Dive into the archives.
- Ecologies of Excess
[Ecologies of Excess - The Research/ Designers. Poster by: Eva Franch Gilabert]
Excess typically implies in addition to what is required, a by-product, or residue. The continual growth model of our economic system produces a vast amount of excess. Could excess become part of a larger productive system if it was put to work? This [...]
- InfraNet does HotDocs
[Chelyabinsk, Russia, a nuclear dumping site for decades, is the subject of the film Tankograd.]
Festival season is starting. In particular, we are excited about a slew of films that are part of the Canadian International Documentary Festival, nicknamed HotDocs, that runs April 29 – May 9, 2010 here in Toronto. With so many fascinating accounts [...]
- Hygeia: A City of Health, 1876
[Hygeia: A City of Health Re-Imagination of the 20th Century by Joshua Arnold, completed under Norman Klein while at SciArc, 2005.]
Dr. Benjamin Richardson conceived of a city of health called Hygeia in 1876. Dr Richardson is an M.D., and he calculated a death rate for Hygeia of 8 per 1,000 in the first generation and [...]
- Student Works: Thermarium
Processing Water Overflow
The Thermarium envisions a new beach typology for the Toronto Waterfront. Responding to the lack of swimming at Toronto’s new urban beaches and consistent CSO (combined sewage overflow) closures at surrounding swim areas, we offer new possibilities for water immersion and activity that are enabled, rather than prohibited, by the polluted run-off instigated [...]
- Islands of Waste 1
[Thilafushi Island in the Maldives]
If you’re planning a winter getaway to the islands this year, you might move beyond ‘eco-tourism’ to trash tourism, in this case, visiting the island of Thilafushi, just off the shores of the Maldives, an island country in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls. The country [...]
- HYDROCity Exhibition opens tonight
[HYDROCity exhibition opens tonight at the Toronto Free Gallery and features 30 projects on hydrology and urbanism.]
With almost 30 projects and proposals addressing the opportunities and challenges of water in/around/under/through the city, we are excited to announce the HYDROCity exhibition opening tonight at the Toronto Free Gallery (1277 Bloor St W).
HYDROCity features the work of [...]
- The Transparent Removal Chain
[Overflowing Trash Cans in Toronto, Summer 2009 via blogto]
While the garbage workers strike in Toronto this past year promoted less tourism and flourishing populations of fruit flies, it also made most Torontonians aware of the amount of garbage they produce in a short amount of time. Researchers at MIT's SENSEable City Lab are embarking on [...]
- Petropolis
[A tailings pond is a toxic lake so dangerous that air cannon and scarecrows are used to deter wildlife. © Greenpeace / Eamon Mac Mahon]
One of my favorite films from this year’s TIFF has to be Peter Mettler’s Petrolis. Mettler, who was the cinematographer for Edward Burtynsky’s Manufactured Landscapes, takes on a directorial role on [...]
- Clean Urbanism / Dirty Realism
[Cover of issue #11 from Rotterdam-based MONU.]
The output of MONU (Magazine on Urbanism) continues to impress, and with issue #11, Bernd Upmeyer and company raise the bar. This issue is dedicated to clean urbanism and a range of responses, mostly antagonizing or shoring up sustainability and its discontents, come pouring in. An initial browse reminds [...]
- Breathing Earth
[Breathing Earth Interface via www.breathingearth.net]
Multimedia artist David Bleja has created an interesting simulation entitled "Breathing Earth". Breathing Earth catalogues and projects birth and death rates for the globe as well as the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere… all in real time. As such, it is a simulation, but based on pretty realistic sources [...]
