ecological awareness

The Sunimplant project participated in the latest edition of the Solar Decathlon, which was held for the first time in Africa. The international competition, which takes place every two years, challenges teams including students to develop highly efficient and innovative buildings that run solely on solar energy. 

Sunimplant aims to be truly sustainable and therefore not only uses technology to address higher energy efficiency requirements and climate emergency demands, but also considers the health of habitats using remediation knowledge. 

In 2019, the public initiative "Give the rivers back to the cities" united citizens around the Podborenka River, which flows through the entire length of Izhevsk. 

In an urbanised environment, the Podborenka River has become deserted due to water pollution, poor stormwater management, pollution from roads and industry, soil erosion and landfills in the valleys. Therefore, the primary objective of the project is to increase urban resource efficiency and to create new scenarios for resource use in a small river basin. 

Parks are the highest sustainable lifestyle in the world, providing a net-zero lifestyle for 150,000 residents. The city will produce 100% of its energy, water and food on site to become a self-sufficient destination.

The 1700 hectare smart city is planned for the eastern region of South Africa. The development will provide a variety of mixed-use centres such as residential, health, tourism, entertainment, retail and education centres. The 40 000 residential units will be spread over 12 residential areas.

Dubai's Urban Tech District will be a living laboratory where innovation and entrepreneurship in urban technology will flourish together.

Located in Dubai's Al Jaddaf Creekside, the Urban Tech District will create 4,000 jobs in green urban technology, education and training. It will also host venture capital to fuel entrepreneurs, creating a unique collaborative urban technology ecosystem.

Nexgen, a sustainable city designed by URB, will be the world's first climate-positive city, producing more energy and food than it consumes. The city is designed to provide food, energy and water security while also creating a green economy.

The 580-hectare sustainable city, planned for the eastern district of Cairo, Egypt, will provide 9,000 housing units for 35,000 residents. The project will create 10,000 jobs, most of which will focus on green technology industries such as food, energy, water and waste, creating a circular green economy for the city.

ALNAMA is planned to become a smart, carbon-free destination. The city will promote sustainable living in a 10 square kilometre community, with various nodes including residential, educational, commercial, tourist and health centres.

The smart city of Riyadh is planned to provide 11,000 housing units for a population of 44,000. The 1,000 hectare development will create 10,000 jobs in various sectors, including green technology industries, to create a green circular economy for the city.

Oxagon will be a place where innovators and entrepreneurs can accelerate the development of ideas from lab to market, and a city where people come together to live, work and play in thriving communities. Its fully automated, next-generation port will offer unparalleled connectivity to global markets, enabled by an integrated physical and digital supply chain.

Oxagon will be a catalyst for economic growth and diversity in the NEOM and will help redefine the way the world approaches industrial development in the future, protecting the environment while creating jobs and growth.

The fire juggler couple, Krisztina and Krisztián, have chosen eco-architecture as the reason for starting their 3D adobe house printing project. Social responsibility and sustainability led them to self-sufficiency, of which eco-architecture is a part. 

The couple started to take a more serious interest in 3D printing when they started to use new materials, not just concrete. The ecological footprint of adobe is very small, and under ideal conditions it can be worked largely from subsoil, which does not need to be transported. 

Oceanix designs and builds floating cities for people that are in harmony with nature, so that they can provide a sustainable living space for people. The aim is to create new coastal land that adapts to sea level rise. 

The Orbit is a “vision for a next-generation community”, one that will transform Innisfil, a farming town of 43,000 people in Ontario with a raft of new technologies. “The Orbit is a cutting-edge community where small town and rural lifestyles co-exist with the benefits and attributes of urban living,” the development company said in a statement. The project was “catalysed” by the decision to start construction of a “next-generation transit hub”, GO Metrolinx, which will provide better connections to the likes of Toronto, just 60km away when it opens at some point between 2022 and 2025.