Kent Larson: ‘Brilliant designs to fit more people in every city’

From TED Talks via YouTube:

How can we fit more people into cities without overcrowding? Kent Larson shows off folding cars, quick-change apartments and other innovations that could make the city of the future work a lot like a small village of the past.

Getting Around, Cleanly: ‘Transportation Transformation’ (Video)

Because two-fifths of BC’s greenhouse gas emissions are from transportation, this means rethinking our reliance on cars and trucks that burn fossil fuels to move people and goods large distances every day.

Most people have trouble imagining what an alternative system would look like. Not only do we rely on these forms of transportation, but they have played a central role in our prosperity. Our society has grown and evolved around car-based mobility, culminating in the post-war dream of a single family home in the suburbs. 

We argue that a zero-emissions transportation system by 2040 is both desirable and achievable. It will rely heavily on renewable electric power, shifts toward electric vehicles, and expansion of public transit and cycling infrastructure. 

But for the transportation system to be as efficient and enjoyable to use as a private car, we will also need to develop complete communities.

Complete communities exist where people do not have to travel far to meet their day-to-day needs, making it possible to walk, bike and use high-quality public transit. Mobility may be supplemented by shared or private electric cars, but a large percentage of trips would not need them. These communities include a mix of housing types (including affordable housing options), decent jobs, public services, parks and other public spaces, and commercial districts with restaurants, offices and retail outlets.

You can read more over at The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

A look south from the rooftop of the innovative, mixed-use Woodwards complex here in Vancouver. The New York Times reported back in 2009:

Woodward’s, a 1.1-million-square-foot project with an inclusive design. The project, which is costing 500 million Canadian dollars (about $475 million), is one of the biggest redevelopments in city history.

It is also controversial — because of a tangled history and a high-stakes social engineering approach. “There is so much riding on this project,” said Ian Gillespie, chief executive of Westbank Projects, one of the developers. “Everyone sees it as a panacea for huge social problems.”

When completed in January, the project will encompass four interconnected buildings with a central atrium on the edge of the Downtown Eastside, just a few blocks from the business district.

It will feature 536 market-rate condominiums, 200 “affordable” rental units, a supermarket, a drugstore and Simon Fraser University’s School for Contemporary Arts. It will also have 31,500 square feet of office space for nonprofit organizations, 59,329 square feet of federal and city office space, a bank, a restaurant and a rooftop day care center.

“It is a microcosm of the city,” said the project architect, Gregory Henriquez.

The other project partners are the Peterson Investment Group, the city government and Simon Fraser. The site, which covers a full block, originally housed the Woodward’s department store, which closed in 1993. That building has a contentious past, including several failed development efforts and a three-month occupation by advocates for the homeless.

From The Province:

Karin Boriss is thrilled to be taking her Vancouver house apart instead of just knocking it down.

Boriss and her husband Alex Holmes are the first homeowners in the city to get a deconstruction permit instead of simply demolishing their 1940s-era home on West 18th Avenue.

They purchased the home in order to build a new house and tried to sell it to someone who would move it. They couldn’t even give it away, though, so it had to come down.

But they didn’t want to just send the house to the landfill.

“We were thrilled when we found out about the deconstruction process,” Boriss said Thursday during a city tour of her house being carefully torn apart to salvage anything of value.

“It cost us less to do than demolition,” she said.

The process takes longer, two to three weeks compared to two to three days for demolition, but that’s where the city steps into the process by speeding up the permitting process.

Sadhu Johnston, the deputy city manager, said a pilot program tested deconstruction on two homes.

“We found we could actually keep 93 per cent of the houses out of the landfill,” said Johnston.

He said that 80 tonnes of housing materials were diverted from the landfill with each house. With 800 house demolitions a year in Vancouver, the rough estimate of diverted material is 64,000 tonnes.

“We think we can create good green jobs, apply less pressure on the landfill and pursue our Greenest City goals,” said Johnston.

Check out the rest of the article here and TV news coverage of the story here. The Tyee article, ‘Building Jobs By Tearing Down Houses The Green Way’ is also worth a look if you’re interested in deconstruction.

(Photo credit: The Tyee)

A paragraph from the Atlantic Cities article, ‘How More Expensive Housing Can Actually Cost You Less’, which highlights the growing economic benefits of living in walkable/ “location efficient” neighborhoods.

The website for the ‘Housing and Transportation Affordability Index’ explains that:

People who live in location inefficient places are auto-dependent, have high transportation costs, and are more susceptible to fluctuations in gas prices. 

This trend is projected to only get stronger (e.g. here, here, and here) as gas prices rise in response to the “the end of the petroleum era.” 

(Graphic credit: The Housing + Transportation Affordability Index)

The House Efficient: ‘Passive Passion’ 

From Charlie Hoxie via Vimeo:

“Passive Passion” looks at the Passive House standard for buildings - a design method from Germany that results in 90% reductions in the energy needed for heating and cooling. Building to the standard is commonplace in many parts of Europe, but has been slow to catch on in the U.S., though a burgeoning community of American Passive House enthusiasts seek to spread the idea and change the fundamentals of how we build.

You can read more about the documentary here. Also, YouTube is hosting four clips from the film. You can watch the first here.

(Image credit: Passive House Institute US)

Infographic: Green Home Improvements That Pay You Back

(Source: One Block Off The Grid)

Infographic: 15 Ways to Green Your Home

It seems almost every week there is a new study showing that living in cities is the greenest thing a person could do in terms of their carbon output and larger ecological footprint. But, not everyone can pick up and move to the city overnight. Nor does everyone want to. Given these realities Allianz Knowledge’s 15 ways to green your home infographic is a good resource and its animated version explains the importance of each of the fifteen components. Checkitout!