Urban areas are real "invented", not natural environments. Have you ever noted this?

These particular environments have got effects on local weather [in winter the temperature of the giant urban areas can even change winds ...], local life [pingeons, cats, dogs, mouses, insects, even reptiles find cities a great environment where to live], human health [statistics say that diseases are more common in cities than in the country side.

As we have invented non-natural environment, could we find a way to "re-build" the natural one? Or should we be realistic saying that modern industrial society is not compatible with similar projects?

If municipal departments work with architects, landscape architects, parks and greenspace planners, in a collaborative approach it is possible to develop urban settings in a more natural environment.

Here in Norway, 15 or 20 years ago a project was created by the ministry of environment to develop cities in a more sustainable direction. The project started off with 5 cities, and in each city, established groups focused on transport system, cultural heritage, waste treatment, green structure planning amongst others.

In the last years, the project developed further, creating standards for urban green structure, and its database serves relevant data available for all Norwegian municipalities.

^^

Interesting Amanda. Norway can be an example about this.

Unbelievable but true: also in Italy something is happening: new condominiums have built with solar panels on roofs with particular shape and orientation. These condominiums at this latitude can use the elecricity produced by the solar panel as electricity, but also as heating system [you only need to accumulate the excess of energy you absorve in spring and summer].

Creating a built-environment in "symbioses" with our natural environment is fundamental and all opportunities should be used to go in that direction. And though there are many good examples throughout Europe, I still see so many missed opportunities.

The current situation with the Russian-Ukraine gas disputes and how it's affecting some EU countries is a good example of what I'm thinking about. This is a case in which shows we need energy independence.. that we need alternative sources of energy.. that we need shift in policies. And to be honest, I don't see NGO's or politicians doing much to take advantage of this momentum.

April 17, 2009--A suburb to the southeast of Paris boasts high-rises lush with greenhouses and rooftop gardens in a concept design by Parisian architecture and urban planning firm Castro Denissof Casi. The buildings would be powered in part by wind and solar energy and connected to the city center by elevated rapid transit.

This vision of a future Paris is among designs recently submitted to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who last year called on ten of the region's top planning firms to imagine the city circa 2030 so that it could claim to be the most green and environmentally sustainable in the world.

The groups' resulting ideas and sketches will be part of a new exhibit called "Le Grand Paris" opening at the City of Architecture and Heritage (Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine) museum on April 30.

. SOURCE:

B, that kind of project is not new in Western countries. The concentration of inhabitant in big cities could generate a problem in giving suitable green zones to all on the ground [Milan should enlarge its surface and become 4 times bigger than now! Imagine New York or Mumbai ...]