Zoning

Source: citylab.com

The Birth of Zoning Codes, a History

The story of American zoning is really the story of how Americans learned to legislate their NIMBY impulses. Before zoning, cities mostly regulated what could be built through nuisance laws. If someone didn't like how their neighbor was using their property, they could haul them to trial and let a judge decide what to do about it.

There were early efforts to temper New York's building streak. A landmark 1885 law restricted tenement buildings to one-and-a-half times the street width (the Supreme Court ruled that height restrictions were legal in 1909, when builders challenged Boston's decision to restrict buildings around Copley Square to 90 feet). -- The Atlantic CITYLAB

Zoning Best Pratices Report for Washington DC Office of Planning

Washington D.C. has initiated an update of the City’s zoning regulations – there is a need to review and revise the existing zoning regulations after almost 50 years of text and map amendments. The office of Planning has increased staffing, as much of the update will be completed in-house, and has convened an appointed Zoning Review Taskforce to help guide and inform the zoning update.

At the request of the office of Planning, HNTB has conducted best practice research and ANALYSIS in support of the update process. This final report summarizes the research findings on zoning innovations and procedural approaches of select cities that have updated their zoning regulations. Click to see the report Zoning Best Pratices, June 2008

Source: aia.org

Miami 21: A new Zoning Code for the City

Miami 21: A New Zoning Code for the City, Miami, Florida, USA by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. won a 2014 AIA Honor Award - Regional & Urban Design

Miami21 is a new form-based zoning code for a growing coastal city at the heart of a metropolitan region. The purpose of the effort was to direct the city toward transit-oriented, pedestrian-friendly growth, and away from disjointed, car-centered development. -- AIA

Zoning Viewers

ZoLa provides a simple way to research zoning regulations in New York City. -- ZoLa New York City

Boston Redevelopment Authority Zoning Viewer -- City of Boston

Seattle's zoning viewer. -- Seattle Department of Planning and Development

Austin's Zoning Profile Report. -- City of Austin, Texas

Scottsdale's zoning viewer. -- City of Scattsdale, Arizona

Eco Cities

Source: SOM.com

Treasure Island, San Francisco, California, USA designed by SOM

SOM has created a bold new vision for Treasure Island, a 393-acre manmade island in the heart of the San Francisco Bay. Upon completion, the area will boast a diverse community with access to unprecedented open space, resource-conserving technologies, and a robust network of transportation options. -- architect's web site

Source: tianjinecocity.gov.sg

Tianjin Eco-city Development, Tianjin, China

On 18 November 2007, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao signed a Framework Agreement for Singapore and China to jointly develop Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city. The Tianjin Eco-city's vision is to be a thriving city which is socially harmonious, environmentally-friendly and resource-efficient – a model for sustainable development".  -- Official web site

Source: arup.com

Wanzhuang eco-city, Langfang, China designed by Arup

Agricultural land is rapidly disappearing in China following rapid urbanisation and desertification. Wanzhuang provides a unique opportunity to explore eco-city development with a focus on agriculture as a starting point. Located halfway between Beijing and the port city of Tianjin, the 80km² site, the area has been selected by the Chinese Government for development into a city that will accommodate approximately 400,000 people by 2025. -- architect's web site

Source: TIM JOHNSON MCT/Landov

Dongtan, Chongming Island, Shanghai, China designed by Arup

Dongtan will produce its own energy from wind, solar, bio-fuel and recycled city waste. Clean technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells will power public transport. A network of cycle and footpaths will help the city achieve close to zero vehicle emissions. Farmland within the Dongtan site will use organic farming methods to grow food. -- treehugger

Source: fosterandpartners.com

Masdar, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates designed by FOSTER + PARTNERS

The 640-hectare project is a key component of the Masdar Initiative, established by the government of Abu Dhabi to advance the development of renewable energy and clean-technology solutions for a life beyond oil. The city will become a centre for the advancement of new ideas for energy production, with the ambition of attracting the highest levels of expertise. -- architect's web site

EcoDistrict

Source: ecodistrict.org

EcoDistricts.org

Our new name, EcoDistricts(formerly Portland Sustainability Institute), sums up our shared vision for creating sustainable cities from the neighborhood up. Our larger scope is designed to better serve you, the growing number of innovative practitioners and policymakers who are making a demonstrable impact in your communities and helping to grow the global green neighborhood movement. -- official web site

