Category Archives: Urban Planning
World Economic Forum: Top Stories – Dec 9, 2022
- 0:15 The world’s most expensive cities – This list of the most expensive cities is based Worldwide Cost of Living 2022 report that compares 200 products and services in more than 170 cities. Prices in big cities have risen by an average of 8.1% in the past year. Their fastest rise for 20 years. Driven by the knock-on effects of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some of these most expensive cities have high wages and taxes, while another has an average rent of about 92% of the median worker’s pre-tax salary. Watch to know which cities are the most expensive to live in.
- 1:36 The era of the megalopolis has begun – Today 60% of people live in urban areas, and by 2100 it’s forecast to be 85%. We are entering the era of the megalopolis. Cities around the world are merging as they grow and spread, forming supercities connected by urban sprawl. The largest megalopolis is in China – it’s known as the Greater Bay Area. But what are megapolis?
- 2:53 Scientists develop a universal flu vaccine – Scientists have developed a universal flu vaccine. It’s effective against all 20 known strains of flu and could help us fight off dangerous new strains before they develop into a pandemic. The new vaccine could be in use within 2 years.
- 3:53 This device will heat our homes sustainably – Heat pumps run on electricity rather than fossil fuels and are 3 times more efficient than gas boilers. They capture thermal energy from the air outside and use that energy to warm your home.
Cover: The Architectural Review – December 2022
Charles Jencks and Maggie Keswick | Anupama Kundoo | Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky | João Batista Vilanova Artigas | Laurie Simmons | Kochi Architects Studio | Ekar Architects | Atelier Tho.A | Chat Architects | Fernanda Canales Arquitectura | Brillhart Architecture
Very few people have the resources to realise the house of their dreams, yet the results can be extraordinary. From the London home of Charles Jencks and Maggie Keswick, which is a manifestation of their postmodern fantasies, to the local materials and construction techniques of Anupama Kundoo’s Wall House in Auroville, this issue revisits houses designed by architects for themselves, and sometimes their families. Also celebrated are the winning projects of the 2022 AR House Awards, featuring innovative and intriguing dwellings from Mexico, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Bahamas.
Engineering: Why Mexico Has So Few Tall Buildings
You’ll see it’s a country that clearly knows a thing or two about urban sprawl, with hardly a skyscraper in sight. But look closely and you’ll find that skyscrapers do exist, just not really in any great numbers.
That’s because it’s one of the toughest places on Earth to build tall and engineers must grapple with the extremes of the elements, unforgiving ground conditions, congestion and the absence of some key resources.
Now though, after decades of building outwards instead of upwards, skyscrapers in Mexico are seriously on the rise and construction crews are managing to meet some immense challenges.
Cities: The Skyscraper Boom In Miami, Florida
Miami’s skyscraper boom is happening on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Miami, city, seat (1844) of Miami-Dade county, southeastern Florida, U.S. A major transportation and business hub, Miami is a leading resort and Atlantic Ocean port situated on Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River. The Everglades area is a short distance to the west. Greater Miami, the state’s largest urban concentration, comprises all of the county, which includes the cities of Miami Beach (across the bay), Coral Gables, Hialeah, North Miami, and many smaller municipalities and unincorporated areas; together, these make up the southern section of Florida’s “Gold Coast.”
Analysis: Saudi Arabia’s Hyper-Planned “Line City”
The Line is a proposed smart linear city in Saudi Arabia in Neom, Tabuk, currently under construction, which is designed to have no cars, streets or carbon emissions.
The Line is being described as a one-building vertical city outfitted with exterior mirrors, big enough to house 9 million people — along with everything they need, from parks and waterfalls to flying taxis and robot maids. There are even plans to include an artificial moon for residents to gaze upon.
With its proposed width of only 656 feet, The Line will rely primarily on its height to encompass its residents and a host of modern trappings, such as a high-speed rail to connect sections of the 106-mile city. Saudi Arabian officials claim The Line will be otherwise devoid of roads, cars or emissions and will be powered strictly by clean energy (although details have not been released). Here are a few of most notable proposed features of The Line:
- vertically layered homes, offices, public parks and public schools.
- year-round climate control of all indoor and outdoor spaces.
