Posts tagged with 'culture'
Energy Use in Buildings: What’s Culture Got to Do with It?
Energy Use in Buildings: What’s Culture Got to Do with It?
When the March 11, 2011 earthquake in Japan caused a series of energy shortages throughout the country, the national government recommended that office buildings cut back on air conditioning during the summer months in order to reduce power usage. Through ...
Japan's shotengais - partly enclosed markets - succeed both because of their proximity to transport and the unique, tightly knit communities they foster. Photo by Michael Vito/Flickr.
Friday Fun: Japan’s shotengais show connectivity and community are key to commercial success
Even as malls are declining as social spaces in the United States, shotengais (商店街) – pedestrianized business districts covered with translucent roofs – remain a part of everyday life in Japanese cities. Shotengais are generally located near transport hubs and ...
How We Give Directions Is Cultural
How We Give Directions Is Cultural
On my way to my first day working at EMBARQ India’s office in Mumbai, I was given directions that included passing through tunnels, alleys and an empty warehouse. I had to ask myself if certain alleys were actually roads I ...
Upcoming Event: Measuring the Importance of Arts and Culture in Cities
Upcoming Event: Measuring the Importance of Arts and Culture in Cities
Does the Louvre make Paris more livable? Do the theaters on Broadway make New York City safer? How about the jazz clubs in New Orleans? Do they inspire city dwellers to explore their environment? We all might agree that cultural ...
Friday Fun: The Melody of Public Transportation
Friday Fun: The Melody of Public Transportation
Conductor: www.mta.me from Alexander Chen on Vimeo. Alexander Chen, a Google developer and a public transit enthusiast, created a real-time melodic visualization of the New York City subway system, using the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s actual subway schedule. Titled, “Conductor,” Chen ...
Environmental Film Festival Showcases Sustainable Cities
Environmental Film Festival Showcases Sustainable Cities
We’ve written before about how video can be a powerful tool for environmental change. This year’s 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival, held in Washington, D.C., presents 150 films from 40 countries “that will deepen our understanding of the relationship between ...
Friday Fun: Bicycle Film Festival is Back!
Friday Fun: Bicycle Film Festival is Back!
Ah, the Bicycle Film Festival is on again! It premieres this week, hitting up Liverpool, Ireland, Portland, Ore. and Chicago, Ill.  The founding director, Brendt Barbur, started the festival when he was hit by a bus while bike riding in ...
Cities in Flux: Pilgrimage in Jakarta Stifles Movement Once a Year
Cities in Flux: Pilgrimage in Jakarta Stifles Movement Once a Year
This is part of TheCityFix’s series, “Cities in Flux,” about demographic shifts as a result of development, immigration, migration, politics and the environment. We look at how city planning and transportation policies respond to this movement. Last year, nearly 30 million ...
Friday Fun: Garden Buses
Friday Fun: Garden Buses
New York University student Marco Antonio Castro Cosio developed a playful design of a bus with a “green roof,” aimed at rethinking quality of life in the city. The designer, who attends the Interactive Telecommunications Program at the Tisch School of the ...
New Report: High Rates of Per Capita Emissions in Global Cities, Especially Among Affluent
New Report: High Rates of Per Capita Emissions in Global Cities, Especially Among Affluent
“If all production- and consumption-based emissions that result from lifestyle and purchasing are included, urban residents and their associated affluence likely account for more than 80 percent of the world’s GHG emissions,” says a new report, “Cities and Greenhouse Gas ...
Friday Fun: Color-Changing Shirts Detect Carbon Monoxide
Friday Fun: Color-Changing Shirts Detect Carbon Monoxide
A pair of graduate students at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Sue Ngo and Niem Lam, have created a shirt that changes color when exposed to carbon monoxide.
Symbolism in the Transit World: Helping You Find Your Way
Symbolism in the Transit World: Helping You Find Your Way
When you’re commuting in an unfamiliar place or using different modes of transit, what do you look for? And what sorts of symbols do transit agencies use to help commuters get where they have to go? Two key visual methods—representational ...
Friday Fun: Scrapertown
Friday Fun: Scrapertown
Scrapertown, a film by Drea Cooper & Zackary Canepari for Californiaisaplace.com. “[It] is definitely a process, and that process is definitely for the kids so they can get their mind off of what’s really goin’ on on these streets,” says ...
Friday Fun: The Most Secure Bike Lock in the World
Friday Fun: The Most Secure Bike Lock in the World
A team from Hamburg, Germany, as part of a competition, developed a design for a highly secure bike lock. The locks looks like they would be very expensive to make and far too heavy to take on bike rides. You ...
Friday Fun: The Search for Stylish Helmets
Friday Fun: The Search for Stylish Helmets
As bicycling proliferates, it appears less riders are wearing helmets. In the U.S. half of all riders wear a helmet for a least some trips and only 35 percent for all trips. A Streetsfilm on Vélib’, Paris’ bikeshare program, shows ...
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