Quick Vid: Copenhagen Car-Free Streets

Here's a short video showing streets where Copenhagen removed the vehicles and in turn created a better place to walk, ride, and live. What would it take to transform streets here into pedestrian friendly havens like this? Copenhagen's Car-free streets & Slow-speed zones from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Also check out this link from TreeHugger About Copenhagen Bike Lanes

A Flawed American Dream

Forget for a minute everything you know about your life and how you live it. Forget your friends and neighbors. Forget about politics and economy. Forget your bills and your job... Now picture a place where people live together, friends, family, neighbors, strangers. They share good ideas and experiences, growing up and raising each other as a community and without competition. Peaceful, friendly, utopian.

Now add the American Dream. def Wikipedia: The American Dream, sometimes in the phrase "Chasing the American Dream," is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of prosperity and success. In the American Dream, first expressed by James Truslow Adams in 1931, citizens of every rank feel that they can achieve a "better, richer, and happier life."

The problem is how we define that better, richer, and happier life. We see better as being smarter and more cultured than our peers. We see richer as being wealthier and having nicer things than our neighbor. We see happier as some intangible improvement over yesterday.

One of my largest takeaways from European culture was their ability to be happy with what they have today. There's no talk of the future as if it's all going to be green pastures, they are able to enjoy the moment more so than we are.

As our culture has looked to fulfill these with items we can purchase; houses, cars, electronics. This issue is compounding ALL of the larger issues we face: (1) Housing Downturn: Unrealistic expectation of ever-increasing home values. (2) National Security: Arrogance and standard of living creates envy and animosity. (3) BP Oil Spill: Manufacturing of petrol-based goods. (4) Wall Street: I needn't say much.

The problem is with entitlement, I struggle with it myself more often than I'd like to admit. I drive a small and old pickup truck. I bought it as a tool to help me work. It's perfectly functional, quite utilitarian, and gets me from point A to point B. I find myself wanting a newer vehicle, one with more room and more creature comforts. Do I really need something newer if what I have is good enough? I have a two year old iPhone, it's beat up but still works. I feel that I should get a new one, that I deserve it. Clothing, computers, the list goes on. I don't NEED these, yet I catch myself wasting time thinking about items. Is it because my friends have such things and I feel as though I'm less because of it?  I try to catch myself when I start to think that these will in some way enhance my life. What do you find yourself thinking about?

We all do it, and rarely slow down to realize what the American Dream is: That we already have a better, richer, and happier life than those before us. We have the ability to enjoy life more than ever before. So please, slow down.

Why Smaller Apartments Actually Provide More

I guess the best way to start this is to describe my current, uncomfortable apartment. It's 12' wide and 40' deep, with one entry and one window (both at the front of the apartment). Upon entering is a shared kitchen and living space, then a small hallway with a bath, and finally the bedroom in the back with no windows. While measuring 480 sq ft, I always laughed about the size of my small apartment.

Then I visited Europe. My housing in Copenhagen was inside of a shared housing building called a Kollegium - an efficiency sized at a mere 10' x 20'. That's less than 1/2 the size of my Conshohocken apartment, yet the arrangement didn't make me feel any more uncomfortable or claustrophobic. The reason? - A smarter use of space. It sounds simple when you think about it, but I was amazed at the ability to fit both my kitchen and bathroom into around 80 sq ft. With a narrow small kitchen and a bath where the shower was directly worked into the floor design, the space was able to be recycled for the use of the occupant. Abundant storage allowed me to keep my items organized and out of sight. A bed, desk, TV, and sitting chair sat in the rest of the room. The far wall was almost completely comprised of glass and a large window that acted like a door. The abundance of light and ventilation also added the the feeling of space.

Why does this matter? I instantly thought back to my position paper on sustainability that I wrote last fall where I tried to design and estimate the cost of a one-bedroom home. The goal was to provide basic housing, not extra space. At the time I thought I was designing a very small space, but after this experience I started re-thinking the scale. I'm not an interior designer but I thought I had given modest space to occupants that would be living here. Looking back, I may have been thinking too large, too American.

