Category: social
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Science of Pedestrian Movements
An interesting article from the Economist on ‘The Wisdom of Crowds‘ echoes much of the seminal research of William Whyte (City), Edward T. Hall (The Hidden Dimension), and others that have closely studied the behavior of pedestrians and other users of public spaces. The interplay of cultural habits that tells us to step right or…
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The Real
In contrast to the previous post of the ethereal, an amazing collection from Nigel Christian’s blog ‘This City Called Earth‘ which, in his words: “combines my sociologist’s interest in theories of urbanisation, globalisation and post-nature with my photographer’s love of street portraiture and the hard beauty of the built environment.” The expansive group emerges by…
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Black Rock City
An interesting article making some strange connections between the land of free spiritedness that is Burning Man, specifically the arrangement of the temporary settlement ‘Black Rock City’ with the ideology of New Urbanism. I can’t think of two uniquely different mind-sets and approaches, so find the connection to be somewhat comical – but am keeping…
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Source: Terrain Vague – de Sola Morales
A formative source in thinking about indeterminant spaces is Terrain Vague, a 1995 essay by Spanish Architect Ignasi de Sola-Morales. The essay starts with a discussion of the idea of photography, which is mentioned by the author as vital to our understanding, particularly through photomontage and their inventive juxtaposition of forms, aiding our ability to…
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Pruitt Igoe Now
Another good ideas competition, Pruitt Igoe Now the infamous St. Louis housing complex that was demolished in 1972 and considered one of the touchstones in the ‘death’ of modernism. The site is typical of the towers in the park ideal most notably ascribed to public housing and derived from version of Le Corbusier’s Radiant City…
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Ecologies of Gold
Brilliant study of the meshing of urbanization and gold mining in Johannesburg, South Africa by Dorothy Tang and Andrew Watkins (on Design Observer). As mentioned in the article and accompanying photo essay; “ In particular, the 80-kilometer mining belt between the two cities is riddled by deep-shaft mines, where companies built an extensive network of…
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Reading, Thinking, Observing: A New Direction for L+U
Forgive my self-indulgent post, but my lack of blogging is not an indication of lack of thinking (and walking) – as my attention has shifted from following the various blogs (i used to follow many, and now have reduced this to around a dozen) and their myriad paths of discussion towards a more rigorous engagement…
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Targeting the Public
Pioneer Courthouse Square is the central plaza of downtown – often referred to as the ‘living room’ of Portland and is praised as one of the best public spaces for it’s flexibility and programming :: image via MetroBabel In this regard, the space hosts a number of large-scale public events, rallies, concerts, and gatherings –…
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Environmental Urbanism Panel Discussion
As an addenda to the previous post, on Chris Reed’s lecture, a round-about summary of the panel discussion that followed. Panel Discussion – Environmental Urbanism: Ecological Design for Healthy Cities The panel was moderated by Peter Steinbrueck, with Reed joined by additional panelists including Randy Hester (who lectured the previous evening on Design for Ecological Democracy) and…
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The Suburban Prelude: The City (1939)
An interesting film, created as part of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, is ‘The City‘, an heavily anti-urban vision of the perils of the the modern city agglomeration. Using a number of images from both the smoky and polluted industrial Pittsburgh and the crowded, frenetic cosmopolitan New York City of the 1930s, the film…