'Monica puts wheels in motion'

The article writes:

Noosa university graduate Monica Romanyk is not setting out for a new career in Germany to reinvent the wheel, just the way it is used to get around.

And for this 24-year-old regional and urban planner, who has just gained her degree from the University of the Sunshine Coast, her lateral thinking will focus on non-motorized eco-mobility.

Monica has gained a six month internship with ICLEI a local government organization committed to sustainability, and flew out yesterday for Bonn.

The international student from Canada, who decided to study at USC after holidaying in Noosa five years ago, said she would be using the Sunshine Coast as a comparison of her overseas research and would be keen to come back and sort out some sustainable cycling options locally.

That is if she is not head hunted in Germany.

"The Sunshine Coast was a really interesting place to study regional planning because of its growth." she said. "I'm excited about working in the field... it has so much potential."

"We have to work with communities and not forget the social implications of planning." Monica persued her interest in social planning through a minor in sociology. "As an intern with ICLEI, I will help plan the first EcoMobility World Congress in Korea in October 2011. This will involve researching successful local government active transport initiatives worldwide, such as bicycle lending."

Monica's studies were enhanced by a recent visit to Wroclaw, Poland as a part of a program with UN Habitat, the United Nations agency for human settlements. "I applied to the European Urban Summer School and was selected to join 50 young professionals and academics from a range of countries to discuss sustainable urban planning with UN Habitat."

"We discussed all aspects of sustainability- social, economic, environmental- in relation to the past and present ways of planning."



The last few months have been some of the busiest for me. I recently wrote my final university exams and have completed my studies at the University of the Sunshine Coast. I can now call myself a regional and urban planner!

It was my intention to make my way to Europe to find work in my field and to gain more of an international perspective. Well it has all happened very quickly! I am writing from Bonn, Germany where I arrived this morning to start a new chapter. As you can see in the article above I will be here to work with ICLEI for six months as an intern in EcoMobility.

I look foward to starting my professional career! Although it was hard to say goodbye to Australia. I will miss it.. I will miss the climate. It was a great experience, I enjoyed my studies and the Sunshine Coast was an ideal place to live while I was a student.


M.

EcoMobility

EcoMobility is an increasingly important urban challenge. Above is a photo of Milan's fairly recent bicycle-sharing system 'BikeMi'. It is a similar concept to the 'Velib' system in Paris and Montreal's brand new 'BIXI' public bike system. These innovative programs are meant to support a growing bicycle culture as well as a sustainable and healthy way to get around.

The Global Alliance for EcoMobility has an educational and inspiring website where you can keep up to date with cities promoting EcoMobiliy and self- propelling modes of transportation, encouraging less dependency on motorized vehicles.

Support sustainable mobility and ride a bike!

EUSS experience

I have recently returned from what has been an incredible learning experience. Ten days were spent with approximately 50 other young professionals and academics from across Europe to discuss sustainable urban planning in the beautiful city of Wroclaw, Poland.

It started with a very friendly welcome by the head of EUSS, Izabella Mironowicz and presentation by UN Habitat's Krzysztof Mularczyk who shared the organization's aims of bringing young people in the industry together to make it more inclusive and "less jargonistic". The upcoming UN 2010/2011 State of Urban Cities report was also presented which focuses on bridging the urban divide and the outcomes that are expected in the areas of city monitoring, political analysis, urban economy, gender mainstreaming, and partners and youth (thats us!).

Further we were presented with our schedule for the next 10 days which was proven to be jam packed and intense, none the less rewarding and enjoyable! Working in groups, mine including sociologists, engineers, architects and planners from Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Israel, and Poland we were given 3 cases to analyse, research, discuss and come up with solutions for the transformation or rehabilitation of space and successful outcomes. Before each case was started a site tour was organized to visit and experience the challenges we would work to overcome.

All the cases presented to us were unique in the challenges that were presented and the types of solutions that were needed to be initiated therefore final proposed strategies incorporated architecture, urban design principles, landscape architecture, policy, as well as social initiatives. The broad experience and background in our group facilitated very interesting debates, ideas and an incomparable learning experience. Here is a brief summary of the cases we worked on, with Wroclaw, our host city always the focus.

