My Thesis is available for your viewing pleasure

If you are interested in sustainability and city planning take a look at my Master's thesis. This five month dissertation is the product of a case study with Dublin City Council in Ireland, a two-week "immersion" in the Dublin City Council Planning Department and endless hours of hard work and dedication from my amazing thesis partners Melina and Caroline.


http://www.bth.se/fou/cuppsats.nsf/all/80e93e3d215dacfcc12575cf00375c4c/$file/FINAL_dublin_thesis_090608.pdf

Finally....

After 9 months of intense studying...and 4 months of non-stop thesis...I am finally done!!!

It has been a year of surprises, challenges, hardhsip, fun and excitement that I will always cherish. The friends I have made will always be remembered...and my thesis partners, Melina and Caroline, will always hold a special place in my heart. We worked more than I thought was humanly possible, but we managed to have fun along the way. Our 3-week working holiday in southern Spain and our 2-week business trip to Dublin was amazing.

The 'Dublin angels' are pictured below (a nickname we picked up in Ireland) celebrating after our thesis defense on 25 May.

and now...I'm coming home!!!

Christmas in Italy

Finally, a well deserved break from school and a much needed visit with my husband. Joe and I traveled to Italy over the holidays, after all, what better place to spend Christmas than in Rome!

Upon our arrival at Fiumicino airport we were greeted by George (one of Joe's best friends from high school - way back when he was 'lord dork') and his children Sofia and Nikos, ages ten and six. They took us to the train station, handed us pre-purchased tickets...and we were off to Florence.

We arrived to Florence after dark and dragged our luggage down the main strip all the while admiring the high fashion shops and stylish people. We approached a magnificent cathedral which was so massive compared to the surrounding buildings that it demanded respect. We later went back to the Duomo and climbed the 460 stone steps to the top of the dome where we enjoyed a spectacular vista of the city.


The next day we admired one of my favorite Renaissance paintings, Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus' at the Uffizi Museum, strolled along Ponte Vecchio – Florence’s beautiful bridge full of retailers, climbed a hill up to Piazzale Michelangelo – A magnificent terrace that provides a wonderful vista of Florence and enjoyed our first of many Italian pizzas among other things.

In the evening we strolled the light strung streets, visited night markets and endulged in delicious food and wine. I could not leave Florence before seeing Michelangelo's 'David' so I woke up early the morning of our departure, walked to the museum and sat on a bench for about 20 minutes admiring the seemingly perfect sculpture.

After two days of taking in all the art, architecture, history and culture that Florence has to offer we headed back to Rome. Once again, George graciously picked us up at the train station and drove us to our apartment, home for the next 7 days, which was located in a quiet residential neighborhood mere blocks from the Coliseum.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with George and his family then spent Christmas day walking around town to places such as Trevi Fountian, Piazza di Spagna, Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. That evening we cooked some pasta primavera coupled with a bottle of wine and called it Christmas in Rome!

The remainder of our stay we spent walking countless miles through meandering streets discovering the hidden treasures of the city. We also saw all the major tourist sites such as St Peter's, the Vatican Museum and Michelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio.


All in all it was an amazing trip...and we will never forget our Christmas in Europe!

What's next?? Spring Break in Berlin!!!!

Earthquake!!!

There was an earthquake last night in Sweden..but I slept through it!


http://www.thelocal.se/16374/20081216/

Dublin, The Motherland!

This Post is for my DAD who is 100% pure IRISH! His great grandparents came to the United States from Kilkenny which is a mere 1-1/2 hour train ride from Dulbin. I plan to visit this town next time I am in Ireland, which will most likely be very soon.

The purpose of my trip was work, but I did manage to have a wee bit of fun while there. I traveled with 4 of my colleagues from school to meet with the Dublin City Council. We are working on a Strategic Management project and my group was offered the opportunity to collaborate with the Social Housing Maintenance Department to help them build a vision and move towards sustainability. I know, social housing may not sound all that exciting, but when you think about it, it encompasses a whole lot of interesting things - houses, materials, energy, water and PEOPLE! So, we showed up to facilitate a workshop and soon realized it was 5 of us girls (ranging in age from 24 to 40) and 10 men all over 55, but we were not intimidated. We had the entire afternoon with them and it turned out to be an amazing experience. We somehow managed to engage this group despite our differences and we really got them excited about sustainability. Mission accomplished!

