urbanism
/urbanism285
A place to talk about urban design, transit, and all things cities
Nothing makes me smile more on the road than seeing pedestrians assert their rights to cross safely at crosswalks.
Urban is HOW people live, not simply where they live
It means living locally, engaging in direct experiences, and becoming part of the social fabric
It means living locally, engaging in direct experiences, and becoming part of the social fabric
We need more walkability maps in public spaces! I was pleasantly surprised to find this one in my neighborhood—showing transit and public attractions within a 15-30 minute walk.
mapping distance in time is better for making cities more intuitive and accessible
mapping distance in time is better for making cities more intuitive and accessible
I wish more American land developers understood this strategy back in the 1900s instead of building American cities for cars instead of people.
Maybe we'll figure it out this century. It's hard for me to want to live anywhere outside of NYC because an urban pedestrian lifestyle isn't really possible anywhere else today in America.
Maybe we'll figure it out this century. It's hard for me to want to live anywhere outside of NYC because an urban pedestrian lifestyle isn't really possible anywhere else today in America.
384559
Ri
@rithikha·16:33 04/03/2025
The year is 2045. The JR East train pulls into a DAO/community-owned station, powered by AI, funded by ramen shops.
Study Public Private Pa̶r̶t̶n̶e̶r̶s̶h̶i̶p̶s̶ Protocols anon
https://x.com/singareddynm/status/1873887866147004516
Study Public Private Pa̶r̶t̶n̶e̶r̶s̶h̶i̶p̶s̶ Protocols anon
https://x.com/singareddynm/status/1873887866147004516
Can't believe we fumbled covid dining sheds so badly. The diversity of style, the takeover of the pavements, the reclamation of the streets. Felt so joyfully human.
Yes, they weren't perfect. Unsafe, nor as hygienic, and noisy to neighbours. But just to go straight back to boring rivers of cars. Booooo
Yes, they weren't perfect. Unsafe, nor as hygienic, and noisy to neighbours. But just to go straight back to boring rivers of cars. Booooo
As someone who didn't grow up in a city with a subway or really cold winters, the smell and warmth wafting from an underground machine that teleports you places in a city, is magical. Brings back memories riding the London Underground for the 1st time when I was 16.
Donald Shoup just passed away 💔RIP to the legendary urbanist who showed us how parking can make or break a city. He helped us realize parking is expensive, and that we are all paying for it.
https://thewaroncars.org/2025/02/08/remembering-donald-shoup/
https://thewaroncars.org/2025/02/08/remembering-donald-shoup/
Taking up space in inhospitable environments
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/11/sarah-ross-archisuits/
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/11/sarah-ross-archisuits/
“A genuinely open city would be one in which investment is channeled to serve social need rather than private gain; in which public institutions secure and protect shared, common resources from private appropriation; and in which all inhabitants have secured equal capacities to influence decisions that affect the spaces, institutions and resources shared by all. Any design intervention that claims to promote the open city without pursuing these core goals will be seriously incomplete, if not delusionary.”
Excerpt From Neil Brenner, in
The Right to the City: A Verso Report
Excerpt From Neil Brenner, in
The Right to the City: A Verso Report
“Upload an aerial or satellite photo from your city - an intersection or neighbourhood - and start mapping how much space is allocated to cars, pedestrians and bikes.”
https://cyklokoalicia.sk/arrogance/
https://cyklokoalicia.sk/arrogance/
New York forced restaurants to remove outdoor dining structures to allow for more parking – so L’Industrie added a bus for patrons to eat pizza in 😎
https://www.reddit.com/r/MicromobilityNYC/s/qYCyzwWaRN
https://www.reddit.com/r/MicromobilityNYC/s/qYCyzwWaRN
This belongs here
506169
mia 水明
@miawintam·22:11 29/11/2024
beautiful, well-functioning cities often naturally mimic fractal geometry, using repeating patterns to create networks of streets, public spaces, and buildings that adapt as needs change.
