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ESSAY
CROSSTALK
Four Recommendations for Greener, Healthier Cities in the Post-Pandemic
The extensive societal changes brought about by COVID-19 restrictions have given pause for thought on how we can create healthier and more equitable cities as we transition to a new normal. Public health measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have meant that opportunities to go out and interact with others have been limited, with many of us spending large...
ESSAY
CROSSTALK
The View from Our Windows: Our Social Ecologies of Sheltering in Place
How do you conduct social science research about people’s relationship to place and the environment during shelter-in-place? Many are turning to big data—scraping social media, tracking cell phone use and movements, and these aggregated, digital data streams are providing key insights about mobility, vulnerability, and spatial patterns of the virus and its impacts across the landscape. These data provide evidence...
GLOBAL
ROUNDTABLE
What is the status and outlook for forested natural areas in your city? What actions are needed to help them thrive?
REVIEWS
REACTIONS
Nature in Korea’s Capital: The Magic Stops at the Car Bridge
A review of Min Joung-Ki, an exhibition of large-scale urban nature paintings at Kukje Gallery in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1982, Kukje Gallery is one of Korea’s most prolific exhibitors of international contemporary artists. Indeed, the institution is more of a small arts complex than a gallery, consisting of three modern buildings positioned gingerly within the fabric of an...
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Depuis Ma Fenêtre / From My Window
Read this in English.J’ai fait les chroniques confinées quotidiennes pendant la quarantaine parisienne, et voici quelques observations récentes de notre maison à Pantin, dans la banlieue nord-est de Paris. Les Mésanges charbonnières qui ont élu domicile dans le trou du mur de mes voisins ont quitté leur nid ce matin. Des six jeunes, un a fini croqué par une pie, mais les 5 autres ont passé...
Treading the Thin Line Between Individual Freedom and Social Change—Experiences and Lessons to Address the Global Pandemic
This essay is a conversation between an economist and a psychologist who live and work in China and Kenya and who exchange observations and are despairing about the impact of COVID-19 on their individual and social lives. Both come to a common point in terms of how much of this pandemic exposes narrowminded perceptions, biases, and lack of social or...
THIRD LANDSCAPE, Part 1: For the Design of an Amazon Forest City
1 Proposition The logic of urban growth in the Brazilian Amazon could be changed if we succeeded in bringing together two different systems of thought and practices: that of the natural and indigenous, to that of technology and capital production. Together, they could guarantee the continued economic and environmental resilience of the region and pave the way to interesting hybrid...
We Had Forgotten That We Are Ecological Beings
It’s afternoon in the middle of the work-week, and our local park is filled with people as if it were a holiday. There are little kids wildly chasing pigeons, and slightly bigger kids carefully stalking beady-eyed herons. There are teenagers racing on foot along the pond, and families sitting on rocks taking portraits. Watching from the sidelines, several calm-looking old...
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SCIENCE &
TOOLS
Can Large Parks be Urban Green Saviors?
A review of the Large Parks in Large Cities conference, Stockholm, 2-4 September 2015. The prognosis for urbanization is challenging—in the next 40 years, urban population will double. Under the growing pressure of modern urban development,...
PEOPLE &
COMMUNITITES
London National Park City is a Reality
During the past week the eyes of the world have been on London, to see a new Prime Minister installed at Westminster. But the week has also seen a momentous decision made for a sustainable and liveable future for London. The city was designated as a National Park City, the first of its kind in the world. It took place...
PLACE &
DESIGN
Beyond the City
This concept paper was inspired by a series of round table discussions that were hosted by the Israel Urban Forum, together with the Bezalel Academy of Urban Design in Jerusalem. The participants at my round table, where the topic of discussion was “The City and its Surrounding Region”, are all effectively co-authors of this piece, and their names and titles...
ART &
AWARENESS
Windows with a Biodiversity View
Three books inspire me greatly. They are (a) ‘Biophilia’ by E.O. Wilson, (b) ‘Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity’ by Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, and (c) ‘Biophilic Cities’ by Tim Beatley. Written almost thirty years ago, the first postulated that it is imprinted in our DNA that people need connection with biodiversity. Five years ago, the second...