The next day we had a full day of interviews and tours set up by the sustainable consultant that we are partnering with. We toured the maintenance depot, visited several social housing flats, interviewed a politician and met with the tenant association. It was eye opening to realize that all of these groups, as diverse as they were, had the same vision. The issue was lack of communication and community participation. This seems to be a common occurance and is too often overlooked. We will never be a sustainable society until there is equality in the world and we will not reach equality unless we take an integrated approach where all perspectives are considered.

This expereince really reminded me of how fortunate I am...to be able to take 9 months off to persue my passion, to have choices and to support myself. Some of the tenants I met are struggling to live each day, they have nothing and they are losing hope. We tend to forget that this is happening all over the world, we live in our bubbles and look the other way...please take a step back during this holiday season and truly be thankful for who you are (not what you have because material possessions do not define you).

Later that evening, to celebrate our success, the sustainable consultant took us out for our first Guinness in Dublin. I must say it was quite tasty, but not as smooth and delicious as the brew at the Guinness factory which we indulged in later! After a few drinks we got talking and next thing I knew we had a thesis project with Dublin!!! The next day we met with the city planner and it was official. I will be teaming with my colleagues Melina (city planner from France) and Caroline (marketing/ communication specialist from Canada) on a redevelopment plan for the City of Dublin. We do not know exactly what this entails but we are very excited about the opportunity.

Other than that, Dublin is a wonderful city. It is full of energy and history and I really feel drawn to it. I feel welcome and comfortable there - perhaps I have this sense of connection because Ireland was home to my great, great grandparents, it is the source of my history, my family. I saw my dad in people's faces everywhere I went - it was all so familiar. And the people, the people are genuinely warm and outgoing. I met quite a few people that remind me of a family friend while growing up - Johnny Hill - he is still remembered for his laughter and heart.

I love Dublin and I am looking forward to returning for my thesis project. Next visit I hope to have time to explore more of Ireland as it is truly an amzing place!

Meet my new network of friends

In case you are interested, here are the biographies for the MSLS (Master in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability) class of 2009. There are 60 of us studying together from 6 continents with varying backgrounds and careers...which makes it quite interesting.
Enjoy

http://www.bth.se/ste/tmslm.nsf/pages/alumni

Today's Topic: Mercury

Another field trip today...I swear this is not all we do here! I had a fascinating tour of the Aura Light International and the MRT facilities in Karlskrona.

MRT = Mercury Recovery Technology and this is one of the only companies in the world that manufactures machines that recycle flourescent lamps and recovers mercury in the process. Why is this good....because when you throw a lamp (commonly known as a bulb even though the bulb is solely the glass tube) in the garbage it ends up in a landfill where the mercury ultimately seeps into the earth polluting our ground water among other things. Mercury is not an abundant chemical in nature and when we mine mercury, use it in lamps, then dispose of it in landfills the concentrations systematically increase over time. Nature is not able to cycle through this abundance of mercury so it has no where to go. Ever wonder why there are threats of mercury contaminated fish - particulary in large preditors like tuna - well now you know. When we eat tuna we injest the mercury and essentially pollute ourselves. So, humans started the problem and we are in turn suffering from it, go figure.

So what can we do? Ultimately, we need to phase out persistent elements and replace their use with more abundant elements in nature. This relates to Sustainability Priniple 1 -for those of you familair with The Natural Step (and if you are not familiar with these principles I will be an expert by the time I am done studying here and would love to educate you).

The good news is that a few companies understand this and are taking action. Aura Light International recognizes the harm in using mercury in their flourescent light production process and are diligently researching altenatives. In the meantime, they have produced lamps with less mercury and developed technologies to increase the efficiency of lamps so that they last longer. Not only are the folks at Aura stewards for the environment, they are also forward thinking businessmen/women. They are researching cutting edge technology which puts them ahead of the competition but most importantly they are avoiding an inevitable future when mercury is either no longer available becasue we have mined it all or the damges are so evident that legislation takes action and enforces regulations prohibitng the use of it. Either way, Aura is in a win-win situation as they will survive this fate. Make sense? It is all starting to make alot of sense to me!

