Paris has plans to make the Seine swimmable by 2024:
by Feargus O’Sullivan
The City of Paris is undertaking a new project, ‘Projet Life Adsorb,’ which may soon make Paris’s river Seine clean enough to swim in. Various attempts have been made to make the Seine swimmable, the first in 1988. Most recently, in 2017, swimming pools opened along Canal Saint Martin, a more sheltered waterway in the city’s east. Unfortunately high bacteria levels regularly force swimmers out of the pools.
The new plan, which is being designed and implemented by a team of experts overseen by the City of Paris, “might be able to curb pollution more permanently, making it swimmable – and usable as a competition venue – in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics,” writes Bloomberg’s Feargus O’Sullivan.
“The city’s 19th century sewer system mixes sewage with rainwater, and during heavy downpours can be overwhelmed by the volume of liquid it needs to channel.” Such occasions, they write, result in “over 2 million cubic metres of sewage contaminated water” finding its way into the river.
The new project features a stormwater tank to store around 46,000 cubic metres of water, enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool 30 times over, and alleviate the drain overflow that causes sewage to spill into the river. The tank will be installed near Gare d’Austerlitz, beneath a public garden on the city’s left bank, and connect to underground sewers. The topsoil above will be spacious enough for trees to grow in.
Even this ambitious tank will not be infallible— “the city estimates that 100,000 cubic metres of waste water will enter the river annually,” so there is still the potential for the tank to prove inadequate. Despite this, the project continues to build on past improvements – and no effort to decrease pollution has been fruitless. Pollution levels in the Seine are now far lower than in the nineties, and “the number of fish species has increased markedly,” reports O’Sullivan.
Recess is a time of conflict for children. Here are 6 school design tips to keep the peace:
By Fatemeh Aminpour
“Students experience an average of one conflict at recess every three minutes,” writes Fatemeh Aminpour on The Conversation.
Aminpour conducted research at three public primary schools in Sydney, Australia — her findings reveal how design can be used to reduce conflict and encourage inclusive play. “My study explored children’s views on the activities that usually triggered conflict and the ways in which school grounds could be designed to avoid it,” says Aminpour.
Since schools tend to have a “No Running Fast On Concrete” rule, Aminpour suggests offering more grassed areas to diffuse conflicts that often arise from multiple groups of children playing separate activities in the same space.
She says that zoning spaces according to activity type, incorporating physical barriers and allowing buffer space between play areas will reduce conflict between groups.
These interventions would prevent, for example, a situation where “children running around fast or playing with balls are seen as ‘disruptive’ to those sitting or playing with cards, and vice versa … the space is no longer felt as a ‘very relaxing place,’ children who seek ‘peace’ and ‘quiet’ have to withdraw.”
Aminpour points out that offering more natural settings also reduces conflict. She says, “Children of diverse personal characteristics — including gender, age and ability — use natural settings without conflict … they hide behind tree trunks … practice balancing on their massive roots, and use their malleable resources in their creative play.”
Aminpour’s research reveals that ensuring that play areas are plentiful, organised and engaging minimises conflict. In turn, the school yard can be inclusive and supportive of all children, and help positive social interactions and relationships to develop.
Successful products are often followed by copycats. Over the past year we have become aware of an increase in reproductions of the Linea range attempting to create a similar aesthetic at a lower price. This can compromise the overall durability and environmental credentials of projects being delivered, affect ongoing maintenance requirements, and in some instances pose a risk of injury to the public. The design of Linea is deceptively simple while delivering exceptional attention to detail. Details matter not only for beauty, but also for providing durability, and safety, that will last decades. Linea strictly uses the highest quality and sustainable materials, has passed rigorous strength tests, and is designed for longevity, with easily replaceable parts. The product range is the result of hundreds of hours of research and development …
Street Furniture Australia’s entire product range and manufacturing operation has received carbon neutral certification through Climate Active™. Achieving carbon neutral certification marks a significant milestone in our operation and the culmination of a four year long process of detailed measurement and analysis. Climate Active™ is the only Australian government-backed carbon neutral certification programme for businesses to measure, reduce, and offsets their carbon emissions. It is one of the most rigorous carbon-neutral programs in the world. An approved Emissions Reduction Strategy (ERS) is central to achieving certification through Climate Active. Street Furniture Australia has elected to use SBTi validated science-based targets to ensure their ERS is meaningful and aligns with the 2015 Paris Agreement – to limit global temperature rises to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels. For those emissions that can’t be …
Our Presentation Specialists bring a fun, interactive and informative workshop about our carbon neutral journey and latest products to your office. In 30 minutes (plus Q&A) you will explore materials and finishes, touch and feel samples, and bond with your colleagues over delicious treats in the comfort of your office. There will also be a mystery prize for a lucky winner (optional). ‘The presentation content was informative, engaging, interactive and relevant. Genuinely one of the better supplier workshops! It was efficient yet insightful. The interactive nature of it enhanced engagement with the team,’ Sam Westlake, Senior Associate, Hassell, Sydney. ‘Possibly our favourite product presentation to date! Engaging, great content and appreciated the physical samples and prototypes,’ Alexa Ongoco, Senior Landscape Architect, TCL, Brisbane. ‘Thorough presentation with actual product to see and …
Design For Forest: by Zaš Brezar In Europe, landscape architects are using simple interventions to manipulate the use of forests while prioritising their essential environmental function, writes Zaš Brezar for Landezine. Landscape architects, Zaš writes, can “bring forests closer to people in a meaningful and careful way. Empowering bonds between landscapes and people is one of the most important tasks of our profession. We maintain what we appreciate.” Strengthening the existing, and designing by maintenance rather than from scratch, is central to designing forests with conservation and care in mind, they say. In Strandskogen Arninge Ullna, a park in Sweden, landscape architects maintained “existing ambiences” by choreographing visitors’ movement through the dense riparian forest on elevated walkways. “This way, they have minimised the impact of people staying in the woods …
How our cities work – essential lessons from lockdown: By Matt Wade New research on the demographics of essential workers in Australia’s largest cities casts a stark light on geographic and gender inequalities, writes Matt Wade for the Sydney Morning Herald. Essential workers are employed “across health and social services, education, freight and delivery, transport, police and emergency services, logistics, construction and some retail,” and make up 45% of the workforce in Australian capital cities. They are exposed to greater risk of contracting Covid-19 in their workplaces, and through travelling to work. According to a study by consultancy SGS Economics and Planning, most essential workers in Sydney and Melbourne live in outer metropolitan growth areas where housing is more affordable – these regions also recorded a high share of infections …
Cities’ answer to sprawl? Go wild: ‘Rewilding,’ “…the growing global trend of introducing nature back into cities” has the capacity to “help bolster climate resilience, biodiversity, even moods,” writes Chris Malloy in Cities’ Answer to Sprawl? Go Wild. “Globally, past urban planning decisions like the prioritisation of the car have given rise to cities that, but for scattered parks, tend to be divorced from nature.” However, “growing urban sprawl heightens the need to build zones to manage runoff and temperatures and preserve biodiversity.” In the face of the many consequences of rapid urbanisation and climate change including “loss of biodiversity, urban heat islands, climate vulnerability, and human psychological changes,” rewilding could impact the health of our cities. As amorphous spaces, Malloy says that “most definitions agree that rewilded spaces should …