[p2p-research] Fwd: Ecocities Emerging - July 2010 Issue

[Maria Droujkova]

I would like to question the claim (or assumption) from the introduction
that the people the author calls "haves" are "currently comfortable." It
really depends on what each smaller demographic slice does, and how it
lives. Some "have" populations are very neurotic, for example. Four million
psychiatric drug prescriptions a year to US children don't spell "comfort"
to me. Family statistics - note that good family life is a major correlate
of happiness - aren't encouraging, either. In a survey I read recently, 60%
of UK employees said their jobs are socially useful, and this got to reflect
on their personal comfort levels!

I see this assumption that comfort=big price tag as dangerous, for reasons
explained in the same intro. It makes sense to find and then distribute
practical knowledge on how ecologically and socially sound practices can
make us MORE comfortable and happy, on the personal level.


Cheers,
Maria Droujkova

Make math your own, to make your own math.




On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 6:00 AM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Kirstin Miller and Richard Register <kirstin at ecocitybuilders.org>
> Date: Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 1:35 AM
> Subject: Ecocities Emerging - July 2010 Issue
> To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com
>
>
>     Link to webpage version of this newsletter http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs072/1100594
>
> <http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001MtBt-olyudmWc1fbwgPZy7TjY3X86OsznoTG90P0MKjxi94qA1Rt3XphmYO3ugVaeI9rb8HQjdk_KERBvHBWXtz_bCEnhF32iGc3jzmF52EicseXxwn0Yw%3D%3D>
>        [image: scene]
> "Bicycle Flyway" - illustration by Richard Register
>
>    Ecocities Emerging
> To support humanity's transition into the Ecozoic Era
> Ecocity Builders
> July 2010
>
> Greetings,
>
> Welcome to the July 2010 edition of Ecocities Emerging, an initiative of
> Ecocity Builders and the International Ecocity Conference Series.
>
> Justice is a concept of great importance to all of us working for a better
> world. It is fundamental to theories of social order. Studies show that the
> sense of justice may be instinctual to our nature. Today, calls for justice
> are getting louder - calls for social justice, climate justice,
> environmental justice, economic justice, the list goes on.
>
> But in a world already sorely out of balance, with globalization
> transcendent, and with corporations controlling much of the world's
> resources and distribution systems, in some circumstances it can be
> difficult to know from whom to demand justice. The gap between the "haves"
> and "have nots" is getting more disproportional; unraveling the causes of
> fundamental injustices can lead to truths some of us would rather not face.
>
> Simply put, in order for us "haves" to maintain our current gigantic
> physical and ecological footprints (which we have come to think of as
> "normal"), corporations must keep drilling, blasting, digging and ripping
> and the people and animals who get in the way of these operations will
> continue to be silenced, bought off, poisoned, killed or enslaved. These
> companies aren't ruining the environment for their own amusement. Unless
> there is a profit to be made there is no business - and unless there are
> buyers for their products no such business for that reason too.
>
> It's doubly scary because studies also show that despite an inner sense of
> fairness, we also have a tendency to ignore facts that would require us to
> give something up or change. The make or break point for our collective
> futures and those of our children will likely come down to whether or not
> the world's currently comfortable, the "haves", can muster up the will to
> consciously redefine what "normal" looks like.
>
> The ecocity vision, we believe, holds a world of promise in that regard.
> Attaining that vision, however, will require changing, giving some things
> up, and rebuilding our built environment to fit a renewable energy future. A
> daunting task, maybe impossible, but just maybe not.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> [image: signature]
>
> Kirstin Miller for Ecocity Builders
>
> Ecocity Builders
> 339 15th Street, Suite 208
> Oakland CA 94612 USA
> www.ecocitybuilders.org<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTUw0pcIlDF94h8pad5i28M04Xvzk0ZJLHMnQqljtF_-E_zdkDPS8ZwVr8W_bGHB89hlcfRQGxcYmUH1V381smTHRXy6refHIwo7dwB7CGeZpw==>
>
>  [image: sm.ecb]<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTUw0pcIlDF94h8pad5i28M04Xvzk0ZJLHMnQqljtF_-E_zdkDPS8ZwVr8W_bGHB89hlcfRQGxcYmUH1V381smTHRXy6refHIwo7dwB7CGeZpw==>
> Keeper of the International Ecocity Conference Series
> Ecocity Builders is a non-profit organization dedicated to reshaping
> cities, towns and villages for long-term health of human and natural
> systems.
