Concrete Playground

Sydney residents will be donning their gardening gloves and taking to the streets in an attempt to vivify the city’s increasingly banal footpaths.The City of Sydney has instigated a new gardening initiative, designed to increase the flora next to our city's streets, and thereby protecting local habitats, improving air quality...

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Urban beekeepers in Australia are on the increase, with more and more people besotted by an unusual new love affair with backyard native beekeeping. According to Sydney's Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, the new trend has brought an element of nature back to the city, where residents and native bees alike are...

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In an ironic makeover, a former Chicago meatpacking plant and slaughterhouse has found a new purpose as the city's first self-sustaining, vertical farm. Located in Chi-Town's Union Stock Yards, the 93,500 square foot brick building once specialised in mass-producing red meat - one of the least environmentally-friendly industries out there....

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Last month, NSW government announced plans to retire the monorail. Hooray! But what next?Landscape architect David Vago thinks he may have the (most sustainable) answer: reuse the infrastructure. Many of us had already dreamed of how much better the CBD pathways would look and feel without the intrusive, ugly track...

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You're sure to be a little worn out from your Earth Day's tree-hugging and recycling activities, so why not relax with an eco-friendly cocktail? These 100% organic drinks will keep you in the green holiday spirit.Like any cocktail, these begin with quality (and in this case, organic) liquor. Some Earth...

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Joining vinyl records and 8-track tapes on the dusty shelf of obsoleteness, CDs have fallen by the wayside. In 2011, the number of people in the US who downloaded their music had far surpassed that of people who bought physical albums. In an era when our grandchildren won't know what...

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A group of Yale University professors and students may have discovered an unconventional solution to the earth's growing waste problem: fungi.Participating in the university's Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory educational program, students engaged in discovery-based research, searching for plants and culturing the micro-organisms within their tissue. It was through this process...

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Unlike us, cats love contorting their bodies into confined spaces. Whether it's cardboard boxes, flower pots or bathroom basins, kitties can be often found squeezing their slinky selves into obscure areas. Now, thanks to Oregon-based Etsy seller AtomicAttic, your furry friend can now relax in the stylish confines of an...

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Perhaps it’s the simplicity of this practical, environmentally-friendly and rather smart looking pallet garden that’s so inspiring. It looks like something every urban dweller should be doing - it’s neat, space-saving, and an ideal solution for maintaining a herb, flower or veg garden in the city. Better looking than the...

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On July 4, 2010, Michiel Roodenburg and Joost Notenboom from the Netherlands embarked on a 20-month journey, and after cycling across over 15 countries the two recently finished their journey in Antarctica. Their ‘Cycle for Water’ campaign is the first attempt in history to travel from the Arctic Circle to Antartica...

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When you consider the ever-inflating costs associated with owning your own patch of urban paradise, it’s little wonder that people are turning to a more compact way of living.In response, quirky micro houses are appearing in cities around the globe, as architects and owners turn their attention to designing houses...

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The impending consequences of the earth's dwindling water supply are no mystery. The question that we all need answered, however, is how to replenish it. French physicist Jérôme Kasparian, may have a solution with his new seeding condensation method.'Laser-assisted water condensation' is a water-collecting technique which employs powerful lasers. At...

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