This has filled my thoughts for the past few days - Can we bring smaller designs here and why haven't they been successful here? Can these smaller kitchens and dwellings enhance neighborhood interactions by encouraging  you to go out to eat and out to meet your friends?

I love the layout of the Manchester apartments by Abito - Small, compact, beautiful. We are doing the same thing here, take a look at Philly's own ThinFlats. What jumps out immediately is our demand for space; more rooms, larger kitchens and baths, larger bedrooms, etc. It makes sense for a developer to add bedrooms when space isn't an issue, it's an very inexpensive way to increase the price of a home. But when space and land is at a premium, it's more profitable to make smaller units to increase the amount of units. Are builders and developers here afraid to build smaller? Or are they, and most likely, just delivering what Americans want. I know there's a lot more to this discussion, if you have anything to say let me hear it.

Oslo, Voss, and Bergen on the Norway Study Tour

At the end of classes, we had a 4-day study tour planned to visit 3 cities in Norway; Oslo, Voss, and Bergen. Joining us on the trip would not be our professor, but instead the program assistant, Emilio, as well as 

Saturday night we took an overnight cruise to Oslo, Norway. It was my first time on a cruise, it was amazing how incredibly large the ship was, hundreds of rooms, a half a dozen places to eat, a spa, movie theater, duty-free shops, and even a discotheque. After an evening of drinks I ended up at the disco with a few new friends, out of character but it was a blast. The weather was wet and cold, but waking up early to watch the ship maneuver through the straight was impressive.

Arriving in Oslo, the first thing we noticed was the striking white marble and granite Opera House. A quick summary via About.com:

Approaching the Oslo Opera house on an overcast day, you may imagine that the building is an enormous glacier sliding into the fjord. White granite combines with Italian marble to create the illusion of glistening ice. The sloping roof angles down to the water like a jagged chunk of ice. Completed in 2007, the Oslo Opera House (Operahuset in Norwegian) reflects the landscape of Norway and also the aesthetics of its people. The government wanted the new Opera House to become a cultural landmark for Norway.

After getting to our hotel, we walked as a group to the Nobel Peace Center for a guided tour of the main exhibit: Strengths and Convictions. The exhibit was about South Africa's struggle for democracy and dealing with apartheid. The lives of the four remarkable men Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, converge and divide as South Africa’s history unfolds. Their stories are told through photos, films and art never previously shown in Norway. It is constructed around a timeline depicting 100 years of South African history, with visual art used as a matrix for the life and times of the four laureates. Upstairs was the annual exhibit, this year for President Obama's Nobel Prize entitled A Call to Action. The connections between Alfred Nobel’s will and Obama’s work for peace are emphasized in this space.

Next we went to the Edward Munch Museum. I enjoyed this more than I had anticipated, both because of the artwork and the knowledge of our guide. She had worked over 18 years at the museum and knew the history of all of the paintings. My favorite pieces were the drawings from his childhood, when he was coping with the death of his sister and mother, they are gruesome and beautiful at the same time. Security was extremely high, it was like being at a penitentiary because the Scream had been stolen a few times in the past. For more info on Edward Munch, visit Artsy’s Edvard Munch page.

Not to be content with just these two galleries, a half-dozen of us headed over to the famous Viking Ship Museum. I think this was one of my favorite places of the whole study abroad. The museum displays the Viking Age Oseberg ship, the Gokstad ship and Tune ship along with a horse cart, wood carvings, and sleds, all of which are meticulously detailed. Just a 5-minute walk away from the Viking Ship Museum was Gol Stave Church. I hadn't planned on seeing this, but it was one of those tourist days where I took photos of everything I could see. The church was beautiful in it's own way, dark and powerful, it made me feel as if I was transported back into medieval dark ages.

