Introducing “Remarkable Objects,” a podcast from DeepRoot Green Infrastructure about the intersection of nature and urban design. 

Each episode will be a 15 to 20 minute interview with someone working at the intersection of nature and the urban environment. I’ll talk to them about their work and experience, and we’ll discuss what it means for the future of cities. Guests will include academics, designers, policy makers, and more. Episodes will cover everything from environmental justice, to the rise of the parklets, to creating "people habitat."

How can we incorporate nature into our cities in new, meaningful ways – creating healthy, sustainable places for people? What are the ideas, practices, and policies that will make our cities and towns more resilient? 

Remarkable Objects will push this conversation forward by introducing you to people and ideas that are advancing our thinking about what nature in cities can and should be.

Want even more? Follow us on Twitter @RemarkableShow.

Music: “Add And” (Broke for Free)


Introducing Remarkable Objects

In this session, we’ll dig a bit deeper into the whys of live video — and discuss what might come next. When has live news coverage made sense in the past? What are the ethical and editorial concerns? How should we navigate our relationship with platforms? And can we arrive at some best practices? You can find the slides to this presentation at scifri.me/ONA16Livestreaming 

F* It, We'll Do It Live: Workshopping The Hows & Whys Of Live Stream Part II

Barbara Deutsch is the Executive Director at the Landscape Architecture Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to research, scholarship, and advocacy.

She and her small team are trying to advance the landscape architecture perspective by quantifying the benefits provided by landscape elements like plants and water. For the past six years they’ve been building a collection of over 100 case studies from projects across the United States. Each case study evaluates the landscape’s contributions in three areas: social, environmental, and economic. 

The purpose of the case studies is to arm designers and policy makers with persuasive, research-driven evidence of the value of the landscape to achieve sustainable urban design. By measuring the performance of landscapes, they’re creating tools in the movement to change minds and policies – and, ultimately, the places we live. 

This podcast is a production of DeepRoot Green Infrastructure, LLC (www.deeproot.com).
For more information about Landscape Architecture Foundation, visit www.lafoundation.org.

Music:
Dave Depper, “Picturebook”
Podington Bear, “Lilywhite” and “Nature Kid”

Quantifying the Landscape

Robert Goo loves water – we mean LOVES it. And he’s devoted nearly thirty years of his professional career to improving the health of our water resources. Robert works in the Office of Water for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; he focuses on how we develop and design our cities and infrastructure to preserve water quality.

How do we reduce the amount of pollutants that get discharged into our waterways? And how can we alter our design and construction methods to create more nature-based development patterns that protect this invaluable resource?

These are some of the questions Robert is trying to answer. One solution that he sees as elemental to this effort is green streets – a design paradigm he hopes will become the new normal. 

This podcast is a production of DeepRoot Green Infrastructure, LLC 
(www.deeproot.com).

Music: “Springtime,” “Dramamine” (Podington Bear)

The Mighty Green Street

Cities are, almost by definition, slow-moving entities. But a playful design form known as the parklet has changed that, allowing everyday citizens to participate in making their neighborhoods more friendly, walkable, and generous. 

Robin Abad Ocubillo is the urban designer and lead policy planner for the San Francisco parklets program, and he has led the effort within the city of taking the unusual step of actually incorporating parklets into city code, thereby formalizing the important role they can play in the urban landscape.

This podcast is a production of DeepRoot Green Infrastructure, LLC (www.deeproot.com).

For more information about parklets in San Francisco, follow their work on Twitter @sfplanning, @pavement2parks, and online at parklets.org.

Music:
“Light Touch,” “Trickledown” (Podington Bear)
“Only Knows” (Broke for Free)

Hacking the City

The state of Minnesota has done something very unusual: they’ve formally recognized street trees, and the soil they grow in, as a best management practice for stormwater regulations. And they’ve created a crediting system to use street trees and soils to meet statewide regulatory standards. Our guest, Randy Neprash is a civil engineer and the sole staff member for the Minnesota Cities Stormwater Coalition, an organization of cities in Minnesota that are regulated for their stormwater discharges. 

Minnesota is the only state that we know of that has done this, and it could completely change not just how we manage water, but how well we sustain another key form of green infrastructure – the urban forest. 

This podcast is a production of DeepRoot Green Infrastructure, LLC (www.deeproot.com).

For more information about the Minnesota Stormwater Manual calculator, visit http://stormwater.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/MIDS_calculator.

Music:
Broke for Free, “If, “Night Owl”
Blue Dot Sessions, “Denzel Sprak”

Creativity and Constraints

A podcast about the intersection of nature and urban design.