A small manufacturer of wind turbines in Colorado Springs, Colorado is ramping up to become the city’s first renewable-energy company, specializing in small wind systems for urban homes.

Designing Cities for Food

Nicola Twilley and Sarah Rich are launching a project called Foodprint NYC with the goal of creating a comprehensive vision for a food policy for New York.

Knit a Tea Cosy and Save Energy

This beauty of a tea cosy was designed in association with npower, an energy company. The idea is to encourage drinkers to make tea in a pot instead of a mug or cup. This will reduce the number of times we boil our kettles, thus reducing the amount of household energy we use.

Smart Solar Street Lights

Created by Phillips Design, the Sustainable City Lights concept just may be the most intelligent and energy efficient urban lighting solution around.

These solar and wind-powered LED street lights are modeled after the movements of a flower, with photovoltaic petals opening up to the available light in the daytime and harvesting available solar energy. At night the solar petals fold up and the LEDs light up the city streets.

The End of Sprawl As We Know It…NOT

This wish, however, is based on two highly suspect premises: The quest for larger homes and more land is based on transient and opportunistic desires, and long-run housing choices are constrained by current transportation technologies. Both premises are false, and ignoring them will fundamentally compromise attempts to: 1) build new cities, and 2) revitalize our existing ones.

Stunning Green Roofed Apartment Building Rises in Amsterdam

The guiding design principle for this Amsterdam building was for each apartment to have access to light and the exterior of the building. Utilities, storage spaces, and other structural elements of the building are located in the center of the building. Access to each apartment is reached by a central walkway, or ‘mini canyon’ in the center of the block, which cuts diagonally across the building. With all the necessities located in the center, each apartment has complete access to unobstructed views and tons of natural daylight, although they should probably invest in some good curtains for privacy.

SUBURBAN DESIGN: SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE

Remember that Fisher Price toy – “Baby’s First Blocks”? It was supposed to teach us one of life’s first lessons: Place a square shape in a square hole, and a round shape in a round hole. We’re supposed to understand this idea before we learn to say our first words, or to walk. Yet in the development of our neighborhoods, we have put that square shape into every hole, no matter what the shape of that hole.

Rabbit, run: bunny is the new must-eat meat

Many of the people in attendance were considering raising their own backyard bunnies for meat. Indeed, rabbit is being hailed “the most sustainable meat for the city farmer.”

“The biggest reason that rabbits are a sustainable meat choice is that they eat forage, which is not useful for humans. This means that rabbits don’t compete with us for food calories,” says Mark Pasternak of Devil’s Gulch Ranch.

Private transit less rare than you’d think

Privatized transit might be a radical notion in downtown Toronto. But at least two major regional transit operators already contract their operations

A Canadian Journalist on Riding His Bike All Winter

The Globe and Mail’s new City Hall columnist Marcus Gee may not know anything about architectural preservation, but he rides his bike all winter in Toronto and appears to know what he writes about on that subject. After two winters of cycling, he has concluded that “it’s far safer and more comfortable than you might imagine and a lot more fun.

Cities butt heads with mini-goat owners

As interest in urban farming increases, goat fans are asking more city officials if they can keep miniature goats in their backyard.

“If you can have a 250-pound dog in town, why not a miniature goat that can produce milk? It’s just common sense.” Priscilla Pimentel, a member of the Sustainability Commission in Carbondale, Ill., says in a story today by USA TODAYcolleague Judy Keen.

Now Just the headlines:

Cash-Strapped States Delay Paying Income-Tax Refunds

Tent Cities: National Coalition For The Homeless Begins New Study Of Encampments

Travel like a locavore

Hume: Toronto’s ‘little’ details a big deal for residents

Want Food Security? Start Seeing Staples.

Industrial Bikes that Get the Job Done (Slideshow)

Cool Roofs and Earth Tube Air Conditioning in Renew Magazine

Montreal pedestrianizes “12!” blocks for the summer

Build a better city: The Star has recruited 30 bloggers to ignite a debate ahead of election day, Oct. 25, about how to make the city great

Natural Stone Permeable Paving System

Finally, the Americans are getting that typical Canadian sense of working an international branch plant.