gallery

Antennas into the future from science, philosophy and art

Antennas into the future from science, philosophy and art

Is there a fundamental flaw in our Western thinking that has led us into the current complex crisis of climate change, loss of biodiversity and scarcity of resources? What can we do, what must we do to come to terms with nature and its great, overarching cycles in a densely populated world? Because this is entirely possible if we make a number of adjustments to our living conditions… including for urban life: the dense city can become nature, in whose great, overarching context we integrate: the city as a biotope, Biotope City.

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Climate Change and Target-Oriented Adaptation Measures 

Climate Change and Target-Oriented Adaptation Measures 

Prof. Helga Kromp-Kolb, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Now available on our YouTube channel:  Climate Change and Target-Oriented Measures If you subscribe to the YOUTUBE CHANNEL BIOTOPE-CITY JOURNAL, you won't miss anything, and you will be...

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THE LOWLINE AIMS HIGH

THE LOWLINE AIMS HIGH

Photo on top: The current abandoned Williamsburg Trolley Terminal space Click on images to enlarge them. They will appear in a new tab. After years of planning, another ambitious project rivaling the Highline in all its aspects, both good and bad – is being realized...

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Building Greening and Fire Protection

Building Greening and Fire Protection

An important topic! The City of Vienna recently introduced new subsidy regulations for the greening and unsealing of buildings - they are exemplary and will certainly lead to a surge in greening, especially in private buildings. And hopefully also provide an impetus...

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The production of the future: urban planning in civil society

The production of the future: urban planning in civil society

This text was published in 1997 in the anthology ‘Zivile Gesellschaft’ (Civil Society) edited by Schmals/Heinelt. 25 years later, it is amazing how accurately the necessity of the urban development strategies outlined for solving urban problems were described back then – and at the same time it is shocking how little of the outlined solution strategies, having lost none of their validity, have penetrated into the reality of society and its planning. Yet such a form of planning would be more necessary than ever in order to put a stop to the problems of nature destruction with its biodiversity and climate change on the one hand and the increasing lack of natural resources and space on the other. It is worth reading!

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Regarder vers l’avenir – tirer les leçons du passé

Regarder vers l’avenir – tirer les leçons du passé

Amsterdam 1671-1672 La 'baie d'or' du Herengracht. Peinture de Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde, Gemeente Museum Amsterdam Le développement d'Amsterdam au 17e siècle comme paradigme de l'urbanisme bleu-vert et un exemple réussi à Vienne aujourd'hui Rien ne semble plus...

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Looking back to the future – learning from the past

Looking back to the future – learning from the past

Amsterdam 1671-1672 The 'Golden Bay' of the Herengracht. Painting by Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam On the development of Amsterdam in the 17th century as a paradigm of blue-green urban planning and on a successful example in today's Vienna...

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Towards an URBAN FUTURE: BIOTOPE CITY

Towards an URBAN FUTURE: BIOTOPE CITY

Building the city of the future – a common saying. But what is really happening? Do we realise what the requirements of the future will be? Cities and city districts have to be built with a time horizon of centuries. We have to build the city of the future TODAY. But what does the future look like that we have to build for? What are its demands?

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Vers l’AVENIR URBAIN: BIOTOPE CITY

Vers l’AVENIR URBAIN: BIOTOPE CITY

La biodiversité menacée et l’expansion croisante des villem- quoi faire? Considérer la ville elle-même comme une forme de nature et donner de l’espace à la nature sous ses diverses formes dans l’environnement construit. C’est ‘voir la ville comme un biotope’, Biotope City. Conclure un contrat social avec la nature !

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The Invasion of Nature into the City

The Invasion of Nature into the City

Integrating biodiverse nature into urban areas: What is possible? What is desirable? How does one do it? Does it even make sense? Rules of the game for citizens and professionals in planning, design and maintenance. Prof.Dr. Helga Fassbinder, Foundation Biotope City...

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Fire protection with facade greening

Fire protection with facade greening

Dr. Dieter Werner, Testing, Inspection and Certification Body of the City of Vienna, Head of the Building Physics Laboratory Is facade greening a fire hazard? The City of Vienna has been investigating the fire behavior of facade greening since 2015. In the meantime,...

