8h: bjarke ingels presentation

what ive just found out was a very well timed presentation...

marco tempest: nikola tesla ted talk

for interactive presentations...ridiculously beautiful

Cradle to Cradle

William McDonough TED talk: 'Cradle to Cradle'

William McDonough is renowned for his book 'Cradle to Cradle', and one of the most forward thinking architects of our time.  Watch this video for mind blowing goodness

james howard kunstler: the tragedy of suburbia

Slightly depressing but incredibly informative talk by James Kunstler (TED talk 20 April 2007) regarding America's issue with urban sprawl, one of the greatest issues in the modern world of urban planning and sustainability.

world without us

http://www.worldwithoutus.com/index2.html

interesting

Future Cities

At first view, Ridley Scott's 1982 film loosely adapted from the book 'Do Androids dream of electric sheep?' by Phillip K. Dick, at first glance seems like your ordinary futuristic film.  But the underlying discourse of this film was a deliberate outcome by the writer and director, Scott.  How would we feel in the future if we lived alongside beings that looked, sounded and felt like real people and yet weren't? Would we be comfortable living in this kind of society?

Not to mention the proposed 2019 version of Los Angles, which at the moment in 2012 is one of the worst examples of urban sprawl in a first world country.  Having recently been on exchange in California for the last 6 months i witnessed how poorly the suburban and urban setting is planned in LA, and specifially how much cars and freeways have taken over.  According to research by David Owen in Green Metropolis, cities like New York are some of the most sustainable in the world, not because they have solar panels escarping every wall or amazing waste treatment; but simply because they are TALL and they are SMALL (cover little ground area).

global warming and cities - solutions

http://www.davidowen.net/David Owen with his book Green Metropolis on the other hand provides solutions to the erratic issues major cities of the world will face in the future - and how we can start dealing with them now - well worth a read!

Global warming - and its effects on cities

Tropic of Chaos - Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence by Christopher Parenti outlines the major global problems of this age and how global warming will exacerbate these problems.  Whilst the book outlines a fairly bleak future - it does raise some interesting and serious issues - rising water levels will cause massive amounts of people to uproot and move inland or to higher ground (millions of people in major cities around the world in fact).

global warming

http://flood.firetree.net/

the future of the earth is uncertain - global warming and sea level rise seems inevitable - this dynamic website shows the way the world will be in the future - dozens of major cities will be literally under water with only minor changes to the worlds sea levels!!

virtual futures

This futuristic anime film adapted from the comic strip series by Masamune Shirow in 1995, outlines the issues that come with human digital interface with computers, and the subsequent hacking and mind control which can take place just as a computer can be controlled.  If you get a chance to watch the entire film its interesting to note the amount of information that can be directly downloaded to a person's mind - similar to the week 1 lecture.