Following a trail from our Dust Bowl post last week, we read with great interest that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) "plans to conduct sweeping ecological assessments of public lands across the West." (via) More specifically:

The BLM says it will study the Colorado Plateau, southern Californias Mojave desert and Nevadas central Great Basin desert. It announced Monday it would use the studies to decide how to make use of the public lands.

In part this is likely based upon increasing interest in potential for energy transport corridors as per the Energy Policy Act of 2005. And funding for 2011 comes from a US$8 million increase to the BLMs annual budget for 2010. Federal land management has certainly been a little less than anything to be inspired about in the intervening decade. Whatever the regional equivalent of pothole filling would be the appropriate descriptor here. (Lets just say considerable money goes into a regular horse census.) So atention to these lands, however fractured and discontinuous it might be, is refreshing.

To put this in context, the Bureau of Land Management is responsible for administering about 253 million acres of land, or about one-eighth of the total land mass of the United States. Repeat: one-eighth the land mass is public lands managed by BLM.

[The BLM manages about 37,000 horses on its land, which is an considered 10,000 surplus over a sustained balance with other species and resources.]

[Significant domain of the BLM at lands surface. Counting sub-surface, the BLM empire expands to one-eighth US land mass.]

And they are in the hot seat from the proposal last year for the  not-so-popular West-wide energy Corridor, presented in 2007, which spawned a lawsuit from a hefty list of agencies invested in land protection, such as: Sierra Club; The Wilderness Society; Western Watersheds Project; the Center for Biological Diversity; Defenders of Wildlife; National Parks Conservation Association; National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The West-wide corridor cuts a 6,000 mile webbed-network figure through 11 states, covering some 3 million acres of public lands. The Energy Corridor is intended to deliver (combined) oil, gas, hydrogen pipelines, and electrical transmission lines.

In a post last year, Power of Ecosystems / Ecosystems of Power, we noted Ryder and Rosas stunning documentation of power corridors, and their ability to create their own vectorial landscape. A landscape–with very little human intervention–of clear cut trees or branches, untended or cleared groundcover, and quite often human waste. This linear network, estimated at some 300,000 miles, supports an ecology that has flourished under these conditions. It seems the West-wide corridor system could begin to embrace that possibility as well. Recognizing its status as an infrastructure likely to be devoid of extensive human presence, these corridors range from 3,500 feet wide to upwards of 5 miles wide. With these widths, we could almost being to see these corridors as an ecology in and of themselves – rather as a ecology competing with National Parks. they could BECOME the New National Parks, infrastructural vectors, protected as natural reserves by virtue of their very danger to us.

[Lots of anti-big government types like to show this comparison of BLM and associated agencies to various European countries. It is impressive.]

The Guzzler is a useful resource on everything BLM that the BLM doesnt always want let out.

Also, possibly related is the Landscapes of Quarantine opening next week at Storefront for Art and Archietcture. (If we had time to do so, this would have been an InfraNet Lab contribution to what looks to be a fantastic exhibition.)

This past October 25, 2008, The Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design hosted a symposium organized and curated by Prof. Pierre Bélanger, recently swiped up by appointed by Harvard GSD, titled Landscape Infrastructures. Bélanger rightly marks our time as witness to a unique convergence of infrastructure and landscape. The urgency and opportunities of this embrace engineering of landscapes.

[Screen grabs from the DVD. George Baird (top left), Stan Allen (top right and bottom left, Jane Wolff (bottom right).]

Guest speakers included:
Stan Allen, Princeton University / George Baird, University of Toronto / Pierre Bélanger, University of Toronto / Julia Czerniak, Syracuse University / Herbert Dreiseitl, Atelier Dreiseitl / Kristina Hill, University of Virginia / Michael Jakob, Université de Genève / Nina-Marie Lister, Ryerson University / Kate Orff, Columbia University, SCAPE / Jane Wolff, University of Toronto

The proceedings of the symposium is now available in DVD format. Contact Pierre at belanger[at]harvard[dot]edu if you would like additional information.

[Mobility conduit, or landscape infrastructure par exellence.]