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Urban industrial areas as ecological potential

Urban industrial areas as ecological potential

by dr. ir. Robbert Snep, Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands On the youtube canal of BIOTOPE CITY JOURNAL : https://www.youtube.com/@biotopecityjournal8524 At a rapid pace, we are still sealing huge areas of land every day - in Austria, this amounted to...

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Wildlife in The City

Wildlife in The City

The green toad, the field hamster and the alpine bat, many species live next to us in the city.  One man's joy, another man's sorrow? How and why is a rich nature in the city so important on a small and large scale? What opportunities are there for people to...

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Greening Facades – A Historical Introduction

Greening Facades – A Historical Introduction

Greening buildings has a long tradition and has been practiced for thousands of years: it has many advantages – not only aesthetically, but also in terms of its effects on the environment and health. Recently, it has experienced a revival due to climate change.

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CLIMATE CHANGE and GENDER

CLIMATE CHANGE and GENDER

The lecture is now online on our youtube channel ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxCE5njoksg The effects of climate change are not felt equally by everyone. Women, and particularly women from the Global South, are disproportionately affected by climate change and...

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Sociocratic Neighbourhood Circles   SoNeC

Sociocratic Neighbourhood Circles SoNeC

SoNeC is a 26 month-long Erasmus+ project including Biotope City. It is funded by the EU’s “KA2 Strategic Partnerships for adult education” program and addresses serious social and environmental issues by applying neighborhood-based, bottom-up, participatory and inclusive decision making processes.

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Photovoltaic Plantscapes

Photovoltaic Plantscapes

It is a generally accepted requirement that green buildings combined with photovoltaic (PV) energy generation should be increasingly used in cities. However, photovoltaics, the necessary substructure and greening structure must be carefully coordinated. The aim of...

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THE ISLAND OF THE WILD VIENNESE

THE ISLAND OF THE WILD VIENNESE

An uninhabited island in the middle of the big city, where deer and beavers live, where grey herons and cormorants find rich fishing grounds, where marsupial tits build their elaborate nests? A romantic dream? Inner-city nature reserves or fallow land are under high...

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Urban Mining Technical Soils for Biotope Cities

Urban Mining Technical Soils for Biotope Cities

Pia Minixhofer, Bernhard Scharf, Sebastian Hafner, Thomas Romm Growing cities In the coming years, more and more people will live and work in cities (UN 2018). The accompanying need for more housing and infrastructure is causing construction activity to increase....

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SPACE – TIME

SPACE – TIME

Presentation Colette van Landuyt - second participant in QuoVadis? 2222 Summary: The break between space and time in Western culture resulted in a radical break with nature. Nature is not sensitive to ideologies; it does for its effects. GAIA rebels through...

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A recyclable space-time ratio

A recyclable space-time ratio

This essay by Gilles Clement, the famous french paysagist is written 10 years ago – today his urgency is increased only! Recommanded by the editors.

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50 years ARCH+

50 years ARCH+

by Helga Fassbinder. Formerly a critical magazin.What function does it fulfil today? Are the major challenges of the future – climate change, loss of biodiversity, scarcity of resources – reflected in terms of construction and planning?

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Michael Sorkin 1948-2020

On March 26, 2020, architect and publicist Michael Sorkin died after being infected with the corona virus. Sorkin was a warm advocate of “green urbanism”.

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Mercator Swimming pool Amsterdam

Mercator Swimming pool Amsterdam

10 Years ago: By protest of the neighbourhood the swimming pool in a inner city park of Amsterdam could only been built completely covered by green. Architect VenhoevenCS, green architekt Patrick Blanc

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Biotope City Symposium Eindhoven

Biotope City Symposium Eindhoven

Organized by Foundation Biotope City, Architectuurcentrum Eindhoven, Eindhoven University of Technology and Eindhoven municipality.
The Symposium, originally planned May 15, 2020, will take place later this year at Eindhoven. We hope to be able to announce the new date soon !

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Invisible Treasures of a Biotope City

Invisible Treasures of a Biotope City

The Biotope City Wienerberg contains many qualities that will not be immediately visible after completion at the end of 2020. Now IBA Vienna has published the broschure “Hidden Treasures”, which describes the hidden treasures of this forward-looking green district.

