Category Archives: Insight

Author’s personal experiences and viewpoints

Architecture, Books, Insight, Projects, Uncategorized, Urbanism

‘Green Nudges’ programme for Universities | UNEP

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UN Environment Programme had launched on 1st September 2020, an easy to use sustainable campus guide – ‘The Little Book of Green Nudges‘. The book defines nudges as positive and gentle persuasions that are meant to influence behaviour and decision-making. Such interventions include choice architecture, default setting, social influence and increased salience.

via The Little Book of Green Nudges by UNEP

Developed by UNEP in collaboration with Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) and GRID-Arendal, it contains 40 ready-made nudges – simple measures that make it easier to make green choices – which university campuses can deploy to encourage students and staff to embrace more sustainable behaviours.

This book can be used a guide by anyone who wants to create positive change at their university, anywhere around the world, from provosts to campus sustainability coordinators to professors to student leaders.

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Articles, Insight, Projects, Urbanism

TU Delft Planning and Designing with Water for Sustainability 2019 | Summer School by Roberto Rocco

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This article is based on author’s participation at the 2019 edition of the workshop and outlines her personal viewpoint. Visit the workshop website for detailed information.

The unprecedented initiative by Roberto Rocco, Associate Professor at Department of Urbanism TU Delft, has ignited the quest for sustainable development in the hearts of many students and professionals across the globe. His personal vision for the Summer School, which was first conducted in 2014, encompasses spreading the bountiful Dutch knowledge of water management in delta regions and pooling of new urban ideas at the hub of sustainability. Keeping The New Urban Agenda and UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) in the forefront, each year workshop invites over 100 participants, whose own careers are aligned to school’s objectives.

The 100 hours summer school is smartly packed with array of activities, keeping the young minds on their toes. The series of lectures by the department’s professors and HOD Vincent Nardin,  establishes an insight into the evolution of Delta Works in keeping Netherlands safe and sustainable. Apart from stupendous techniques of mitigation engineering, the participants are also made to think about planning related aspects like stakeholders, heritage, public safety, mobility, governance and public participation.

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Books, Insight, Uncategorized

The Upcycle : Beyond Sustainability – Designing for Abundance | Book

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By William McDonough , Michael Braungart

Foreworded by Bill Clinton

The book offer numerous fascinating scenarios in which humans transcend the role of mere stewards of the planet. Instead, they suggest, why not become co-creators of the simplest invention ever: abundance?

It invite us to reimagine everything from doorknobs to the Hoover Dam. In a world that uses design as a tool for positive impact, industry can do better than “do no harm”: it can actively improve everything with which it comes into contact.

Description is taken from the author’s page. Visit here to know more.

Architecture, Articles, Insight, Projects

Warrior of a Resilient Community | Ar. Diébédo Francis Kéré

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With no electricity, sparse drinking water, and a life that took a pause with every sundown, the village of Gando had not foreseen the incoming change. Remotely located in Burkina Faso, a landlocked country of extensive plateaus in eastern Africa, the village has gained global attention through the remarkable works of one of its own community member, architect Diébédo Francis Kéré.

As a boy of young age, attending a lecture in a poorly ventilated classroom during the hottest days of the year, Kéré had an inkling that reality could be much better. This slowly turned into a vision of uplifting the Gando community, which he believed needed an external perspective. For those who seek, there are always means and that is how a scholarship knocked at his door for studying architecture at the Berlin Institute of Technology, which he believes was brought to him by luck.

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Architecture, Articles, Insight, Projects, Urbanism

Green School | Fostering this generation for ground zero Sustainability

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Young minds are untarnished and malleable, they follow wherever we lead them. They are our biggest hope and potential risk as well. If they are taught in the same manner as we were, the results will be morally, socially, economically and environmentally worse. For we grew up in a society that settled itself away from nature, whereas every answer to sustainable living lies within it.

Hence it isn’t difficult to arrive at a common solution to our global problems, which is to take these young minds back to nature. While many are still contemplating on its cons, John and Cythia Hardy have already setup a remarkable model – Green School.

