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Sustainability
05.20.13: Daniel A. Barber
Hubbert’s Peak, Eneropa, and the Visualization of Renewable EnergyOn Places, Daniel Barber traces the energy debates back to the postwar era, when leading scientists argued that shifting from fossil fuels to renewables was not just technically feasible but also ethically necessary.
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02.07.13: Armando Carbonell
Nowhere and Everywhere: The Landscape of the Colorado DeltaOn Places, planner Armando Carbonell explores, in aerial photographs, the fragile yet resilient landscapes of the Colorado River Delta.
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01.28.13: Richard Campanella
Beneficial Use: Toward Balancing America's (Sediment) BudgetOn Places, Richard Campanella argues that the promethean geo-engineering of our river systems has resulted in the catastrophic erosion of our coasts — and proposes one potential solution.
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01.21.13: Nancy Levinson
After the Storm: Climate Change and Public WorksOn Places, Nancy Levinson argues that the accelerating crisis of climate change suggests a newly intensified political agenda for design activism.
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01.08.13: Adelheid Fischer
What Falls to HandOn Places, Adelheid Fischer examines the potential of jugaad — the Indian practice of doing more with less — to "frame a global philosophy of sustainable innovation,"
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10.08.12: Jeremy Till
Scarcity contra AusterityOn Places, Jeremy Till explores the distinction between the political ideology of austerity and the physical condition of scarcity — and argues that a sharper understanding of scarcity will enable designers to operate more creatively.
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07.12.12: Karen Piper
Revolution of the ThirstyOn Places, Karen Piper argues that the ongoing Egyptian Revolution is about not only political freedom but also the right to water: it is a "revolution of the thirsty."
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06.18.12: Ian Baldwin
Rolling to a StopOn Places, Ian Baldwin reviews ReThinking a Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking and Reinventing the Automobile.
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06.07.12: Lance Hosey
The Shape of Green: Aesthetic ImperativesOn Places, Lance Hosey explores the relationship of sustainability to technology and aesthetics.
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06.04.12: David Heymann
An Un-flushable Urinal: The Aesthetic Potential of SustainabilityOn Places, David Heymann explores the unmet challenge of developing the "radical aesthetic potential" of sustainability in architecture.
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04.26.12: Mark Feldman
Visualizing the Ends of OilOn Places, Mark Feldman looks closely at how the photographers Edward Burtynsky and Chris Jordan have each struggled to visualize and critique the effects of our dependence on oil.
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04.16.12: Aaron Paley & Amanda Berman
CicLAvia: Reimagining the Streets of Los AngelesOn Places, Aaron Paley and Amanda Berman argue that the semi-annual CicLAvia — which bans cars from parts of L.A. — is inspiring Angelenos to imagine a new urban future.
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04.02.12: Adelheid Fischer
Shaking Hands with a SlothOn Places, Adelheid Fischer examines the links between biomimicry and design education, and argues that "the very act of looking to nature is conducive to creativity."
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03.21.12: Hadley Arnold & Peter Arnold
Drylands: Water and the WestOn Places, an essay and slideshow by Peter Arnold and Hadley Arnold of the Arid Lands Institute, on what they call "the largest and least understood environmental challenge of the 21st century."
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11.22.11: Matthew Moore
Digital Farm CollectiveOn Places, and in time for Thanksgiving, artist and farmer Matthew Moore describes his Digital Farm Collective, a multimedia project created to spur dialogue about the future of the family farm.
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11.10.11: Andrew Ross
Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World's Least Sustainable CityOn Places, Andrew Ross analyzes the contradictory political and economic forces that once made Phoenix the fastest-growing city in the U.S. — and today a prime casualty of the crash.
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10.26.11: Center for Creative Photography & Mark Klett
Water in the WestOn Places, a slideshow from the collaborative photography project Water in the West, with an introduction by Mark Klett.
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10.17.11: Cynthia E. Smith
Design with the Other 90%: CitiesOn Places, Cynthia Smith, curator of the Cooper-Hewitt exhibition "Design with the Other 90%: CITIES," offers an in-depth look at her research into socially responsive urban design in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
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09.06.11: James Barilla
The Road to ExurbiaOn Places, James Barilla recounts the rural pleasures of growing up in a hill town in Western Massachusetts — yet regrets the deep environmental footprint of low-density exurban life.
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06.09.11: Adelheid Fischer
A Home Before the End of the WorldOn Places, Adelheid Fischer explores our startling ignorance of the natural world — and wonders whether this is enabling the degradation of the environment.
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04.18.11: Timothy Beatley
Blue Urbanism: The City and the OceanOn Places, planning professor Tim Beatley makes a case for blue urbanism — a new planning focus on how the design of cities affects the health of the planet's oceans.
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10.25.10: Hillary Brown
Infrastructural Ecologies: Principles for Post-Industrial Public WorksOn Places, architect Hillary Brown, founder of New York City's Office of Sustainable Design, proposes principles to guide construction of a next generation of green infrastructure.
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10.04.10: William W. Braham
The Temptations of Survivalism, or, What do you do with your waste?On Places, architect William Braham explores the promise — and the illusions — of sustainable self-sufficiency in environmental design.
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05.17.10: Beth Weinstein
Self-Fab HouseArchitect Beth Weinstein reviews Self-Fab House, a compilation of the results of a competition sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.
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05.10.10: Timothy Beatley
Green MetropolisOn Places, urban planning professor Timothy Beatley, author of Green Urbanism, reviews Green Metropolis, by David Owen, which argues that Manhattan is the greenest city in the U.S.
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10.20.09: Thomas Fisher
Fracture CriticalMuch U.S. infrastructure is "fracture critical" — vulnerable to catastrophic and systemic failure; Thomas Fisher argues that our finance, housing and energy systems are fracture-critical as well.
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09.26.09: William W. Braham
How Much Does Your Household Weigh?How much does your household weigh? Architect William Braham explores the unfolding complexities of sustainable design.
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10.15.08: Guy Nordenson, Catherine Seavitt & Adam Yarinsky
On the Water: The New York/New Jersey HarborAs the planet warms, rising seas will endanger coastal communities around the world. Engineer Guy Nordenson proposes a bold plan to protect New York City.
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11.01.01: Ruth Durack
Village Vices: The Contradiction of New Urbanism and SustainabilityA critique of New Urbanism focusing not on its traditionalism but on the unsustainability of its planning models.
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