For Palestine and Israel, and undoubtedly for the rest of the world, the year 1999 was one of hope. A huge step towards a peaceful future in the Middle East was made in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, when the Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the so-called “The Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum”. It was overseen by the United States (represented by the Secretary of State Madeleine Albright) and co-signed by President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan. Beyond political issues it contained the following physical (and potentially architectural) implications:

1) A stable and safe Gaza – West Bank Passage
2) The construction of a Seaport in Gaza to connect Palestine to the global economy
3) A Free Trade Zone shared by Israel and Palestine to foster stability
4) Solutions for the pressing water problems and the damaged Dead Sea area

This was all in 1999, ten years ago. Just one year later, in 2000, the promising situation was overshadowed by the start of the Second Intifada, halting the progress to the goals presented in “The Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum”. It seems that the window of opportunity is almost now closed.

The following 'student works' critically re-examines the memorandum while addressing the current political situation and necessities.  Designed by Christoph Hesse for his Masters of Architecture and Urban Design Thesis (2007) at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design,  the project highlights the potential of architecture, urban, and infrastructural design to go beyond political strategies (that often lack the strength to alter a given situation), to create a new reality, formulate new ecologies, and produce new economies.

Hesse states:

Especially in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, we have to overcome the domination of political approaches which usually end in military actions that capture a whole region under a ‘permanent temporarily’ of physical underdevelopment, fear and desperation. Maybe the project started as a dream, but so did peace in the Middle East.

[A stable and safe Gaza - West Bank Infrastructural Link]

[Water connection and elevation difference between the Mediterranean Sea and shrinking Dead Sea]

[Port Connection: A New civic center for Gaza, Image: C.Hesse]

The project proposes an inner harbor as a new seaport for Gaza – benefiting trade on the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Israel.  The origin of the water connection between the Mediterranean and Dead Sea would remain open as a canal to allow containerships to reach a distribution center in the hinterland of Gaza. Along the canal urban programs such as a linear park, housing and commercial areas would couple the infrastructure with other functions that are linked in a symbiotic relationship.

[Sectional Perspective. Urbanization of the new canal and the inner harbor of Gaza. Image: C.Hesse]

[Free trade zone shared by Israel and Palestine. Image: C.Hesse]

The infrastructural form of the Gaza – West Bank connection is comparable to the shape of a boa. At two distinct points, the passage, which contains a four-lane road and railway connection, widens into a space for potential exchange between Israel and Palestine. The program of these critical sites are embedded into a free trade agreement to ease cooperation. Similar free trade zones exist between Israel and Jordan.

[Water storage reservoir with hotel and public functions. Image: C.Hesse]

The end of the infrastructural connection occurs where the water tunnel reaches the Dead Sea.  Here, the water is held in an upper storage reservoir. Similar to the so-called urban attachments along the open canal in Gaza, a hotel is embedded in and around the dam that underlines the symbolic value of this place. Since the Dead Sea is located 418 meters below sea level, the drop between the upper reservoir and the Sea is ideal to produce fresh water and energy for the tourist industry and 250,000 households in Israel, Jordan and Palestine.  While doing so, the water replenishes and gives new life the shrinking dead sea.

[Fresh water for the shrinking Dead Sea and electric energy for the whole region]

Currently based out of Germany and Switzerland, You can view the current work of Christoph Hesse Architects & Lorenz Kocher Engineers  here.

By announcing $13 billion stimulus package aimed at the development of the groundwork for a high-speed rail (HSR) network, President Obama has catapulted intercity transportation to the front of infrastructural spending.

After peaking during the Second World War, passenger rail travel languished as America was connected with an impressive highway and aviation network.  A thinly scattered population paired with government subsidies for road and air travel suppressed rail’s role even further.

[Image from the US Federal Railroad Administration.]

It’s clear that something has to be done with respect to passenger mobility between urban centres.  Once seen as the world’s most advanced highway and aviation systems, the primary modes of intercity transportation in the U.S. are facing increasing levels of congestion and, not unrelated, rising environmental costs.  Mr. Obama recently stated that highway congestion costs the country $80 billion each year in lost productivity and wasted fuel.  Along similar lines, the country’s current transportation system consumes 70% of the nation’s oil demands.  According to Mr. Obama:

“What we need, then, is smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century…a system that reduces travel times and increases mobility, a system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity, a system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.”

While there are some overlaps with the challenges faced by the transport revolutions of the 1960s, Obama’s transportation vision needs to address a set of new issues:   promoting energy independence and efficiency, building foundations for global economic competitiveness, and supporting interconnected, livable communities.

