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"The Nature of Cities", Sustainable and Green Cities Are Focus of Film by Planning Professor Timothy Beatley

For University of Virginia planning professor Timothy Beatley, cities are not just about buildings, roads and transportation. They are about building and sustaining community.

An expert on sustainable and green cities, Beatley is the author of numerous books, including "Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities" "Native to Nowhere: Sustaining Home and Community in a Global Age" and "The Ecology of Place: Planning for Environment, Economy, and Community" coauthored with Kristy Manning.

Beatley recently turned to film to express his work. He collaborated with Boulder, Colo - based filmmaker Chuck Davis to write and direct "The Nature of Cities" a one-hour exploration of nature found - and designed - within cities.

"The Nature of Cities is about the work of green urbanism" said Davis, who met Beatley in Sun Valley, Idaho, at a sustainability conference where they both presented their work. Davis had just completed a film about people working to face the challenges of climate change and was looking for a new project. (…)

Examples from Europe include Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm, Sweden, where the densely built community is connected to an adjacent grove of ancient oaks, which provides a natural play area for children to explore.

A car-limited housing project in Amsterdam was planned to allow space for residents to have gardens in the central common area. Another neighborhood nearby features a walkable community with a "free range" habitat for children that promotes an open flow between inside and outside, and also sports solar panels, small windmills and other renewable energy features visible to the children at play.

The Western Harbor community in Malmo, Sweden, features green roofs, rainwater retention in courtyard ponds and channels that support plants and wildlife. With solar collectors, wind turbines and other sustainable energy measures, the community has achieved its goal of being 100 percent dependent on locally-produced renewable energy.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, one-third of the residents commute to work by bike. The city's green cycle routes initiative provides about 70 miles of safe paths through parks, open spaces, along the water and over roadways with heavy auto traffic to make near-suburbs and regions of the city accessible. (…)

Beatley said he also foresees filmmaking being a valuable skill in many aspects of planning. "Capturing stories can be a useful and powerful tool to inspire officials" he said.

Tratto da www.greenplanetfilms.org

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Green infrastructure

Green infrastructure is the living network of green spaces, water and environmental systems in, around and beyond urban areas.

It includes trees, parks, gardens, road verges, allotments, cemeteries, woodlands, rivers, wetlands and coastal habitats.
Green infrastructure delivers critical environmental services. Most grey infrastructure - such as roads or sewers - has a single function. Green infrastructure, by contrast, is multifunctional. It offers us a working landscape and a sustainable alternative to traditional engineering. Green infrastructure:

• protects against flooding: living roofs, large trees and soft landscape areas absorb heavy rainfall; a network of street swales and unculverted rivers can safely manage large volumes of water
• stores and recycles water for summer irrigation
• saves energy: living roofs insulate buildings, and large trees shade offices which reduces the need for air conditioning
• cleans and cools the air, water and soil
• provides green spaces to encourage exercise and socialising
• provides a place with character and a strong identity
• allows us to access nature, and feel part of it
• improves the image of a place, boosts property prices and attracts investment.

Green infrastructure is often neglected. But by protecting local green spaces, integrating green infrastructure into the design of buildings and places or planning a green space network, we can weave it into the core of the places where we live.
A good example of good practice in green infrastructure is Accordia.The first housing scheme to win the Stirling Prize, the design of Accordia maximises access to public open space and protects established habitats. Close to the centre of Cambridge, the scheme has been fitted densely into a site which formerly housed government offices and prefabricated WWII buildings.
Communal spaces are provided in the form of courtyards and internal avenues. Within these spaces, communal orchards have been planted with the intention that the space should also allow for food production. The scheme supports and enhances an adjacent brook habitat as part of its development by establishing a strong green infrastructure and landscape strategy as part of the design. The retention of mature trees and woodland formed a crucial part of this strategy alongside sustainable drainage features to support the local water environment.

Tratto da CABE - Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment in UK

Dizionario tecnico

Termine del mese
Living roof - Also called a green roof, a roof with a layer of soil and plantings that dissipates solar heat, provides good insulation, absorbs rainwater runoff, generates oxygen, and protects and therefore extends the life of the roofing material below. It can also give the roof space a garden-like appearance.

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Parole inglesi assonanti a parole italiane ma con diverso significato