1. Sepolno

A neighbourhood east of the city centre, built starting in 1919 and based on Ebenezer Howard's Garden City Model was presented to us with its challenges. The major challenges included parking, as more residents have more than one car per household and the neighbourhood was not originally designed with so many cars in mind, the issue of the neighbourhood becoming quite trendy and popular with new residents wanting to alter what is heritage listed architecture, legability and connection to surrounding communities including pedestrian routes and public transportation, as well as public space vs. private allotments used for keeping urban gardens.

2. Looking at the city in layers- how do we see, perceive and describe the city?

Here we were asked to understand Wroclaw as a whole, as a city of 650, 000 inhabitants, 140, 000 thousand being students, with a complex history of settlement and such environmental influences as 5 active rivers flowing through the entire city. Various areas that were debated on and decided on to be most significant in terms of strengths or weaknesses of the region were sprawl, unorganized governance and issues of the lack of power, the tradition of allotments, industrial areas/heritage, academic/university importance, water, and development strategies to name a few.

3. Transportation: Downtown Southern Route

Finally we were presented a transportation infrastructure challenge. The city is currently proposing a new downtown southern route. Wroclaw's main transport routes are designed in a radial structure and the new proposal is recommended to relieve traffic congestion south of the centre and old town of the city. The main objective was to create a successful urban public space while also designing and incorporating a new transportation link in the form of a street, road or avenue. Obstacles to be overcome or considered in this case included the multiple and dense residential neighbourhood areas the proposed route would link through, inclusion of public transport (trams), pedestrian and bicycle routes, the foreseen transportation patterns/trends for the next 20-50 years and opportunity for transformation, inclusiveness of public values and needs, creation of new value, organization of connections and crossings, and the potential for new development.

As the programme was intensive and concentrated, for each case we would present initial ideas, design concepts, challenges and background information open to critique and further final presentations of solutions, proposals and expected outcomes then open for debate.

A publication of all cases and recommended solutions and strategies to the above mentioned cases is currently in production and I look forward to sharing it with you.

Throughout the programme we were also given lectures by experienced professionals and academics from across europe coming anywhere from London, Ireland, the Netherlands, to Spain, Italy and Serbia. These were aimed to inspire us and provide successful studies, innovations and practices that would help us with our problem solving and strategizing. Many presented successful case studies or theories, most including a connection to heritage and how it can be positively incorporated in our ever growing and transforming urban environments. They included topics on participatory practices, public private partnership, effective policy strategies, urban regeneration, brownfields & heritage, the role of planners, heritage vs. regeneration, the importance of history and heritage, supporting investment and renewal of urban areas, new form of the city, spatial strategies, green building design, use of green space, public space, quality of life, and the fascinating list goes on! Case studies presented were from major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Dublin, Athens, and European countries including Albania, France, Romania, Poland, Serbia to list a few. All were inspiring presentations that gave me great insight into the possibility of being a part of creating positive social, economic and environmental urban planning outcomes in my future career.

Thank you to UN Habitat, ISOCARP, EURA and the beautiful Faculty of Architecture (pictured below), University of Technology Wroclaw! See you at EUSS Spain 2011!

M.

Long time..

Its been a long time since my last update. I appologize. I have been frantically (but passionately) studying! Working hard so that I could take some time away for an experience that I believe will be an invaluable one.

I was recently accepted to take part in EUSS to discuss sustainable urban planning with UN Habitat in partnership with AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning), EURA (European Urban Research Association), ISOCARP (International Society of City and Regional Planners) and Wroclaw University of Technology. It will be hosted in Wroclaw, Poland the fourth largest city in Poland that will serve as our case study. We will be discussing all aspects of sustainability, social, economic and environmental in relation to the past and the present ways of planning. Topics such as urban growth, culture and quality of life, public spaces policy, heritage and its place in planning, planning/designing urban transformation, and urban economics (to name a few) will be discussed during the 10 day Programme.

Moreover what is exciting are the issues we will be presented with by the City of Wroclaw to then deliver and present innovative ideas and possible solutions for sustainable urban outcomes.

I look forward to visiting Poland and making the most of this educational experience, and sharing it here in the near future.

Here are some photos of beautiful Wroclaw! I cant wait to discover the city..

(photos: newyorktimes.com)

Monocle

The current issue 35 2010 of Monocle features their annual quality of life survey, highlighting the tope 25 most liveable cities. Munich tops the list with european cities making up most of it in addition to a few Canadian, Japanese and Australian cities thrown in too.