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REGE

REGE

Wie mache ich Bürgern klar, wie wichtig die verschiedenen Möglichkeiten von Regenwasser-Rückhaltung durch Begrünen sind? Prof. Daniel Roer, University of British Columbia,Vancouver, stellt eine Methode vor.

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KRISE FINDET STADT

KRISE FINDET STADT

Die KUPFzeitung ist das kulturpolitische Magazin der Kulturplattform OÖ. Sie ist ein zentrales Medium des Kulturdiskurses in Oberösterreich.

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THE BIOTOPE CITY WIENERBERG

THE BIOTOPE CITY WIENERBERG

A BIOTOPE-CITY-QUARTIER FOR VIENNA Helga Fassbinder In Vienna, a 'Biotope City' district is currently under construction. A neighborhood based on the principles of Biotope City: the realization of a dense urban neighborhood as nature in a close juxtaposition with...

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Urban Farming by the City of Vienna

Urban Farming by the City of Vienna

Urban farming for climate change mitigation Press Service of the City of Vienna Mayor Ludwig and City Councillor Sima: Active against climate change with vegetables from ViennaVienna pensioners' homes enjoy organic potatoes from Vienna - new logistics save...

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pioneer ot hoffmann

pioneer ot hoffmann

Ein Gebäude mitten in der Stadt, bewachsen mit Bäumen auf allen Etagen, gebaut schon in den 70er Jahren, lange vor dem Mailänder Bosco Vertikale. Ein Interview mit dem Architekten

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WORLD CONGRESS OF BUILDING GREENING 2020

WORLD CONGRESS OF BUILDING GREENING 2020

    Congress of roof, façade and interior greeningThe Federal Association Building Green e. V. (BuGG) as organizer and organizer of the World Congress Building Green 2020 is an association of scientists, planners, executives, producers, countries / cities and...

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A CHARTER FOR THE BERLIN TOWN GREEN

A CHARTER FOR THE BERLIN TOWN GREEN

Vom 14. Mai 2019 bis zum 11. Juni 2019 fand die zweite Online-Beteiligungsphase zur Charta für das Berliner Stadtgrün statt. Sie ist nun abgeschlossen. Das Verfahren geht weiter.

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Ecology and a forest tower

Ecology and a forest tower

Eine Erkundung des Trudo-Waldturms durch Harrie van Helmond, Architekt und Mitglied von Biotope-City, Jannie Landa, aktiver Stadtgrüner und Mitglied von IVN Eindhoven und Tom van Duuren, Forstdirektor und Mitglied von Wilde Weelde, Abteilung für natürliche Umwelt.

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Biotope City – the Gardencity of the 21thCentury

Wie können wir den Lebensraum des Menschen so einrichten und regulieren, dass er in einem Zusammenspiel mit anderen Arten von Leben seine Lebenszeit so gut und gesund wie möglich verbringen kann? Es gilt, die guten Ideen der Gartenstadt zu übersetzen auf die Situation des 21.Jhds.
– Helga Fassbinder –

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Ecology and Madness

Ecology and Madness

‘Ökologie und Wahnsinn’ – ein Symposium auf Burg Hülshoff am 13.Sept.19 im Rahmen des Festivals ‘Natur am Bau’

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The Vienna Biotope City in the Press

The Vienna Biotope City in the Press

The Vienna Biotope City in the Press   In the Austrian daily newspaper DER STANDARD an article about the Biotope City in Vienna is published in March 2019. Woichiech Czaja emphazises the stimulating effect of green on people’s mind and adds by this another argument to...

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To grow a fence, a bench, a town!

To grow a fence, a bench, a town!

To grow a fence, a bench, a town! An interview with Bob Radstake    Leora Rosner When Bob Radstake returned from a trip to Australia he realised how much he missed seeing nature within urban areas. As he states, “I was walking along the street when the idea just fell...

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Amsterdam City Hall roof planted

Amsterdam City Hall roof planted

Amsterdam City Hall roof planted Leora Rosner Due to the tenacity of one person a seed was planted and nurtured until it grew and began to blossom. The story of planting the roof of the City Hall of Amsterdam (the Stopera) began in April of 2007 when a letter was sent...

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Wild or not: which do you prefer?

