Category: Data
-
Smart Trees
Way back in undergraduate studies, I developed a project for a pedestrian street mall in Vancouver, British Columbia. The conceptual framework of car-free zones in cities was a contentious one at the time with some notable failures but the idea of removing cars from urban zones was a key driver of my design. This has…
-
International Urban Wildlife Conference
In early June I was in San Diego for the 2017 International Urban Wildlife Conference. This was my first time at this particular conference, and it was fascinating to experience the breadth of ideas, and the urban focus on wildlife. It’s something that we as designers care about, but struggle with implementation that truly…
-
Google Timelapse
The announcement Google Earth Timelapse has created a bit of a stir, with a number of videos exploring landscape change of natural and urban systems. From their site: “Timelapse is a global, zoomable video that lets you see how the Earth has changed over the past 32 years. It is made from 33 cloud-free annual…
-
Hortum machina B
Really like this experimental project (spotted on a post on Architects Newspaper) by Interactive Architecture Lab. Called Hortum machina, B it’s a “rolling ecological exoskeleton” in the shape of a geodesic dome, the “half garden, half machine” hybrid is able to move through the environment using plant electro-physiology to drive the machine. The idea of…
-
Guest Post: Geodesign
I’m happy to be able to share some information on Geodesign from mapping and visualization rock-star Nadia Amoroso. I’ve really enjoyed following her work over the years, and did a thorough exploration of her amazing book The Exposed City: Mapping the Urban Invisibles, back in 2010 (here) and also posted about her work on Data…
-
Catch while Catch Can – car2go
Like many urban dwellers, I often rely on the service car2go for short trips around the city. This is often helpful for hopping over for a quick happy hour, doctor’s appointment or meeting during the day. It also provides a means for getting to the night meeting/workshop. It’s a great augmentation of other modes of…
-
Ecology & Landscape Architecture
A great post on the The Dirt from a couple of months back delves into a topic near and dear to my thoughts on landscape architecture and urbanism – particularly how do we blend science and design in meaningful ways. The article “Teaching Ecological Restoration (Not Restoration Ecology) includes the new Temple University concentration in…
-
City Simulation
An interesting article in the Guardian, Cities and their psychology: how neuroscience affects urban planning delves into the connection between space and behavior, and more specifically, ways of using technological advances to study and understand (and experiment) with urban spaces. Who better to invoke with this discussion than William H. Whyte, the nerd’s nerd of…
-
Islands of Seattle
This map of Seattle by UW Planner Jeffrey Linn via a post on The Whole U, features a speculation on sea level change in the Seattle region. The result is dramatic when taken to the level of complete world ice-sheets melting resulting in a 240′ sea level rise. Particularly is you live in certain parts…
-
River Maps
The Map of American Rivers has been out for a while – and this post has been sitting in my drafts – so figured i’d finish it up. The beauty of the map, created by Nelson Minar, is the isolation of a single elements and it’s expression in the topography of the US. I think…