Have a look, Monocle is a great read that updates on business, global affairs, culture and design. They often focus on urban related issues and life.

http://www.monocle.com/

Photo: Dutch Bridge

photo: http://abduzeedo.com

Pitti Uomo

This week in Florence the Pitti Uomo annual tradeshow for men will take place... Oh how I would love to be there! Italian style is so incredibly unique, so classic, so stylish, so much attention to detail I love it!

Check out one my favorite blogs by Sartorialist Scott Schuman for updates and quality photos:

http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

enjoy.

Book: Great Public Squares

FYI! This book is on my wish list :)
(http://books.wwnorton.com/books/Great-Public-Squares/)

"From the storied piazzas of Rome, Venice, and Florence to the elegant places of Paris via less familiar gathering places in Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Portugal, to the former marketplaces and graceful Georgian-style squares of the United Kingdom, to the most interesting and impressive squares of the New World—Santa Fe, Portland, Boston, and New York—architect Robert Gatje offers new insights, stunning computer-generated plans, and color photographs to convey the spatial experience, supplemented by a brief history of each square and measurements to assess their success in meeting human needs for inspiring outdoor space. There is no other source for this comparative data in one place."

Its a good one!

Below is a photo of Place des Vosges, a famous square in Paris. I have great memories of lovely picnics and macaroons in this park :)

M.

Urban Rural Reconnect

Last week a kilometre stretch of the Champes Elysees in Paris was transformed into a massive strip of farmland. The event lasted 2 days and was organized by The Jeunes Agricultures (Young Farmers) Union which represents around 55,000 farmers under the age of 35yrs and the French Forest industry. The avenue was covered in greenery from trees to lavender and flowers, live stock too!

The purpose of the event was to raise awareness about the decrease in farm revenues and reconnect the city of Paris with its farmers outside the city. It was to show off what they are all about and to inspire and encourage people to be more involved with the farming industry again.

"Do they want the cheapest products in the world or do they want products that pay producers?"

This is an issue I think farmers worldwide are facing. We are losing touch with where our food comes from. Buying oranges that have travelled half way across the world from California, or unknowingly buying local product but that has travelled to China and back to be packaged! These choices are not only affecting local farmers and the local agriculture industry but are also contruting to negative environmental decision making.

National Museum of 21st Century Arts AKA Maxxi

The new National Museum of 21st Century Arts (also known as Maxxi) opens in Rome on the 30th of May. It will feature contemporary art and architecture and hope to compete with the contemporary art profiles of London and New York.

The building was designed by Iraqi architect and 2004 Pritzker Prize (architectures most prestigious award) winner Zaha Hadid. She is known to be a visionary architect that produces quite extreme designs.

I look forward to visiting Rome in July!! I will report back on it in a few months.

go green

Have you ever seen a living wall? I have recently been noticing an increasing amount of green walls lately through my travels, however I am yet to see one in Australia but thats probably because ive restricted myself to the Sunshine Coast for too long . Im sure they are blooming throughout the cities!

The purpose of these living walls is not only to be innovative, creative, and trendy but they have real positive impacts on the environment (when outside) and on air quality (both indoors and outdoors). Naturally plants absord pollutants out of the air so these walls are contirbuting to less carbon emissions floating around!Indoors they can lesson noise and increase acoustics, be used as insulation, and of course add to the aesthetics of an indoor or outdoor facade.

With all of these benefits and considering how lovely they are to look at lets hope that we will see more vertical greenery in the near future. How about incorporating them into all government buildings?! parliament?!

Another way of 'greening' our surroundings is with roof top gardens. If such dense areas as cities would have more rooftop gardens (to absorb sunlight/rays and pollution) they could decrease the impact of the urban heat island..

Ill write more about rooftop gardens another time...

Back to living walls, Vancouver airport has a great one you can see as you walk out of the airport towards the Skytrain (see my photo below).

The photo at the top of the post is an example of a living wall in Madrid, Spain, a beautiful public display of tropical plants! The next photo is of green tiles that a Spanish company has invented. I think they are awesome!! They can be aranged by designers to add to the character of a building. So cool. I saw a few apartment buildings in Milan that featured vertical greenery, also a chain of fairtrade coffee shops (Bridgehead Coffee) in Ottawa, Canada has incorporated living walls in a few of their locations. I know they can be a bit challenging to upkeep indoors (probably from the lack of sunshine in some cases) but they really are uplifting and refreshing to see especially when you are enjoying a morning coffee and the paper.

