An interesting article at phys.org discusses a Symposium on Bamboo in the Urban Environment that took place recently at the University of Pittsburg where academics, architects, and construction experts met to look at bamboo’s “critical role” in safe and affordable housing, and its potential contribution to greener urban environments worldwide. The symposium was part of a US-State Department and UK British Council-funded Global innovation Initiative (GII) project that is supporting the development of bamboo as a sustainable and resilient alternate building material. Following this meeting a ‘Pittsburgh Declaration’ was created as “a global call-to-action that seeks to increase international recognition of the benefits of bamboo, and outline recommendations designed to more effectively harness the plant as a building material.” One of the recommendations made is to develop international codes and standards for bamboo as there currently aren’t any. The Declaration invites all bamboo-producer and consumer countries to participate in the development of a design standard for round culm bamboo within a newly established International Standards Organization (ISO) Technical Committee 296. Other recommendations include the adoption of testing standards, and the development of a standard on the structural uses of laminated bamboo.