>
> [image: facebook.jpg]<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTW6QVOutIDxYX9Y29Pmsf3kl1pJQk6-z9oVUCXExeTnCJnQUsGjyhurrQhksA86XSGv5abAjGxjCMM-2jWvQFU1rkHFC1qmtsMVLRRuh97z2J2GZDOfheNVxViRgb21RA3STpqgheyCt_54p_q00wAU15KOpB90I1Z1b8fYCPsvwMFY3tx9i9rNKKX78NVp3_c=>
>
>
> The Ecozoic Era refers to a vision, first promoted by cosmologist Thomas
> Berry, of an emerging epoch when humanity lives in a mutually enriching
> relationship with the larger community of life on Earth.
>
> Will we be able to make the transition in time to retain a biosphere
> healthy enough to regenerate living systems now under extreme stress? Our
> role in exploring ecocities is to clarify a vision of cities that can. And
> then go out and build them. There is no way to be certain we will succeed,
> but our position is that there's no time to just sit around and wonder about
> it: now is time for action.
>
> Maybe one day all cities will be ecocities.
>
>      We need a New Science of Physical Economics
> by RICHARD REGISTER
>
> It's time we put economics into some sort of physical scientific context
> that makes sense. Economists have drifted off into a disconnected world
> where, blinded by massive amounts of money and mystery, they see themselves
> as a kind of high priesthood calling the shots for practically everything,
> then saying they were blindsided by the debacle in the real estate world and
> the up-trading in wildly irresponsible and, strictly honest to say, greedy
> derivatives. And now they are fumbling around trying to decide which theory
> to apply to address the world deficit situation and spreading
> underemployment - among a number of other deadly serious things. Meantime
> they seem to have no idea whatsoever what to actually build physically and
> thus they are not developing anything like a strategy for a recovery that
> actually fits the situation on our oh-so physical planet Earth at this time
> of its Great Recession.
>
> Some of us, if not economists, knew something was profoundly wrong with
> overvalued real estate sometime around 2005 or 2006; it seemed utterly
> obvious. Meanwhile the economists kept pumping the bubble for higher returns
> to those with money to invest and for themselves in the Priesthood. From our
> supposedly naïve non-economist point of view, myself and my friends, it was
> simply a little common sense.
>
> It has to be more scientific than that. But common sense is a good start.
> Get real in regard to physics, geology, chemistry, biology, ecology and
> psychology: "Hello Science. People calling. Is anyone listening?"
>
> From Ecological Economics to just plain Physical Economics
>
> We already have environmental economists, ecological economists,
> bioecological economists and so on, described in various places as "fields
> of academic research." Why then have they failed to focus clearly on what we
> need to build just plain physically and why have they failed to identify the
> largest thing humans build - cities - as the foundation for solving many of
> our most intractable environmental and societal problems? Why has concern
> for "sustainable development" barely scratched the surface of ecocity
> design, planning and development, much less identified urban layout and
> design as the key factors in facilitating or working against a wide range of
> technologies and lifestyles?
>
> Perhaps the entire enterprise to date has been a little too academic and
> separate from the world of real steel, stone and mortar, energy, food and
> transport. Perhaps even ecologically conscientious economics needs a good
> dose not just of math, physics and ecology but also engineering,
> architecture, industrial design, technological development and business
> administration and, not to leave out, the development incentives and
> disincentives of zoning and codes, taxes and politics. Physicists and
> students of aerodynamics are not enough to build airplanes - you need those
> other guys too.
>
> Where it starts in terms of the conditions we find ourselves in, on this
> planet at least, is with the massive flow of solar energy into our physical
> economy, mainly through plants, chlorophyll and soil at about 2.5% energy
> conversion efficiency, through 80% efficient passive heating and about 20%
> efficient solar electricity, all available with some serious investment. The
> sun's been with us a long time so we have two basic energy resources of
> enormous scale, one is the energy flow of solar income and the other is
> solar energy savings in the form of the fossil fuels. Solar income energy is
> a pretty benign source and fossil fuels are tricky as we are beginning to
> see with the Gulf Oil Spill, climate change and other disasters that range
> from the catastrophic to apocalyptic. There's a big hint here for a
> transition in thinking starting with physical economics: invest in solar and
> its derivative: wind; begin disinvesting in fossil fuels at the same time.
>
> Another very large consideration is the mineral and metals savings account
> of the planet. If we don't recycle these they will become ever more scarce
> through rusting and frittering away in small item dispersion lost to any
> economically viable recovery in the longer range future. In practical terms
> that means we need to build a physical environment, mainly our cities, to
> run on about 1/10th the energy and 1/5th the land, which is proposed by a
> discipline closer to science than today's economics, that of ecological city
> and town design and planning. A super efficient built environment, the
> collective home the vast majority of us live in, also makes assiduous
> recycling possible.
