photo by Tasa_M (Flickr CC)

The top cities in England for green transport include Nottingham, London, Brighton, Hove and Manchester.

Nottingham came out top in a study of UK cities that gauged the East Midlands town to be the least dependent on cars and have the best public transport.

The CBT, a green lobby group, judged the cities on accessibility and planning; quality and availability of public transport; and how pedestrian and cyclist friendly they are.

From a report by the Press Association:

The findings showed that in many cities people have little choice but to drive cars. Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) used a Car Dependency Scorecard to look at how much people rely on cars, using data from 17 sources to rank 19 cities in England.

Over the past decade, Nottingham council has invested heavily in public transport, including a tramline. The results have been that more people now use public transport than cars.

From an article in the Guardian:

Nottingham topped the survey ahead of London despite a multi-billion pound taxpayer investment in the capital’s tube and bus services that is the envy of sister cities across the UK. Brighton came third, reflecting its much-admired bus network, its umbilical rail links with London and a size perfectly pitched for commuting cyclists and walkers. Manchester won fourth place despite tarnishing its progressive transport credentials two years ago by rejecting a congestion charge scheme.

The heavily car-dependent towns of Luton, Peterborough and Milton Keynes rounded out the bottom of the list. Milton Keynes, a ‘new town’ located 45 miles or 72 km northwest of London and established in 1967, was planned as a green or ‘garden city’ in the sense that it contains many parks, trees and wide open spaces, and is less dense than most towns. But the bus system is poor and the road traffic isn’t busy, so most everyone drives.

The rankings juxtapose modern city planning based on car travel against more dense, traditional cityscapes that have been adapted for cycling and collective transportation.

Additional resources:

This is Nottingham – New research reveals Nottingham to be the least car dependent city in the UK

Expo Axis, Shanghai; photo by KH-wiki-en (source: Wikimedia Commons)

The World Expo in Shanghai, China begins on May 1st and will run until the end of October. With up to 100 million expected visitors, it is set to be the largest World Expo ever.

The theme for Shanghai’s Expo 2010 is ‘Better City, Better Life’. This slogan combines  traditional Chinese philosophy and Western utopian ideals for a development strategy based on a balance between rural and urban life. Better City, Better Life – in conjunction with the branding of Shanghai as a ‘City of Harmony’ – strives to portray an identity where technology, science, economic development, human space and culture exist and thrive in harmony.

At the heart of the Expo is the idea of sustainable development:

The AP reports:

Solar panels in Expo buildings will create a five-megawatt solar power system — China’s largest. Zero-emission electric vehicles will be used on the Expo grounds. Expo organizers say most of the materials used to make the pavilions will be recycled; they have pledged to eventually end with a “carbon-neutral” impact.

Of course much of the old World’s Fair spirit will be on display in Shanghai, albeit with a green twist.

From a report by Xinhua News Agency:

At the exposition, the Russians, who view the event as a “global science and technology contest,” will introduce to the world their breakthroughs in tidal power stations and new nuclear technologies in energy and ecological spheres.

But is Shanghai really a city of harmony?

Development, especially the rapid, headlong development that has characterized China – with Shanghai at its apex – has high environmental and human costs. China’s urban centers are expanding while migrants flood in. Most of the traditional buildings of Shanghai have been torn down and new housing has been put up 10-50 km from the city center to house the millions of new urban workers. This means millions of new commuters and a lot more energy being provided by highly polluting coal plants.

On top of all that, Shanghai – along with other skyscraper-covered Chinese cities – is actually sinking.

“The slogans everywhere say ‘Better City, Better Life’ but where is my better life?” said Zhou Chunrong, a steel worker who was forced from his 172 square foot (16 square meter) apartment. For Zhou and the 18,000 other families forced to move, or anyone else in this country that bans public dissent, the Expo has made no allowances for protests.

–Associated Press

Whether the Expo will live up to the lofty ideals it is portraying is doubtful. I mean… how can it? China has got the development part down, that’s for sure, but despite a few nifty examples, sustainability is a futuristic dream. Then again, that’s kind of what World Expos are all about.

by Graham Land

Additional resources:

Global Times – Sustainable Shanghai Expo doesn’t need Olympic glitz

Expo 2010 Shanghai China official site

photo by whitecat Singapore (Flickr Creative Commons)

Chinese city streets used to be thronged with virtual seas of cycling commuters. Not so anymore. In fact China has recently surpassed the United States as the largest automobile market. The decline of China’s bicycle-culture has been lamentable, but at least one Chinese city is looking towards the past for solutions for the future.

Hangzhou, a sizable city on the China’s east coast, is attempting to balance economic growth and development by implementing a free communal bicycle-sharing program. The bikes resemble many used in free or pay systems in cities around the world.

Check out this video report from Al Jazeera English on Hangzhou’s revolutionary remedy for the pollution and congestion brought on by rapid industrialization and economic growth.

China City Banking on Bikes

by Graham Land

Mexico City - photo by Usfirstgov (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Unseasonal winter weather in Mexico has caused widespread flooding resulting in death and destruction in the states of Michoacan and Mexico State as well as in the massive capital of Mexico City. According to an AP article, there have been 29 deaths in central Mexico so far as a result of the storms.

Greater Mexico City is one of the three largest metropolitan areas in the world and lies in an enclosed mountain valley, making it vulnerable to flooding. The capital area is apparently inadequately prepared for floods of this magnitude. Heavy rains there have caused sewage canals to overflow and a state of emergency has been declared.

