University of Virginia - Learning Barge

The University of Virginia's School of Architecture has built a "Learning Barge" on the Elizabeth River that is a floating classroom that uses wind and solar polar to produce its own energy - and uses native plants to filter its wastewater. It was one of six student projects to receive a grant from the U.S. EPA in 2007 under EPA's P3 (People, Prosperity, Planet) grant program.

CALULATING ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS AND CARBON FOOTPRINT

In the 1970's, Congress enacted NEPA which required environmental impact statements to assess the environmental impacts of major public improvements receiving federal funds. Most states followed with similar state environmental impact laws and regulations. Unfortunately, until recently no other major initiatives have been undertaken to assess the environmental impacts of urban developments. Today, however, numerous organizations are developing methods to help architects and urban planners assess the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of developments. These methods include new add-on software for CAD design programs that allow architects to calculate not only the carbon footprint of buildings, but the amount of waste materials generated during construction and the water usage of buildings. As we as a society move forward with an increased emphasis upon the sustainable design and planning of our urban communities, we need to develop even more methods to assess the environmental costs and carbon footprint of our human-built environment.

ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD NEED TO LEARN FROM EACH OTHER - ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD NEED TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP

There is no one country or region of the world that has exclusive interest on sustainable design and urban and regional planning. Instead, the differing problems of countries and regions provides an opportunity for all peoples and all regions of the world to learn from each other - and to provide their own unique leadership in new, improved methods of sustainable design and urban and regional planning. As an example, in the first photograph pictured above is illustrated the Borneo Sporenburg housing project in Amsterdam, which has taken an innovative approach to redeveloping run-down waterfront areas so as to create attractive houseing. As another example, in the second photograph pictured above is illustrated a group of women in Bangladesh who are taking the lead to install a solar energy project in their country.

THE NEXT COUPLE OF DECADES WILL REQUIRE US TO MAKE THE SAME COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AND PLANNING - AS WE PREVIOUSLY MADE TO SPACE PROGRAMS

Both population growth and the increasing impact that man-made systems are having on our environment require that we make the same type of commitment to changing the way that we harmonize with our environment as we previously made in the 1960's to put a man on the moon. "Going Green" is the issue of our decade and of our century. As example of the rapid urbanization that the world is currently undergoing, in the next 8 years China plans to build the equivalent of 21 new Manhattan/New York cities to accommodate its increasing urban growth. At the opposite end of the problem, new approaches needed to be developed to revitalize shrinking rural areas that are losing population to urban centers worldwide.

One of the Things We Need to Understand Better is the Cascading Effect and Tipping Points Of Our Natural Environment

One of the biggest challenges of sustain design and planning is to better understand how our natural environment works. In this regard, we are only now beginning to understand the numerous feedback loops of the natural environment. As example, only now are we focusing on their being tipping points where at some point the melting of the ice glaciers or perma-frost from global warming would dramatically increase or cascade to a point of no return. Where or when such tipping points might exist we are only now begin to research. Until we learn to better model the interaction and dynamics of all parts of our natural environment, we cannot truly understand all the costs and impacts of alternative forms of development.

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