Do you know of a project, idea or initiative that could radically change the world for the better? Elements of a Good Anthropocene currently exist on the planet, and in this project we are calling them ‘seeds’. 'Seeds' are initiatives that exist at least in prototype form, but are not currently dominant in our world. They can be social, technological, economic, social-ecological, ways of thinking or doing, case studies, or [...]
Can ancient unique ecosystems be protected in an age of global movement of plants and animals? Predator Free New Zealand 2050 is a plan being implemented by the New Zealand government to eliminate all invasive vertebrate predators, including rats, brushtail possums, and stoats, to protect New Zealand's rare endemic species. The government plan arises from a broader set of social and scientific initiatives. The plan aims to dramatically reduce NZ’s populations [...]
WOHA is Singaporean architectural firm that aims to re-invent skyscrapers for dense urban living. Some of their influential projects are The Met Apartments in Bangkok, and the Singapore School of the Arts, and the Parkroyal on Pickering hotel in Singapore. School of the Arts, Singapore designed by WAHO. Photo by wikipedia user Katmorro. WOHA was founded in 1994 by architects Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell. It has designed projects [...]
How can communities reclaim control over their shared challenges? In March 2002, Gigha islanders managed, with help from grants and loans from the National Lottery and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, to purchase the island from its absentee landlord for £4 million. The island is now owned through a development trust called the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust. The Trust aims to promote: community regeneration, employment and sustainability. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFiudQ0t2ms?rel=0] Many people in [...]
How can people organise to gain control of the place in which they live? The Scottish Ilse of Eigg replaced its historic semi-feudal system of land ownership, in which residents were tenants of an absentee laird (a large landowner) with a new model community based ownership. Eigg is one of the Scottish Inner Hebrides. In 1997, the island was bought from its absentee landlord for £1.5m, raised from residents and thousands of non-residents. Many people in Scotland live on land [...]
How can urban cities be renovated to provide opportunities for their residents to reconnect to nature? Cheonggyecheon river restoration project in Seoul replaced a highway with urban green spaces and a highly engineered river. The project opened in 2005 and has become popular place for people to visit in Seoul. The restoration of the Cheonggyecheon aimed to provide people with access to nature in the city as well as to revitalise downtown Seoul's culture and [...]
How can government investments in infrastructure projects help trigger good sustainable change? How can we overcome our lock-in to fossil-fuel intensive transport systems? Bogotá is the largest city of Colombia with a population of 7 million. Since the 1990s it has undergone a transformation from being know for its drug violence to its sustainability initiatives, many which have focussed on public transportation as a key for social inclusion. One of these initiatives was [...]
How can infrastructure protect urban areas from extreme weather, while providing other benefits when weather is non-extreme? Indian Bend Wash in Scottsdale Arizona is a 17 km greenbelt that runs through the Phoenix metropolitan area in the SouthWest United States. It is "green infrastructure" designed to provide both flood protection and recreation. Indian Bend Wash is a historic floodplain, which was urbanized in the 20th century. In the late 1960s, development in the floodplain [...]
by Lea Billen & Deborah Goffner Can multiplying small-scale “re-greening” in the form of women-run communal fruit and vegetable gardens make a difference for local populations in the Sahel? The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative (GGW) is a Pan-African project consisting of a contiguous series of landscape-scale interventions designed to cross the African continent with the goal of improving environmental and human well-being in the [...]
Using urban farming to grow food and promote a beautiful work environment in central city