Archive for September, 2011
September 19, 2011 · Filed under Active Transportation, Cycling, Density, Planning, Traffic
Can there be too many bikes in a city for safety? It’s not a question usually asked: the received wisdom, supported by research and backed by campaigning groups, is that the more cyclists there are, the safer the roads become for everyone.
But in Copenhagen – one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world in which 36% of its inhabitants cycle to work or school, and which has committed to increasing that figure to 50% by 2015 – there are controversial voices coming from unexpected places.
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September 15, 2011 · Filed under EcoCities, Food Deserts, Garden Cities, Suburbs
Used to be, developers built high-end suburban communities around golf greens.
The hot amenity now? Salad greens.
In a movement propelled by environmental concern, nostalgia for a simpler life and a dollop of marketing savvy, developers are increasingly laying out their cul-de-sacs around organic farms, cattle ranches, vineyards and other agricultural ventures. They’re betting that buyers will pay a premium for views of heirloom tomatoes—and that the farms can provide a steady stream of revenue, while cutting the cost of landscaping upkeep.
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September 13, 2011 · Filed under Architecture, Crime, Pedestrians, Public Life, Public Space, Social Networks
In designing and constructing environments in which people live and work, architects and planners are necessarily involved in influencing human behaviour. While Sommer (1969, p.3) asserted that the architect “in his training and practice, learns to look at buildings without people in them,” it is clear that from, for example, Howard’s Garden Cities of To-morrow (1902), through Le Corbusier’s Ville Contemporaine and La Ville radieuse, to the Smithsons’ ‘Streets in the sky’, there has been a long-standing thread of recognition that the way people live their lives is directly linked to the designed environments in which they live.
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Popularity: 1% [?]
September 8, 2011 · Filed under Climate Change, Density, EcoCities, Ecosystems
Our fractured metropolitan regions are the big problem in creating sustainable solutions for climate challenges. High-towered, dense city living is only a small part of the solution, which is to develop “ecological urbanisms.”
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Popularity: 1% [?]
