The Bamboo Railway or “Norry” in Battambang, Cambodia is truly a testament to human ingenuity and creativity. In this part of the world, where resources are scarce and government run train service is untimely and unreliable, this informal form of transit is an inexpensive and convenient mobility option for many. For this simple (yet highly...
Food, Clothing and Shelter. All capital letter nouns when uses in tandem. Those are the three things we always presume make up the fundamental needs of a human existence. They are the most basic things we need to survive in our world. But are they really? Food, most certainly, is an essential of life (and...
A quick look look at some stats that make urban chicken farming in your city work (or not): Number of chickens raised annual for meat and eggs: 50 billion Percentage of world’s poultry meat raised using intensive farming techniques: 74 Worldwide chicken to human ratio: 16:9 Number of varieties of domestic chickens: 150 Hours of...
A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Regular Gondolas, and Cable Propelled Transit: We’re really getting spoiled here at the Gondola Project. Another gondola database is released. This time by the Swiss Government and it documents every single cable system in the country. Super awesome! Perhaps another CPT system will soon be...
Would you go for a ride with the Flying Men of Yungas Valley? Thanks to everyone who visited and posted on the forum this past week. Introductions were made however no jokes were submitted so this week instead of featuring the best joke I’d like to post a new discussion topic: As we’ve seen on...
A recent article in the Globe and Mail discusses the relationship between mass transit and political agendas. It appears that throughout the world high-stakes rail projects worth millions or even billions of dollars are becoming entangled in a struggle that pits the bottom line against local interests. In this age of globalization, companies around the...
It’s summer and I’m catching up on my reading and one of the most intriguing things I’ve read in a long time is a working paper by Kaushik Basu, the Chief Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. As everyone knows, India has a severe problem with bribery. Basu’s ingenious...
A quick comparison of existing heights in London and the proposed London Cable Car’s tallest tower. *this is a new (revised) version of a previous image
A quick look at some of the things that makes sizzling summer days in your city intolerable (or not): Percentage of Earth’s surface covered by urban area: 3 First year UHI (Urban Heat Island) effect was discovered: 1810 Number of times concrete can hold more heat than equivalent volume of air: 2000 Percentage of New York’s...