Source: ncpc.gov

SW Ecodistrict, Washington D.C., USA

The SW Ecodistrict Initiative is a comprehensive effort to transform a 15-block federal precinct just south of the National Mall into a showcase of sustainable urban development. In addition to accommodating the future space needs of the federal government, the Ecodistrict will extend the civic qualities of the National Mall, create new places to live, and promote a vibrant, open, and walkable neighborhood and workplace. The Initiative involves 17 federal and district agencies and is being led by the National Capital Planning Commission. -- official web site

Source: linneansolutions.com

Innovation District, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

This area of South Boston’s waterfront, also known as the Seaport, has thrived because of elements most valued by the EcoDistricts organization, such as public-private partnerships, the entrepreneurial spirit, and an emphasis on collaboration. -- Linnean Solutions

Source: ecolloyd.org

Lloyd Eco District, Portland, Oregon, USA

In the inner Northeast Portland area known as the Lloyd District, there’s an innovative, thriving coalition of businesses, residents and organizations that have come together with one audacious goal: to become the most sustainable living-and-working district in North America.

We’re working to achieve that goal using a “triple bottom line” approach that emphasizes people, planet and profit in equal consideration.  -- official web site

Source: northparkecodistrict.com

North Park EcoDistrict, San Diego, California, USA

North Park EcoDistrict is a community-based initiative in the historic North Park neighborhood of San Diego, Ca. Founded and supported by North Park Main Street’s sustainability initiative, North Park EcoDistrict aspires to cultivate and celebrate North Park as a livable, mindful and inspiring neighborhood with a thriving green economy. North Park is a bustling urban center characterized by its thriving arts community, farm-to-table restaurants, locally focused businesses, historic charm, and thoughtful inspired community. -- official web site

Source: austintexas.gov

Seaholm Development District, Austin, Texas, USA

In 2013, the Office of Sustainability led a collaborative exploration of how EcoDistrict strategies and criteria apply to the entire Seaholm Redevelopment District – including both private- and public-sector projects. Opportunities have been identified for advanced, integrated green building, mobility, watershed and ecosystem protection, economic development, climate action, and community well-being. -- official web site

Source: midtownatl.com

The Midtown EcoDistrict, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

The Midtown EcoDistrict was created in 2013 as the platform to achieve the goals outlined in the Greenprint Midtown sustainability action plan.  Through this platform, we are communicating the many “green” assets and initiatives underway in Midtown, encouraging all sectors of the community to work together to achieve even more, and developing new partnerships that result in innovative solutions to district-wide challenges. -- official web site

Source: gglo.com

Capitol Hill EcoDistrict, Seattle, Washington, USA by GGLO

In March 2011 the Bullitt Foundation awarded Capitol Hill Housing a grant to spearhead the creation of a new “EcoDistrict” on Capitol Hill, allowing them to work with GGLO to conduct the research and outreach efforts detailed in the "Capitol Hill EcoDistrict" report. -- architect's web site

Source: landezine.com

Bottière Chênaie Eco-district, Nantes, Loire Atlantique (44), France designed by Atelier des Paysages Bruel-Delmar

An urban park that goes hand in hand with and balances the new densities, its mainly indigenous vegetation will contribute to the expression of a nature regained. The wish to uncover the Gohards brook comes from wanting to express the memory of these places and in particular of their geography. It becomes the heart of the park and the collection point for the new neighborhood’s rainwater, which makes its way here, via channels and canals. -- landezine

Ottawa Centre EcoDistrict (OCED), Ottawa, Canada

Ottawa is the first city in Canada to officially create an EcoDistrict. The Ottawa Centre EcoDistrict (OCED) is a not-for-profit organization and its mission is to make the downtown core more sustainable, socially vibrant and attractive to progressive businesses and organizations looking to relocate or expand. -- official web site

Source: smartecocity.com

Smart Eco City(SEC), based in China

SEC is a leading know-how community and advisory company focusing on China’s 8 Smart Eco-City pillars (renewable energy, smart services, green building, e-mobility, water, health, recycling and financing). We have a team of local and international professionals based in China, Japan and South-Korea with backgrounds in engineering, marketing, manufacturing, consulting, policy, government relations and finance. In addition to deep advisory capabilities in the pillars of sustainable urbanization, we have proven capability to invest in and accelerate the development of smart eco-companies, SMEs and start-ups. -- official web site

How Quilting Can Explain the Foreclosure Crisis

A quilt depicting foreclosures in Modesto.

