Green dream: how future cities can outsmart nature (Future cities series, 2) - Tapa blanda

Everybody's talking about Green these days; sustainable architecture and urbanism are getting almost universal attention. And they deserve it. Who could possibly oppose Green?

But there's also a lot of suspicion around Green. Research is contradictory. Conclusions are ambiguous. Born-again sustainability gurus are appearing out of nowhere, advocating new truths. Politicians and developers misuse ecology to promote their own agendas. Greenwashing has become the state-of-the-art marketing tool. Who can we trust? Some things are wrong with Green...

Can we overcome this moment of confusion and abuse? What we need, to proceed effectively, is a neutral, rational tool that can balance and validate vague assumptions about Green. Can we invent a calculator for Green that exposes our dilemmas and judges our efforts? That brings about a new aesthetics, linked to a more advanced understanding of nature? That could even beat nature?

The Why Factory is a global think-tank and research institute, run by MVRDV and Delft University of Technology and led by professor Winy Maas. The Why Factory's Future Cities research programme explores possibilities for the development of our cities by focusing on the production of models and visualizations for cities of the future.

The Why Factory droomt van de Groene Stad. Over de betekenis van het begrip 'groen' heerst verwarring onder ontwerpers, architecten en stedenbouwkundigen. Winy Maas stelt dat groene projecten nog steeds onsamenhangende pogingen zijn waarvan de schaalgrootte het niet haalt bij die van de interventies die in feite nodig zijn. Groen is 'in', maar met het ontwerppotentieel ervan wordt weinig gedaan.

Green Dream stelt vraagtekens bij wat tegenwoordig als 'groen' wordt aangemerkt en onderzoekt in samenwerking met deskundigen hoe de term zou moeten worden gedefnieerd.