new Fed office connecting housing, transportation and sustainable development

The word "silos" is most often used to talk about grain or
coal, not the federal government. But in the case of transportation and housing
-- two sectors that accounted for more than 43 percent of the nation's carbon emissions in
2008 -- Washington's
siloed approach of divided, blindered policymaking could put wheat farmers to
shame.

The Obama administration is starting to break down those
barriers between agencies, asking the Department of Transportation (DOT), the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to smart growth.
Dubbed the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, the effort aims to provide
federal support for localities that want to offer more walkable neighborhoods
and cleaner commuting options than the car.

Urban Biofilter Project Plants Bamboo Forests to Clean up Brownfields

When i lived in Ft. greene our neighbor's back yard was OVEERRUN, and i mean OVERRUN with bamboo.  it was crazy. so i know this would work in bklyn. 

Bamboo forests are beautiful things — especially when they are cleaning urban air, soil, and water AND shielding communities from industry and heavily trafficked areas. Urban Biofilter creates bamboo forests on brownfields that are fed with wastewater. The harvested Bamboo then creates income in areas that are otherwise neglected through sustainable bamboo harvesting and timber production.

Public Art for Sustainability?

This is a review of a new book about the role of art production during the new deal; would be interesting to think about such a project for environmental sustainability; i think this is a neglected aspect in sustainability dicussions: the new for visual renderings and depictions of sustainable economic activities (gardening, green energy) but in ways that resonate with people culturally, including in terms of popculture, not just public-national culture. 

When Art Worked

A stunning new book shows how New Deal art helped remake democratic culture.

Posted by David Bollier

A portion of “Ranchers of the Panhandle,” by Frank Mechau, 1940, a mural in the Brownfield, Texas, post office.

At a time when our national (and global) predicaments are seen mostly as a matter for economists and policy wonks to solve, historian Roger Kennedy comes forward to remind us of the critical role of art. Art is not just an aesthetic pleasure or indulgence, he insists; it is a way in which people makes sense of their problems. It is a way of re-imagining the common good.

Article on New MA program in Urban Sustainabilty at CCNY

Sounds pretty good: kudos to CCNY! Given BC has no engineering or architecture program, ours would have a different composition, such as ...?

Teaching urban sustainability to tomorrow’s leaders

By Melanie D.G. Kaplan | Jan 19, 2010

Everywhere we turn, we hear and read about sustainability—whether it’s shopping, eating, building or wasting. Now, our colleges and universities are starting to train the next generation of sustainability experts.

This semester, the City College of New York is introducing a one-year graduate program called Sustainability in the Urban Environment. I recently talked to the program’s director, Latif Jiji, about the kinds of problems students will attempt to solve, the jobs they’ll be qualified for when they graduate and how he’s created his own personal sustainable roof (while beefing up his wine supply).

Arizona State's School of Sustainability

One of the most advanced sustainability programs in the US at a university of size is the School of Sustainability at Arizona State (ASU).  That's right, its not just a department but a whole school!  (BTW, University of District of Columbia also just put together a major related program, a College of urban Sustainability and Agriculture;  I met the dean of that college last week, more on that soon.)  The president of ASU is a key figure driving all this, and he is truly a visionary (a word i dont use lightly)  I saw him speak at the "green economy" conference in DC last week (more on that soon.)  But for now, more on ASU:

A Newly Renovated Green Home for Global Institute of Sustainability

In his remarks to a crowd of 400 at the building’s rededication, ASU President Michael Crow described the building as the nerve center for hundreds of students, faculty, and staff who are researching sustainable solutions for an urbanizing world. He also compared the formation of the Institute’s new School of Sustainability, the only school of its kind in the US, to the emergence of medical schools, focused on individual health, in the 18th century. “ASU is the only institution in the US that has stepped up to focus on our collective health and well-being of the planet.”