A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs
-
0:01 - 0:03Do you remember
these glow-in-the-dark little stars -
0:03 - 0:06which you had on the ceiling
when you were a boy or a girl? -
0:06 - 0:07Yes?
-
0:07 - 0:09It is light.
-
0:09 - 0:10It is pure light.
-
0:10 - 0:12I think I stared at them way too long
-
0:12 - 0:13when I was a five-year-old, you know?
-
0:13 - 0:15It's so beautiful:
-
0:15 - 0:17no energy bill, no maintenance.
-
0:18 - 0:19It is there.
-
0:19 - 0:21So two years ago, we went back to the lab,
-
0:21 - 0:23making it more durable,
more light-emitting, -
0:23 - 0:25with the experts.
-
0:25 - 0:28And at the same time,
we got a request from this guy -- -
0:28 - 0:31Van Gogh, the famous
Van Gogh Foundation -- -
0:31 - 0:35who wanted to celebrate
his 125th anniversary in the Netherlands. -
0:35 - 0:37And they came to me and asked,
-
0:37 - 0:41"Can you make a place
where he feels more alive again -
0:41 - 0:42in the Netherlands?"
-
0:42 - 0:44And I liked that question a lot,
-
0:44 - 0:45so in way,
-
0:45 - 0:48we sort of started to connect
these two different worlds. -
0:49 - 0:50This is how my brain works,
-
0:50 - 0:51by the way.
-
0:52 - 0:53(Laughter)
-
0:53 - 0:55I would love to keep on
doing this for an hour, -
0:55 - 0:56but OK --
-
0:56 - 0:57(Laughter)
-
0:57 - 0:59And this is the result that we made:
-
0:59 - 1:02a bicycle path which charges
at daytime via the sun -
1:02 - 1:04and glows at night, up to eight hours.
-
1:04 - 1:05(Applause)
-
1:05 - 1:06Thank you.
-
1:06 - 1:11... hinting towards a future
which should be energy friendly -
1:11 - 1:12and linking up the local grounds
-
1:12 - 1:16as Van Gogh literally walked
and lived there in 1883. -
1:16 - 1:19And you can go there every night
for free, no ticket needed. -
1:19 - 1:22People experience the beauty
of cycling through the starry night, -
1:22 - 1:24thinking about green energy and safety.
-
1:25 - 1:28I want to create places
where people feel connected again. -
1:29 - 1:32And it was somehow great
to make these projects happen -
1:32 - 1:35with the industry,
with the infrastructure companies. -
1:35 - 1:37So when these sheikhs of Qatar
started to call: -
1:37 - 1:39"How much for 10 kilometers?"
-
1:39 - 1:40(Laughter)
-
1:40 - 1:42Yeah, really, that's a weird call
you're going to get. -
1:42 - 1:44But it's fascinating
-
1:44 - 1:47that this is not just a sort
of one-off, nice-to-have special. -
1:47 - 1:50I think this kind of creative thinking,
these kinds of connections -- -
1:50 - 1:52it's the new economy.
-
1:52 - 1:54The World Economic Forum,
the think tank in Geneva, -
1:54 - 1:57did an interview
with a lot of smart people -
1:57 - 1:58all around the world,
-
1:58 - 2:03asking, "What are the top 10 skills
you and I need to become successful?" -
2:03 - 2:05And what is interesting,
what you see here: -
2:05 - 2:08it's not about money
-
2:08 - 2:11or being really good in C++,
-
2:11 - 2:14although these are great skills
to have, I have to admit. -
2:14 - 2:16But look at number three, creativity;
-
2:16 - 2:18number two, critical thinking;
-
2:18 - 2:21number one, complex problem-solving --
-
2:21 - 2:26all the things a robot or a computer
is really bad at. -
2:27 - 2:30And this makes me very optimistic,
very hopeful for the new world, -
2:30 - 2:33that as we will live
in this hyper-technological world, -
2:33 - 2:35our human skills --
-
2:35 - 2:36our desire for empathy,
-
2:36 - 2:38our desire for curiosity,
-
2:38 - 2:40our desire for beauty --
-
2:40 - 2:42will be more appreciated again,
-
2:42 - 2:46and we will live in a world
where creativity is our true capital. -
2:47 - 2:49And a creative process like that --
-
2:49 - 2:51I don't know how it works for you,
-
2:51 - 2:54but in my brain, it always starts
with a question: -
2:54 - 2:55Why?
