Tag Archives: city

How sustainable is a tree on a roof?

28/02/2015

Urban trees provide a lot of positive things in urban environments: they increase the biodiversity; clear the air up by fixing solid particles in suspension and CO2 and releasing O2; retain the ground and prevent the erosion of soils; and protect the pedestrians from the wind and sun. They are also a meeting point: people have traditionally met under a tree to talk, discuss, legislate, judge or trade. A popular recent trend is including trees in buildings as a way to make them more sustainable. Even on roofs. But, how sustainable is a tree on a roof?

end of the city

10/04/2014

The limit of a city is a cultural and social construction: the city tends to grow over the agricultural land, but in western cities this process is not because of the need for housing but an economic process that transforms the lands into a consumer good. This agricultural land lacks a special protection but in return it provides food and resources to the society, and it’s part of the cities’ success. Is it possible to harmonize the urban growth and the preservation of the agricultural land?

the city

10/03/2014

What is a city? As a social construction, the city is an inhabited territory, lived by an urban society, where different uses, politics and activities from those that happen in a rural settlement are found. What’s more, the definition of the city is still today a preferential subject of study for the architecture, landscape, planning, geography, sociology, laws or economy. Here is our little approach.