The Sunday Diigo Links Post (weekly)

• At Lincoln House: Teardowns and the value of land

  Lincoln Institute comments on teardowns:
  QUOTE
  …teardowns in established neighborhoods with good density can be a green concept — better than building something new in a cornfield miles away, smart growth advocates would argue. Teardowns take advantage of existing urban infrastructure. And while embodied energy is lost, demolition materials can be recycled; if the new building is energy efficient, so much the greener. Municipalities tend to like the increased property tax revenues from more robust assessments.
  UNQUOTE

  tags: lincoln_institute teardowns infill built_environment

• GPS, Smartphones, and the Dumbing Down of Personal Navigation – Technology – The Atlantic Cities

  Right on.
  QUOTE
  A few days ago, I was walking home with my 9-year-old son when I came upon a young woman standing in the middle of Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn, a block-wide island of green in the city’s downtown. She was staring fixedly at her smartphone, which she held up in front of her as if using it to sense a magnetic field, or perhaps radioactive contamination.

  As I passed, she turned to look at me suddenly, her face drawn and anxious. “Excuse me,” she said. “Can you tell me which way to the Brooklyn Bridge?”

  I turned around and pointed to the bridge entrance, which was in plain sight about 20 yards from where we were standing. “Thank you so much!” she said. “I just couldn’t figure it out with my GPS!”

  “Wow,” said my kid as we continued on. “That’s really sad.”
  UNQUOTE

  tags: city_smarts urban_design gps navigation atlantic_cities

• Urban Farming :: Welcome To Urban Farming!

  Via Taja Sevelle, so inspiring:
  QUOTE
  Urban Farming began in 2005 with 3 gardens and a pamphlet. We now have planted and facilitated over 43,000 community, residential and partner gardens around the world.
  UNQUOTE
  Victory Gardens ftw.

  tags: victory_gardens urban_farming taja_sevelle gardening

• data and thoughts on the stakes of JSTOR, copyright, and open access // mattBernius.com

  Bang-on analysis and critique of JSTOR:
  QUOTE
  In theory, the point of publishing is to disseminate research for the development of knowledge. Further, many of those 3 million articles were built on data collected through publicly funded research. I have a hard time seeing how we can say the public is getting a solid return on its research investment when it still doesn’t have open access to research it helped funded over fifty-​years ago.
  UNQUOTE

  tags: matt_bernius jstor opendata access

• One eBook Platform to Rule Them All – Technology Review

  This could get interesting!
  QUOTE
  Right now Adobe and WoodWing are charging magazine publishers something like six figures just for a system that will transform their magazines into apps that can be sold through Apple. And magazines are basically just enhanced ebooks. Meanwhile, companies like OnSwipe are trying to become the de-facto system for publishing content to tablets—but only on the web. Companies like Arcade Sunshine, whom I’ve written about before, are also limited to Apple’s App store.

  The Atavist Platform, meanwhile, promises to do all of that, and then maybe turn its competitors’ bones into bread when it’s done.
  UNQUOTE

  tags: atavist e-books platforms publishing mit_techreview

• NASA video shows global warming is real | SmartPlanet

  Very effective video, and sobering commentary.
  QUOTE
  And if you’re wondering about the link between CO2 and global warming, here’s what the data from NASA shows:

  The carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere was about 285 parts per million in 1880, when the GISS global temperature record begins.
  By 1960, the average concentration had risen to about 315 parts per million.
  Today it exceeds 390 parts per million and continues to rise at an accelerating pace.

  While scientists don’t expect temperatures to rise consistently year after year, they do expect those figures to continue climbing over decades with extreme temperatures predicted in the next two to three years due to increased solar activity and the effects of El Nino on the tropical Pacific region.
  UNQUOTE

  tags: climate_change nasa video smartplanet global_warming

• Rethinking the row home | SmartPlanet

  Chad and Courtney Ludeman build LEED Platinum homes for ~$300K sales price. This is great, but consider building 3-BDR units so that people don’t move out when they’re expecting a second child?
  QUOTE
  2012 holds much promise for Postgreen Homes. Despite suboptimal economic conditions, the company plans to construct 16 row houses, two condos and a retail space in a completely new area: South Philadelphia. Plus, Postgreen will try its hand at its first rental project and a six-unit co-housing building.
  UNQUOTE

  tags: ludeman philadelphia leed green_buildings urban_development infill

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.