The moral of the story is to take responsibility for your actions by making educated decisions. If you have not already, replace your incandesent lamps with CFL's (compact flourscent lamp). It will cost you more upfront but they have a much longer lamp life and are more energy efficient so you will save on your utility bills. And when they burn out think twice about throwing them away...you can RECYCLE them at Ikea! Thank goodness for forward thinking Swedish companies!

Hope you learned something, if not then maybe you can teach me a thing or two.

Surprise Guest Lecturer

This week our lectures focused on organizational learning and leadership...so it only made sense to bring in the former president of Volvo (largest business in Sweden) and Ikea (headquarters in Sweden). Goran Carstedt is his name and he is currently working on the C40 Cities project for the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) http://www.c40cities.org/. Goran (pronounced youron) was very humble despite his incredible success, and listening to him was simply inspiring. What I enjoyed most about his lecture was his core philosophy...he truly believes that if you do what you love then the opportunites will appear. He is certain that if you follow your passion you will find the right way...so long as you are open minded and aware.

What a relief, to hear someone of his status say these things...as my career has somewhat worked that way. I believe that I am here in Sweden studying sustainability for a reason, that a series of events fell into place one after another that ultimately led me here. Where will this experience lead me? I do not have all the answers right now, though I believe there is a path for me (and Joe) and we will visualize it at exactly the right time!

I have Wheels (2 not 4)

I picked up a bicycle a few weeks back and cut down my commute to school from 25 minutes of speed walking to 10 minutes of leisurly biking. Cycling is part of the culture here, it's really cool to live in a place where I don't need to rely on an automobile. Locals ride their bikes everywhere, regardless of the weather. Women ride in skirts/ tights to work, people carry their baskets into grocery stores and there are bike paths everywhere. I hear that in the winter time they plow the bike paths faster than the streets...so I plan to ride all year round.

Anyway, I love the fresh air and exercise in the morning while riding my bike along path from my downtown apartment to school. I love my bike so much that I named her 'Vanilla'. My roomate Sara has an older blue bike (in one of the pic's) that we named 'Blueberry'.

My classmate Joel filmed a short video of another classmate (Nick from Wisconsin) riding along one of the paths. The quality is not great but the music makes the video (The Hysteric Song by Marz - in case you are wondering).
Check it out
http://www.vimeo.com/1924974

http://www.vimeo.com/1941957

Field Trip to Denmark

Last week 60 of us piled into a bus and headed 5 hours West into Denmark. Our first night we landed in Rosklide (pronounced Raskilda), which is about and hour outside of Copenhagen. It is a quaint little town, presumably full of money judging the expensive shops and enormous yachts in the harbor. The hostel that we stayed at was a beautiful expression of contemporary architecture (the first pic)- the only downfall was sharing a room with 7 other girls, 2 of whom snored, but that is another story.

The next morning we visited the eco community of Svanholm which was extremely interesting. It was pouring rain outside so the tour was cut short but we spent a few hours talking with some of the members. The community was started the year I was born and has grown into 60 members who live and work together in the most sustainable means possible. They farm their own organic food, they raise their own animals and they are completely self sufficient in terms of energy. The experience has inspired me to contemplate; how can we integrate the principles and concepts from this small eco community into the already existing suburbs in the US - how can we transform suburbia into a sustainable society? Potential thesis project, perhaps, but the topic is so broad and intimidating that I'm not sure I would see any feasible results after a mere 5 months of research. It was an eye-opening, compelling day and I encourage you to check out their website for more info http://svanholm.dk/en.php.

