Turn a Phone Booth into a Library in Four Easy Steps
Amy Inouye sets up the Highland Park Book Booth. Photos via Good (left) and 90042 (right).
Turning a disused pay-phone booth into a community library has been done before. But Los Angeles-based artist Amy Inouye may be the first to break the process down into easy-to-follow steps that help answer the pressing questions of aspiring street librarians: Which of the many abandoned phone booths in my neighborhood should I choose? …Read the full story on TreeHugger
U.S. Cities Cutting Bottled Water Use As Budgets Dry Up
Credit: Jill Clardy.
You might say they’re tapped out, so they’re tapping in. More U.S. cities are phasing out bottled water from their budgets, according to a national survey released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Those surveyed say they’re switching to tap water instead because it’s fiscally and environmentally responsible. Either way, it’s a refreshing sign, and should be a nice kick in the wallet to the bottled water marketing c…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Architects Building Small Refuges in Small Spaces
Images by B. Alter: Studio Mumbai Architects, In-Between Architecture
Architects love models and floor plans and drawings of their buildings, but most members of the public do not. They are too hard for the average person to visualize. In a delightful switch, the Victoria & Albert Museum invited seven architects to construct small buildings amidst the displays in the museum.
The V&A is a wonderful old Victorian museum with treasures in every nook and cranny. Called 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces, the architects have squeezed their little buildings in amon…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Downtown Cairo to Go Car-Free… Eventually
These kinds of scenes could become a thing of the past in downtown Cairo. Photo by Daveness_98 via Flickr.
When it comes to crazy drivers, traffic congestion, and all the air and noise pollution that come along with massive amounts of cars jammed into one place, Istanbul, I’ve heard, has nothing on Cairo. But the Egyptian capital is apparently moving to remake its enti…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Do Electric Bikes Make Us Lazy After All?
Image credit: Ultra Motor
Last year The Guardian’s Helen Pridd reviewed the GoCycle electric bike, and she was impressed. At the time she promised a comparison of different e-bikes was in the works. It may have taken them a while, but the Guardian bike blog have made good on their promise. But what were the results? Are e-bikes a viable alternative to regular cycles, or do they just make us lazy?…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Dense, Walkable Urban Cities Create YIMBY Neighbors
Not quite dead, but oversupplied. Photo via thegiantvermin @ flickr.
Looking at the massive build up of low-density, car-dependent housing over the last 50 years, real estate developer Christopher Leinberger says in his book The Option of Urbanism that developers simply supplied too much of the wrong product in the wrong location. Yup, But, good news. Density in walkable urban areas tends to create YIMBY’s neighbors (Yes, In My Back Yard) because quality of life and property values get …Read the full story on TreeHugger
New Urbanism Evolves; The Future is “Agrarian Urbanism”
Greg Lindsay of Fast Company attends the 18th annual conference on New Urbanism, the architectural movement founded by Andrés Duany that tries to imbibe new communities with lessons from the old. But he finds that Duany has moved on. Lindsay writes:
“Duany believes the metaphorical asteroid — call it peak oil, climate change, the collapse of complex structures — is on its way. He’s trying to push the body of …Read the full story on TreeHugger
Great Short Film About the U.S.’s Only Residential Vacuum Garbage Collection
Could vacuum tubes be the best way to collect garbage? I asked the curator of a recent exhibit about Roosevelt Island’s pneumatic garbage system <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/fil…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Great Urban Mashup: See Cities As Jane Jacobs Did
Sometimes the biggest frustration for those of us craving green, healthy, and vibrant cities, is how slow progress can appear, and how seemingly huge the task. To be reminded of the what really makes cities thrive and be alive, pick up What We See – rather than a tribute to renowned urban thinker Jane Jacobs, this book keeps in motion a conversation Jacobs started back in 1961 with her seminal book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. The 30 essays in <a href="ht…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Living Map of Europe Grows on Copenhagen Wall
The outside of the European Environment Agency office in Copenhagen. Photo via EEA.
A display of vertical greenery in the shape of the European continent has been added to the outside wall of the European Environment Agency’s centrally located headquarters in Copenhagen to provide an example of the ways in which cities can be redesigned to enhance green spaces and <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/04/governments-failing-their-biodiv…Read the full story on TreeHugger
