The Future of Norfolk: Future Challenges, Future Technologies, and Future Mindsets

In the year 2030, I view the city of Norfolk in a different perspective compared to how the city looks and operates as of today. As an urban planner, I intend to see many eco-friendly buildings and cars. My main goal is to build something similar to the rotating tower located in Dubai, here in Norfolk. Are we able to get ideas from other countries and implement it here in Norfolk? In my opinion, I believe so.  The rotating tower takes the architectural design field into another level. This tower will be able to produces its own electricity by the help of the wind turbines that will be located horizontally between one floor and the next. This idea will help the environment and the City of Norfolk, by attracting tourists. In addition, that will increase our tourism money. Another aspect that will help with generating tourism revenue is by cleaning our beaches and keeping them clean.

Recycling is a very important factor that needs to be put to work. Most of us know that we are supposed to recycle to help the environment, but how many people do you see recycling their water bottles or anything? Not many. This is because there are not a lot of companies that recycle everything and anything. There is only one big company called Tidewater Fibre Corp Recycling in Norfolk that recycles everything. Other recycling companies tend to only recycle specific things. Most people, including me will do something if it is in reach and easy. By providing recycling bins all around the city, I believe it will increase the participation of recycling. We all have the power to be the change that we want to see. Norfolk has tried to use renewable sources but it has never been put into action. The proposal has no meaning if it is not put to action and we cannot see the results. That does not mean we have to rely solely on renewable sources because we cannot trust nature to provide us with everything. At least, we could use some of what nature provides us with a limitation of to how much extent we rely on it.

Community gardens are also another main aspect to fulfill this journey of making Norfolk a better place. Community gardens have many benefits for the residents and the city itself. It “ [increases] the social interaction, beautifies Neighborhoods, [advance economical] development, conserves resources, reduce city heat, produces nutritious food, reduces family food budgets,[and] provides opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections.”

As an urban planner, I portray the City of Norfolk to be a place where it’ll become a tourist attraction and a better place for its residents to live in, to be proud of what their city has to offer and enjoy their stay at Norfolk.

Below is a link to my presentation…

The Future of Norfolk, Enjoy! 🙂

Important information related to Assignment 3: The Rotating Tower

My main concentration for this assignment was the rotating tower and the possibility of being able to build the same things here in Norfolk, in the year 2030. The rotating tower is found in Dubai. It changes its shape according to the energy it receives from the wind and/or the sun. “The ’tower in motion’ is a revolutionary project based on “Dynamic Architecture”, a new concept introduced by Florentine architect David Fisher. The project has generated considerable interest all over the world even before its launch, as a trend-setting architecture”[1]. Almost 90% of this building is going to be constructed at an industrial plant. The only thing that is expected to be built on-site is the central core. The building will consist of 12 modules that will arrive ready with plumbing, electrical and air condition system on site after the central core has been completed. For a traditional building to be built it takes over 2,000 workers to complete, but this building only requires 90 technicians, which saves money. Another important factor of this building is that it’s environmentally friendly. The building also generates its own electricity and it is all because of the 48 wind turbines.It is  designed to produce more energy that it consumes. . The finished product will consist of 68 floors and will be 313 meters (1,027) high[1].

---

[1] Mahmood,F. (2007, April 12). Dubai Will Build & Export Rotating Pre-Fabricated Units For Rotating Towers. Retrieved January 23, 2012 from Fahad Inc. Web Site: http://www.fahad.com/2007/04/dubai-will-build-export-rotating-pre.html

“The Shareable Future of Cities”

• How many people does Steffen estimate we will have living in or near cities by mid-century?

–          By mid-century, we will have an estimate of eight billion or more people living in or near cities.

• Explain how you agree or disagree with Steffen’s point that our energy use is “predestined” rather than “behavioral”.

–          I agree with Steffen’s point that our energy is “predestined” rather than “behavioral” because we have a general understanding of how certain things will work and how they will affect us. For instance, if we are talking about transportation, we know that the more people drive their car the more emission is released to our air.

• What correlation does Steffen make between a city’s density and its climate emissions?

–          In transportation, he explains the direct relationship between how dense a city is and the amount of climate emission it releases into the air. Denser places tend to have lower emission.

• What are the “eco districts” that Steffen mentions? How you see these as feasible or unfeasible in a city like Norfolk?

–          The “eco districts” that Steffen mentions includes the infill development, the turban retrofitting, and the tentpole density.  I would see these to be feasible in a city like Norfolk because if Norfolk is trying to be more sustainable and eco-friendly these “eco districts” that Steffen mentioned will a good idea to see being implemented in this city.

• Explain how you agree or disagree with the “threshold effect” that Steffen discusses related to transportation.

–          I agree with Steffen idea of the “threshold effect” because I think if people are surrounded by places that makes them feel at home and they can get to places easily without the use of their motor vehicles then they would drive or take another type of motor vehicle. That will help reduce the transportation emission by more than half percent.

• What does Steffen mean by the idea that, “…even space itself is turning into a service…”? Can you provide any examples that you see here in Norfolk or elsewhere?