Oslo was a small city, we were able to walk across most of it in about 15 minutes. It was cleaner than Philadelphia, but we instantly noticed it was less-maintained than Copenhagen. There also seemed to be more rough-looking people in the city square, people without an agenda or clean clothes. It's hard to get a good perception of a beautiful city in less than a day, but that's what happens on trips like this. Soon enough it was time to go, we packed our bags and took a 6-hour train ride to Voss, home of some of the Norwegian fjords and at the time, an extreme sports festival.

We arrived in Voss at around 11pm, and as if the late sun wasn't strange enough in Oslo and Copenhagen, it was even more strange here. Here is a photo that was taken behind our hotel, at around 11:30 at night - it didn't get much darker than this at all. The evening was spend just sitting on a patio by the lake, enjoying a few stories and drinks. Early the next day, we all gathered for our hiking trip through the Fjords - which are formed when a glacier cuts a valley by abrasion of the surrounding mountains, leaving behind awe-inspiring sights. We spent the day doing some pretty easy hiking through the mountains about 30 minutes outside of Voss. Look me up on Facebook for a lot of photos taken during this trip. Our tour guide told us a story about how trolls are a part of Nordic culture. The summer homes in the mountains were occupied by the women and children in the summertime, and when they would travel up in the spring, they would bang pots and pans to scare away the trolls. They blamed rock slides, fires, and other things on these trolls - anything unexplained that is now known with a bit of science and geology education. It was a great hike, one of my fondest memories of the trip.

Lastly, we took another train ride, this time it was a 2-hour trip to Bergen, which is located on the western shore of NorwayVoss, we spent the last two days of the trip here. The city was built as a trading post to northern Scandinavia, most of the business was cod fishing. Similar to Oslo, their diets were heavy in fish and vegetables. They have a very popular and tourist-laden fish market in the heart of downtown. I picked up some souvenirs like moose sausage and knitted hats, and also some fish soup (cheap and delicious). Then we spent time with the Bergen city government and listened to their plans to turn Bergen into a carbon-neutral city by 2050. With the introduction of a larger light-speed rail system and more public buses, they hope to consolidate growth and make public transit the more viable option to cars.

While it was ambitious, I didn't come away impressed, and perhaps that's because we had just spent two weeks in forward-thinking Copenhagen. Also, it made me respect the Philadelphia Greenworks plan set forth by Mayor Nutter. For the first time I missed and respected what we're doing in Philadelphia. No city is perfect, but great things are happening here. I guess it was the perfect last meeting we had on this trip as I started daydreaming half-way through about things I want to do here - building my network, affordable housing, community enhancements… With all of this in mind, I had plenty to think about for my trip home.

I probably missed many details - so next time you see me, strike up a conversation. Next I'll post less about me and more about some things that I've re-thought since this experience.

Copenhagen Study Abroad Recap

I just returned from the DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad) Summer 2 Session after a very intense 3 weeks of classes and cultural immersion. I want to summarize up everything that happened, but I feel that anything I could squeeze into one post won't do it justice. Instead, I'll give a rundown of the events and activities, and then later go into some events in depth.

I flew put of Philadelphia the night of June 11th and arrived Saturday around noon in Copenhagen. The flight seemed to take forever because of both my excitement and uncertainty, also it was an 8 hour flight… Upon arriving, I met a few other students and we took a bus to the heart of Copenhagen where DIS is located. Picked up a temporary cell phone and public transit pass and then was shuttled to my living arrangements. My apartment was a small efficiency in Keops Kollegium, north of the city by a 10 minute bus ride. We had a pizza social and I met a few of the people living near me. The rest of the evening was spent settling in and getting internet hooked up.

