recently, and talked a little about his project, the Global Footprint Network. The Global Footprint calculates a countries Ecological Footprint, similarly to a way that a country might tout its GDP, and the statistic is becoming more and more accepted worldwide. This nifty quiz based on that concept will tell you you’re personal part of the Ecological Footprint. This is the Australian version, and versions for the US and Canada should appear shortly.

Ever wondered what you’re contribution to ecological impact is? The answer might surprise you, so try it out! Then imagine what your impact would be if you lived in an ecocity, and retake the quiz with that in mind.