“City is not a problem, city is a solution” - Jaime Lerner

TED.com: “For many city governments seeking visible improvements in their congested streets, the pace of change is measured in months and years. For Jaime Lerner, it’s measured in hours. As mayor of Curitiba, he transformed a gridlocked commercial artery into a spacious pedestrian mall over a long weekend, before skeptical merchants had time to finish reading their Monday papers.

Since then he’s become a hero not only to his fellow Brazilians, but also to the growing ranks of municipal planners seeking greener, more sustainable cities. His dictum that “creativity starts when you cut a zero from your budget” has inspired a number of his unique solutions to urban problems, including sheltered boarding tubes to improve speed of bus transit; a garbage-for-food program allowing Curitibans to exchange bags of trash for bags of groceries; and trimming parkland grasses with herds of sheep.

In addition to serving three terms as mayor of Curitiba, Lerner has twice been elected governor of Parana State in Brazil. His revolutionary career in urban planning and architecture has not only improved cities worldwide, but has also brought him international renown. Among his many awards are the United Nations Environmental Award (1990), the Child and Peace Award from UNICEF (1996), and the 2001 World Technology Award for Transportation.”

Watch here Lerner’s speech on TED.com (English)

Lerner’s homepage (Portuguese)

Article in the NY Times

Biography on Wikipedia

http://home.tiscali.nl/mielio/products/essays/Kamiel%20van%20Kreij_Sensory%20Intensification%20in%20Architecture.pdf

Elke week stoppen ruim vijftig boeren
Uitgegeven: 16 januari 2008 13:19
Laatst gewijzigd: 16 januari 2008 13:22

VOORBURG – Gemiddeld stoppen elke week 55 boeren met hun bedrijf. Dat bleek woensdag uit cijfers van het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS), dat berekende dat het aantal boerenbedrijven in Nederland de afgelopen vijftien jaar afnam van 120.000 tot bijna 77.000.

In de eerste jaren van dit decennium, toen er iets minder dan 100.000 boerenbedrijven waren, hielden per week gemiddeld bijna tachtig agrariërs ermee op. Dat kwam vooral door de opkoopregelingen van de overheid, waardoor veel intensieve veehouderijbedrijven stopten.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/54

http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/

http://www.cameronsinclair.com/

Enjoy, Matthijs

Edited and with Introduction by Paola Antonelli.~Essays by Phil Patton, Marie O’Mahony and Cameron Sinclair.
Safety is an instinctive need that has guided human choices throughout history. Now more than ever, it has become not only a focus, but almost an obsession. Designers are trained to mediate between disruptive change and normalcy and can soothe people’s anxiety. When scientific revolutions happen, they translate them into objects that people can understand and use. Good design provides protection and security without sacrificing the need to innovate and invent. ~This book and the exhibition that it accompanies document the unique objects that designers have created to answer people’s needs, both physical and psychological. Physical objects include shelters for victims of disasters and homeless people, hideaway furniture, and personal armor and protective gear, while psychological objects include those that thwart identity theft, offer self-defense, and provide comforting reassurance. The objects presented here reflect how good design goes hand-in-hand with personal needs. ~This book includes an introductory essay by Paola Antonelli, Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art in New York; an essay by Phil Patton on cars; another by Marie O’Mahony on materials and technologies; and a third by Cameron Sinclair on design for refugees and third-world facilities. The issues addressed by each of these authors will find resonance in people’s minds and souls.

and visit the online exhibition at MoMa

[via archinect]

EG

A Dialogue with Public Space is a project to engage the general public with public space. I travelled around London creating a series of typographic interventions within the environment. These featured rhetoric statements which encourage questions about the nature and success of public space.

work by Robin Howie, check more about this project

or other things…. why don’t we use the water of our energy-guzzling aquariums for flushing the toilet, or the catty litter as fertilizer, or whatever! check out RIGHT HERE.

through anarchitecture

through wooster collective.

enjoi. marten