-
2:56 - 2:58Why does a jellyfish emit light?
-
2:58 - 3:00Or a firefly?
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3:00 - 3:02Or why do be accept pollution?
-
3:02 - 3:04This is from my room
in Beijing three years ago. -
3:04 - 3:06Left image is a good day -- Saturday.
-
3:07 - 3:09I can see the cars
and the people, the birds; -
3:09 - 3:11life is OK in a dense urban city.
-
3:11 - 3:13And on the right image --
-
3:13 - 3:15holy moly.
-
3:15 - 3:17Pollution -- complete layers.
-
3:17 - 3:20I couldn't even see
the other side of the city. -
3:20 - 3:22And this image made me really sad.
-
3:22 - 3:25This is not the bright future
we envision here at TED -- -
3:25 - 3:26this is the horror.
-
3:26 - 3:28We live five to six years shorter;
-
3:28 - 3:30children have lung cancer
when they're six years old. -
3:31 - 3:33And so in a weird, beautiful way,
-
3:33 - 3:37I, at that moment, became inspired
by Beijing smog. -
3:38 - 3:41And the governments all around the world
are fighting their war on smog, -
3:41 - 3:44but I wanted to make something
within the now. -
3:44 - 3:48So we decided to build
the largest smog vacuum cleaner -
3:48 - 3:49in the world.
-
3:49 - 3:51It sucks up polluted air, cleans it
-
3:51 - 3:53and then releases it.
-
3:53 - 3:54And we built the first one.
-
3:55 - 3:58So it sucks up 30,000
cubic meters per hour, -
3:58 - 4:01cleans it on the nano level --
the PM2.5, PM10 particles -- -
4:01 - 4:03using very little electricity,
-
4:03 - 4:06and then releases the clean air,
-
4:06 - 4:11so we have parks, playgrounds,
which are 55 to 75 percent more clean -
4:11 - 4:13than the rest of the city.
-
4:13 - 4:15(Applause)
-
4:15 - 4:16Yes!
-
4:16 - 4:18(Applause)
-
4:18 - 4:20And every month or so,
-
4:21 - 4:24it opens like a spaceship --
-
4:24 - 4:27like a Marilyn Monroe with the --
well, you know what. -
4:27 - 4:28Anyway.
-
4:28 - 4:29(Laughter)
-
4:29 - 4:31So this ...
-
4:31 - 4:33this is the stuff we are capturing.
-
4:33 - 4:35This is Beijing smog.
-
4:36 - 4:37This is in our lungs right now.
-
4:37 - 4:41If you live next to a highway,
it's the same as 17 cigarettes per day. -
4:41 - 4:42Are we insane?
-
4:42 - 4:44When did we say yes to that?
-
4:44 - 4:47And we had buckets
of this disgusting material -
4:47 - 4:49in our studio,
-
4:49 - 4:52and on a Monday morning,
we were discussing, we were like, -
4:52 - 4:55"Shit, what should we do with it?
Should we throw it away?" -
4:55 - 4:56Like, "Help!"
-
4:56 - 4:58And then we realized:
no, no, no, no, no -- -
4:58 - 4:59waste should not exist.
-
4:59 - 5:02Waste for the one should be
food for the other. -
5:02 - 5:05So, here, maybe show it around.
-
5:05 - 5:06Do not put this in your coffee.