Next we were off to Borrevejle, about 30 minutes outside of Copenhagen, where we spent the next 2 days in workshops. The hostel was in a very secluded, wooded site along a lake and the air was brisk - perfect weather for a campfire which is exactly what we did that evening. When we walked into the rooms I immediately felt like I was in summer camp - what better way to get to know your colleagues than to share a room with 12 of them! I can't complain, my tuition is free and the school funded most of this trip. It was so ridiculous that it was hilarious - the bunk beds were stacked 3 high so I naturally climbed up top. It was no suprise when I woke up in the morning, tried to sit up and banged my head on the ceiling - that caused a good laugh amongst everyone! It was not all just fun and games, we held another 'open space' session and discussed numerous topics - I hosted a conversation regarding my potential thesis topic and was pleasantly suprised that so many people were interested. We also had a 'world cafe' in which you sit in small groups and discuss a topic, then after a certain amount of time you switch tables and continue the conversation with other people. This occured several times throughout the morning, after which each table presented their ideas and collectiviely we came to some conclusions. It is a very effective way to foster communication and has been used strategically throughout the world to bring people together of different backgrounds to share new perspectives, insights and ideas. It was an interesting few days, but I was ready for some city time.

I spent most of the weekend exploring Copenhagen with some of my classmates. I really loved this city, and it was nice to be back in an urban environment again - if you think Madison is small come check out Karlskrona sometime! Copenhagen has a great bike rental program where for a small deposit you can take a city bike off the rack and when you return it you get your deposit back - problem was there were no bikes! We assume they were all stolen since they were essentially free - sounds good in concept but not quite realistic. Either way, we spent the weekend on foot, wandering through the town square, down Stroget (the world's longest pedestrian street), through Nyhavn where all the pretty, colorful buildings are, into Chistiana, to the Danish Architecture Center and the Design Center...and so on.

I really enjoyed Copenhagen and will be returning in 2 weeks to meet Joe for our 1 year anniversary!!! I am very much looking forward to spending a long weekend with Joe in such an amazing place.

Sail Away With Klaura

Finally, a weekend off...and what better way to experience the archipelago then by ship! I spent this past weekend on a 2 day voyage with the Captain and 10 crew, also known as my classmates (check out the youtube video). We set sail from Karlskrona on Saturday with no luck, meaning no wind. So, we spent several hours rowing the four giant oars through the Baltic Sea. My arms are still sore several days later, but the calm waters and beautiful sunset at sea were very peaceful - unlike the next day to follow. We sailed to Skarva that evening and stayed at a lovely cabin on an Eco-Farm that we had previously visited. After a nice meal and a campfire by the sea we all huddled up in our sleeping bags on the floor of the heatless cabin (it gets down into the 40's overnight here with high's only around 50 this time of year).

Sunday morning we woke and worked off our stay by weeding some non-native plants (more like bushes) around the cabin. The wind picked up as we set sail and we enjoyed several hours of smooth sailing. But when it was time to head back the wind shifted and that was the start of a very long, chilly journey home. Klaura, the sailboat, is very old and sprouted a small leak along the way (check out the youtube video) so not only were we freezing but we also had wet feet! Needless to say the maiden voyage was successful and we will undoubtedly take Klaura out again...though maybe not til spring.

One of the crew took a few videos while on board and posted them to youtube, here are the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_77B-fsQeIA
My crew name was Skywalker, I am assuming because the Captian knows of my skydiving experiences but I never asked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxymzY5L9n4
Klaura drank up a wee bit of the sea, and we had fun bailing it out!

Until next time mates!!

Open Space

Where to start...there is so much happening so fast!!!

When you were all likely taking time off for labor day I was starting my first day of class, and what a first day it was. We jumped right into an 'open space' session where we were charged with a 10 page report due the following day relating to our collective goals as a class for the year. As you can imagine, this was quite overhwhelming and chaotic at first but somehow we struggled though it, and learned alot about eachother in the process. I came to realize that I am the only architect in the program, but there are several people who are interested or experienced in the building industry (urban planner, civil engineer, industrial designer) who may be potential thesis partners -it's too soon to tell.

Later in the week Dr Karl Henrik Robert - founder of The Natural Step and the program at BTH/ adjunt professor- made his first appearance. After listening to him for just an hour and witnessing his passion for sustainability I have left behind any doubts that I had about this progam and my decision to leave my life in the US for a year of study. I am inspired, motivated, intimidated, anxious, excited and relieved to be here (I just wish Joe was here to share this experience with me).

