Kevin Brass
Through booms and crashes, Kevin Brass has covered international property markets for the International Herald Tribune and New York Times. His work focuses on news and trends that impact shifting markets, providing essential information to agents, investors and consumers looking to buy or sell property.
‘Green’ Songdo City Moving Ahead
Unlike many grandly-announced ambitious eco-cities, Songdo in South Korea is actually happening. The first phase of the 1,500-acre complex west of Seoul opened earlier this month, promising, among other things, to set a new standard for green cities in Asia.
Based primarily on New Urbanism concepts, Songdo is implementing a wide array of eco-friendly designs on a massive scale. The list of features includes:
-A commitment to leave 40 percent of the site as open space, including a 100-acre park styled after New York’s Central Park.
- A 25-km network of bicycle lanes.
- Charging stations for electric vehicles integrated into parking garage designs
- A centralized pneumatic waste collection system for wet and dry waste, eliminating the need for trash trucks.
- And, in what will certainly be a controversial stance, smoking is banned in public areas and office buildings.
Find the full list of features here.