–          The places that we think have no use in them, like a vacant space is now being turned into a place where it has a purpose, which can include form sharing it with somebody else to put into any other use. I am not very sure if play grounds would be considered as a vacant space that anybody uses but I am not very aware of any other places at the moment.

• Describe your understanding of Steffen’s argument that, “…it’s not about the leaves above, but the systems below…”

–          It is not all the green leaves and nice trees that is looked from above, what matters is what is below those threes and what they are made of. All these “going green” projects have to be able to connect us back to our ecosystem and make the city more sustainable.

• Finally, overall in what way(s) do you see Steffen’s ideas working / not working here in Norfolk? Spend time with this question!

–          In my opinion, Steffens idea will work in Norfolk. Norfolk is an urbanized city, which means all the ideas that Steffen stated have a possibility of working. Every city wants to be able to grow to make it a better place for their residents and Norfolk is included in that category. The “eco-districts” and threshold effects that were stated in this video are some very good idea to implement for the city of Norfolk. It will reduce the transportation emission making this city a cleaner surrounded air. The amount of energy spent on the heating and cooling of building around Norfolk can be reduced by lighting the building with daylight and heating them with sunshine. All of these ideas are not very challenging for the average Norfolk resident to do as a daily activity. The city of Norfolk has many of these resources to apply the ideas that were stated by Steffen. Everyone has a share part in changing our climate.

The result of walking and texting: A lady fell in the fountain

Watch this video ……………

 

Abstract 1: A new state of fear

Kaplan, D. (2001). A new state of fear. (cover story). U.S. News & World Report, 131(17), 14.

Aren’t we all afraid to know that something mass destructive will come and we would not be able to control it? In this article, a new state of fear was spread all around the United States of America in 2001. Anthrax[1] was being put in envelopes and shipped to people with their mails. The first attack was to an associate named Reno,  who worked in Microsoft office named. He opened the envelope and was quickly infected by Anthrax.  An anchorman for NBC News tested positive for anthrax after he opened an envelope. He told the officials that he had found a white power like substance inside the envelope. The officials quickly became aware that this white like substance was Anthrax and that the people of the United States should be warned. They sent out a mass media warning telling the people that they should not opened any mail that has a strange odor, any kind of stains especially oily and misspelled words. The nation was in a shock. FBI has changed their investigation of the September 11 hijacker to finding who is spreading this anthrax through our mails. “As reports of powder and panic spread across the country… many Americans got an unwelcome introduction to a disease that farmers have known in animals since biblical times” (Kaplan, 2001). Laboratories were swamped with nasal swabs and blood testing for anthrax from people that may have been exposed to the bacterium. This new state of fear was a wake-up call that any kind biological, chemical or any kind of nuclear arms can destroy our nation and would we be capable of protecting ourselves.

This article has a very important message to show our nation that it is not fully advanced in technology to protect us from everything. I think since this article has been written, we have become aware that an incident like this might happen again and that we should always be on a look out. Since 2001, I believe our technology has become highly advanced. I would hope that we have developed some type of technology to cure or prevent anthrax. I believe that technology is our best tool to use in developing highly efficient methods that will help a lot of people in a short period of time.

 

 

---

[1] Anthrax: Anthrax is an infectious disease due to a type of bacteria called Bacillus anthracis. Infection in humans most often involves the skin, gastrointestinal tract, or lungs (PubMed Health).

 

My relationship with technology

I use my cellphone everyday, from my waking minutes to when I fall asleep. My major is associated with technology. As a civil engineering technology major, we use a lot of new technologies. We all use technology everyday for different purposes.

How is SOPA and PIPA going to change our lives???

What’s your input on this …

You would think it would be a good idea to invest in tech-companies like Facebook , right?…

 

Facebook is a very popular social network now, as many of you would use it to socialize with others. As I was reading in this article, it stated that tech-companies like Facebook are more likely not to be as known and be generating a lot of money in 20 years from now. Social networks change so fast. It was yesterday when everybody was on Myspace. Then came Facebook a couple years ago and now where is Myspace? who uses Myspace? very few people maybe none. Twitter is also starting to take over somehow and before we know it, Facebook might also turn like Myspace. The rapid change of the social networks makes them not appealing to long-term investors. Websites like Amazon.com(AMZN) and Netflix.com(NFLX) has been around for quite a while and it will be a very long time before they stop generating money. These are the type of website that are good to invest in.

link to Article: http://20smoney.com/2011/05/04/the-next-tech-bubble/

:)

This is not my first blog post ever, but it sure is my first blog post on wordpress.com. I like it so far.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. After you read this, you should delete and write your own post, with a new title above. Or hit Add New on the left (of the admin dashboard) to start a fresh post.

Here are some suggestions for your first post.

1. You can find new ideas for what to blog about by reading the Daily Post.
2. Add PressThis to your browser. It creates a new blog post for you about any interesting  page you read on the web.
3. Make some changes to this page, and then hit preview on the right. You can always preview any post or edit it before you share it to the world.