With all this in mind, HSR seems to be an obvious choice.  Recognizing that the US transportation system is the lifeblood of the economy, a HSR network can help support national and regional trade in a cost-effective and resource efficient manner.   In addition to supporting existing commerce, new investment in HSR will create high-skilled construction and operation jobs.  Along similar lines, manufacturing jobs will also emerge as essential components such as rails, control devices, and the train cars themselves will be required.  Secondly, HSR hits the mark with respect to energy efficiency and environmental quality.  It’s estimated that the implementation of the pending plans will result in an annual reduction of 6 billion pounds of C02.

Obama’s strategy focuses on ten rail corridors that move through regional population centres across the country.  The plan calls for a combination of investments in existing rights-of-way in order to permit running higher speed trains and the creation of entirely new routes.

[Map of Obama admin HSR network. Image from the Whithouse.gov blog.]

The major criticism of the rail-based solution to transportation issues is cost – start-up, operational, and end-user.  In terms of start-up costs we’ve seen that a recent HSR construction in Spain averaged $22 million per mile. Other start-up costs include acquiring land and rights of way privileges from land owners.   Operational costs are significant in that the government would need to pay the private freight companies that own the tracks in order to run the new passenger lines.  Further, the high speed trains would be sharing the rails with the freight trains limited to significantly slower speeds – undoubtedly lowering their efficiency.   These governmental, tax-supported, expenses don’t offer a free ride for the end-users either.  A ticket on the only high speed rail route in the US, the Acela Express, connecting Boston to Washington D.C. via New York City, costs close to $200.

A secondary criticism deals with the actual speed of the trains.  It turns out the US high speed trains will not be as high-speed as their Asian and European counterparts. US trains will peak at 240km/h while HSR trains in Japan, Germany, and China are running at 300km/h or more.

While the financial weight of this proposal should not be overlooked, it’s important to consider the implications that these new systems would have on the ground.  How will these new corridors relate to existing fabric – both urban and rural (and everything in between)? Will a new pattern of development emerge? What is the relationship of these new corridors to already existing conduits such as highways? What type of spin-off development can be expected?  What will the relationship of these new developments be to smart-growth principles?

With the global economy in recession and unemployment levels rising, elected leaders throughout the world are turning to infrastructure projects as a way to put thousands of people back to work.

With this massive forthcoming investment we just had to investigate what’s likely to come down the infrastructure pipeline.  It turns out however, that what me be coming our way are not exactly the forward-looking interventions we are hoping for.  In fact, the stimulus packages proposed potentially threaten the exact projects we should want to succeed.

This risk is a direct result of our current economic situation.  In order for the stimulus to stimulate things need to happen relatively quickly.  Thus, a tension exists between doing things well and doing things quickly.

Unfortunately, federal governments don’t have the best reputation when it comes to spending wisely on infrastructure. In a recent New York Times article “Piling up Monuments of Waste”, David Leonhardt claims:

It’s hard to exaggerate how scattershot the current system is. Government agencies usually don’t even have to do a rigorous analysis of a project or how it would affect traffic and the environment, relative to its cost and to the alternatives — before deciding whether to proceed. In one recent survey of local officials, almost 80 percent said they had based their decisions largely on politics, while fewer than 20 percent cited a project’s potential benefits.

Road and highway construction is one apparent category of infrastructure spending where politics threatens to trump utility. The Brookings Institution directs our attention at U.S. roads as being and potential investment with a high ROI. The proposed investment needs to distance itself from politically driven projects that lead to things like underused highways in western Pennsylvania, and instead focus on alleviating the financial losses in major US centers due to road congestion.

[Clogged Arteries]

…the places that are most critical to the country’s economic competitiveness don’t get what they need. The nation’s 100 largest metropolitan regions generate 75 percent of its economic output. They also handle 75 percent of its foreign sea cargo, 79 percent of its air cargo, and 92 percent of its air-passenger traffic. Yet of the 6,373 earmarked projects that dominate the current federal transportation law, only half are targeted at these metro areas.

"Clogged Arteries", Bruce Katz and Robert Puentas, The Atlantic

Ok.  So this is one tangible project.  We’ll keep looking for more.  Hopefully the next one we find will not only offer hard-data by analyzing effect vs. cost (also known as value) but also move beyond the shovel-ready standards rooted in the 1950s fossil fuel paradigm – something that we may lose sight of during this infrastructure spending spree

With the cost of a barrel of oil dipping below $40 a few weeks ago (recall this summer’s price of $140), imagining a post-oil future may not be on everyone's mind .  This is not the case for venture-backed  Better Place and its partners.  Since 2007, Better Place, led by founder and CEO Shai Agassi, has been working to design and deliver a strategy to transform transportation infrastructure from oil-based to renewable energy sources thereby reducing harmful emissions.