San Francisco-based artist Kathryn Clark makes quilts depicting neighborhoods affected by the foreclosure crisis across the United States. The work grows out of Clark’s lifelong fascination with maps, as well as her stint in the early 2000s working as an urban planner under New Urbanism guru Peter Calthorpe. Clark recently described for Atlantic Cities how she combines secondhand materials and Internet technology to create these portraits of fraying neighborhoods. -- Atlantic Cities

Imploding the Pruitt-Igoe Myth

Source: construction.com

A new documentary attempts to alter how we look at St. Louis's infamous public housing project.

Accepted wisdom will have us believe St. Louis' infamous Pruitt-Igoe public housing development was destined for failure. Designed by George Hellmuth and World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki (of Leinweber, Yamasaki & Hellmuth), the 33-building complex opened in 1954, its Modernist towers touted as a remedy to overcrowding in the city’s tenements. Rising crime, neglected facilities, and fleeing tenants led to its demolition—in a spectacular series of implosions—less than two decades later. In the popular narrative, bad public policy, bad architecture, and bad people doomed Pruitt-Igoe, and it became an emblem of failed social welfare projects across the country. But director Chad Freidrichs challenges that convenient and oversimplified assessment in his documentary The Pruitt-Igoe Myth... -- Architectural Record

Let's Paint

NYC °CoolRoofs

NYC °CoolRoofs is an exciting collaboration between NYC Service and the NYC Department of Buildings to promote and facilitate the cooling of New York City’s rooftops. Applying a reflective surface to a roof helps reduce cooling costs, cut energy usage and lower greenhouse gas emissions.  -- official web site

Source: popupcity.net

Let's Paint The World's Ugliest City

With the project Couleurs Carolo, the Dutch company AkzoNobel aims to support the Belgian city of Charleroi to become a bit more colorful. The world-leading corporation, that obviously earns its money with producing paint, invests loads of money to add some color to the city that has been ‘officially’ declared the most ugly town in the world. -- The Pop-Up City

Source: popupcity.net

Paint The Village!

Vercorin, a small village in the south of Switzerland, has an interesting marketing strategy to set itself apart from all the other mountain villages in the region. Every year the R&Art organization invites a group of creative people to spice up the place, and the results don’t go unnoticed. In 2010, design agency Lang/Baumann was asked to create an intervention. They came up with a fantastic geometric road painting. -- The Pop-Uo City

Source: popupcity.net

Bratislava’s Green Square

When you think of revitalizing space, paint is perhaps the best option. At least it’s one of the cheapest. Here at a bus terminal in Bratislava the urban interventionists of Civic Association and the people of Sadovský Architects have uplifted a bus stop that used to be a very sad place. As long as the government is not doing enough to improve urban conditions, why don’t we do it ourselves? That’s what the initiators thought when they initiated the 1,000 square meters Green Square project. -- The Pop-Up City

Source: popupcity.net

Smurbanism Works!

What was supposed to be a temporary transformation looks to be a permanent change. The South Spanish town Juzcar was turned entirely blue for the latest Smurfs movie by Sony Pictures. After 141 days blueness, the inhabitants of the small town have voted to keep the façades of the buildings blue forever. -- The Pop-Up City

Source: popupcity.net

Color Jam: A Color Explosion In Chicago’s Public Space by Jessica Stockholder

an art piece that will span hundreds of meters and be located on sidewalks, roadways, and the sides of buildings this Summer in Chicago. Located at a major intersection in Chicago’s Loop, fluorescent colors will cover every part of, well, every thing, placing the passerby dead in the centre of the piece. -- The Pop-Up City

Source: FG+SG Fotografia de Arquitectura archdaily.com

Pink Street, Rua Nova do Carvalho, Lisbon, Portugal, 2012 by Jose Adrião Arquitectos

In December 2011 Nova do Carvalho Street [Rua Nova do Carvalho] in Cais do Sodré was painted in pink colour. The gesture of painting a street in pink synthesizes in a very pragmatic and effective way the need for change. It created a dynamic public space, inclusive, opened and multifunctional which enables access to one of the most precious values of our time: information. At Pink Street one produces, shares and consumes culture. -- ArchDaily

Source: onsitereview.ca

Center line on Box Hill, Surrey, UK, 2012 by Richard Long

Richard Long's centre line on the zig-zag portion going up Box Hill in Surrey, part of the cycling track for the Olympics: evidently it was inspired by the graffiti chalked on the roads during the Tour de France, which, now that I've looked it up, isn't that interesting.  -- on site

