A Bike, When You Need One

How many city folk have experienced the sudden need to get to another part of town, and quickly--the race is on, you think, as you calculate the time it will take to get your car out of the parking garage or flag down a taxi. "If only I had a bike right now," you lament, "I could just hop on and zip over."

Luckily for the health--and perhaps sanity--of urban dwellers, the system of bike sharing has caught on, and is spreading.

Yesterday, I was strolling in Busan when I ran into my first U-Bike stand. An inconspicuous rack of about 25 bikes with a screen kiosk made it easy for pedestrians to hop on and ride off to another part of the city (which, I must say, experiences snarling traffic rough enough to put a Manhattan-bred driver ill at ease).

The U-Bike stand in Busan is one of eight pilot programs in Korea, modeled after South Gyeongsang's Nubija (Nearby Useful Bike, Interesting Joyful Attraction) program of 20 stations, 430 bicycles for rent and over 3,000 users a day. Nubija, in case you're curious, was modeled after Paris' Vélib' program that launched in the summer of 2007 and now boasts "1,750 stations across the city and neighbouring suburbs [and has] a maximum of 24,000 bikes in operation at any one time," according to a 2010 Guardian Article by Leo Hickman.

21st Century Agriculture: Rooftops and Store Shelves Welcomed, Soil Need Not Apply

Growing food in urban areas has existed for some time, whether herbs and tomatoes are grown from one's balcony or window bed, or a supermarket staple like New York's Zabar's invests in greenhouses atop their Upper East Side buildings. Recently, the process of hydroponically growing these fruits and vegetables atop urban roofs has gained notoriety.

"Hydroponics (from the Greek words hydro [water] and ponos [labor]) is a centuries-old method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions in water and without soil." (Urban Gardening, Part 1: The Hydroponic Lab on the Roof, Ted Madden, TechNewsWorld June 22, 2010)

Because of limited space, many urban areas are looking to make use of their rooftops--and because of the weight-savings that hydroponically growing your vegetables provides, this process is gaining in popularity. Meet, for example, Gotham Greens:

"Gotham Greens is creating New York City’s first commercial scale greenhouse farm. The 15,000ft2 rooftop greenhouse facility will annually produce over 30 tons of premium quality, pesticide-free, sustainably-grown, vegetables, fruit, and culinary herbs. The farm will combine technically sophisticated Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) techniques with unique energy saving innovations. The produce grown will be sold under the Gotham Greens brand at grocery stores and farmer’s markets, as well as restaurants across the city. The greenhouse facility will begin crop production in 2011." (Gotham Greens website)

However, this new concept isn't void of its own challenges. The weight of greenhouses, collecting fertilizer runoff, transporting items to and from the rooftop garden, building permits etc. require a solid investment of time, expertise and capital.

Talking Trash...Bags

Most households in South Korea can't simply buy a roll of 100 standard white "kitchen garbage bags" at the supermarket. Why? On January 1, 1995 the Ministry of Environment introduced a “volume-based waste fee” system (VBWF), where all households and commercial building owners are required to purchase specially designed plastic bags for waste collection. Called Sseulaegi Bongtu (쓰 레 기 봉 투), these garbage bags cost upwards of 1,050 won (almost $1) for a single 50 liter (kitchen garbage can sized) bag.

Specialized bags are also available for wet food waste. For disposal of large objects, a sticker must be purchased from the county or city district offices. The price of the sticker varies by municipality based on the type and size of the item being thrown out.

The cost of purchasing these bags is intended to pay for the garbage disposal, but in fact it aids environmental efforts to reduce the overall level of garbage being thrown out. Because each household has to pay a premium for each garbage bag, they are less inclined to throw otherwise recyclable or compostable objects into the trash, lest they fill up the bag more quickly. Violators of the system face a fine of 500,000 won.

Concerns can be raised about the environmental effects of the production of these bags, as opposed to using a system of bins for trash collection or allowing the re-use of bags used to carry grocery store items home. According to the 2003 Korea Environmental Policy Bulletin, the composition of VBWF bags are PE (polyethylene), PE with more than 30 percent of biodegradable resin (bags used for food waste compost) or PE with more than 30 percent of calcium carbonate (for trash that is incinerated). In 2002, reusable VBWF bags were instituted, and can be purchased at grocery stores to carry purchased goods and later be used as regular VBWF bags when disposing garbage. The use of vinyl bag to carry purchased goods can thus be reduced.

Has it worked?

Urban Renewal and Designer Shoes

Palladium Boots, a company founded in 1920 to produce tires for the aviation industry. After demand fell drastically after WWII, they re-invented themselves as a shoe company by re-fashioning their rubber-and-canvas product into the strongest soles on the market.

Their evolution as a company appears to have piqued their interest in other "revivals," including cities like Detroit, and have created a 3-part video series on the city starring Johnny Knoxville.

"Once the fourth-largest metropolis in America—some have called it the Death of the American Dream. Today, the young people of the Motor City are making it their own DIY paradise where rules are second to passion and creativity. They are creating the new Detroit on their own terms, against real adversity. We put our boots on and went exploring."

Reactions to the films have been mostly positive. Nolan Finley, editorial page editor for the Detroit News, acknowledged that the city's young "creative underground" plays an important role, albeit not the only role, in the revitalization of the city.

"I'm still not sure they're the answer for renewing Detroit. But as downtown businessman Larry Mongo says in the documentary, "They're filling some of the gaps." Whatever plan emerges from Mayor Dave Bing's land-use hearings shouldn't choke off their energy and enthusiasm with red tape. What we've done for 40 years hasn't worked; we may as well give them their shot."From The Detroit News, September 26, 2010