in contrast, the rigid, top-down plans from the 20th century, like Le Corbusier’s designs, often failed to create vibrant city life. They focused too much on uniformity and architectural consistency but ignored how cities constantly evolve and need flexibility.
to build more resilient cities, urban planning should:
1. Embrace fractal principles to support organic, flexible growth
2. Focus on networks of public spaces that connect buildings and build community
3. Use technology & decentralized systems to guide growth while staying adaptable to change
http://emergenturbanism.com/2007/11/19/complex-geometry-and-structured-chaos/
in contrast, the rigid, top-down plans from the 20th century, like Le Corbusier’s designs, often failed to create vibrant city life. They focused too much on uniformity and architectural consistency but ignored how cities constantly evolve and need flexibility.
to build more resilient cities, urban planning should:
1. Embrace fractal principles to support organic, flexible growth
2. Focus on networks of public spaces that connect buildings and build community
3. Use technology & decentralized systems to guide growth while staying adaptable to change
http://emergenturbanism.com/2007/11/19/complex-geometry-and-structured-chaos/
“Buildings, infrastructures and other urban technologies may be enablers of cities, but they are not the point of cities. The ‘smart city’ movement has repeatedly misunderstood this, by focusing on simplistic instruments rather than emergent complexity, operational efficiency rather than thriving cultures, control rather than conviviality.
As Brian Eno wrote, a truly smart city would be built around the intelligence, creativity and resourcefulness of its inhabitants, human and otherwise. This city is expressed via its culture, its interactions, its relationships. And adaptive urban technologies can powerfully tune systems to produce such diverse, open, and adaptable cultures—or they can inhibit them, producing the opposite.”
https://dialogue.city/futureurbanism/
As Brian Eno wrote, a truly smart city would be built around the intelligence, creativity and resourcefulness of its inhabitants, human and otherwise. This city is expressed via its culture, its interactions, its relationships. And adaptive urban technologies can powerfully tune systems to produce such diverse, open, and adaptable cultures—or they can inhibit them, producing the opposite.”
https://dialogue.city/futureurbanism/
“An advanced city is not one where even the poor use cars, but rather one where even the rich use public transport.”
All I can think about while traveling around Bangkok is how much happier America would be with affordable massage, massive investment in public transit (not just for city centers), and fewer corporate owned third spaces.
“Park power is like mutual aid in the following ways:
Park power is a collective effort.
Park power is an unconditional gift.
Park power is informal.
Park power creates channels for people to share resources.
Park power is open to everyone.
Park power builds solidarity.
Park power assumes that everyone has something to offer and everyone has needs that others might be able to meet.”
Thanks @jamesmac.eth for showing this to me🫶🏼
https://leaflet.pub/74734477-0aa2-4f53-b9ff-7eb7787673c4
Park power is a collective effort.
Park power is an unconditional gift.
Park power is informal.
Park power creates channels for people to share resources.
Park power is open to everyone.
Park power builds solidarity.
Park power assumes that everyone has something to offer and everyone has needs that others might be able to meet.”
Thanks @jamesmac.eth for showing this to me🫶🏼
https://leaflet.pub/74734477-0aa2-4f53-b9ff-7eb7787673c4
One of us :)
270504
alex
@proxystudio.eth·18:40 04/11/2024
Cars give me lazy vibes, subways full of the urban masses signal vitality, commerce, progress
My biggest prejudice is against the automobile, we must lay new track and bore tunnels constantly
My biggest prejudice is against the automobile, we must lay new track and bore tunnels constantly
I was a third place for halloween
(this kind of third place)
https://paragraph.xyz/@miawintam.eth/preview/R1mYVYMT2lr6QzHUOnM2
(this kind of third place)
https://paragraph.xyz/@miawintam.eth/preview/R1mYVYMT2lr6QzHUOnM2
Emergent urbanism / informality
7237
Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth·02:32 30/10/2024
Revealed vs. stated preference
The only parking minimums I support are for bike parking
“In 2002, a diverse group of over 80 individuals … came together to form the ‘Tokyo Picnic Club’ with the goal of reclaiming city space for people instead of cars… they left a resounding message for communities everywhere to gather spontaneously in city spaces that rightfully belong to us.
