Green Space Increases City-Dwellers’ Wellbeing

As much as humanity tries to separate itself from “nature” –paving over city streets with concrete and erecting large, unnatural structures that block out natural elements and creatures– we can not escape the fact that we too are animals.  Humans are connected to every part of the natural world, and as such, we are nature-philic.  We […]

Urban Agriculture: Rooftop Gardens in Beijing

Urban agriculture is a growing, important trend in the development of more ‘sustainable cities’.  Currently, despite appearing as centres of progress and development, cities are some of the most vulnerable, insecure and unsustainable places in the world.  Cities rely immensely on flows of food, water, resources, and energy from outside, often far away places.  If […]

Bicycle Culture in Copenhagen: An Example To All Cities

In the pursuit of sustainable cities, we have much to learn from the Danes.  The post-World War II development boom in North America was based around cheap oil and the automobile, so our cities today remain designed around an automobile economy.  Sustainable urban planning, however, needs to make alternative, low-impact transportation both easy and desirable.  […]