Sunday morning I got up early to go for a run (only one of the trip) to explore the neighborhood. Some early observations that were reinforced as the trip went on:

1. It's a bicyclers paradise, with dedicated lanes and plenty of service and sales shops. Streets are lined with bikes of all types, whereas in Philadelphia you rarely see them outside for fear of getting vandalized or stolen
2. Everything is quieter in the morning. At first I thought this was just because this was a Sunday morning, but rush hour isn't until about 8:30 - 9:30. When I say rush hour, I mean packed buses and roads clogged with bikers.
3. Small cars everywhere. I have always been drawn to smaller cars, and seeing all kinds of offerings that we don't get in the US makes me jealous. Compact cars from Citroën, Peugeot, Ford, and BMW were the most common. Most all are turbo-diesel, something that Americans are demanding but have been challenged by emissions restrictions.
4. Social trust. Maybe it was the way I saw bikes and valuables outside, or the way the city seemed cleaner, or just how courteous and friendly all the locals were. Copenhagen citizens pride themselves on being polite and trustworthy, and it shows.

Later in the morning there was an introduction ceremony. A speaker talked about Danish culture and how it has been transformed over the years into the passive, content, and friendly society it is today. Caught a cool lunch with some students down by the canal, and then made our way back for the group trip to Esrum Abbey. There, we spent the afternoon doing field events such as archery and sword fighting, and followed it up by trying the beers that they make. After that, we had a DIS social back in town where they treated us to hotdogs and beer.

Class started on Monday, the course was entitled Sustainable Technology and Culture: Energy and Responses to Climate Change. There are about 20 students in the class, and 7 of us are from the PhilaU MSSD program (Rudy, Sharon, Toby, Carrie, Laura, Karen, and myself) The other students are mostly undergrad students studying everything from Environmental Policy, to Urban Development, to Geology. The class was structured so that in the mornings we would have class/lecture for about two hours, then take a break for lunch, then go to field studies in the afternoons to clean-tech companies and institutions. The professor, Nils Thorsen is a senior manager in Ernst & Young and responsible for Environment and Sustainability Services in Denmark.

Field Studies:

1. Hyldespjældet - Development in Albertslund, Denmark - The neighbourhood of Hyldespjældet consists of some 390 mainly small flats in 1 to 3 story concrete blocks, belonging to a public housing association. In the eighties, it was a “problem” neighbourhood, but now it is a safe and desirable place to live. The many green activities in Hyldespjældet have had profound effects not merely for the physical environment, but also socially. A large proportion of the inhabitants take active part in one or more activities, getting to know each other in the special way that people do through shared work for a common purpose. This has contributed to making Hyldespjældet an attractive place to live.  
2. The National Art Gallery Of Denmark - Biospheres Exhibit - Biospheres can be seen as models representing his vision for alternative types of social spaces and habitats. Taking a metaphorical, poetic approach to serious subjects such as the overpopulation of Earth, environmental issues, and migration, Tomas Saraceno seeks to create a new relation between culture and nature. This exhibit was part of the larger one called RETHINK Contemporary & Climate Change that took place during the COP15.
3. Rockwool - The Rockwool Group is the world's leading producer of stone wool - a material that improves the quality of life for millions of people and helps to alleviate environmental problems, such as the greenhouse effect, smog and acid rain. Rockwool insulation gives us pleasant indoor environments by keeping out the freezing cold. In hot climates, stone wool helps to keep indoor temperatures comfortably cool. 
4. Danmarks Naturfredningsforening (The Danish Society for Nature Conservation) - The largest nature conservation and environmental organization in Denmark. For nearly a century, the Danish Society for Nature Conservation has worked to preserve nature in Denmark and to ensure people's access to our natural surroundings. This has resulted in a unique line of preserved landscapes, views and habitats for animals and plants for us to experience and enjoy in the future.
5. Risø DTU, National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy - Risø DTU is one of Europe's leading research laboratories in sustainable energy and is a significant player in nuclear technologies. Risø creates pioneering research results and contributes actively to their exploitation, both in close dialogue with the wider society. Check out their 2009 Annual Report here.

The course packed a deluge of information to digest, I'm still going through my notes and files that I brought back. I also interviewed a clean-tech company, Liqtech. They manufacture Diesel Particulate Filters for large truck applications. I'd like to touch on that in depth as well in the future.

