Algae is increasingly seen as a source of tremendous potential , as scientists and entrepreneurs hurry ?to turn the organism into biofuel on a scale that's commercially viable . But for most people, their only interaction with the slimy stuff happens when scraping it from a fish tank—the plant is foreign, misunderstood, and too often considered “gross.” A new futuristic exhibition called HORTUS (Latin for 'garden,' but in this case “Hydro Organisms Responsive to Urban Stimuli) at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London is educating the public with an urban algae farm that relies on humans and technology to help the plants grow. Visitors to the installation are greeted by hundreds of transparent algae-bearing vessels hanging from the ceiling like IV bags in a villainous laboratory

A public school in New York City is doing amazing things to promote a love for gardening and local food, and is working with Columbia students to build a garden on its roof.

We've told you before about the many ways modern designers have begun to buck societal restrictions.

Steve Wheen ?calls himself a “guerilla gardener.” But rather than attacking man-eating plants and running through jungles for a living, he targets potholes and neglected street corners in East London, filling them with soil, flower bulbs, and delightful mini-props (including twine, picnic blankets, tiny plush armchairs, and tiny golf clubs). He even planted a celebratory Royal Wedding garden.? According to his blog, Wheen started pothole gardening as a school project and has done it ever since.

One of the most frequently asked questions about winter gardening is whether extreme temperature swings will harm or kill ornamental plants.

As the first week of the year comes to a close, we're taking a look at books set in 2012 to see what authors predicted for the year ahead. Thanks to the abundance of apocalyptic myths surrounding the Mayan calendar, many authors chose 2012 as the go-to setting for futuristic, Armageddon, doomsday novels. While this week's writers seem to have a soft spot for aliens and world destruction, don’t fret

Throughout Italy, a homegrown youth movement is afoot.?Amid a year of global protest and at the height of the Eurozone crisis, lefty social centers, or centri sociali , have sprung up across Italy to become the change the next generation wants to see. One center in Rome, called Ex Snia, turned an abandoned lot and warehouse into a thriving community of free language classes, bike shops, and organic box gardens.

I’m sitting with an Afghan, a Bangladeshi, a Senegalese, a Bulgarian, some Italians, and a Turk on a bench in an abandoned lot in Rome. Last year, this lot was filled with half a dozen vats of marmalade made from wild oranges collected by Roman citizens for a fundraising effort to support a group of Malian immigrants. The decaying edifice that looms behind us was once a textile factory under Mussolini and now hosts several immigrant families who fled Rosarno, where they had been the victims of hate crimes

This fall, we asked residents of Boulder, Colorado for ideas to move their community forward. Through GOOD Maker , our new platform that connects great ideas with much-needed funds, we offered a $1,500 grant to an idea of the public’s choosing.

by Claire Thompson.