-
5:06 - 5:07(Laughter)
-
5:07 - 5:11And we realized that 42 percent
is made out of carbon, -
5:11 - 5:13and carbon, of course,
under high pressure, -
5:13 - 5:14you get ...
-
5:15 - 5:16diamonds.
-
5:16 - 5:20So, inspired by that,
we compress it for 30 minutes -- -
5:20 - 5:22(Cracking sound)
-
5:22 - 5:24and make smog-free rings.
-
5:24 - 5:25(Laughter)
-
5:25 - 5:27And so by sharing -- yeah, really!
-
5:27 - 5:28And so by sharing a ring,
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5:28 - 5:31you donate 1,000 cubic meters of clean air
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5:31 - 5:33to the city the tower is in.
-
5:33 - 5:34(Applause)
-
5:34 - 5:35I have one here --
-
5:35 - 5:36(Applause)
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5:36 - 5:39A little floating cube.
-
5:40 - 5:41I will give one to you.
-
5:41 - 5:44I'm not going to propose, don't worry.
-
5:44 - 5:45(Laughter)
-
5:45 - 5:46Are we good?
-
5:46 - 5:47You can show it around.
-
5:47 - 5:51And we put this online --
Kickstarter campaign, crowdfunding. -
5:51 - 5:53And people started to preorder it,
-
5:53 - 5:55but more importantly,
they started to prepay it. -
5:55 - 5:59So the finance we made with the jewelry
helped us to realize, -
5:59 - 6:00to build the first tower.
-
6:01 - 6:02And that's powerful.
-
6:02 - 6:05So the waste the activator,
it was the enabler. -
6:05 - 6:07Also, the feedback from the community --
-
6:07 - 6:09this is a wedding couple from India,
-
6:09 - 6:11where he proposed to her
with the smog-free ring -
6:11 - 6:12as a sign of true beauty,
-
6:12 - 6:14as a sign of hope.
-
6:14 - 6:16And she said yes.
-
6:16 - 6:18(Laughter)
-
6:18 - 6:21I love this image so much
for a lot of different reasons. -
6:21 - 6:23(Laughter)
-
6:23 - 6:25And right now, the project
is touring through China, -
6:25 - 6:28actually with the support
of China's central government. -
6:28 - 6:31So the first goal is to create
local clean-air parks, -
6:31 - 6:33and that works already quite well --
-
6:33 - 6:3655, 75 percent more clean.
-
6:36 - 6:37And at the same time,
-
6:37 - 6:38we team up with the NGOs,
-
6:38 - 6:40with the governors,
-
6:40 - 6:41with the students,
-
6:41 - 6:42with the tech people,
-
6:42 - 6:45to say, "Hey, what do we need to do
to make a whole city smog-free?" -
6:45 - 6:47It's about the dream of clean air.
-
6:47 - 6:49We do workshops. New ideas pop up.
-
6:49 - 6:52These are smog-free bicycles
which -- I'm Dutch, yes? -- -
6:52 - 6:55I have this "bicycle DNA"
inside of me somewhere. -
6:55 - 6:56And so it sucks up polluted air,
-
6:56 - 6:58it cleans it and releases it,
-
6:58 - 7:00in the fight against the car,
-
7:00 - 7:01in the celebration of the bicycle.
-
7:01 - 7:06And so right now, we're working
on a sort of "package deal," so to speak, -
7:06 - 7:09where we say, "Smog-free towers,
smog-free rings." -
7:09 - 7:11We go to the mayors
or the governors of this world, -
7:11 - 7:16and say, "We can guarantee
a short-term reduction of pollution -
7:16 - 7:18between 20 and 40 percent.
-
7:18 - 7:20Please sign here right now."
-
7:20 - 7:21Yes?
-
7:21 - 7:22(Applause)
-
7:23 - 7:24Thank you.
