Ecogradia

Bangkok, Thailand's capital, is sinking fast, like many other cities around the world. How can urbanists turn this congested megacity, threatened by flood and saltwater intrusion, into a resilient amphibious metropolis? The post Kotchakorn Voraakhom, LANDPROCESS: Designing cities for water appeared first on Ecogradia .

As a species, we seek closeness to nature. Designing for well-being, therefore, aims to bring nature to the heart of the built environment. But what do these ‘biophilic’ spaces feel like? And how do we set the stage to reap their benefits? The post Bill Browning, Terrapin Bright Green: Crafting biophilic solutions appeared first on Ecogradia .

Should our buildings and cities minimise harm or do 'good' by design? In a world already at risk, less harm is no longer enough. We must repair, regenerate and create new life. So where do we start? The post Chrisna du Plessis and Bill Reed: Regenerating life by design appeared first on Ecogradia .

What is a high-performing building? Do the two yardsticks of performance — efficiency and well-being — complement each other? If there are trade-offs, how do we prioritise? The post Gregers Reimann, IEN Consultants: Building higher performance appeared first on Ecogradia .

Can design bridge the social and the environmental? How would a building do both, effectively? Is it possible to marry beauty and wellness with intelligence and efficiency? The post Ashok B. Lall, Ashok B Lall Architects: Bridging the social and environmental appeared first on Ecogradia .

What matters more to a sustainable future? Better buildings or better urban systems? What do we do, where do we start, when the answer also hinges on our relationship with natural systems? The post Ten new episodes to keep the ball rolling, starting end-January appeared first on Ecogradia .

Cities are evolving, living systems. Why then do we design them as fixed and permanent? Is it time for a new theory of urbanism, better suited to the developing world, where urban space is often used in transient ways? The post Rahul Mehrotra, Harvard University Graduate School of Design: The kinetic city appeared first on Ecogradia .

We all want to live closer to nature. But can urban landscapes be designed to mimic natural systems and processes? And if replicated, what would a nature-based design approach mean to future cities? The post Yu Kongjian, Turenscape: Landscape as ‘art of survival’ appeared first on Ecogradia .

Can a building address local and global imperatives? Can it be informed by the vernacular and yet be energy efficient? Can it be locally attuned and low carbon? What would this look like, say, in a place like India? The post Manit and Sonali Rastogi, Morphogenesis: ‘An architecture of almost somewhere’ appeared first on Ecogradia .

Cooling and heating consume a lot of power in buildings. But what if the answer to the question of comfort was only partly about mechanical solutions? What if we could create comfort indoors with little or even no energy? The post Wolfgang Kessling, Transsolar: Low tech and low energy for high comfort appeared first on Ecogradia .

We are seeing today a newfound interest in sustainable finance. Words like Green bonds and Green mortgages are increasingly common. But what do they actually mean? The post Prashant Kapoor, IFC/World Bank: Making sense of sustainable finance appeared first on Ecogradia .

How can we fix the problem of cities today? Is density at the expense of liveability? Are human-made and natural systems — key to our survival — at odds with each other? Can design offer a solution? The post Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell, WOHA: (Re)Imagining the city appeared first on Ecogradia .

Are buildings and cities doing enough? Are they rising to the challenge of an uncertain future? And are we doing what needs to be done fast enough? The post Introducing Ecogradia: The sustainable architecture and urbanism podcast appeared first on Ecogradia .