Landscape+Urbanism

Category: science

  • More on Plant VOCs

    A follow-up email from Susan McCoy at Garden Media Group offered some follow-up information on the my previous post related to Plants and VOCs (Sept. 6, 2009). My take on it was at least on the right track, unlike some others – but I figure the press release (and upcoming report) is a good opportunity…

  • Plants + VOCs

    A recent, somewhat hyperbolic title from Treehugger, “Bad Green: Some Indoor Plants Release Volatile Organic Compounds” provides a snippet from some recent research that mention, gasp, that plants, particularly indoor ones, release volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It’s a strange conceptual notion indeed, as there has been much research and information on the ability of indoor…

  • More Fake Trees

    And They’re Pretty Handy if we are Attacked by Giant Interstellar Swarms of Flies: :: image via InhabitatVia Inhabitat: “A report published last Thursday from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) suggested that a forest of 100,000 artificial “trees” could be “planted” near depleted oil and gas reserves to trap carbon in a filter and…

  • Avian Rooftops

    I’m getting the feeling that Veg.itecture has turned a corner in both representation and concept. Aside from the mere amount of ‘green’ proposals being churned out in the guise of environmental and productive landscapes, the concepts continually provide more expansive ideas in theoretical underpinnings. This could be good, as it transitions beyond mere decorative or…

  • Bad Timing? Pig City

    MVRDV’s proposal from a few years back (2001) for ‘Pig City’, a set of towers with pigs raised in the ultimate high density strikes a more recent chord with our current fascination with all things urban gardening and vertical farming – and perhaps a dischord in the recent Swine Flu pandemic. While the tongue-in-cheek nature…

  • How to Grow Fresh Air

    Check out this short video from TED talks by Kamal Meattle… on the purification potential of indoor plants… not a new idea, but some new attention and some good fodder for discussion. From TED: “With its air-filtering plants and sustainable architecture, Kamal Meattle’s office park in New Delhi is a model of green business. Meattle…

  • Fungi Perfecti

    Greetings… after a short pause from posting due to conference presentations and work (both paid and yard) – a breather to drop a few lines as a retrospective on the Soak it Up conference from last week. More to post in coming days, but a chance to rave about a pioneer and his book related…

  • Soak it Up

    I’m currently working away on an upcoming presentation for a conference happening next week down at the beautiful Oregon Garden. Sponsored by Sprout (Sustainable Plant Research and Outreach), the conference “Soak It Up: Phytotechnology Solutions for Water Challenges” focuses on some fo the functional aspects of plants as vital components in addressing small and large-scale…

  • Landscape on the Brain

    Landscape is good. Landscape is healthy. Landscape is necessary. We all know this, innately, but a refresher is never a bad idea. This post made the rounds a few months back, quoting a study and article from the Boston Globe, ‘How the city hurts your brain, and what you can do about it.’ delves again…

  • Dubai in the Toilet

    There’s been a couple of murmurs regarding the failing infrastructure in Dubai, which has now (temporary) closed the famed Jumeirah Beach due to a preponderance of brown trout. Via Times Online: “A noxious tide of toilet paper, raw sewage and chemical waste has transformed Dubai’s most prestigious stretch of shoreline into a foul-smelling health hazard.…