Ideas worth spreading

Reviving New York's rivers -- with oysters!

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Kate Orff |

TEDWomen 2010

• December 2010

Landscape architect Kate Orff sees the oyster as an agent of urban change. Bundled into beds and sunk into city rivers, oysters slurp up pollution and make legendarily dirty waters clean -- thus driving even more innovation in "oyster-tecture." Orff shares her vision for an urban landscape that links nature and humanity for mutual benefit.

Landscape architect Kate Orff sees the oyster as an agent of urban change. Bundled into beds and sunk into city rivers, oysters slurp up pollution and make legendarily dirty waters clean -- thus driving even more innovation in "oyster-tecture." Orff shares her vision for an urban landscape that links nature and humanity for mutual benefit.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Kate Orff

Landscape architect

See speaker profile

Kate Orff asks us to rethink “landscape”—to use urban greenspaces and blue spaces in fresh ways to mediate between humankind and nature.

Barry Bergdoll et al. | The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2011 | Book

Rising Currents

Alexander Brash et al. | Princeton Architectural Press, 2011 | Book

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.