>
> The largest physical thing to consider is the built environment. What is it
> we actually build and what does that determine in terms of technologies and
> lifestyles? We should know we are in trouble when Brazil plows under virgin
> forests for ethanol road fuel, when India manufactures and promotes the
> cheap car called the Nano for its 1.2 billion people
> hurtling about enclosed in false security while 100,000 are killed in car
> accidents every year there as the Nano leaves the starting gate, when the
> Russian Government announces it has purchased 2.5 million acres of land to
> turn into car-dependent scattered development and when a Chinese gentleman
> sharing a cab with me in Beijing in his country of almost 1.4 billion people
> said, "Well if I can't have a car how can I get a wife?" Those four
> countries together represent 2.7 billion people hankering to live the
> car-city lifestyle of Americans when there are 9 times as many of them on
> the Earth as Americans. And Americans are trying to figure out how to have
> better cars rather than figure out that the car is part of a whole system
> like any other living complex organism and better cars promote more sprawl
> and dependence on cheap energy - which is going away as we begin pursuing
> this new idea of an economics rooted in physical realities.
>
> Another very large factor passed over by the nervous is graduated income
> and property taxes. It is scientifically obvious that you have to go where
> the ore is to get copper, where the sun, wind or fossil fuels are to get
> energy in serious quantity. Similarly, following recent courageous
> suggestions by Jeffrey Sachs in the July 2010 Scientific American and recent
> comments by Hillary Clinton of all people, not known as a major economics
> theorist, you have to turn to taxing the rich - seriously. Not the middle
> class and the poor but the rich. The rich have convinced the poor and middle
> class to think "more taxes" means them. Smart trick, but that's not the idea
> here: graduated income tax with the rich paying their share of what
> society and environment helped them make. That's where the stored wealth to
> build a better world is and physical economics, if not today's mainstream
> economists, would identify and prioritize that very genuine resource
> instantly.
>
> What would the tax money be invested in? As placed in high priority above,
> befitting the enormous scale of the enterprise, reshaping cities as
> ecocities, cities for people not cars, and getting on with renewable energy
> development along with the radical energy conservation of ecocities.
>
> Limits and Hard Work
>
> Let's not forget the two big ones this articles physical economics* zeros
> in on as highest priorities of all: the reality of limits and the value of
> hard work. In the face of all the other supposedly "hard science," a grand
> compliment macroeconomists quest most passionately since they are true
> believers seeking their own version of Einstein's elusive General Field
> Theory, and with it, should they attain it, thinking themselves absolutely
> certain, economics promotes the wildly off base and destructive notion that
> constant growth is the only healthy state of the economy. It is finally time
> for economists to join the crowd in the real "hard sciences" that recognize
> the infinite growth in a limited environment is as dreamy as lead to gold
> and the perpetual motion machine. I won't even try to defend that statement.
>
> And finally how do you think it is the Chinese went from famine and poverty
> in one generation to a stunningly productive, gigantic economy passing the
> United States in a number of ways? They work like demons, typically two to
> four hours more a day than Americans, they earn less money per hour
> outcompeting their competition, there are many more of them and they work on
> savings and investments instead of borrowing and betting on infinite growth
> like the real estate derivatives gamblers. Some might say its because they
> have a centrally planned economy but they also have some of the wildest of
> capitalism's enclaves as big as whole countries. All those things are not
> rocket science or the latest fad in marco economic's byzantine and ever
> changing formulas. They are pretty simple, standard old school, straight
> forward economics and represent very physical work. They also represent an
> excellent example of limits as the country is drawing down its soils, water
> and minerals and wiping out its biodiversity at a withering rate,
> transforming all that into pollution generated where the products are made
> and launched toward the United States and other debtor, high consumption
> nations.
>
> I recently attended the Second International Degrowth Conference in
> Barcelona, Spain. I agreed completely with their consensus belief that
> constant growth is doomed or we are. I agreed that GDP, with it's
> destructive activities recorded on the positive side of the economic ledger
> - neglecting damage to the Earth, people and biosphere, even climate system
> of the planet - is a truly dumb, dated and destructive measure. And it is
> even intriguing that, as a number of their speakers advocated, if we worked
> four days a week instead of five or more, we would have far less
> unemployment and we'd be consuming less, giving the earth just a small
> amount more breathing room. But listening to the "relax our way into the
> future growing our own vegetables, renouncing specialization, and having
> much more time just to enjoy life" I just had to say, "Is this the way to
> save a planet in real distress?" Who ever faced a crisis, from escaping a
> sinking ship or burning house, fighting a war or struggling for survival in
> an environment of real poverty...by taking it easy?
>
> Are climate change, species extinctions and eroding energy and mineral
> resource a real condition loose in the world today or not? So I think it is
> time to gird our loins for a real race to the finish and take hard work
> serious for survival reasons as well as in recognition of some sort of
> economics that makes sense. I believe that the threats confirmed by
> practically all legitimate scientists these days is a physical reality and I
> believe we need an economics based firmly in that ever-so physical
> conviction.