Streets are much more than spaces for cars— streets are civic commons. Where there is absence, we can bring presence; where curbs are dull and void of meaningful interaction, we can bring our livliness and intentionality.”
Sharing my piece“Right to Picnic,” originally published in print for Harapeko Magazine last year.
https://paragraph.xyz/@miawintam.eth/right-to-picnic
Streets are much more than spaces for cars— streets are civic commons. Where there is absence, we can bring presence; where curbs are dull and void of meaningful interaction, we can bring our livliness and intentionality.”
Sharing my piece“Right to Picnic,” originally published in print for Harapeko Magazine last year.
https://paragraph.xyz/@miawintam.eth/right-to-picnic
My ideal city is also mostly park https://x.com/nickcammarata/status/1850624242028793975
Last night, the city paved over the wonderful bedstuy aquarium and I’m devastated. This was such a wonderful, grassroots source of community joy.
https://x.com/maxrivlinnadler/status/1849808799047000365?s=46
https://x.com/maxrivlinnadler/status/1849808799047000365?s=46
Urban hacking—the intentional misuse of urban space—seems to be a likely source of such “fragmentary versions of the future”, but also of adaptation strategies for inhabiting spaces unfit for the coming era, especially since the state and large companies are reluctant to introduce contrarian usage patterns, because these would go against both their interests, and the happy fairytale spectacle that keeps the future in their hands.
This nexus—existent in the practice of effective urban hacking—between the exciting creation of fragments of the future and more pragmatic adaptation strategies may be the key to prototyping today, under the cover of leisure and excitement, generalizable strategies that make future inhabitation of retrograde urbanism possible.
http://ericwycoffrogers.com/writings/2015/9/16/a-theory-of-urban-hacking
This nexus—existent in the practice of effective urban hacking—between the exciting creation of fragments of the future and more pragmatic adaptation strategies may be the key to prototyping today, under the cover of leisure and excitement, generalizable strategies that make future inhabitation of retrograde urbanism possible.
http://ericwycoffrogers.com/writings/2015/9/16/a-theory-of-urban-hacking
Dug up this photo I took two winters ago
It’s the best way to show how much road space we actually need!
It’s the best way to show how much road space we actually need!
The NYC DOT has a podcast called Curb Enthusiasm 🙂
https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/podcast.shtml
https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/podcast.shtml
Future bike lane??? Btw it’s notoriously hard to find parking in this neighbourhood. Developers raze down single family houses, build 4 story apartments without it garage. Beach nearby. Restaurants & bars. It’s a mess Friday and Saturday.
More thoughts from a rare car trip in the city:
- blocking the box needs to be enforced
- parked cars are an egregious waste of street space (especially when it’s free!)
- most cars are way too big, we’d be better off if 90% were just golf carts
- blocking the box needs to be enforced
- parked cars are an egregious waste of street space (especially when it’s free!)
- most cars are way too big, we’d be better off if 90% were just golf carts
4256
Mark Fishman
@mark·19:43 26/09/2024
Weird that traffic isn’t its own disincentive for driving in the city
Currently in an Uber (transporting a dog and lots of stuff) and have moved maybe three blocks in ten minutes
Currently in an Uber (transporting a dog and lots of stuff) and have moved maybe three blocks in ten minutes
After scrapping congestion pricing and bringing the national guard into the subway stations 🤡
https://nysfocus.com/2024/09/24/route17-highway-expansion-hochul
https://nysfocus.com/2024/09/24/route17-highway-expansion-hochul
I love my Are.na
https://www.are.na/mia-winther-tamaki/open-space-open-access-open-source-3nhe9litt30
https://www.are.na/mia-winther-tamaki/open-space-open-access-open-source-3nhe9litt30