Wild or not: which do you prefer?

Wild or not: which do you prefer?  Leora Rosner Wild gardens in our steel, glass and brick jungles offer a softer view. Placed along facades where one would generally never see a garden, because of lack of interest, wild gardens would help create a greener...

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A BIOTOPE CITY QUARTIER FOR VIENNA

A BIOTOPE CITY QUARTIER FOR VIENNA

In Vienna, a ‘Biotope City’ district is currently under construction. A neighborhood based on the principles of Biotope City: the realization of a dense urban neighborhood as nature in a close juxtaposition with human, their homes, nearby shops, school, kindergarten, and species of flora and fauna, each with their own, closely interlinked sphere of life.

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A Wall in the Change of Seasons

A Wall in the Change of Seasons

A Wall in the Change of Seasons Irene Zluwa The contribution of Irene Zluwa is the result of a study of plants that have a good chance of surviving wall greening. This is certainly interesting for those who want to realize greening the grey house...

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THE PIONEERS OF URBAN GREEN: HARRY GLÜCK

THE PIONEERS OF URBAN GREEN: HARRY GLÜCK

He is the grand old man of the Austrian social housing architecture, famous for Alterlaa, mass housing high-rise buildings, without any problems, but only highly satisfied tenants. By Helga Fassbinder

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FREI OTTO: HOUSES IN THE TREE – BERLIN 1987

FREI OTTO: HOUSES IN THE TREE – BERLIN 1987

FREI OTTO: HOUSES IN THE TREE - BERLIN 1987 Director, camera, Editor: Beate LendtProduction: Gerald Lindner & Beate LendtMusic and sound: Vladimir Rakic Film: House in the tree (trailer)            http://architekturclips.de/treehouse Living in a tree...

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A COMMUNITY GARDEN…. ON THE ROOFTOP OF A SCHOOL

A COMMUNITY GARDEN…. ON THE ROOFTOP OF A SCHOOL

A COMMUNITY GARDEN.... ON THE ROOFTOP OF A SCHOOL Editors Biotope City Journal Paris: A community garden as a green injection on the rooftop of a school - now 3 years later: Since several years the city of Paris makes great efforts to improve the air...

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I am the city

I am the city

I am the city   Leora Rosner   I am the city Stone, brick, mortar, steel and glass My arteries are the streets The sidewalks my veins My people are the muscles Of my perambulations My breath is short and strained and I am feverish I am the city Nigh...

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WILDLIFE IN THE CITY

WILDLIFE IN THE CITY

The formula “The City as Nature” asks for a definition how one understands by nature. Where to start? Where does it belong? The question is explosive, especially among biologists but also among ordinary people: when nature has to be saved: which one? The nature in the state of hundred years ago?

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WILDLIFE IN THE CITY

WILDLIFE IN THE CITY

WILDPARK CITY Helga Fassbinder The formula “The  City as Nature” asks for a definition how one understands by nature. Where to start? Where does it belong? The question is explosive, especially among biologists but also among ordinary people: when nature has...

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE GREEN

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE GREEN

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE GREEN Statement at Alpbach Built Environment Symposium 31.8.-1.9.2012 "Creating Living Spaces - How will we live in the future"   Helga Fassbinder We are living in a time of fundamental changes. In building too, it seems as if we...

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HOMO URBANUS – the man of the urban future

HOMO URBANUS – the man of the urban future

HOMO URBANUS - the man of the urban future Jelle Reumer ‘The environment selects’ is a well-known Darwinist paradigm. The idea also holds water when the environment changes, in which case the changed environment selects. An environment without...

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LIVING ROOFS – A catalyst for building communities

LIVING ROOFS – A catalyst for building communities

LIVING ROOFS – A catalyst for building communities Charlie Green, Jane Riddiford 1. Introduction This article is based what we have been discovering through the development of a Living Roof on top of an office building in Kings Cross, Central London. The project has...

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URBAN COOTS

URBAN COOTS

URBAN COOTS - URBANE BLESSHÜHNER -              FOULQUES URBAINES - WATERHOENTJES Sema Bekiroviç In the canals of Amsterdam they are often to be seen: coot that fourage on the caddis walls, build their nests and hatch their eggs and then swim through the water with...

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