The goal for the project is not about familiar half-measures such as hybrid or flex-fuel cars.  Instead, the plan calls for the complete decommissioning of the combustion engine in favor of a fully electric solution.

Embracing the electric car on its own doesn’t make for an original insight.  In fact electric cars have occupied our technological horizon since the beginning of the twentieth century.  Then, as now, the limiting factor in leveraging the opportunities of the electric car has remained the same – battery life.

Agassi’s plan is different in that he dismissed the shortcomings of battery life as a reality and instead reformulated the entire automotive model. His plan separates the battery from the car and views automotive transportation as a service instead of a good.

The Better Place zero-emission vehicle system needs three things for optimal performance:  charging spots, battery switching stations, and software to automate the entire experience.

[change spots and swapping stations: www.betterplace.com]

Charging spots, located everywhere you can park your car, will ensure that cars are always equipped with enough juice for 100 miles of travel.  For longer trips, roadside battery switching stations allow you to swap your depleted battery for a fully charged one.  The swap is fully automated – drivers pull in and out without leaving their cars in less time than it takes to fill your tank today.

What makes this all work is the innovative hybridization of the automotive and mobile phone industries.   You currently have a phone that you may have bought outright or chosen to take advantage of a discounted price by making a commitment via a contract.  Once you have the phone, you choose how you want to use it: unlimited minutes, maximum minutes, or pay-as-you-go.  Substitute phone with car and minutes with mileage and you have the Better Place model.

[the first electric parking lot in Israel at the Cinema City parking lot in Pi-Glilot]

The Better Place electric car network is becoming a reality.  Renault and Nissan have partnered to develop cars to meet the requirements of the plan.  Israel has also committed and promises a nation-wide infrastructure to be in place by 2011.  Israel is thought to be an ideal test ground because it is geographically small with all of its major urban centers less than 150km apart.  As a result 90% of car owners drive less than 70km each day.  Denmark is the next adopter. While similar geographic properties make Denmark another ideal early adopter, the extreme cold climate offers additional challenges.  Other markets planning to go online include Australia, California, and Hawaii.

Better Place has effectively decoupled the issues of energy source and transportation. This open-source model allows for innovations in renewable energies to continue and the electric car network to grow in parallel.  In fact, introducing millions of batteries capable of storing the fluctuating output of energy derived from renewable sources (think solar and wind) only reinforces and strengthens the opportunities of a sustainable future.

Picking up on the intermittent series of student projects, here is a project by University of Toronto M.Arch graduate Alice Wong titled Transitional Landscapes. Alice began her research on the hypnotic optics of highway commuting. She selected the highway 427 and Highway 401 knuckle interchange in Toronto as a case study in new possibilities for occupying a smooth (transitional) space. Eventually finding a way to intervene in this hyper-logical, engineered context by inserting a secondary route of new programs and experiences.

[An analysis of the optics and experiences of the commuter.]

Wong writes:

The research begins with observing changes in our transitory experience and analyzing them among varying types including converging/diverging transition, sectional transition, and directional transition. The site of interest is located by the interchange between Toronto's provincial highways 427 and 401.

[Sense of speed is relative to sequence, rhythm, and pattern intensity.]

[A study of 'missed exit' re-routing in the knuckle identifies the possiblity of a secondary route connecting the loose ends.]

The scale of this high-speed interchange, and the complex layers and depth of field, seemingly presents an inherent problem in its accessibility to adjacent landscapes due to extreme friction between the fast and the slow. Employing the formal language of the highway and the concept in speed-transition curves; this thesis embarks on creating a new system of speed deceleration loops along the gap between the road and the landscapes by forming a "Super Roundabout (power of 10)" for vehicles to circle within the interchanging moment.

[To connect these loose ends, a trefoil knot is a useful analogy to seamlessly stitch the three highways together using decelerating zones.]

[Injecting service programs into the trefoil loop, creating a 'super roundabout'.]

The Roundabout(10) is design to serve for traffic calming and speed control, and allow for increased capacity and accessibility. The occupation potential in the loop system, on the other hand, will allow for servicing and designated programs for convenience, and also suggests the "mediating passage" as the ideal place to be part of a transitory experience.

[Aerial view looking west toward Pearson International Airport.]

[Studies on how to inject services along the roundabout loop.]

[Sketch models and out-takes.]