Source: http://dihzahyners.tumblr.com/

Steps, Beirut, Lebanon by Dehzahyners -- Vulgare

Pedestrian Ways: Modern Pedestrian Bridges 3

Source: popupcity.net

Rotterdam’s Crowd-Funded Pedestrian Bridge

The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) and Rotterdam-based architecture firm ZUS have launched the project I Make Rotterdam, a spectacular temporary pedestrian bridge between the city’s Central and the North districts that will be financed through crowd-funding. -- The Pop-Up City

City Visions

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and New York, USA – Compelling Visions of New York and Amsterdam in 2040

In March this year[2011], New York’s Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the Vision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan that provides a sustainable framework for the city’s 835km of shoreline. Also this spring[2011], the Dutch government launched the Amsterdam Plan: 2040, a strategy tackling climate change and shifting demographics that aims to reduce the ecological footprint of the city. Both plans, though devised independently of one another, indicate a desire to position Amsterdam and New York as competitive global cities. -- Architectural Review

New Building Codes to Meet PlaNYC Goals

.... enacted 29 new recommendations of the Green Codes Task Force that will provide the proper foundation for New York to meet the aggressive PlanNYC Goals for 2030.

The implementation of such codes is the result of the formation of the NYC Green Codes Task Force, an organization led by Urban Green Council, that proposed over 100 recommendations in 2010 to address a wide range of sustainable issues; and, in the two years since that report, the Mayor’s Office and City Council have made 29 of those recommendations law, and are currently working to codify 8 others. -- ArchDaily

New Waterfront Cities

Songdo IBD, Seoul, South Korea

Songdo IBD is being developed on 1,500 acres of reclaimed land in South Korea along Incheon's waterfront, 40 miles from Seoul and just 7 miles from Incheon International Airport. Developed by Gale International and Korea's POSCO E&C, this master-planned metropolis is a model of sustainable, city-scale development and innovation. The first phase of the new international city opened in August 2009. -- official web site

Read an article from Architectural Record 

HafenCity, Hamburg, Germany

The idea of a new inner-city district was conceived soon after the fall of the Wall and the Iron Curtain. Before publication of the blueprint for HafenCity, the Masterplan, in 2000, important fundamentals had already been put in place in the 1990s .

....currently Europe’s largest inner-city development project – is a blueprint for the development of a European city on the waterfront. -- official web site

Innovation Districts/Cities

22@Barcelona project, Poblenou, Barcelona, Spain

22@Barcelona project transforms two hundred hectares of industrial land of Poblenou into an innovative district offering modern spaces for the strategic concentration of intensive knowledge-based activities. This initiative is also a project of urban refurbishment and a new model of city providing a response to the challenges posed by the knowledge-based society.

It is the most important project of urban transformation of Barcelona city of the last years and one of the most ambitious of Europe of these characteristics, with a high real state potential and a 180 million Euros public investment of infrastructure plan. -- Official web site

Innovation District, Boston, USA

The urban lab component of the Innovation District is at the heart of achieving a new level of metropolitan livability.  The current underdeveloped landscape will allow for the testing of groundbreaking technologies in clean energy, citizen participation, transportation, and city infrastructure.  The South Boston waterfront is a proving ground for collaborative efforts between the City and its partners, scaling up the successes to benefit all neighborhoods.

The 1,000 acres of iconic waterfront property poses an opportunity to shape the future of environmental leadership. -- Official web site

Source: techcrunch.com

Berlin’s Startup Innovators Create A Factory To Call Their Own By Mike Butcher on April 25, 2012

JMES Investments, a Berlin based Angel and Seed Investor has partnered with a large property company, s+p Real Estate, and together with private investors, have have acquired and begun to develop an 8,500 square-meter office building. It stands on the site of the former Oswald Brauerei building in Berlin’s central Mitte district (on Rheinsberger Strasse, at the corner with Brunnenstrasse,here). The space will become a new tech hub comprising a startup incubator and accelerator programs with office space for Berlin’s ‘most successful’ – as they call it – startups. -- techcrunch

Source: archdaily.com

The Tech City Map, the web of connections linking East London's vibrant technology and creative ecosystem.

Located in an easily accessible and hip neighborhood of artists, fashionistas, and tech companies in East London, Tech City is more than just a physical area – it’s a web of interactions. Just take a look at the Tech City Map (a visual representation of Twitter mentions and conversations between Tech City companies), and you can see that Tech City is all about community. -- ArchDaily

Source: SOM.com

SOM Wins Master Plan Competition for Beijing Bohai Innovation City

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP (SOM) has been selected as winner of an international design competition with its Beijing Bohai Innovation City master plan that illustrates a new model of compact, environmentally enhanced urban design.

