PlayIcon

Neft Daşları, the story of a unique oil settlement built on sunken boats

Author | Elvira Esparza Neft Daşları is a floating city built on the sea to meet the demands of the offshore oil industry. It is the world’s first marine oil platform, constructed on sunken boats. At its peak, it featured 2,000 oil wells and 300 kilometers of bridges and roads connecting the city’s various infrastructures. […]

See more

PlayIcon

This is how Venice wants to save itself

Sea water levels rose between 10 and 25 centimeters and by 2100 they are expected to rise between 60 and 110 centimeters. Land subsidence and rising sea levels are inevitable, and they are leading to the city sinking even further each time the tides rise, which is occurring more and more often.

See more

PlayIcon

What is self-healing concrete and how does it promise to revolutionize the field of construction

Author | Elvira Esparza Concrete is the most commonly used construction material, yet it also ranks among the most environmentally taxing substances. Self-healing concrete based on bioconstruction techniques, enables the material to repair itself, thereby preventing cracks from compromising the structural integrity of buildings. According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the […]

See more

PlayIcon

Biomimicry: Engineering and technology inspired by Nature

Author | Elvira Esparza The maxim “nature is wise” serves as the foundation for biomimicry, a methodology, and perhaps a philosophy, applied to engineering, which draws inspiration from the environment to enhance human activities, aiming for greater efficiency, resilience, and sustainability, whether applied to transporting people and goods or the construction of buildings. What is […]

See more

PlayIcon

Public toilets, technology and accessibility

This is a guest post by Lucía Bellocchio, founder and executive director of Trend Smart Cities. Lucía has extensive experience working on urban innovation, and has written in leading media outlets in South America like La Nación, El Observador, Clarín or TN. When spring arrives, people flock to outdoor spaces seeking some time in the […]

See more

PlayIcon

The Wave House: The world’s largest 3D printed building

Author | Lucía Burbano Contrary to being dismissed as a passing trend, the widespread emergence of 3D-printed building projects worldwide confirms that this technology is a real and forward-thinking pursuit. The Wave House stands as the latest example of this trend, representing a pioneering project within industrial construction. It joins a growing cohort of architectural […]

See more

PlayIcon

Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town: planning for the next 100 years

Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town is a small experimental town in Fujisawa City. Sponsored by Panasonic and two other local companies, the aim is to develop technologies to reduce the impact of humans in the world while making space for any further advances that may happen in the next century.

See more

PlayIcon

Solar windows: the next architectural revolution?

What are solar windows? In this article we explore a potentially revolutionary invention that is already helping smart buildings to reduce their power bills by generating their own electricity.

See more

PlayIcon

7 inventions that shaped city life

Cities have changed drastically since they were first built, but what are the inventions that have most changed the way we understand the city?

See more

PlayIcon

The paradox of the Three Gorges Dam: Green electricity with plenty of urban shadows

Author | Raquel C. Pico Recognized as one of the monumental engineering achievements of modern times, the Three Gorges Dam, in China, harnesses the immense power of the Yangtze River and its colossal scale is such, that it can be seen from space. The construction of the Three Gorges Dam was driven by practical utility […]

See more

PlayIcon

What are exurbs and how are they changing modern urbanism

Author | Raquel C. Pico  The urban-rural dichotomy is one of the key points used when referring to how people live in the modern world. Cities and their metropolitan areas are great magnets and have gradually attracted —and they have been doing so for centuries— people living in the countryside. In this initial stage of […]

See more

PlayIcon

How Paris is reusing its abandoned buildings

Autor | Lucía Burbano Reusing and transforming existing architecture is a principle adopted by Paris to combat global warming and to make use of existing infrastructures and resources. The aim is to advance towards carbon neutrality by 2050 by respecting its architectural heritage. Paris breathes new life into its abandoned buildings Today, 70% of urban […]

See more