In my last post, I suggested that the ways we used to plan workspaces are no longer effective. Maybe they never were. I have several reasons for saying this. First and foremost is the fact that many organizations think of space allocation according to entitlement or status whereas they should consider designs that support the business of their business. Certainly, organizations are free to determine who gets what, or to use space as a reward or symbol of accomplishment as they choose. But this approach erodes designers’ ability to link “place” to “work” and teach workers to see space as a resource, not an entitlement. A workplace should be considered a resource that its users can adapt over time as their work changes.
This adaptability can help an organization redefine itself for the new market conditions; it also teaches and empowers workers to be conscientious consumers of their own environments and feel so much at ease with it that they can modify many aspects of it for themselves.
Another faulty assumption is that work happens mostly at workstations or in assigned offices. AECOM Strategy Plus, as well as other workplace-consulting firms have plenty of evidence to prove that people are only in their assigned seats half the time or even less. And this applies across industries and worker types.
Liberty Temple Church is a small congregation that had been holding services in a Holiday Inn. They sought their own home and began looking for locations. The landlord at the first location informed the Church that the Mayor was against any more churches moving into the town. The Church then consulted with the Mayor who [...]
In a keynote address at the ULI Spring Meeting, scholar Paul Wolfowitz explained how two worldwide trends—urbanization and democratization—are elevating the importance of sustainable urban development.
Private and public sector leaders of Charlotte, North Carolina, have transformed Charlotte’s downtown from a struggling, nine-to-five office center into the gleaming, modern mixed-use destination that it is today. Former Bank of America chairman Hug…
Retailers face a multitude of challenges including online commerce with its 24/7 access. Panelists at the 2012 ULI Spring Meeting looked at significant steps major retailers have already taken to reshape the shopping experience for their customers, whi…
The European debt crisis has an upside: lending and investment opportunities exist in prime markets, but not for the faint of heart. Both Scott Malkin of Value Retail and Van Stults of Orion Capital Managers agree that the ever-worsening conditions wil…
It’s funny how often public transit referendums bring out the the best in local communities. The case of Baton Rouge, Louisiana is a perfect example: Voters recently decided to essentially double investment in public transit — rescuing their transit agency from a long slide into irrelevance. Stephen Lee Davis at Transportation for America took an in depth [...]
Well, LA Times reporter Ralph Vartabedian is at it again. Last month he triggered a false alarm over high-speed rail operating costs. Now he has made new allegations over the “aggressive” construction schedule: If California starts building a 130-mile segment of high-speed rail late this year as planned, it will enter into a risky race [...]
Appellee is attempting to construct a solar energy farm in Vermont an applied for a certificate of public good. The Public Service board, after evaluating evidence presented to it by the Proposal for Decision (PFD), granted it. Appellant, an owner of property near the planned construction site, claims that the Board erred in their granting [...]
Infrastructure is a major issue of out time, stretching across towns, cities, states, regions, and countries. Our current methodology of building and maintaining it is too expensive, too inflexible, and too ecologically damaging. If we hope to solve the numerous problems we face with energy, water, transportation, healthcare, and urbanized areas, we must completely reinvent our infrastructure. We can’t “efficient” our way out of problems like energy consumption or ecological decay. It will take a paradigm shift and a complete overhaul of careers from architecture to engineering to ecology to urban design.
An alternative to the conventional approach to public infrastructure work is emerging: Ecomimicry.
Ecomimicry conceives and constructs infrastructure that aligns the needs of society with the needs of nature. It is based on the concept of taking the knowledge we have gained as an industrious society and applying it to create a global culture more in harmony with nature. When I say “nature”, I’m not talking about a vague idyllic notion of the natural world. I mean the nature that science has discovered over the past 150 years.
In this series, I (and a host of co-writers from fields as diverse as conservation biology, re-wilding, architecture, healthcare, academia, design, wildlife conservation, urban planning, and business) will discuss how infrastructure needs to change in fundamental ways.
We will have to re-imagine the very things that have given us our modern day comforts. Don’t worry, none of the ideas discussed within this series will advocate going back into the wild to live as cavemen and cavewomen. Instead, the conversation will focus on new methods of infrastructure. For example, the practice of oyster-tecture uses oysters to help improve water quality, protect shorelines, eliminate erosion, re-generate fish stocks, and shield local coastal economies from collapse. Oyster-tecture, if done correctly, costs less to build and to maintain than standard storm water management techniques. Oysters have indirect benefits that include carbon sequestration, habitat restoration, and increased tourism. Oyster-tecture is just one example of this new model.
Photo from NOAA Habitat Conservation
“The attributes of the single-family house are becoming obstacles to aging in place well,” with the distance from shops and services and the lack of walkability, said Ellen Dunham Jones, architecture professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology…
At the University of Minnesota College of Design graduation ceremonies, on Saturday, May 12, John Cary, who received his BA in 1999 from the same school, delivered the 2012 commencement address. After thanking dean Thomas Fisher and the faculty of the educational institution that “has given me so much,” Cary started with his inauspicious beginnings and launched into the story of his inspirational and accomplished life story and career–the two intricately entwined. His trajectory is sharply focused on the growing field of public interest design, an area that he is personally is helping to define. Here is his message to the graduating class, any graduating class in any field in fact, as well as the design professions in search of defining the 21st century practice.–SSS
I came to the University of Minnesota in 1995, having graduated from a Jesuit high school in Milwaukee’s inner city. Few people, except my parents who are here today, know that my first semester GPA in high school was a whopping 1.9. If you weren’t book smart or an athletic super star at my high school, you kind of fell through the cracks. At least I did.
Thankfully, I landed in the basement, where an inspiring teacher—who was trained as an engineer and taught drafting classes—introduced me to design. It was through that high school teacher that I got involved with Habitat for Humanity, and helped transform an abandoned house into a family’s dream home—to this day one of the most meaningful projects that I’ve ever worked on.
Christopher Davis
Certification Team Lead, Existing Buildings
Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI)
Perhaps you’ve heard the idea that “the greenest building is the one already built.” Our friends in the historic preservation movement use this…
Matt Pearce
Campaign Specialist
U.S. Green Building Council
Earlier this year, USGBC launched seven new advocacy campaigns designed to highlight our organization’s public policy priorities. And local advocates sure have responded. Most recently, USG…
Publicly backed sports arenas are always a gamble. Sold as a way to attract investment and energy, they can become big public liabilities, draining money for more essential services. But that doesn’t stop too many cities, and there are examples of places that have gambled on sports facilities and won big. There’s a new member [...]