>
> Put all the above together with reasonably prudent money management in
> basically traditional ways and you have the outlines of a new science we
> might call physical economics.
>
> *We are aware Lyndon LaRouche and others use the term "physical economics"
> in similar critiques of economic policies but note many differences as well
> including the typical economists' omission of city design and layout and
> relevant policy.
>
> Richard Register <ecocity at igc.org> is Founder and President of Ecocity
> Builders and author of Ecocities, Rebuilding Cities in Balance With Nature
> .
>     How street music is making the planet cooler
> by SVEN EBERLEIN
> Originally posted at: A World of Words<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTV4-f82T6O5f41w6Mea94PUCT2k_EyLpFxjY7rhaBoH5SrOO3-aSBOVhyKtDq8GOoE2OO3m1o12bgrhMu1X88pDUgGFLQwmOnbc0wAmU3CMylXRZrju-Jtu>
>
> [image: sven1.jpg]
>
> While it's important to understand the science and statistics behind
> climate change, the solutions are often not as linear as we'd like to
> believe. All the graphs and numbers are symbolic of how we humans have
> chosen to live and move about the planet. Sure, we must get the kinds of
> laws and regulations that will reduce carbon emissions. Ultimately though,
> we can only attain sustainable physical levels of CO2 if we can shift our
> perception of what it means to live a meaningful life on planet Earth.
>
> Music is a window into the human soul. It expresses our hopes and dreams,
> as well as our fears and wounds. The way we relate to music reflects the way
> we view the world. Lately I've been inspired by a lot of spontaneous,
> stripped down transmissions of music, and it occurred to me that street
> musicians may hold one of the keys to a cooler climate.
>
> Watching Rihanna perform her over the top smoke bomb spectacle on American
> Idol last week, I couldn't help but wonder just how much energy it took for
> this empty display of mass entertainment. From moving big rigs full of gear
> and powering the smoke machines to thousands of fans driving to the
> auditorium and millions of TV sets lit up across the country, the amount of
> fossil fuels burned for this one performer to croak "Oh Baby I'm a Rockstar"
> over and over must have equaled what entire countries in the developing
> world consume on any given night.
>
> Read on<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTU_0G8C1BV7-ug97XMoyIivHrR6XlFOrWpbpTXfznbs8c-PNUUhZbfcyZYTIR5gQ-RTkaa4haCiSLijkn1VtP1xsz2IIStNUUvna1PxJ72_gXSFzborUc917RdBhupizdqiFshUuV2_6g==>
>     [image: chinacityplayground]
>
>
> SAVE THE DATE!
> August 22-26, 2011
> Palais des congrès de Montréal, Canada
>
> Hosted by Urban Ecology Montréal, Ecocity World Summit 2011 will build on
> work of past Ecocity World Summits while adding new conference themes,
> participatory methods, and projects that will last beyond the life of the
> conference. Detailed conference content and design will be developed in
> collaboration with local and international partners, making sure that the
> particular urban ecological expertise of Montréal is highlighted.
>
> Website<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTXozozojqpiD3QLNrkmxBpbk57-rcbSLNhfNc1gJWT-NXdNyCTaLNwM-m1Ex_RY4PS7XUMPXJXTQQK150OMr42cXbQ4LkBDg9JXQj7coqyhb7_U0CtiJf7L3SK6ufqS1r1ktQZ1V7YYZg==>
>     *Car Free Journey*
> by Steve Atlas
>
> [image: walking]
> Today, I want to suggest an inexpensive alternative to driving to the
> beach: commuter trains.
>
> Many metropolitan areas (primarily on the east coast, but also in Chicago,
> San Diego, and Los Angeles), provide commuter rail service at big discounts
> from Amtrak. For example, both Metrolink (from Los Angeles) and Coastal
> (from San Diego) offer train service to Oceanside, CA. From the station,
> it's a short walk to beaches and nearby places to stay.
>
> On the east coast, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and
> Washington,D.C./Baltimore (weekdays only for MARC between Baltimore and
> Washington) provide excellent and affordable commuter rail. If you crave a
> beach visit and live near Boston, you can take a commuter train to
> Providence, RI--7 days a week, and take a RIPTA public bus to several
> beaches. (For more details, visit http://carfreeamerica.com<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTWD8eYys-5F-tioc3kegaQXird4BwHeeReh6ZT7NmqQF5oTfNruFOlIMNyxiOcgSFB7c4ugKtWUCkdo_5LguSr0t7_rJO8HkfvF-oJReGEiXQ==>,
> and request the free report about South County Beaches.)
>  From New York City, both the Long Island Railroad and New Jersey Transit
> offer one-day beach trips, as well as many other day outings.
