Green Cities: Designing Urban Environments That Can Grow
Treating trees, roofs and planting as living infrastructure that can establish, mature and deliver lasting value.
Category: <span>Field Notes</span>
Agriculture: Connecting Crops, People and Landscapes
A multidisciplinary approach to productive, resilient agriculture that fits local conditions and communities.
Water: Smarter Irrigation and Drought Resilience
Making every useful litre work harder by connecting irrigation, root health, soil, climate and practical maintenance.
Plants: Understanding Growth as a Complete System
Plant expertise begins with the complete system: roots, water, nutrition, climate, genetics and practical cultivation.
Pivot Irrigation in Africa: Green Circles Against Food Insecurity
Fly over farmland in a dry region, and you may spot perfect green circles in the sand. These are pivot fields. Pivot irrigation is a modern, low-waste way to water crops, and it is spreading fast across Africa. The idea is simple: a long sprinkler arm turns around a central point, so water reaches every […]
Climate Change and Sustainability: The Role of Plants on Wellbeing Indoors
We spend about 90% of our lives indoors. Meanwhile, climate change pushes us inside even more, into cooled offices and heated homes. So the question matters: what do plants do for us in there? The honest answer has two parts. First, plants do not clean your indoor air — that is a myth. However, they […]
Climate Change and Sustainability: The Role of Trees in Urban Landscaping
No machine cools a street like a tree does. Meanwhile, our cities keep getting hotter, wetter and more polluted. In an era of climate change, that matters more each year. So planners everywhere are rediscovering the oldest piece of climate technology we have. In a city, large trees especially do a lot of good — […]
Climate Change and Sustainability: The Role of Green Roofs in Urban Landscaping
Cities feel climate change first. To begin with, summers grow hotter and cloudbursts grow heavier. Meanwhile, most cities are covered in stone, asphalt and bare roofs. That is a problem, but also an opportunity. After all, every flat roof is unused space. However, cover it with plants, and it starts working for the city. In […]
The Watercone: Six Glasses of Drinking Water from One Sunny Day
Big problems do not always need big machines. The Water Pyramid makes drinking water for a whole village. However, its tiny German cousin serves just one family: the Watercone. This small cone of clear plastic sits on a pan of salt or dirty water. Sunlight does the rest. One cone yields about 1 to 1.5 […]
Flower Fashion: Cloud Dancer, Colour of the Year 2026
Once a year, Pantone selects the colour of the year. This colour should capture the mood of the moment across the world. To find it, Pantone studies trends in fashion, art, travel, technology and society. For 2026, the choice is special. For the first time ever, the colour of the year is a white: Cloud […]