The second of the four goals formulated by Gerard K. O’Neill is to find (or rather create) an optimal living climate for all of humanity. Not surprisingly he spends a large portion of his book on orbital space settlements, discussing the internal design of space habitats in order to promote public well-being. Continue reading Public Green & Society
Tag Archives: public green
Urban design & Crime
A study conducted by scientists from the University of Virginia Health System shows that there is a relation between green space and violent crime:
How green space can reduce violent crime (source: ScienceDaily)
Permaculture and Space Settlements
We are great fans of permaculture, as it perfectly fits into to the second of the Four Goals as formulated by O’Neil:
There should be found an optimal living climate for the entire world population
But what is permaculture? In the video below the principles of permaculture are explained.
One type of permaculture is the food forest and this is explained in the video below:
Food forest are nice way to realize to vision O’Neill had for the design of the interior of the O’Neill cylinder: villages separated by forests. And additionally it combines goal #2 with #1, to eradication of hunger and poverty.
Public green
A Danish study indicated that children who were raised in a green environment have a 55 percent lower risk of developing mental disorders. For the designers of future space settlements this means that they need to ensure that there will be a substantial amount of public green.
For larger free space habitats such as O’Neill cylinders an interesting example is the Wonderwoods project in the Dutch city of Utrecht. This design by Italian architect Stefano Boeri Architetti combines high-rise buildings with forests, a concept he calls vertical forests.
