Solastalgia: homesickness you have when you are still at home

Researchers identify new syndrome
Wednesday 6 September 2006
www.newcastle.edu.au/ news/ 2006/ 09/ newsyndrome.html

Researchers from the University of Newcastle, Australia have discovered a new type of syndrome affecting potentially thousands of people who have lived through human-made environmental change such as open-cut mines, and natural disasters such as drought and cyclones.

Researchers, Dr Glenn Albrecht (philosopher, School of Environmental and Life Sciences) and Dr Gina-Maree Sartore, (psychologist, Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health) said 'solastalgia' is a lack of solace in one's home environment caused by the impact of negative environmental change. Dr Albrecht described solastalgia as the "homesickness you have when you are still at home".

They have researched the impact of the drought and open cut mines in rural NSW and say affected people feel melancholia or homesickness, and loss of a sense of place …

Ice Cool Buildings

System Relies on Ice to Chill Buildings
Saturday July 14, 3:45 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — As the summer swelters on, skyscrapers and apartments around the city will be cranking up the air conditioning and pushing the city's power grid to the limit.
But some office towers and buildings have found a way to stay cool while keeping the AC to a minimum — by using an energy-saving system that relies on blocks of ice to pump chilly air through buildings.
The systems save companies money and reduce strain on the electrical grid in New York, where the city consumes more power on hot summer days than the entire nation of Chile." (AAP: Excite Money & Investing)
[Like about 100 years ago, except they're not storing ice from winter. Maybe they'll get onto that later?]

Mirrored Thoughts

from the BLDGBLOG (Architectural Conjecture, Urban Speculation, and Landscape Futures) — soon to be available: BLDGBLOG: The Book!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Great streets, campuses, and pedestrian nostalgia
bldgblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/great-streets-campuses-and-pedestrian.html

1) A "street" is not simply space devoted to automobiles. It's a place of movement, outdoors, that connects different destinations.
2) Cities could be designed to look like college campuses, full of trees and paths and benches and interchangeable varieties of long walks between different locations – whether those locations are churches, bookstores, police stations, football stadiums, private homes, or hash bars.
3) The reason you need a car is because you're surrounded by highways and parking lots – it's not the other way around. City planners need to realize this.

Double Agent: tinyurl.com/2x5npb