RAPID DEVLOPMENT

PVC is a versatile material and PVC sheets can be produced to meet special application needs. Rigid PVC sheets can, for example, be used as wall cladding, roofing, skylights and partitions in the building construction industry. One major advantage is that producers can incorporate special properties tailored to meet customized needs through processing the PVC sheets by adding other materials or otherwise. For example, they can be made resistant to chemical corrosion, or translucent to let in natural daylight while at the same preventing harmful UV light. We look at a few typical construction industry applications of PVC sheets in the sections below. Wall Cladding Applications Plastic wall cladding can provide beautiful interiors in colors and patterns suited to selected themes. In places where food is made, stored or served, PVC sheets are ideal in that they do not permit ingrained accumulation of dirt (as timber does), are impermeable to water and dampness and can be cleaned and dried...

  What is green infrastructure and grey infrastructure? One of the challenges surrounding green infrastructure and grey infrastructure is a lack of clear, consistent definitions of the terms. Green infrastructure and grey infrastructure can both refer to work outside of water, such as buildings or transport; however, each of these can also impact water management. Green infrastructure is  the “strategic use of networks of natural lands, working landscapes, and other open spaces to conserve ecosystem values and functions and provide associated benefits to human populations”  Blue-green infrastructure is also a term used interchangeably with green infrastructure to describe things like rain gardens or reed beds that treat wastewater. Green infrastructure is generally decentralized; water is captured and treated where it falls, rather than being transported to a treatment facility.   Grey infrastructure  refers to the human-engineered infrastructure for water resou...

 1.  (DIGITALLY)RE-PROGRAMMABLE SPACE Why..?  Demands on space in cities are constantly changing as a result of economic growth, demographics and consumer preferences. As urban populations increase from 4 billion to nearly 7 billion over the next 30 years, the world will need to almost double its urban capacity by 2050. There is neither the time nor money to produce the required infrastructure conventionally through large-scale engineering solutions; focus should be on the better use of existing infrastructure. From intelligent street lamps to trees hooked up to social networks, the  Top 10 Urban Innovations  chronicles the best examples from around the world of how cities are creating innovative solutions to a variety of problems. To create the list, the Council drew on its experiences and networks working with city leaders around the world to select those that have had the most impact. Ranging from the high tech to the simple, and from the game changing to the...

Concern among state legislators about rural development and rural land use is not new. In many states, agriculture remains an important feature of the economic, cultural, and political landscape. As rural incomes, populations, and prosperity have declined, states have adopted a variety of policies in response. Rural land and development policies in most states, however, are often more symbolic than influential, poorly integrated, and grossly misguided (Audirac, 1997). For rural areas, very few states mandate or facilitate rural comprehensive planning, often due to opposition from rural legislators. Farmlands (cropland and grazing land) constitute the largest share of land use by acreage in the country and have an even higher share in the rural areas. Although a relatively smaller and decreasing part of the overall economy, farmland uses employ 21 percent of the nation’s workforce (including processing, wholesale and retail trade of farming goods) and about 7 percent of nation’s workfor...