>
> From Philadelphia, take a SEPTA commuter train (except Sunday) to
> Wilmington. From Wilmington, DART (Delaware's public transit authority)
> offers an express bus to Rehoboth Beach every Saturday and Sunday during the
> summer. The one-day round trip to the beach is under $10.
>
> If you live near Chicago, take a look at last months's Car Free Journey and
> learn hot you can enjoy a one-day outing on METRA's South Shore line to
> Indiana Dunes State Park.
>
> If you are in Washington, D.C. during the week, take MARC's Brunswick Line
> to Harper's Ferry, West VA. (afternoons only), stay at the Hilltop House
> (check to be sure it's open), and spend a day hiking the Appalachian Trail
> and visit the nearby historical national park. The following morning, take a
> MARC commuter train back to Washington.
>
> If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for future columns, e-mail me
> at steveatlas45 at yahoo.com. I'd love to hear from you.
> ___________
> Steve Atlas's e-book, Car Free at the Beach (2010 edition) is now
> available. For more information, and a free report about South County RI
> beaches, visit http://carfreeamerica.com<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTWD8eYys-5F-tioc3kegaQXird4BwHeeReh6ZT7NmqQF5oTfNruFOlIMNyxiOcgSFB7c4ugKtWUCkdo_5LguSr0t7_rJO8HkfvF-oJReGEiXQ==>
> .
>
>
>      JOIN ECOCITY BUILDERS
>
>  Ecocity Builders is a non-profit organization dedicated to reshaping
> cities, towns and villages for long-term health of human and natural
> systems. Join us and help rebuild cities in balance with nature.
>
> CLICK HERE<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTUZn4A-ChuX4wCYScXvNhGhxGNTYHELo2DH_ipz93IRL-4UjjbYEmnXJIFfUl0hvCeFojnj0ZWqbcWNCUjZymzuhKTh5ipyEOsGLs131tQG2KXow62Hohi9vV2UQqXFZOk=>TO JOIN
> Buy our books
> Take part in our active projects
> Volunteer
>
>  [image: sm.ecb]
>
>
>
>   *"The problem is the present design of cities only a few stories high,
> stretching outward in unwieldy sprawl for miles. As a result of their
> sprawl, they literally transform the earth, turn farms into parking lots and
> waste enormous amounts of time and energy transporting people, goods and
> services over their expanses. My solution is urban implosion rather than
> explosion."
> -Paolo Soleri
>
> www.arcosanti.org<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTVeGyBtg8WFjQK4Io3LgGqwi5JgVB8RHQYDBb-BYULEvQ0YwD9zOZ_HGbV_UC2RWRoFyMVlubEMC36i-7MKwgIWViy-5WXNWrBX507reeMBIw==>
> *  *Ecocity Builders' Calendar
>
> 2010
> *
>
> August 17 - 20
> Chengde, China
> The 4th International Ecocity Forum<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTXPWXq-pp5N1uvqxW-bdm3FrxGurB2emQdHDyjn9lUqluszoY272-LwhjUeEJg2ci6PLJzBb7qRcNs8XgY1NjH9gpd2he5kpXnJI47dU1DVMJNU_JcinSRN>
> Eccocity Builders' Executive Director Kirstin Miller to present the
> International Ecocity Standards Project
>
> October 4-7
> Vancouver, Canada
> Gaining Ground Presents: Eco Logical, The Power of Green Cities to Shape
> the Future<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTVYSyiOPBKx_7BxSVCiiJ0f4A_4XAOzkLaRQlQI387B65SEsb2LmbCa5UR3YkI4WJ_7RShUnYHely4nJaywJ9j7NARjtI-Zr1ET17igdBDyWQi7RQLdVX2M>
> Ecocity Builders and the International Ecocity Standards Project will
> present and lead a facilitated workshop
>
> October 6-7
> Incheon, Korea
> "Future of Cities"<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTVfKo9CDXPyL0rh_Qd5ETUowLzANT_rFzLSTpU3MkD5poSJl_JAuc09PQQ83DQdGJwUIo5p3X8B98PDDRVXU6AMLHU37e18oMiIoWL7yZm16JF0Fu3p3HcyAiTnkhKd3EQ=>ICLEI World Congress
> Richard Register will give a plenary presentation
>
> Fall Semester, UC Berkeley Extension
> "Ecological Cities"
> <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTVQxLiNRybolpw1BC6UjYWcjftKEn1TGIsjePFAYYdznYcEsGSrghsv95uaesnveGb2tthT2NRtCHOYpSG3KIe4Kh08crzZ_WqUDoBv9gQtWzfIzRl1Kj508-8Gs6F7HR_5nhZg8oRoww==>taught
> by Kirstin Miller, Executive Director, Ecocity Builders
>
> 2011
>
> Ecocity World Summit, the 9th International Ecocity Conference<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTUqiOD4BE019o6D8BMtlr1Oht-Xg_ARdmbPJguWjVRVl_mplWmAoyMGOzgTwZJ9Kn6aiEg5CNkh7Q28rhejXzDkDyWgkzpwLBf1_SJ90y0DUA==>
> August 22-26, 2011
> Palais des congrès de Montréal, Canada
>
> Hosted by Urban Ecology Montréal, Ecocity World Summit 2011 will build on
> work of past Ecocity World Summits while adding new conference themes,
> participatory methods, and projects that will last beyond the life of the
> conference. Detailed conference content and design will be developed in
> collaboration with local and international partners, making sure that the
> particular urban ecological expertise of Montréal is highlighted.
