News
R.K. Pachauri
Dr. R.K. Pachauri is Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Director-General of The Energy and Resources Institute, Director of the Yale Climate and Energy Institute and the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. He answers questions about climate change.
Richard Florida
Richard Florida, Author, Who's Your City? and Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. He answers questions about City Appeal.
Curitiba - Brazil Shows the Way
The Copenhagen Summit (2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference) highlighted the gap between industrialized and emerging economies, particularly in terms of the timeline and process of urban development. However, Curitiba, a city in southern Brazil, has long shown that a commitment to the environment and a sustainable development policy are not the exclusive realm of cities in wealthy countries.
Tianjin - On the Brink of Sustainability in China
By 2020, China must build nearly 400 new cities to meet the expansion underway in urban areas and to respond to a growing urban migration. The result of collaboration between China and Singapore, this "new Tianjin" will also be the first environmental city built thanks to the cooperation between these two countries.
Renovation of Berlin's Potsdamer Platz
The Potsdamer Platz was long an overgrown, sandy no-man's land wedged against the Berlin Wall, swept by winds and scanned by spotlights from East German watchtowers. After the Wall fell, it became a symbol, capturing the political and urban stakes facing a reunified Germany. Today, the city's heart beats again, enlivened by an architectural style that is a mix between a European urban square and a Manhattan-like financial district.
Europes's green capitals
The European Union created the "European Green Capital" prize, dedicated to environment progress, to encourage the activist policies of major European cities. Every year, a jury honors cities that have adopted ambitious policies and can serve as models for others. The Swedish capital, Stockholm, was chosen as the first winner for the year 2010.
Beirut - rebuilt on the ruins
As the capital of a small nation wedged into the dangerous Middle East, Beirut has always enjoyed an aura and status that surpass its strategic and economic considerations. Close to France politically and economically, this city, built on trade, is rising from the ashes after more than 15 years of civil war and every possible kind of foreign intrusion.
Shigeru Ban, architect of paper
"Even the most fragile materials can make solid buildings," explains Shigeru Ban, the Japanese architect who specializes in ephemeral structures made from cardboard and other similarly "fragile" materials. Working in a studio on the 5th floor of the Pompidou Center's Musée Beaubourg in Paris, a lightweight structure made, in this case, of cardboard tubes, Ban puts the finishing touches on the design of the Pompidou Center being built in Metz. But he has also made a significant contribution to sustainable and recyclable architecture in areas ravaged by war and earthquakes.
Add a comment