- high-speed rail that will transport residents from end-to-end in 20 minutes.
- a five-minute walk to all amenities.
- accessibility to parks and natural elements within a two-minute walk.
Technology: Designing & Building Smarter Cities
How are you connected on the street where you live, the street where you do business, the street you share with neighbors? But how could a smarter street improve your life?
Video timeline: 00:00 Building Smarter Cities 00:14 Next Evolution 00:36 ERC Partners
Could technology help guide disabled pedestrians, eliminate traffic bottlenecks, enhance trash collection and pest control, improve emergency services, protect people from environmental and health threats. “Smart Streetscapes,” a new National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, aims to create livable, safe, and inclusive communities. Learn more on NSF’s “The Discovery Files.”
Urban Planning: Will The Cities Of The Future Float?
A new industry of floating infrastructure is emerging to help adapt to rising sea levels. There are two distinct approaches that are being put forth as possible solutions: retrofitting homes to be amphibious and building floating cities.
Amphibious homes can preserve the accessibility of the house and maintain the congenial front porch culture in places like Louisiana, said Elizabeth English, founder and director of The Buoyant Foundation Project. English’s design places a steel frame beneath a house, and then below that, in the crawl space, buoyancy elements. Her team then recommends adding elements to prevent lateral movement so the home will not float away while on the surface of floodwaters.
She estimated that a contractor could do such a retrofit for about $20 to $30 per square foot, but cautioned the Federal Emergency Management Agency currently discourages this type of building practice. Modern floating cities are the brainchild of architect Bjarke Ingels. He told CNBC he hopes his Oceanix City, which is currently slated to be built in the harbor near Busan,
South Korea, will be “a city that is the most resilient city you can imagine, but at the same time, the most enjoyable city that you can imagine.” “We really hope that it will be a successful project and we would like to replicate it in other parts of the world,” Maimunah Mohd Sharif, executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, told CNBC of the Oceanix development.
She said the world must look more into adaptation and hopes that the project can help mitigate or even solve the problem of sea-level rise. Would you live in a floating city or retrofit your home so it floats during floods? Watch the video above to learn more about what life could be like in these innovative climate change adaptations.
Reviews: The Top 12 Biking Cities In The U.S. & Canada
Cities in Europe, particularly the Netherlands, are known for their amazing bicycle infrastructure. Can a city in the top one percent of all bike cities in the United States compete with the best in Europe? And how much better are these top US bike cities when compared to the worst in the US?
Economic Analysis: Are Cities Or Suburbs Better?
CNBC Marathon reviews why a cost-of-living crisis is unfolding across America’s housing infrastructure. CNBC explores what that means for apartments in the cities and houses in the suburbs. Inflation data shows that costs for items such as rent and groceries are increasing quickly across the Sun Belt and coastal cities.
Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:39 How to make the suburbs more affordable (Published April. 2022) 13:22 How suburban sprawl shapes the U.S. economy (Published Feb. 2022) 26:34 Are major cities still worth it? (Published May 2022)
Now years removed from the darkest days of the pandemic, people are asking: Is a return to the city worth it? Metropolitan regions have sprawled in recent years, raising budget concerns and quality-of-life issues for the people who remain downtown. Meanwhile the absence of commuters is slowing the recovery in leisure and hospitality. About 46% of renters in the U.S. are struggling to make ends meet, according to Harvard University researchers.
Builders say conditions for renters will get worse before they get better. A snarled supply chain, a labor shortage, and rising interest rates are worsening what some call a “throwaway” development pattern. Several real estate industry experts have ideas about how to make housing more attainable. Some of the most popular ideas include mixed-use districts and master-planned communities.
America’s suburbs are sprawling again. Over the 20th century, real estate developers built large tracts of single-family homes outside of major cities. The builders were following mortgage underwriting standards first introduced by the Federal Housing Administration in the 1930s. Over the century, those guidelines created housing market conditions that explicitly shut out many minorities. Experts say it is possible to update these old building codes to create equity while fixing some, but not all of the problems of American suburbia. CNBC Marathon brings together the best of CNBC’s coverage on the U.S. housing crisis and how life in the suburbs impacts city living.
Boomers Daily 