>     41 years or 41 miles?
> by ERIC COREY FREED
> Originally posted at: KBB Collective<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTUa8ImYhFwvWVQy1uNpubjdGFUgA9CQ3CcNs2ynuj3QsPZRG-pcidHXh46cB_0CL_3gmtZGtwtpxJaCt4bEa5ge0e1wFMh2mtbV9BwB57Z2_Er07XmWljDmfi6rTlVYHTno5jfwt-LDAA==>
>
> How our dependence on oil has negatively affected our built environment
>
> As the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig nears its
> three-month anniversary (on July 20th), the public is still waiting to see
> how the story will end. More importantly, the world is waiting to see how
> the worst environmental catastrophe in history is going to change America's
> self-admitted addiction to oil.
>
> [image: gulf.jpg]
>
> SOURCE: NASA
>
> The date July 20th shares the day with another anniversary. Just 41 years
> earlier, Man first set foot on the Moon in an impressive display of how
> technology can propel humanity to reach our highest achievements. The
> exploded rig, located just 41 miles off the coast, reminds us how technology
> can demonstrate the limits of humanity.
>
> In light of the facts that have emerged over the last few months, it's
> almost surprising an accident of this scale hadn't occurred sooner. You've
> no doubt heard about the corrupt regulators at the Minerals Management
> Service (MMS)<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTVvEs3jLmOFo7WGIMNjzgbn9BzijxBkK5Yu3Ic6zvS6EHQmGUfPgn33vxSN4hBOeI2Xqw0LKYia2wtHPTnGTWCcbZ-FoESHeXdeY-Ex-txZsyJcOJ6PFcEyqpXmF5yMVJxxfBj4CkM3At55T9Jh3g5ivQfxc6I7FquQhLggFzr1eg==>,
> the horrific and shocking safety track record of BP<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTWjrVCugEHUba-qwODTBvz36SUnesAmhT6JLrlrpcW7DV5SlGdnLBO5L_ZuR0bDJfzBgURi-VqKNI9R6nzErX8uF9HOhw_I2tjovXH9NDL1jIMv3sVvdduRg9Pqdo0KtfS5CHrzBztyNmM-8xvKT4JjtlzfUeiTvUR6YeaCdyUYR7Ev6ghs0jx4OTb9806DJTc=>,
> and the cost-cutting risks taken in the construction of the well itself<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTXXs9Km7vCsyjG-gflesH-ZBSUdjqNWUO4S4SLqxPXFZedsZLzZrNSJpBHQyEKrX_LqK-bqSVG5Ihg-mLzrlYUraypiV4Hxa8-WFNb4FpfMCxDBmS4Rsn4NBfWnGTkREnrKVhyj4y3zC3tteNt2__Uhz5XdaFIm2YIBsPjhIHtpLopQCpo5dXoo>
> .
>
> The disaster at the Deepwater Horizon that left 11 men dead and continues
> to pour millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is the final act
> in the story of our adolescence. This could be the ultimate sign that our
> way of life has to change if we are to survive. If any good can come out of
> the irreparable damage done to the water, the Gulf Coast economy, or the
> wildlife itself, we must change our relationship with oil.
>
> read on<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTX1L-SZ7DVpM5UESPptuN2ta5Vweolr7Puulo8xmNIv74CZpRZ6bUsEqg1Vm1yFg0D83mY9_Y409qHh7_oouhmWfYNolf06aPCkIvege_C7DMt2Os-aBOK8mdQZTRxrWf8ZslDo1Tb2QQ==>
>
>     [image: wsj.com]
>
> A Talking Head Dreams of a Perfect City
> Osaka's robot-run parking lots mixed with the Minneapolis lakefront; a
> musician's fantasy metropolis
> By DAVID BYRNE
> Originally published in the Wall Street Journal<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTUrZ78dY-Tf_h__kBTDRtbNB6PthT6tepAz3x68J6ENEW9P11eAiAfLREwJcTJSbOs0gu3NlsNI8omoBXvfnixYd4tF_qjzZYS5uGXOyZV5Hfnv3OdHSM3i47fr50MzJtr-fYHwsbGVFNb6_2nmiMeNiO3VjZfJrMjJBc1x3IOpekU6yq8YrxOJ>
>
> [image: byrne.jpg]
>
> New Orleans on a rainy day.  National Geographic Stock
>
> There's an old joke that you know you're in heaven if the cooks are Italian
> and the engineering is German. If it's the other way around you're in hell.
