Urban Sustainability and the New Architecture for the 21st Century
Wednesday 3/24, 6pm
Landor
230 Park Avenue South on 19th Street, 6th floor
New York
This is a follow-up to the March conversation: Post Copenhagen. What Next?
One of the take-aways was that climate change and sustainability are also about water as an increasingly scarce resource. Another major factor is the growth of mega-cities and the urban middle class.
We will meet for an informal discussion about how to proceed in the development of a series of events related to ideas about LEED building standards, combined perhaps with similar standards for water conservation. Mention has also been made to such topics as:
- Vertical farming and Urban forestry
- Upgrading existing structures such as the Empire State Building to 21st Century standards
- Leadership role of tertiary education centers such as Cooper Union to sponsor the new architecture of sustainability
- Special visits to nearby Green structures such as the Omega Center, Rhinebeck, NY
- Private Investment and Global Sustainability Initiatives
We need your participation to move things forward. Please join us.
For security reasons, your name and the names of any guests should be provided in advance.
RSVP or questions to Robin Thompson, FRSA, robin.thompson@landor.com
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March 23rd, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Looks like we will have an interesting turnout for tomorrow evening….including Nikhil Chandavarkar our speaker in February; an FRSA recently transferred to UNESCO here in NY from London who has just returned from a visit to Africa; and two architects both involved in Green initiatives.
If you decide to come, please e-mail me in advance at robin.thompson@landor.com.
Robin at 212 614 3906
March 24th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Sorry I can’t get to the meeting as I will be teaching that evening.
However, I did want to add a thought about Urban sustainability and the environment and to suggest that if Fellows have time they read John Evelyn’s remarkable “Fumifugium” which was dedicated to King Charles II. It is an extraordinary 17th century document and although interspersed with rather arcane classical allusions, nevertheless propounds Evelyn’s ideas for a more healthy London environment ranging from palace to workplace. He suggests eliminating the noxious fumes and city pollution by planting abundant flower beds along the marshy banks of the Thames, explains how pollution is affecting the health of Londoners, and offers some further ideas for a green 17th century environment.
Certainly he puts our own ideas about sustainability and environment into historical perspective…
notwithstanding that he is writing before the impact of the industrial revolution !