Since David is away, I'll post this one.

Ever think we need more parking? Having lived in NYC, I always thought so. Free parking, that is. But some have realized that finding parking is a lost cause. Rather, we should be spending more time finding spaces for parks rather than finding parking spaces. Thus a new movement was born: "Park(ing) Day".


Yes, it's a bit nuts. But this art group called Rebar calls upon all people to set up temporary parks in cities across the U.S. It's not just a crazy idea, though. It's become the talk of politics, business, and architecture.

Here's Tom Friedman (conservative journalist famous for his book "The World is Flat") who writes this:

In the world of ideas, to name something is to own it. If you can name an issue, you can own the issue. One thing that always struck me about the term “green” was the degree to which, for so many years, it was defined by its opponents — by the people who wanted to disparage it. And they defined it as “liberal,” “tree-hugging,” “sissy,” “girlie-man,” “unpatriotic,” “vaguely French.”

Well, I want to rename “green.” I want to rename it geostrategic, geoeconomic, capitalistic and patriotic. I want to do that because I think that living, working, designing, manufacturing and projecting America in a green way can be the basis of a new unifying political movement for the 21st century. A redefined, broader and more muscular green ideology is not meant to trump the traditional Republican and Democratic agendas but rather to bridge them when it comes to addressing the three major issues facing every American today: jobs, temperature and terrorism.

The architecture world is changing too. Green roofs, solar panels, sustainable cities, and so on.
Here's the first major office building in the world that is completely self-dependent on energy.

This building in Singapore is the latest in an architectural trend to incorporate greenery as part of the structure.

This building in Japan is called the "Ark" (by Sanyo) and is surrounded by 5,046 solar panels.


-cr