-
7:24 - 7:26(Applause)
-
7:26 - 7:30So it's all about connecting
new technology with creative thinking. -
7:30 - 7:32And if you start thinking about that,
-
7:32 - 7:35there is so much you can imagine,
-
7:35 - 7:36so much more you can do.
-
7:36 - 7:40We worked on dance floors
which produce electricity -
7:40 - 7:41when you dance on them.
-
7:41 - 7:43We did the design for that -- 2008.
-
7:43 - 7:45So it moves eight or nine millimeters,
-
7:45 - 7:47produces 25 watts.
-
7:47 - 7:51The electricity that we generate
is used for the lighting or the DJ booth. -
7:51 - 7:54So some of the sustainability
is about doing more, -
7:54 - 7:55not about doing less.
-
7:55 - 7:57But also on a larger scale,
-
7:57 - 8:00the Netherlands, where I'm
from, we live below sea level. -
8:00 - 8:03So because of these beauties --
-
8:03 - 8:08the Afsluitdijk: 32 kilometers,
built by hand in 1932 -- -
8:08 - 8:10we live with the water,
-
8:10 - 8:12we fight with the water,
-
8:12 - 8:14we try to find harmony,
-
8:14 - 8:16but sometimes we forget.
-
8:16 - 8:18And therefore, we made "Waterlicht,"
-
8:18 - 8:20a combination of LEDs and lenses,
-
8:20 - 8:23which show how high
the water level would be -- -
8:23 - 8:24global change --
-
8:25 - 8:26if we stop.
-
8:26 - 8:29If, today, we all go home and we say,
-
8:29 - 8:32"Oh, whatever, somebody else
will do it for us," -
8:32 - 8:34or we'll wait for government or whomever.
-
8:34 - 8:35You know, we're not going to do that.
-
8:36 - 8:37It goes wrong.
-
8:37 - 8:39And we placed this in public spaces
all around the world. -
8:39 - 8:41Thousands of people showed up.
-
8:41 - 8:42(Applause)
-
8:42 - 8:43Thank you.
-
8:44 - 8:48You're too nice, you're too nice.
That's not good for a designer. -
8:48 - 8:50So thousands of people showed up,
-
8:50 - 8:51and some, actually, were scared.
-
8:52 - 8:55And they left; they experienced
the floods in 1953. -
8:55 - 8:56And others were mesmerized.
-
8:56 - 8:58Can we make floating cities?
-
8:58 - 9:02Can we generate electricity
from the change in tides? -
9:02 - 9:05So I think it's so important
to make experiences -- -
9:05 - 9:07collective experiences --
-
9:07 - 9:10where people feel connected
with a vision, with a future -
9:10 - 9:12and trigger what is possible.
-
9:13 - 9:14At the same time,
-
9:14 - 9:19you know, these kinds of things --
they're not easy, yes? -
9:19 - 9:20It's a struggle.
-
9:20 - 9:22And what I experienced in my life
-
9:22 - 9:24is that a lot of people say
they want innovation, -
9:24 - 9:27and they want the next
and the new, the future. -
9:27 - 9:30But the moment you present a new idea,
-
9:30 - 9:34there's this weird tendency
to reply to every new idea -
9:34 - 9:37starting with two words.
-
9:37 - 9:39Which are?
-
9:39 - 9:40(Audience guesses)
-
9:40 - 9:42No, not "How much?" It's more annoying.
-
9:42 - 9:43(Laughter)
-
9:43 - 9:44What is it, guys?
-
9:44 - 9:47Or you're really blessed people?
That's really good. -
9:47 - 9:48"Yes, but." Very good.
-
9:48 - 9:52"Yes, but: it's too expensive, it's too
cheap, it's too fast, it's too slow, -
9:52 - 9:55it's too beautiful, it's too ugly,
it cannot be done, it already exists." -
9:55 - 9:58I heard everything about the same project
-
9:58 - 9:59in the same week.
