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A fierce rainstorm that claimed 37 lives over the weekend in Beijing has raised questions about the capital's ability to cope with flooding.

Many roads in the city were submerged under waist-deep water for hours on Saturday during the downpour, the heaviest the city has seen in 60 years.

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Experts believe the floods are largely the result of urbanization, with vast networks of roads and the elimination of greenbelts decreasing some cities' ability to cope with heavy rain.

Wang Hao, expert with China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, said, more than 80 percent of Beijing's roads are covered in impermeable materials such as concrete and asphalt, which obstructs the infiltration of the rainwater.

However, an investigation led by Li Haiyan, a professor of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, said that about half of the drainage networks in Beijing are filled with sediments as thick as 10 to 50 percent of the pipes' diameter.

Sheng Minzhi, an engineer at the Hangzhou Planning Bureau, said the mass construction of tall buildings and underground parking lots in some Chinese cities has also slowed the rate at which rainwater is absorbed into the ground.

A while ago I watched a program on the Travel Channel called “Don’t Tell My Mom I’m In…”, presented by Diego Buñuel. In one particular episode, the presenter visited Lagos, Nigeria, one of the fastest growing cities on the African continent, and according to a film by Rem Koolhaas, a city that is set to be one of the largest in the world by 2020.

One of the most memorable aspects of the episode for me was the presenter’s visit to the Alaba Market, where a thriving industry centers around the sale of secondhand televisions. This might not be a unique sales offering, given that many people buy and sell used technology all over the world, but the scope of television sales in Alaba, and the environment in which they are sold, is impressive.

In response to this consumer environment, the Alaba Market has even broadened its customer base by launching a website and online store, where people can pay via mobile banking, operated in Nigeria by a service called Pocket Moni. This development is in line with current statistics that Africa is one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world, with over 209 million mobile connections in West Africa alone, according to this infographic.

Why do the Second Avenue subway and the No. 7 train extension cost so many billions of dollars, while major cities in Europe and Asia can build new subway lines at a much cheaper cost? — Posted by Stephen Smith, Villanova, Pa.

One reason projects cost more in the United States is that we allocate less money per capita for infrastructure. Funding for big projects is often uncertain and is delivered in phases. This forces agencies such as the M.T.A. to stretch out the time frame for major projects, which can lead to increased costs.

In too many parts of the world, the places producing most of the food are also places that require significant irrigation. This represents about 70 percent of global fresh water withdrawal, and produces about a third of the world's crops. Many of the places we're growing our food aren’t the places getting the rainfall needed to support such growth, which has caused us to find other ways of getting the water where we want or need it. But groundwater supplies are diminishing.

That's made very clear in this global map, co-produced by ESRI and the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, which shows where most of the world's food is being produced and where the most irrigation is required.

Beijing aims to be as influential on the world stage in social, economic, cultural or political affairs as New York, London or Tokyo are today.  ... "We can see how much progress Beijing has made. It has a reason to be listed as a global city now," said Zhang Yiwu, a Peking University professor. Beijing's hard power is strong enough, but it should pay more attention to its soft power now, he said. "Beijing should attach more importance to its unique culture and political influence, which will give impetus to its progress," Zhang noted.

The expansion of the city to the southwest is part of a plan launched last June by then-President Dmitry Medvedev, "in order to improve the development of the metropolitan area, for the needs of the [international] financial center and simply to make life easier for numerous people," as he then explained. That expansion was made official this week, with the city's footprint growing from 109,100 to 253,100 hectares – a jump from roughly 421 to 977 square miles. That's like taking the cities of New York and New Orleans and adding on the city of Los Angeles.

哥伦比亚大学校友会派对

2. Transportability. Not only is a decent transportation system essential for people to be able to efficiently and affordably get to where they need to go, it is the single most decisive indicator of the degree to which a city respects its dwellers. It is also a great social equalizer.  A city that respects itself and its citizens must have a consistent and reliable public transportation system that as many people as possible can and will use. Amman is long overdue for one.