The winning proposal centers a new environmentally friendly district along the high-speed rail line, linking the national capital to the port city of Tianjin while leveraging the economic and lifestyle assets of the Beijing-Tianjin corridor. The city expansion will bring 17.6 million square meters of mixed-use development, with a focus on providing a premier headquarters location for advanced industries in the dynamically growing Bohai Rim, a region that already accounts for more than a quarter of China’s GDP. -- ArchDaily

Source: Sasaki Associates, archdaily.com

Masterplan for National Creative Cluster, Beijing, China designed by Sasaki Associates

The masterplan for the National Creative Cluster by Sasaki Associates integrates the urban form with the surrounding landscape by creating a series of green wedges, interspersed within the urban clusters and forming a series of community parks.

 A unique opportunity exists to create a new urban district dedicated entirely to the cultivation of new ideas. The National Creative Cluster (NCC) is envisioned as China’s preeminent knowledge hub, making the district a center for the country’s innovative home-grown talent and a destination for the world’s most creative thinkers. -- ArchDaily

OMA's AMO

Source: architectural-review.com

Planet Earth – A vision of how the world can be run on renewable energy by 2050

Written by a huge number of people from WWF, together with some from `Ecofys (a Dutch renewable energy consultancy), the report has been designed by AMO, the consulting arm of Rem Koolhaas’ OMA. The report’s stated aim is to show how the world can be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050.  -- Architecrural Review

Source: architectural-review.com

Rotterdam, The Netherlands – Rem Koolhaas' OMA tackles energy interdependency in Europe

At first blush, Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and management consultancy McKinsey & Company make odd bedfellows. But Koolhaas has always operated where most architects fear to tread. With Roadmap 2050, launched in April, AMO, OMA’s research consultancy - has applied lateral thinking and visualisation to the issue of energy interdependency between nations.

Asked by the European Climate Foundation think tank to consider how the European Union can meet its climate change commitment (an 80 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050, over 1990 levels) AMO participated in a team that included McKinsey, Imperial College London, energy consultancy KEMA and analyst Oxford Economics to map scenarios for meeting the target. -- Architectural Review

Source: construction.com

Exhibition: OMA/Progress

A sprawling show in London tries to capture the manic pace and self-conscious ways of Rem’s firm.

Organized by the Belgian design collective Rotor, the exhibition includes stools made from the same blue foam that OMA uses for its study-models. -- Architectural Record

Urban Farms

Source: archdaily.com

Urban Farm Design Competition

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Wal-Mart representatives and officials from the Office of Sustainability and Sustainable Atlanta announced today a competition to design an urban farm on a vacant lot across from City Hall. The Trinity Avenue Urban Farm Design Competition was launched to support the city’s effort in establishing an effective and inspirational model for urban agriculture and furthering the city’s pursuit of becoming a Top 10 sustainable city. -- ArchDaily

Boston seeks proposals for pilot urban agriculture project

City of Boston released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Pilot Urban Agriculture Project. The Project proposes to put three vacant, city-owned properties in Dorchester to productive use for farming, with the goal of producing fresh, healthy food for sale in the community.  --  BRA blog

Source: popupcity.net

Farm-On-Wheels On A Mission

Filmmaker Ian Cheney came to New York in 2009 realizing how difficult it was to have a place to grow food. So he planted his mini farm in his old Dodge and the Truck Farm was born! -- the Pop-Up City

Source: jetsongreen.com

The first aeroponic farm in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Louisiana-based Aquaponic Modular Production Systems, an urban agriculture development company, just announced the debut of a project — the first aeroponic farm in New Orleans.  The Tower Garden is hosted by Hollygrove Farm and Market to showcase an innovative, fast, and eco-friendly way to grow fresh produce for the community. -- Jetson Green

Detroit Council OKs sale of 1,500 lots for urban farming project -- Detroit Free Press

Source: popupcity.net

Japanese Commuters Grow Veggies On Train Station Rooftops

In Japan, a whole new kind of an urban rooftop farm was opened recently. Soradofarm is an urban agriculture project that uses the rooftops of train stations to accommodate urban gardens for waiting train passengers that want to use their transfer time to relax and train their gardening skills. -- PopUp City