> In an attempt to conjure up a perfect city, I imagine a place that is a
> mash-up of the best qualities of a host of cities. The permutations are
> endless. Maybe I'd take the nightlife of New York in a setting like Sydney's
> with bars like those in Barcelona and cuisine from Singapore served in
> outdoor restaurants like those in Mexico City. Or I could layer the sense of
> humor in Spain over the civic accommodation and elegance of Kyoto. Of
> course, it's not really possible to cherry pick like this-mainly because a
> city's qualities cannot thrive out of context. A place's cuisine and
> architecture and language are all somehow interwoven. But one can dream.
>
>
> [image: byrne1.jpg]
>
>  The author in Budapest.     Natalie Kuhn
>
>
> As someone who has used a bicycle to get around New York for about 30 years
> I've watched the city-mainly Manhattan, where I live-change for better and
> for worse. During this time I started to take a full-size folding bike with
> me when I traveled so I got to experience other cities as a cyclist as well.
> Seeing cities from on top of a bike is both pleasurable and instructive. On
> a bike one sees a lot more than from a freeway, and often it's just as fast
> as car traffic in many towns.
>
> A "livable city" means vastly different things for many people. In Hong
> Kong it might mean that your family is in a comfortable apartment while you
> play in the exciting mercantile world in a glass tower overlooking the
> harbor. In Dallas livability might mean that you live near an expressway
> that isn't jammed up, at least not all the time, and your car runs most
> days. For some it might mean super fast Wi-Fi, the possibility of lucky and
> lucrative business opportunities and plenty of strip clubs. If that's what
> rocks your boat then try Houston, though to me that city, oil money made
> physically manifest, is my worst nightmare.
> Here are some things that make a city livable for me:
>
> Size
> A city can't be too small. Size guarantees anonymity-if you make an
> embarrassing mistake in a large city, and it's not on the cover of the Post,
> you can probably try again. The generous attitude towards failure that big
> cities afford is invaluable-it's how things get created. In a small town
> everyone knows about your failures, so you are more careful about what you
> might attempt. Every time I visit San Francisco I ask out loud "Why don't I
> live here? Why do I choose to live in a place that is harder, tougher and,
> well, not as beautiful?" The locals often reply, "You don't want to live
> here. It looks like a city, but it's really a small village. Everyone knows
> what you're doing" Oh, OK. If you say so. It's still beautiful.
>
> Density
> If a city doesn't have sufficient density, as in L.A., then strange things
> happen. It's human nature for us to look at one another- we're social
> animals after all. But when the urban situation causes the distance between
> us to increase and our interactions to be less frequent we have to use novel
> means to attract attention: big hair, skimpy clothes and plastic surgery. We
> become walking billboards.
>
> Sensibility and attitude
> New Yorkers are viewed as being tough as nails, no-nonsense but with hearts
> of gold-or maybe just gold-plated. This might not be the sensibility I would
> choose if I had a choice. The people of Glasgow, where most of my relatives
> live, are working class, blunt and free of pretenses. (They see their sister
> city Edinburgh as putting on airs). Their sense of humor can be scathing,
> though I find it hilarious. There's a wicked sense of humor associated with
> Berlin as well-Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder and Helmut Newton all shared
> this dark and sometimes transgressive sensibility. New Orleans is a city
> where people make eye contact. There's a more open sensuality there as well.
> I'd take that in my perfect city, minus some of the other aspects of that
> town, such as its tragic poverty, corruption, and crime.
>
>
>
> [image: byrne3.jpg]
> Rush hour at a Tokyo subway station.            Alamy
>
> Security
> Travelers return from Japan with tales of someone having left their phone
> or bag on the subway or even on the street and then returning to find the
> phone or bag exactly where they left it, sometimes the next day. I'd like to
> live in a city where the citizens trust one another that much- though I
> suspect that's the result of Japan being a more or less homogenized society,
> which has its drawbacks as well. But security can exist in the West. For
> example in parts of New York's West Village, as author Jane Jacobs pointed
> out, the streets are rarely abandoned and there are almost always some
> locals hanging out, so everyone sees a little bit of what's going on. The
> community has eyes and ears, and everyone behaves accordingly. In my perfect
> city I'd feel that sense of neighborliness-that people weren't in my
> business, but that I would be a familiar sight, as they would be to me.