A mix of drain water and sewage flowed into thousands of homes and blocked major thoroughfares in the metropolis of 20 million people. About 7,500 homes were flooded, prompting emergency personnel to ferry people from their homes through chest-high water.

–AP

Unfortunately more heavy rain is expected in central Mexico in the following days. Watch this video report from Reuters showing dramatic footage of the record rains, flooded towns and human tragedy:

Mexico flood alert

by Graham Land

image public domain (source: wikimedia commons)

In January 1910 the Seine River burst its banks and water streamed into the streets of Paris, entering the city’s basements and Métro tunnels. Now, the Great Flood’s 100-year anniversary may inspire quaint feelings of nostalgia among some residents of the City of Light, but it should also be cause for concern. Another comparable flood could happen again at any time.

‘But the Great Flood lingers without difficulty in the collective consciousness here—and these iconic photographs of a classical Paris submerged make it seem light, playful, and dreamlike. Soon enough, though, locals will see the surge firsthand, and it won’t seem so poetic. Greater Paris has been bracing itself for another big flood for a century—and it isn’t safe yet.’

–Newsweek

In a web exclusive article for Newsweek, Tracy McNicoll explores the legacy of the Great Flood of Paris and its inevitable, eventual reprise. ‘It’s a matter of when, not if’ says Louis Hubert, the environment director for the Île-de-France region, in which the French capital of Paris lies. Every year there is a 1 in 100 chance that a similar flood will occur in the city.

The Great Flood of Paris was the first such disaster to receive major media coverage – as a current exhibition entitled ‘Paris Inondé 1910′ is testament to – but in an ever-more mediated age, you can bet that a modern day repeat of the 1910 deluge would focus lenses on Paris in a manner never seen before. At least not since Princess Diana’s death.

image public domain (source: wikimedia commons)

In practical terms, if another flood of that magnitude were to happen now, the resulting damage would most likely be worse. Paris is far more technologically dependent, urbanized and spread out than it was in 1910 and therefore, despite some precautionary measures, its citizenry are more susceptible to a large flood than they were 100 years ago. Such a reoccurrence might expose modern-day urban Westerners as painfully incompetent at adapting to disasters that may be eventualities – occurring evermore frequently due to the effects of climate change.

Additional resources:

Slideshow – ‘Paris Inondé 1910′

Postcard collection from Paris flood 1910 on Flickr

Berlin Tiergarten – photo by luisvilla (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

Full of green spaces and crisscrossed with 620 km (385 miles) of bicycle paths, the German capital of Berlin is a modern European city with practical approach to energy efficiency. Despite Berlin’s continued widespread use of coal for heating, the city has come up with some inventive solutions to meet its energy needs. This short CNN video reports on how this European capital is creating more alternative and eco-friendly projects in these environmentally challenging times.

CNN – Turning sludge into energy

Future Paris - 1911 (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Eco-friendly buildings are currently being built around the world, incorporating innovative advances in Green architecture. Here on greenfudge, we’ve already featured cutting edge eco-cities like Sweden’s Hammarby Sjöstad and Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, but what else can we expect from the city of the future? Soon nanotechnology may provide additional advancements in Green urban living, but some ideas are decidedly low-tech. Take for instance: a city lit by glow-in-the-dark bacteria, the same kind that exists in some deep sea fish, tweaked – or genetically engineered, for those of you who don’t have a problem with that – to produce more light. Blue-green algae, aka cyanobacteria could also coat buildings, capturing CO2 from the city’s atmosphere and releasing oxygen.

So the city of the future may not look like ultra modern Shanghai, but more like your fish tank after you’ve lazily neglected to clean it for a couple of months.

Another cool process scientists are looking at is limestone formation, wherein magnesium reacts with airborne carbon, creating frost-like magnesium carbonate crystals… kind of like superman’s fortress of solitude.

What they’re calling this organic, low-tech approach to Green design and urban planning is ‘grunge design’. It’s a bit like steampunk as opposed to cyberpunk fiction. I love both, incidentally. Read more about Green grunge design in Eureka section of the London Times online.

By Graham Land

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

In a marked contrast to the ecologically reckless and headstrong behavior that continues to characterize development in the United Arab Emirates – especially Dubai – the state of Abu Dhabi is building an experimental city based on environmental sustainability. It is called Masdar City, a zero-emissions urban vision planned to house 50,000 residents and 1,500 businesses, at a cost of $22 billion (€15 billion). An ambitious attempt by the UAE to diversify an economy largely dependent on fossil fuels, this planned city project is largely being funded by the state of Abu Dhabi and has a predicted completion time of late 2010 for its first phase. The project boasts that Masdar will be powered ‘100% renewable energy’, save one million tons of carbon annually, recycle 80% of its water and have zero waste or zero emissions.

The sun, the wind and recycled waste products will provide Masdar’s power, while fresh water will come from a massive solar-powered desalinization plant, according to this BBC article. One of the coolest aspects about this futuristic city in the desert is its proposed transportation system: driverless, private electric podcars designed to run on tracks throughout the city.

But before we all fall in love with Masdar and the UAE, keep in mind that this is an experiment, albeit an ambitious one. As the Economist points out, The UAE is a huge per capita greenhouse gas emitter, an economy dominated by fossil fuels – of which it is not about to give up – and Masda may very well fall short of realizing some of its lofty ambitions. Nonetheless, the desire, initiative and drive for a project such as this; not only a place to develop Green technologies and ideas for sustainability, but actually put them into practice, is indeed an exciting prospect and an enterprising use of funds and resources, which will not be around forever.

Masdar promotional video

By Graham Land

Additional resources:
Article on Masdar from Technology Review
Article on eco-cities from treehugger.com