Amphibious city

Amphibious city

Amphibious means “able to live both on land or in water”. (www.m-w.com)

http://radio-weblogs.com/0119080/stories/2003/08/22/galleryOnTheWaterfront.html

Normally, when we hear the word “amphibious”, we always relates it to animals, such as frogs and toad. These animals are featured by their unique abilities to live both on land and in water. Scientific research shows that amphibians have been survived for millions of years, during which time numerous species were distinguished because of climate change or some other reasons. One of the biggest challenge we are facing today is the global warming, which will leads to the sea level rising to 10 feet in future hundred years and sink many cities into water. What’s our strategy towards this disaster and how to make our cities survive in water, the answer of which may possibly be found in the characteristics of amphibians. Future buildings can be capable of breathing can be away from erosion by sea. And some cities may be able to float on water. There will be underwater streets, restaurants, exhibitions, hotels, you name it. Amphibious city will become our new habitats to bring us more exciting life.

Footloose floating housing concept - Amfibischwonen competition 

                      http://radio-weblogs.com/0119080/stories/2003/08/22/galleryOnTheWaterfront.html

"The larger the structure the wider the range of sea conditions it can tolerate thus allowing it to be located farther from shore. (though this comes with the caveat that the farther from shore the more expensive the transportation due to the limited spectrum of capability current transport technology provides) This presents an interesting possibility. One is not limited to the creation of just a single home. One can found freely expanding communities and/or businesses, moving them progressively farther out to sea as they increase in potential self-sufficiency and in the scale of transportation they can support. This capability is what compelled me to suggest structures like this as the basis of marine eco-villages which could grow into full-fledged marine colonies -polution-free self supporting cities- that could move out beyond the 200 mile national boundaries of the nations that spawned them to become new autonomous self-mobile states. That may seem fantastic but there are no longer any technological obstacles to it."

http://radio-weblogs.com/0119080/stories/2003/08/22/galleryOnTheWaterfront.html
                                

Inequity

Sources: wickedreport.com

Definition: Inequity is the status of being unfair or unjust. The huge gap of income between the rich and the poor is a kind of inequity.

There are different kinds of inequities, such as economic inequities, social inequities, etc. Following the principle of capitalist society, the differentiation among social classes with the disparity of wealth accumulation is inevitably a bloody mark in our monetary era.

However, besides these inequities which are familiar to us, there is another inequity we might ignore most time. It is called ecological inequity.

One form of ecological inequity arises and exacerbates with the overwhelming trend of globalization. With the free movement of capital, some global corporations can easily take advantages of poor developing countries, exploiting their natural resources and cheap labor while transferring pollution and environmental destruction into others' vulnerable territory. The picture above shows a Chinese worker is collecting the electronic waste. According to some report, everyday more than 4000 tons of electronic waste is produced and a big amount is being imported to China.

Arcology

Arcology is a word coined by Paolo Soleri, an Italian architecture. It is the combination of the words "architecture" and "ecology" and is popular in recent years. This is a kind of building, with high human population density, sustainably supplying all or most of the resources we need for comfortable living and also reduce human impacts to environment at the same time. It can provide a large amount of sunshine, water, energy, food and suitable climate inside the architecture and limit the pollution to almost zero. It aims to provide all the resources by itself and reduce its impacts on nature as most as possible.

An arcology is like a city in a building but it's much more environmental friendly. It contains a variety of residential, commercial and agricultural facilities and advanced transportation system. It doesn't need connection to municipal or urban infrastructure to operate. It is a way to combat urban sprawl and the waste of energy. It highlights the importance of the use of social resources and the reduction of natural resources.