>
> Chaos and danger
> To some, security means rigid order and strict rules. I do believe we do
> need some laws and rules to guide and reign us in a bit, and I don't just
> mean traffic lights and pooper scooper mandates. But there's a certain
> attractiveness to New Orleans, Mexico City or Naples-where you get the sense
> that though some order exists, it's an order of a fluid and flexible nature.
> Sometimes too flexible, but a little bit of that sense of excitement and
> possibility is something I'd wish for in a city. A little touch of chaos and
> danger makes a city sexy.
>
> Human scale
> Scale is important. In London people hang out in Soho, Covent Garden,
> Mayfair and other areas of mostly low buildings packed closely together. The
> City (their financial district), like the downtown in many American cities,
> is full of tall offices and it empties out at night. It isn't that bustling
> in the daytime either. Some sort of compromise might be more ideal-the tall
> towers mixed in with the modest-sized shops and restaurants.
>
> Parking
> To be honest, available parking doesn't matter to me. Parking lots and
> structures are dead real estate-they bring no life into a city and I'd be
> happy if there were a lot fewer of them in New York. It would be a pain in
> the neck for a lot of drivers, but unless they can be hidden underground, as
> they are often in Japan, lots and parking structures are simply dead zones,
> which hurt the businesses around them. In Japan parking structures are
> skinny, no wider than a large car, and a robotic system files the cars away.
> The Italian cities of Florence, Modena, Ferrara, where parking is pretty
> much relegated to the fringes of the town, are vibrant, though their appeal
> to pedestrians has turned some of them into tourist hubs.
>
>
> [image: byrne6.jpg]
> Berlin's Unter den Linden.                              Alamy
>
> Boulevards
> If boulevards aren't too wide, like 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires, they can
> serve to break the monotonous pattern of streets and blocks, let sunlight
> in, and function as a landmark (so you know where you are). And if they are
> lined with trees and beautiful buildings of different types, they can even
> be pleasant. Park Avenue, Manhattan's widest boulevard, doesn't cut it. The
> green in the middle is lovely but inaccessible, and the endless sameness of
> giant apartment or office buildings with little else to break the rhythm
> inspires the eye and mind to glaze over. Berlin has some great boulevards.
> Karl Marx Allee, a massive boulevard in former East Germany, has outdoor
> cafes, wide sidewalks and weird Soviet era fountains and movie theaters. It
> threatens to go beyond a comfortable scale, but the business in the little
> shops along the street helps hold that in check.
>
> Mixed use
> This is a Jane Jacobs phrase. A perfect city is where different things are
> going on, relatively close to each other, at different times of the day. A
> city isn't a strip of hotels and restaurants on a glorious beach; it's a
> place where there are restaurants and hotels, but also little stores,
> fashion boutiques, schools, houses, offices, temples and banks. The healthy
> neighborhood doesn't empty out at 6 p.m., as most of downtown L.A. does. In
> my perfect city there would always be something going on nearby.
>
>
> [image: byrne5.jpg]Revelers at Tennants Bar in Glasgow.            Alamy
>
> Public spaces
> In my perfect city there are ample public spaces-parks (not just vacant
> land, but common areas that people pass through and use), plazas (not just
> slabs in front of corporate towers) and, if possible, public access to the
> waterfront (if there is one). We don't necessarily need massive acreage in
> our parks. Bigger is not always better, but we do need periodic breaks from
> buildings. Industry abandoned the waterfronts over previous decades, and as
> the docks and the industry that went with them moved elsewhere our cities
> have begun to reclaim these areas-river walks (look how many people use
> Manhattan's Hudson River paths!), lakefronts (the beautiful Minneapolis
> lakefront paths eventually lead all the way to the Mississippi!), beaches
> and seashores. In some seaside towns there is no public access to the sea,
> which to me seems a self-injuring situation. In my perfect city there would
> be public access to all these areas.
>
> The perfect city isn't static. It's evolving and ever changing, and its
> laws and structure allow that to happen. Neighborhoods change, clubs close
> and others open, yuppies move in and move out-as long as there is a mix of
> some sort, then business districts and neighborhoods stay healthy even if
> they're not what they once were. My perfect city isn't fixed, it doesn't
> actually exist, and I like it that way.
>
> -David Byrne is a musician and founding member of the band Talking Heads.
> His book "Bicycle Diaries" was published by Viking in 2009.
>
>     *Principal Features of an Ecocity
> http://www.ecocityprojects.net/<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103549554630&s=12359&e=001-joVvEQpTTWkl_gF9AzA7oA79z-3nlqWcGkR2gZx_zqRdDfSq7Kd1sn9nP-uuFzGaKHhZGgtb5RluXpsQIg3gukNYH_tYJM_etaW8_TFAY5vMr--lLjl6wlIzrIeMLvO>
> *
> [image: eco-city characteristics]
>
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