As days of extreme heat get more common, there are a few simple solutions that cities around the world are implementing to keep people a little more comfortable. 07.22.19 BY ADELE PETERS If you bike down a street on the edge of Los Angeles’s Echo Park … Continue reading Cities are getting hotter, but we can redesign them to keep us cool
FEARGUS O’SULLIVAN – JUL 24, 2019 A new mayor vowed to bring vehicles back to the city center. The strong citizen backlash suggests that European cities’ car bans are not, in fact, in peril. Madrid’s new administration might already be regretting its promise to cancel … Continue reading In Madrid, a Car Ban Proves Stronger Than Partisan Politics
By David Roberts Apr 9, 2019 https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/9/18300797/barcelona-spain-superblocks-urban-plan This is part two in a five-part series about the comprehensive urban plan being implemented in Barcelona, Spain, which would reclaim more than half the streets now devoted to cars for mixed-use public spaces, or “superblocks.” This reporting project was supported by … Continue reading Barcelona wants to build 500 superblocks. Here’s what it learned from the first ones.
JARED BREY APRIL 11, 2019 Late last month, the New Orleans City Council unanimously approved an inclusionary zoning policy requiring that developers provide some affordable units in the city’s strongest housing markets. In “core” neighborhoods like the French Quarter and the Central Business District, … Continue reading New Orleans Adopts a Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning Law
BY SAMUEL STEIN 03.12.2019 – jacobinmag apitalism and state planning have a complicated relationship. Capitalist ideology insists that markets are the best mechanism for economic, social, and environmental decision-making, and that consumer choice is the fairest and most efficient arbiter of public will. Deregulation has been … Continue reading Gentrification Is a Feature, Not a Bug, of Capitalist Urban Planning
By AYDA AYOUBI
International design and innovation firm Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA), in collaboration with Toronto-based Sidewalk Labs, has designed Dynamic Street, a modular prototype of a reconfigurable paving system that, according to CRA, could potentially make streets safer and more accessible to pedestrians. An installation showcasing this prototype is currently on view at 307, Sidewalk Labs’ central office in Toronto.
Offering an alternative to the current traffic systems, signs, and street markings, this adaptable road structure uses embedded lights to distinguish various traffic zones. Due to its modular design, each section of pavement can be easily moved around or replaced. For example, the system could “create an extra car lane during rush hour but then [turn] into a pedestrian-only plaza in the evening,” according to a CRA press release.
Made up of 232 hexagonal pavers, each measuring 4 feet in diameter, the installation is assembled over a 2,500-square-foot surface, simulating a 36-foot-wide street. Some tiles feature a plug-and-play system that demonstrate the potential for vertical structures, such as bollards and poles, to be easily installed on the pavers. Visitors to this exhibition can engage in creation of the Dynamic Street by modifying the system through a digital application.
“The Dynamic Street creates a space for urban experimentation,” CRA founder Carlo Ratti said in a press release. “With this project, we aim to create a streetscape that responds to citizens’ ever-changing needs.”
“As autonomous vehicles are likely to start running on streets soon, this project helps us to imagine a more adaptable road infrastructure,” CRA project manager Emma Greer said in the same release. “Self-driving cars will change both the number of lanes and the amount of parking we will need. The Dynamic Street explores a flexible platform that allows people to see how technology can evolve and respond to different conditions.”
These modules are currently made of wood, but the team expects to have them made of more durable materials such as concrete or rubber in the future.
Jun 19, 2018 Andrew Arnold Today over a half of the world’s population lives within urban centers. Considering this and growing populations overall, urban planners have a difficult task ahead of them. They must plan and grow transportation networks and other developments accordingly. The success of any urban … Continue reading How Social Media Can Be A Tool To Impact Urban Planning
Ruchir Sharma MAY 6, 2017 What makes America great? The standard answers point to qualities that the United States is said to have in greater abundance than its peers in Europe and Japan. There are the innovations that pour out of Silicon Valley companies and elite … Continue reading To Be Great Again, America Needs Immigrants
By Justin Davidson The most essential designed component of New York is not a skyscraper or a station, but the street. That basic workhorse of public space carries people, freight, and vehicles on its surface; water, sewage, power, gas, steam, and data below. It is a … Continue reading What Is a City Street? And What Will It Become?
http://www.100resilientcities.org/ As the triple threats of climate change, rapid urbanization, and globalization exert pressure on cities, many of those places are looking to be more resilient — now and 25, 50, or 100 years from now. But what is urban resilience, and how do you … Continue reading Planning for Resilience
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