The occasional bicycle rack can be found near pedestrian promenades in Istanbul, such as the one pictured above on the Asian side of the city. But the city’s heavy traffic and reckless drivers discourage many would-be bicycle commuters. Developing a more bike-friendly Istanbul was the goal of BikeLab Istanbul, a workshop held in late December and […]
On Thursday, Dec. 20, Tzipi Livni’s new party, The Movement, stated that environmental reforms will be key components of their platform in the January 2013 Israeli elections. They propose passing a Basic Law for environmental protection, and a long-term blueprint for the Israeli energy market. Livni presented The Movement’s environmental agenda together with Green […]
Famous for designing the Hoberman Sphere, Chuck Hoberman has since turned his talents to Saudi Arabia, where two luxury spas will feature his latest invention – a moving mesh facade that dapples harsh sunlight. Like giant greenhouses, each three story polygonal spa boasts a vast atrium and all manner of plants. A custom perforated skin […]
Students from the American University of Beirut have worked with the Forum for Environment and Development to create a documentary on the environmental challenges facing the Arab world The youth of the Arab world have had a particularly inspiring – if turbulent – last couple of years. Protests, revolutions and taste of real empowerment has […]
Exploring issues such as clean energy and air pollution, the FeliCity exhibition in Tehran focuses on the need for green solutions The environmental state of Iran is far from rosy. Pollution is amongst the highest in the world, their groundwater supplies are being overexploited and lack of food security means Iranians are turning veggie (part-time, […]
A new trend is emerging throughout the Mediterranean and we kinda like it: a growing number of food artists and restauranteurs are bringing street food indoors. There’s a new joint in Cairo that serves Egyptian classics in a fresh, contemporary setting and now there is Souk – a vibrant space in Athens, Greece that serves […]
A quiet little technology blog called Upworthy just posted a pie chart that, despite the solid pedigree of its source data, is likely to provoke debate so heated it may accelerate climate change. Kudos to Luigi Montanez, the site’s founding engineer, for recycling that ancient truism “a picture’s worth a thousand words”. Let the arguments […]
Turn to the ancients for a green building technique that lets you play like a child. Mesopotamian mud bricks still do the job, for free. Mesopotamia was the ancient collective of settlements tracing the Tigris–Euphrates river basin. It spanned modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and smaller parts of Iran. Modern school kids learn this […]
What can graphic design do to help tackle environmental degradation? Well, these Iranian designers think a lot. Exploring the nexus where art and nature meet, Iranian designers look at the environmental problems riddling their cities and the innovative ways they can resolve them. Whether it’s reducing the use of cars, discussing the place of graphic […]
Israeli architects Moshe Fluhr, Lee Davidson Lehrer and Yinnon Lehrer submitted this design for a contemporary memorial home for Ramat Yishay – a community situated in northern Israel. The design competition for Yad Lebanim, which means Fallen Sons Commemoration, called for a mixed-use development complete with activity rooms, educational facilities, a library and an amphitheater. […]
Magnificent public art or environmental boondoggle? Oil drums stacked to the height of the Giza pyramids. Christo, the artist who temporarily wrapped acres of fabric around the Pont Neuf and the Reichstag, now plans to stack thousands of empty oil drums in the Abu Dhabi desert in his first ever permanent installation. The finished work […]
Egypt’s youth are an inspiring bunch. They have taken down a dictator, and withstood the subsequent uncertainty, but their hardest battle may come in convincing the country that the natural surroundings are worth saving. But they are not being deterred. A few dedicated environmentalists in the country gathered this month to continue to build the […]
A new marketplace for Casablanca – complete with rainwater harvesting and a clever trash chute? While the souq or market is integral to Moroccan culture, they are frequently crowded and polluted as population density expands throughout the North African country. TomDavid Architecten from The Netherlands submitted a proposal as part of an international design competition […]
More and more studies highlight the truly drastic action we need to take at Doha to avoid four degree warming – but is it too late? According to a new report, heat waves in the Middle East with temperatures consistently above 40 degrees could seem like ‘a pleasant prospect in a few decades’ if we […]
Solar panels at the pyramids. In the past two years since a popular uprising ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the question of sustainability, energy and overall environmental awareness has been as evident as a clean street in Cairo. Basically, it has been nonexistent. Actually, it had been nonexistent until recently. Over the past few months, Egyptians have […]