-
9:59 - 10:01And I got really, really annoyed.
-
10:01 - 10:05I got a bit of gray hair, started to dress
in black like a true architect. -
10:05 - 10:07(Laughter)
-
10:07 - 10:11And one morning I woke up
and I said, "Daan, stop. -
10:11 - 10:12This is dragging you down.
-
10:12 - 10:14You have to do something with this.
-
10:14 - 10:17You have to use it
as an ingredient, as a component." -
10:17 - 10:19And so we decided to build,
-
10:19 - 10:23to realize the famous "Yes, but" chair.
-
10:23 - 10:26(Laughter)
-
10:26 - 10:30And this is an existing chair
by Friso Kramer, a Dutch design. -
10:30 - 10:33But we gave it a little "update,"
-
10:33 - 10:35a little "hack," so to speak.
-
10:35 - 10:38We placed a little voice-recognition
element right here. -
10:39 - 10:42So the moment you sit on that chair,
-
10:42 - 10:45and you say those two horrible,
-
10:45 - 10:50creative-destructive,
annoying little words -- -
10:50 - 10:51(Laughter)
-
10:51 - 10:52you get a short --
-
10:52 - 10:54(Laughter)
-
10:54 - 10:56but pretty intense
-
10:56 - 10:59little shock on the back side
of your bottom. -
10:59 - 11:00(Laughter)
-
11:00 - 11:01(Applause)
-
11:01 - 11:02And --
-
11:02 - 11:03(Applause)
-
11:03 - 11:05and that works; yeah, that works.
-
11:05 - 11:08Some clients have left us,
they got really mad. -
11:08 - 11:10Fortunately, the good ones have stayed.
-
11:10 - 11:12And, of course, we also
apply it to ourselves. -
11:12 - 11:16But ladies and gentlemen,
let's not be afraid. -
11:16 - 11:17Let's be curious, yes?
-
11:17 - 11:20And, you know, walking
through TED in these days -
11:20 - 11:22and hearing the other speakers
-
11:22 - 11:24and feeling the energy of the crowd,
-
11:24 - 11:28I was remembering this quote
of the Canadian author, Marshall McLuhan, -
11:28 - 11:30who once famously said,
-
11:30 - 11:32"On spacecraft earth,
-
11:32 - 11:34there are no passengers.
-
11:34 - 11:36We are all crew."
-
11:37 - 11:39And I think this so beautiful.
-
11:39 - 11:41This is so beautiful!
-
11:41 - 11:43We're not just consumers; we're makers:
-
11:43 - 11:44we make decisions,
-
11:44 - 11:45we make new inventions,
-
11:45 - 11:47we make new dreams.
-
11:47 - 11:48And I think
-
11:48 - 11:52if we start implementing
that kind of thinking even more -
11:52 - 11:54within today,
-
11:55 - 11:57there's still a whole new world
to be explored. -
11:59 - 12:00All right, thank you.
-
12:00 - 12:02(Applause)
-
12:02 - 12:03Thank you.
-
12:03 - 12:05(Applause)
- Title:
- A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs
- Speaker:
- Daan Roosegaarde
- Description:
-
Daan Roosegaarde uses technology and creative thinking to produce imaginative, earth-friendly designs. He presents his latest projects -- from a bike path in Eindhoven, where he reinterpreted "The Starry Night" to get people thinking about green energy, to Beijing, where he developed a smog vacuum cleaner to purify the air in local parks, to a dance floor that generates electricity to power a DJ booth. Check out Roosegaarde's vision for a future where creativity is our true capital.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 12:18
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs | ||
Yasushi Aoki commented on English subtitles for A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs | ||
Yasushi Aoki commented on English subtitles for A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for A smog vacuum cleaner and other magical city designs |
Yasushi Aoki
wait or government
# or -> for
Yasushi Aoki
So the waste the activator,
it was the enabler.
->
So the ways that activate
was the enabler.