Categorie: politics
Land is our capital; through the sunlight that falls on it, it captures the necessary annual energy and mass of resources. But closely related to this is water, which is essential for that land-sun system to function and is the most important source for humans after air/oxygen. It should be…
The discussion keeps coming back: high-rise buildings or not. Cities and towns can’t resist falling in love with high towers.that is, the project developers and politicians. Last year I had the opportunity to explain to a council committee in Utrecht and to a mixed political audience in Eindhoven what is…
Our biggest problem is that people, or humanity, do not observe or respect boundaries , to anything, and when facing them, they also want to constantly push those boundaries. And when starting to talk about boundaries, it quickly becomes a discussion about the freedom to choose for oneself. During Corona,…
I have to admit, capitalism has worked, allowing us, at least in our part of the world, to live in luxury. Even the poorer part of society here with us don’t have it as bad as in large parts of the rest of the world. However, the whole system has…
The Quest in Egypt is actually quite simple: Not look for reductions of fossil, but how to live off the sun, and its derivatives, wind and water power. And where possible make things a little more effective with a little gravity and geothermal power. That’s it, in terms of energy…
It is popular at the moment, to speak of shame, like for example flight shame. All that CO2 and so on, and yes, that is a consequence and we will have to bear the consequences. It is then misused to suggest to people that they can redeem this, because ,…
Just recently, in May, Jaime Lerner passed away. He more or less invented sustainable urban development. A little tribute. Everything has to be sustainable or circular these days, including the cities. Now, is there a city that has already applied many of these principles, where there is something to learn?…
The Species vs the Individual, in the Built Environment? The Corona lockdown and approach continues to surprise: both in what the government does and how people deal with it. What is particularly striking in this phase of Corona is the response and attitude to some problems with vaccines. There are…
We are bombarded with books that know how to deal with climate and the environment, and especially how we can improve the situation. And yes, I am also participating in that, since last week I published a new book that offers tools for improvement, or rather: suggestions for adaptations to…
Last year I wrote about a publication from 20 years ago, in which prominent figures looked 20 years ahead. [1] The result was not that good, the future is always more different as expected. However, a number of reactions wondered what that would be like in 20 years from now,…