“We owe it to our children to give them the skills to adapt. Now more than ever.”

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Blogs, Insight

Blog Insight 01 | Placeshakers and Newsmakers

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Placemakers is a versatile firm that believes in taking up all tasks related to placemaking, ranging from architecture, planning, design, storytelling and what not. With its people managing work remotely across the North American continent, the firm has accumulated wide range of expertise in the field. These practitioners are often found sharing their insights on issues and strategies of the field at their blog, Placeshakers and Newsmakers.

Their blog posts are very solid informative pieces and sometimes they raise unparalleled curiosity and participation. If you are willing to spend time in reading lengthier discussions with sane propositions, you will be hooked to their content.

Moving Beyond “Smart Growth” to a More Holistic City Agenda

This particular post that we are sharing, resembles with our belief of redefining limits of sustainability and changing manners of measuring it. Here, Kaid Benfield lists ten questions that can help address the ongoing pattern and understanding of sustainability in our cities. We are extremely hopeful to come up with a list of our own sometime soon. Till then we would like you to give it a read and share your opinion on any of the stimulating questions.

Articles, Insight

Urban Resilience | Rebuilding of Urban Mindset

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When giants like Rockefeller Foundation, whom we all look up to for when it comes to funding urban projects, interpret resilience of a city as an alien venture for the vulnerable halves of the urban community, we are made to reevaluate our disposition. Recent demise of 100 Resilient Cities project, has raised doubts on external philanthropic supports for mitigating urban risks. The organisation’s president exclaims, “It’s a shift in the foundation’s focus to delivering measurable results for vulnerable people, with a budget framework that works.” This unexpected withdrawal has awakened many urbanists, who are now beginning to redefine the way urban resilience is perceived.

Urban resilience depends on urban mindset, understood as the manner in which societal roles are perceived by individuals in an urban community. People respond to city level risks based on the urban mindset they adopt. This imparts value to various planning variables and becomes the guiding source for policy making. Hence while building resilient cities, political parties and planners focus on strengthening the city for public use but fail to reform the urban mindset.

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Channels, Insight

Down To earth : Kerala House

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Busy urban life is on list of many Indians, but there are handful others who are ready to give up consumer living and settle down amidst natural landscapes. Story of one such couple from Kerala, who developed their ancestral land into a naturally cultivated forest with a low impact house supported completely off grid, was recently filmed and liked by many. India has been a land of sustainable living, where forests have been worshiped and wasting of natural resources has been admonished. This video brings under spotlight those innate values, which urban Indian are forgetting.

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Channels, Insight

Tiny Homes : Peek 03

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For those who want to cultivate their own patch of vegetables, quest for happiness doesn’t exactly end up at dwelling in mansions. For many these days, it’s about self exploration and investing time in building things that last. While abandoning their usual lifestyle, people have took it either to roads or nature’s parking lots, where they find contentment irrespective of the size of habitat. This video is a quick look into the world of green living in a tiny home with bigger quality of life.

Living Big in a Tiny House is a youtube channel by Bryce Langston, who is a small space design curator. He covers various tiny and sustainable homes around the world and has resulted in more people opting for a low budget and low impact living.

We applaud Bryce’s initiative and encourage our readers to get inspired through series of sustainable living options introduced on the channel.

Channels, Insight

Tiny Homes : Peek 02

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A quest for happiness doesn’t exactly end up at dwelling in mansions. For many these days, it’s about self exploration and investing time in building things that last. While abandoning their usual lifestyle, people have took it either to roads or nature’s parking lots, where they find contentment irrespective of the size of habitat. This video is a quick look into how one can embrace modern architecture while opting for a tiny home.

Living Big in a Tiny House is a youtube channel by Bryce Langston, who is a small space design curator. He covers various tiny and sustainable homes around the world and has resulted in more people opting for a low budget and low impact living.

We applaud Bryce’s initiative and encourage our readers to get inspired through series of sustainable living options introduced on the channel.