I hear PiperDM is thinking of adding some green to their office... or is this a rumour? Go for it!

wisped away

photo: Garance Dore

I took a moment to check on the update of one of my favorite blogs by Garance Dore http://www.garancedore.fr/ (its also where I practice my french- I read the french version and then the english if need be). Something that just has to be done during a 12 hour stint in the uni library...

Have a look if you too want to be wisped away to a fun and funky Chanel event at Place des Lices, St. Tropez

Lovely post.

Green Architecture

How is this for green architecture. The glass faceted office is home to the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg. It recently won first place in the Emilio Ambasz Prize for Green Architecture for International Buildings. Designed by Ingenhoven Architects http://www.ingenhovenarchitects.com/

Considering how big the building is, imagine if it was just another concrete block? Dark, hard, bulky and boring to look at. The glass creates transparancy which makes it much more soft for the eye to look at. More green architecture like this will mean less bulk in our view!

Better for the environment and more pleasant to look at. Awesome.

Makes me want to visit Luxembourg and have a look!

Favorite !

Okay so I LOVE a lot of things.. and at least three of those things are furniture (design), textiles, and Missoni in general. I came across this while reading the Design section of The New York Times blog I follow http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/the-well-dressed-chair/?ref=design.

Do you love it? I love it!

Really I think I need this chair, my bedding is the exact print :)

Check out Artek http://www.artek.fi/index.html the Finnish company that designed the chair.

OH and I hope you dont mind my obsession with Italy at the moment.. most posts will probably have something to do with it as it was my most recent travel desination and I have plenty to share!!

M.

Polish design studio

I just LOVE this couch made from a recycled wooden chest!

Support Polish design!

http://www.mowo.pl/mowo.php

Ottagono

Ottagono is one of my favorite magazines and magazines are one of the most exciting things I look forward to buying when I travel. Living in a small town I dont have the plethora of international publications at my fingertips so when I am overseas its a treat to flip through the latest editions of my favorites.

When I was in Milan briefly in February it was edition 226 of Ottagono that featured Viaggio in Italia- Liguria. It featured the state of Liguria that is found in the north western region of Italy. Ottagono is a magazine of reference for anything design related and it also regularly features city planning. Naturally after reading the featured booklet on Liguria I was keen to visit and experience the architecture and newly planned and revitalized port of Genoa and surrounding area.

So I did! and I will post photos and my sightings in a future entry...

If you are at all interested in the world of design, from urban to architecture find this magazine in your nearest specialty newsagent, I would hope they stock it! Also lucky for us it features bilingual texts (Italian and English).

Paris- La Cite de l'Architecture & du Patrimoine

It was a cold and gloomy winter day in February this year when I decided to visit La Cite de l'Architecture & du Patrimoine in Paris. http://http//www.citechaillot.fr/exposition/temporary_exhibitions.php?id=92.

Phillipe my Architect friend had never been and so together we hopped on the metro not knowing what to expect but hoping to discover something new and interesting. Little did we know we would spend 3+ hours loving every moment of the gallery and museum! Paris, such a historical city unfolded bit by bit through the displays of its planning history.



If you are lucky enough to be in Paris before the 1st of July 2010 you must stop through and visit the temporary exhibition 'Towards New Social Housing'. It features 16 recent (less than 5 years old) architectural works in France which represent a revival of social housing.



It was awesome, and inspiring! It made me excited for my future career and made me hope to be involved in such a creative, sustainable, social housing project one day.

Not to mention it had some of the most stunning views of the eiffel tower!

The 'Fun Theory'

Im headed to my Regional Infrastructure Planning class. We recently discussed transportation and peoples behavior and attitudes towards public transportation. The presentation and discussion led to the 'Fun Theory'. Have a look at the video I have posted. The photo, is one I took when I was in Milan in February. Same concept. They were the stairs that led you to a stunning view of Milans Duomo directly in front of you when you reached the top. Very fun and inviting! Way more exciting than the escalator thats for sure.

This is a great example of innovative design to make a change that incorporates the public and demonstrates positive outcomes. They may or may not realize that they are using the stairs instead of their habitual hop onto the escalator but the main thing is they are having fun!