After the two weeks of class, we took a 4-day study tour to Norway. I'll recap that next

DVGBC Emerging Professionals Committee Earth Day of Service At the Paul Robeson House

On Saturday, April 24 DVGBC's first-ever Earth Day of Service took place. With the help of Hanson General Contracting and volunteers from the Emerging Professionals Committee, we had a great day working to restore some elements of the Paul Robeson House at 50th and Walnut in West Philadelphia.

The idea came from Hanson General Contracting, their experience in helping New Orleans prompted them to want to do similar work here in Philadelphia. In their words:

The idea for this project came after one of our members from Hanson General Contracting participated in an event to make sustainable improvements to historic houses in parts of New Orleans devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita; we realized that we don't have to travel to New Orleans to make historic houses more sustainable when we're surrounded by them here in Philadelphia. We teamed up with the Robeson House and West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance because their work to provide access to the arts for the citizens of West Philadelphia, market and support the development of local artists, and serve as an advocate for the power of the arts to promote social change and economic development is in concert with the goals of DVGBC's strategic plan.

Work for the day included some obvious sustainable initiatives, like replacing light bulbs and plumbing fixtures to reduce resource consumption, as well as some not-so-obvious ones, like installing an insulated roof hatch to permit easy repair of the roof in the future, reducing the number of leaks and the associated materials needed to repair them, an installing rain barrels for storage and landscaping use. All work was done in consultation with the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia to ensure that we made only historically appropriate repairs to this building where Paul Robeson, scholar, athlete, performer and human rights activist, lived in the final years of his life.

The DVGBC posted photos from the event on Facebook, I'm copying over a few here:

Good Read: Top 10 tips to flourish in the current economic climate

A recently discovered, and now new favorite design blog is that of BUILD LLC. While reading some of their past posts, I came across their Top 10 tips for not only staying alive but attempting to flourish in the current economic climate. This is worth sharing, so here's the list:

1. Diversify: and we’re not talking about doing hand renderings in addition to being a CAD monkey. We’re speaking of real diversity; learn how to engineer a simple wood structure, sign up for a welding class, take on some construction management. The age of specificity and spending every day comfortably designing a certain type of project is over. We’ve learned enough engineering over the years to do a structural package for simple projects and remodels. It’s rewarding, brings the engineering cost down a bit for clients, and puts more work on our plates. We’ve also taken on our own finished photography and we’re never going back.

2. Get Scrappy: get your hands dirty, make something. There is always a market for sensible, useful products. In our case we opened a cabinet shop and we’re in the process of designing and manufacturing a pre-fab re-usable Christmas tree for the next holiday season.

3. Get humble: we don’t particularly care where you got your degree from and what your masters thesis was about. In the new economy, if you can’t do something useful then you won’t be needed. Each of us here at BUILD (partners included) have put in some elbow grease at the SPD shop refreshing and upgrading our knowledge of craft and putting quality together, physically. This includes sanding, sweeping floors and making dump runs too.

4. Time is always valuable: the extra time you have now is not “free-time”, it’s a valuable commodity to be spent in different places like marketing, networking and blogging. We’ve made time to rework the BUILD website and have established a design blog full of valuable content.

5. Become part of the new social network: if you’re not running a blog you need to become part of one. Tribes are being formed in the digital realm based on beliefs, philosophies and the trading of significant information; it’s also where the important conversations are happening. These tribes are banding together, promoting each other and helping each other tackle things like a tough economy. All it takes is seeking out some blogs that speak to you, following along and getting involved in the discussion – so hit that comments button. Most magazines are slow, static and have politically correct agendas to abide by; the blogging world is fast, fluid and can be brutally honest.

6. Eject the distractions like a virus: what you spend your time and effort on is more important than ever. Down economies are victim to marketing seminars, round-table lunch discussions and walk-in-without-an-appointment cold callers. Entire industries are set up to take advantage of the fact that you’ve got more “free-time” than before (refer to #4). If they are not directly and substantially useful, eject them. God help the unfortunate sales people that walk into our office with their optimistic smiles and binders full of irrelevant things.

