Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• From the innovative efforts of PlaNYC to the remarkable pedestrianization of Times Square, urbanites from around the world marvel at the New York’s ability to plan and execute ambitious and exciting projects. How do they do it? Katharine Jose at Capital New York attributes much recent success to Jan Gehl. This article profiles his approach and recent work. “A good city is like a good party, you stay for longer than you plan.”
• Crain’s New York reports on the latest must-have for New York apartment seekers: bike storage. With the number of commuter cyclists increasing 79% over the past three years, landlords find themselves charging fees for the space to keep up with demand.
• Fast Company profiles the work of cartographer Bill Rankin. His maps of racial integration in US cities paint a fascinating picture of composition and segregation. Using data points to illustrate spatial patterns, Rankin is able to uniquely communicate the nebulous boundaries that often exist between social groups.
• Grist reports on the murder of Burke, Virginia resident, Stephen Carr, over a speed hump. Carr advocated for the installation of the hump on his street, angering one neighbour to the point of violence. The street is in question is one of the few arterials connecting the surrounding suburban cul-de-sacs to major thoroughfares – a design strategy that has been shown to contribute to speeding.
• BLDGBLOG ponders the architecture of traffic jams. During China’s recent 62-mile traffic jam, a small economy of roadside stands emerged while drivers slept and played cards to pass the time. As David Greene writes, “A traffic jam is a collection of rooms—they are really instantly formed and constantly changing communities.”
Photo from the Christian Science Monitor
Do you have a World Wide Wednesday worthy article you’d like to share? Send the link to www (at) spacing . ca
2 comments
Those maps are amazing. I would love to see one done for Toronto. We all like to think that the city is very diverse and integrated, but is it? Of course, Canadian diversity extends beyond the big US labels of black, white, asian or hispanic but still would be very interesting to see Toronto in that set of images.
Actually a number of posters on the Flickr posts of the maps point out the limitations of the US categories and that they mask some diversity. Including that in Columbus there is apparently a pretty major divide between the city’s African-American population and the African immigrant population, which is sizable there. Also in Detroit the fact that the US Census counts Arabs as “white” erases that there are large swaths of the suburbs that are predominantly Arab.
None the less, very fascinating maps.