ASLA's Animations

Also on ASLA's page are these awesome animations.

http://www.asla.org/sustainablelandscapes/videos.html

ASLA's Sustainable Landscape Case Studies

ASLA has a great page containing case studies on 30 different sustainable landscapes.

Here is the link:

http://www.asla.org/sustainablelandscapes/

Urban Swimming

Here is a cool article on swimmable Berlin. One day there are hopes that the Chicago river could be swimmable again!

http://pruned.blogspot.com/2011/12/swimmable-berlin.html

MTV and Natural/Creative Building

So who would have thought that MTV would have a special called Extreme Cribs featuring homes from the dredges such as earthships and permaculture villages.


http://www.mtv.com/shows/extreme_cribs/series.jhtml

SunRay Kelley

SunRay Kelley, a natural builder and certified crunchy fellow, was first brought to my attention through Jesse's blog. He is simply awesome.

Here is his website:


http://sunraykelley.com/

Also, here is a sketch I did of one of his pavilions at Buddha House:

http://sunraykelley.com/index.php?option=com_expose&Itemid=83

Katrina Cottages

In Suburban Nation, two of the concepts that most intrigue me are granny flats and Katrina cottages. Here are some links to both - notice the difference in vernacular architecture the Katrina Cottages have versus these granny flats.


http://www.katrinacottages.com/index.html

http://www.grannyflatbuilders.com/designs

Urban Bicycle Elitists and the Power of a Little White Line (are urban bicyclists using?)

You know em. We all hate em. Bicyclists.

"In March, New Yorker columnist John Cassidy blogged about the city’s new bike lanes. He was annoyed that they made it harder for him to drive his Jaguar around Manhattan, and bemoaned the city’s bicyclists as a privileged, insular aristocracy, a “faddist minority intent on foisting its bipedalist views on a disinterested or actively reluctant populace.”"

This article continues with a counter of liberal backlash.
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/04/are_urban_bicyclists_just_elite_snobs/singleton/

On the article:
We need a new bicycle awareness that informs both elitist bicyclists of how to ride like a car, and diesel powered road hogs to how to pass by as safely as a butterfly. I think in the end it is about the freedom and opportunity for both to exist. The problem is that vehicular infrastructure has dominated the scene for so long.

Transportation in general:
The transportation infrastructure budget and direction has some serious challenges facing them in the future. Painting a white line is the most fiscally conservative, socially beneficial, and environmentally benign approach anyone should be able to get behind. I don't think it needs to be much more complicated than that.     

Oh, and no urban bicycle elitists aren't using.