7. Re-appropriate your skills: take all the skills you’ve accumulated and find new avenues for them. One of our previous diversifications was developing our own projects. Given the lack of financing available, we’re pointing our property development expertise to start up new ventures outside of, but supplementary to, architecture. We’re currently in the development stages of some secret projects that we’ll release in a future blog post.

8. Get (stay) small: wear more hats and push your team to take on a wider spectrum of responsibilities and skill-sets. We’ve been a team of 4 for years now and we plan on staying lean. We’re each wearing so many hats these days that there’s hardly reason to add to our team, at the same time each team member is critical to the overall operation. At the project level, revisit previous clients to see what limited services you can provide. The risk of small projects is diminished when you perform them for highly trusted clients.

9. Sharpen the focus: it seems that there is more of a lackadaisical cultural shift we’re mired in currently. Our economy and our industry have been kicked squarely in the _____ (pick your favorite colorful term) and it seems like we’re more easily distracted than ever. As a profession, we’re sliding deeper into procrastination. Recognize this ‘slide’ into distraction and reset the focus. Make sure you do at least 5 important things a day. Just being busy is unacceptable; taking worthwhile and seemingly ‘hard’ steps to progress is all that matters.

10. Keep working hard: it’s important to be intentional and deliberate even if you’re not billing. There’s still an enormous amount of work to do, it’s just in a different arena now. One of preparation for work you’ll get later.

The recurring theme here is staying focused and get your hands dirty. I've had a hard time putting structure on how to keep myself moving in the right direction and a list like this is nice to read over to remember how to stay on track.

High Hopes For Marcellus Shale Drilling

A few weeks ago I took a trip home to Renovo. Located in central PA, Renovo is at the epicenter of the Marcellus Shale drilling. There seems to be a lot of optimism and hope surrounding the drilling and it's promises of jobs and economic growth. I can understand- I remember when I was younger, there was a rail repair industry as well as more restaurants and shops. Sadly, most of that is gone now. I've moved away with most of other college-educated friends. Small towns like this seem to be headed in the wrong direction though time.

So with the influx of business and money the drilling could possibly provide, communities like Renovo seem a bit starry-eyed about the benefits. This may encourage some decision-makers to overlook the risks associated with drilling in your own backyard. I previously touched upon this in my position paper, but let's drill further into this discussion.

From DEP Marcellus Shale FAQ

What is Marcellus Shale and why the sudden interest in it?
The Marcellus Shale is a rock formation that underlies much of Pennsylvania and portions of New York and West Virginia at a depth of 5,000 to 8,000 feet and is believed to hold trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. This formation has long been considered prohibitively expensive to access but recent advances in drilling technology and rising natural gas prices have attracted new interest in this previously untapped formation. The geology of the Marcellus formation suggests that areas in the northcentral and northeastern regions of Pennsylvania that have not traditionally seen much gas well drilling might be especially productive.

How is Marcellus Shale different from other natural gas extraction?
Extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation requires horizontal drilling and a process known as ‘hydraulic fracturing’ that uses far greater amounts of water than traditional natural gas exploration. Drillers pump large amounts of water mixed with sand and other proponents into the shale formation under high pressure to fracture the shale around the well, which allows the natural gas to flow freely. Once the hydraulic fracturing process is completed, the used water, often referred to as “frac fluid,” must be treated to remove chemicals and minerals.

Water Contamination is a huge risk to the surrounding communities.

From Duane Morris:

"…Two principal concerns about groundwater contamination have been expressed. The first is that the fracing process itself will cause fracing fluids and/or natural gas to contaminate drinking water aquifers. The second is that fracing fluid mismanagement or other aboveground activities at the drilling site could result in surface spills or other events that in turn will cause groundwater or surface water contamination."

Overlooking how this could affect the nearby communities would be ignorant. Cleanup could cost in the millions of dollars, and often the drilling companies are not held responsible. When they are, often the lawsuits can take years to settle. I'm hoping that for the sake of friends and family back home, the right steps are taken and no decisions are rushed, all in order to give a shot of adrenaline to a small town.