As for housing, I traded in the hostel for a couch at my friends place until the 15th when I can move into my apartment. I found an amazing place in the center of town and am very much looking forward to settling in and unpacking my suitcase. I will be living with Sara, a classmate from Vancouver, who reminds me of my undergrad roomate Stacy. If this is any indication of the year to come I know we are going to have a good time.

More later, hope all is well back home.

First Impression

Well I made it to Karlskrona without too much hassle. Carrying my huge backpack and dragging my over-sized suitcase along with my school backpack through the Copenhagen airport, then onto the commuter train...and finally through town to the hostel was certainly a workout, but I came to realize that I packed lite compared to some of the other girls!!

I am looking forward to exploring Copenhagen as I did not make it past the airport...but what a nice airport it was. The quality of design and the attention to architectural details was unsurpassed - even the benches at the train station were a beautiful expression of modern design.

The 3-1/2 hour train route to Karlskrona meandered along the coast of the Baltic Sea. Numerous wind turbines spotted the sea and put a smile on my face.

And then there is Karlskrona, my hometown for the next 9 months. The town is very small (60,000) but so quaint and cute. Historical buildings line the cobblestone brick streets along the waters edge. The streets are clean and the air is crisp. I am temporarilly living out of a suitcase in a hostel but am hoping that will change any day now. It's not so bad as many of my colleagues landed here as well. The apartment search has turned out to be more difficult than past years but I am keeping a positive attitude. We are hoping to live downtown which is a 25 minute walk to campus - soon to be a 10 minute bike ride.

Orinetation week started on Monday at which time I was introduced to about 30/60 of my colleagues...more and more people are arriving everyday. It seems that Americans and Canadians are in the majority but there are also people from numerous countires around the world - China, Tawain, Bangaldesh, Hungary, Greece, France, Brazil, Australia, England, Mexico, Pakistan, Iraq and of course Sweden.

That's all for now, back to apartment hunting as I hope to have a place before classes start in 5 days.
Miss everyone and hope all is well in the US!

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic

With only 3 days left in Madison I have to admit that I am feeling a bit nostalgic...after all, this has been my home for the past 7 years. My time here is limited and I wanted to touch base before I leave for a year. I depart for Sweden on Saturday 23 August. I am happy to have a week off to pack, organize and pull myself together because things are getting crazy busy.

Here is a quick update on my end....I fly into Copenhagen (it's closer than Stockholm) then take a 4 hour train to Karlskrona. I arrive late Sunday evening just in time for orientation week which begins Monday. I have reserved a hostel for a few nights because I do not have housing arranged - I am not interested in student housing (too old for that) and the rental sites are all in Swedish! I have been chatting with some classmates on Facebook and have found 2 roomates so at least I will not be flying solo! One of the girls is from San Francisco and the other from Vancouver - 2 of my favorite cities in N America. So, first on the agenda is to find a home!

There is so much to do when I arrive - which is why I suppose they have orientation week...finding a bike is priority because I will be riding to class everyday, getting my cell phone set up, getting a student id and most importantly getting to know my classmates and my new town.

Once school begins I expect to be very busy - the curriculum is as diversified as the students (there are students from 6 continents) and I expect alot of writing/ presentation type work. In January we start our thesis projects in which we work in teams of 3. I have some ideas for this but my experience will likely evolve my thoughts and I am open to that.

As for Joe, he is working on an incredible clean energy research project in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and will be traveling there every 5 weeks for a weeks stay each time. I am hoping the project lasts through next summer so I can tag along on a trip! I am going to miss him with all my heart and being but we have web cam's/ Skype set up so at least we can communicate live. It is our 1 year anniversary in October so he plans on visiting me then for the first time. I will see him next in Rome for Christmas where one of his good friends lives. Hopefully he will fit in another trip in spring...then when I graduate in June he will take some time off from work (at least a month) and we will explore Scandinavia together.

So, there you have it. Hope you all have a great year to come, I will miss you all. I will let you know when I post pictures as I'm sure there will be many.