9. Inclusivity. If you’re a male aged 14-40 in Amman, chances are you know what it is like to be treated like a pariah - with malls, restaurants, coffee shops, cinemas and even public souks barring your entry. On another note, if you are one of the very many Ammanis who do not speak English, chances are you feel like a visitor in your own city, with menus, signs and information unavailable in your country’s mother tongue. Both of these facts are outrageous, and must come to an immediate end.

10.  Conductibility. People are not born knowing how to behave in public places. This is something that needs to be taught, re-taught and taught again. Even in Tokyo, probably the world’s most organized cities, there are constant campaigns telling people what to do and not do. None of this exists in Amman. We need signs and campaigns and reminders and exercises to tell us what to do in various public spaces and situations, and hold us accountable if we do not do it.

15. Adaptability. Amman has always been a magnet for and home to populations from various parts of the region and the world - a haven for those escaping war and persecution, or looking for a fresh start. This is what makes the city so fascinating, and so rich in human heritage and potential. To continue to grow and be a city that is friendly to different kinds of people, we need to focus on our ability to adapt quickly to changes and new populations, and make the best of the human wealth that they bring to our city.

That's not to say, he continues, that you can't put down the fries of your own volition. But from a macro perspective, that one choice isn't the point. "Of course, every person in a society has the free will to adopt any opinion or behavior," he writes. "However, at the global level there are clearly observable trends, even though they represent the result of individual choices…. These individual choices can be much more dependent on global drivers, such as messages widely accepted by the current society norms, rather than a result of free will alone. The use of physics methods would then detect these general trends, in the same way that the seemingly chaotic motion of an enormous number of gas molecules results in a well-defined temperature."

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I asked him what the policy implications of the research might be. He cautiously says that it is an open question, but ventured some thoughts. "The results of our paper may seem to indicate that policies may be more successful if they address the 'obesogenic' environment created by the food industry and marketing forces directly," he writes. "Regulating the food industry (by e.g. making access to higher quality food easier, reducing or eliminating unhealthy food advertisements directed to children, taxing unhealthy processed food, etc., etc., as has been done with anti-smoking campaigns directed towards the tobacco industry) might help to deter the obesity epidemic faster than addressing the personal habits of each individual, one at a time."

After a bitter fight with the developed countries, who wanted the objective of poverty eradication be made subservient to creating a 'green economy', India's demand to put the goal of removing poverty above all other objectives in the final Rio+20 declaration — called "The Future We Want" — was agreed to. The proposal found the unwavering backing of the G77 countries.

The document, agreed upon on Tuesday and presented to the heads of states on Wednesday for final approval, says, "Eradicating poverty is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensible requirement for sustainable development."

Of the 82 listed investor countries in the database, Brazil, India, and China account for 16.5 million ha, or around 24% of the total hectares sold or leased worldwide. India has acquired around 3.2 million ha from East Africa, mainly Ethiopia and Madagascar and 2.1 million ha from southeast Asia (Indonesia and Lao People's Republic). 

Interestingly, India is also among top 10 countries where land has been acquired by other nations. As per the report, around 4.6 million ha land has been acquired from India in 113 separate deals. 

Similar to a progressive tax, the progressive pricing means the water rate will rise exponentially as water consumption increases. China will also adopt high water rates for water-intensive industries and encourage reusing recycled water, according to the plan distributed by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the top economic planner, and two other ministries on Thursday.

11.15.116:30PM - 8:30PMSTUDIO-X NEW YORK, 180 VARICK STREET, SUITE 1610

PANELISTS

Jiang Jun, Amazing Design Geoff Manaugh, BLDGBLOG and Studio-X New York Nicola Twilley, Edible Geography and Studio-X New York

Please join us for a discussion of epistemological constructions with Philip Anzalone, Director of the Laboratory for Applied Building Science at GSAPP.

Thursday October 20, 20119:00AM - 11:00AM

VENUE

Studio-X Mumbai Kitab Mahal Fourth Floor 192, D N Road Fort Mumbai  400 001 (Adjacent to New Excelsior Cinema / entrance on D.N.Road)

Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Hope to see you there.