Photo-essay
The Melbourne Botanic Gardens, August 2014
Category Archives: URBANITY
Urban Design New York
Commentary: Urban Design Fails at Ground Zero
There’s a very thorough article about the combined architectural and developer and government mishandling of the whole ground zero site in New York.
Melbourne Botanic Gardens Guilfoyle’s Volcano
Review: Landscape
Guilfoyle’s Volcano at Melbourne Botanic Gardens
This is a job well done. I saw an article about this and was determined to have a look. Now if only those promoting it had been sensible and given an address.
Continue reading Melbourne Botanic Gardens Guilfoyle’s Volcano
Urban Bikeway Design Guide
Notice: Urban Bikeway Design Guide, Second Edition
National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)
The Urban Bikeway Design Guide, Second Edition, is based on the experience of the best cycling cities in the world. Completely re-designed with an accessible, four-color layout, this second edition continues to build upon the fast-changing state of the practice at the local level. The designs in this book were developed by cities for cities, since unique urban streets require innovative solutions.
To create the Guide, the authors conducted an extensive worldwide literature search from design guidelines and real-life experience.
New Garden Cities
Competition winner: for new Garden Cities
It was announced in the UK that the winner of a competition has proposed that to deal with population growth that new cities should be built nearby established ones. These would be garden cities connected back to the older city by public transport.
Guilfoyle’s Volcano
Review: Landscape
Guilfoyle’s Volcano at Melbourne Botanic Gardens
Andrew Laidlaw, landscape architect
This is a job well done. I saw an article about this and was determined to have a look. Now if only they had been sensible and given an address.
LA for bikes
Los Angeles a city for cyclists?
LA wasn’t always a driver’s town. In the 1920s, it had the longest urban rail network in the world, and innovative infrastructure was built for cyclists as well. Despite this, Angelenos fell in love with the car early on and moved for more highway projects, making it the road-based city it is today.
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Paul Costigan, 19 August 2014
Melbourne
Commentary: Melbourne as liveable city?
Melbourne is a city I enjoy visiting. Most of the time my visits involve moving around the inner suburbs of Melbourne.
A photograph
A Photograph
Greener London
How making London greener could make Londoners happier
an interactive map
From The Guardian: London – with all its tarmac, brick and glass – is actually 38.4% open space and ranks as the world’s third greenest major city. Now Daniel Raven-Ellison wants to go further … and make Greater London a national park. His campaign and online petition aims to have the city treated in the same way as parks like the Peak District and the Brecon Beacons, to conserve its natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage.
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Paul Costigan, 20 August
Urbanity: Canberra Planning & Development
Commentary: The problems of Canberra’s Planning & Development
Canberra, as with most major centres in Australia, is caught up in complex and sometimes nasty urban planning debates.
On the one side there is the property council groupings that include the gung-ho developers*, and their colleagues amongst the architects, planners and the planning authorities.
LA for Bikes
Los Angeles a city for cyclists?
LA wasn’t always a driver’s town. In the 1920s, it had the longest urban rail network in the world, and innovative infrastructure was built for cyclists as well. Despite this, Angelenos fell in love with the car early on and moved for more highway projects, making it the road-based city it is today.
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Paul Costigan, 19 August 2014
Chicago Millennium Park
Photo-Essay:
The park celebrated its tenth anniversary last June. This first image is from their own website.
Hospital Architecture Brisbane
Review: Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital
photographed late June/early July 2014 – due to open later in 2014
On two recent visits to Brisbane I noticed this new hospital building under construction in South Brisbane. I first noticed it as while crossing the river. I was impressed that at last there was something in the area that was not simply bland-box architecture. (click on photographs to enlarge)
Supermarkets
The duopoly of supermarkets in Australia
There is a very hard-hitting article in the August 2014 issue of The Monthly on how the two large supermarkets have been allowed to rip anyone and everyone off. Even more depressing is that it points to how we, as consumers, are continuing to allow this to happen.
The major point raised by the article is how this dominance of the two of these supermarkets has reduced the food security in this country.
Far East Organization Children’s Garden, Singapore
Far East Organization Children’s Garden
at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore
I spotted this YouTube introduction to the Far East Organization Children’s Garden at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.
Continue reading Far East Organization Children’s Garden, Singapore
National Capital Authority
The NCA is no longer relevant
An opportunity has presented itself with the Commonwealth Government’s announcement to allow the National Capital Authority (NCA) to open up the Parliamentary Triangle to more commercial opportunities. (CT 12 July, Page 1, Shopping in the triangle? It’s a private matter)
I have no problem at all with more commercial activity happening within the Parliamentary Triangle. The question is just how to intelligently implement such a change to this landscape that presently serves as a national monument.
Trees
Comment on the Art of Trees
I have said it before and am happy to say so again, I live in a suburb in Canberra that has a fabulous amount of trees. The amount of trees in the public arena, streets and parks etc, combined with those throughout the residential properties delivers an ambience that is hard to explain to anyone who has not experienced it. With our local trees comes other biodiversity and heaps of bird life. Researchers have just worked this out. Click here for a story on this.
Trees and sustainable settlements
Comment on the Art of Trees
I have said it before and am happy to say so again, I live in a suburb in Canberra that has a fabulous amount of trees. The amount of trees in the public arena, streets and parks etc, combined with those throughout the residential properties delivers an ambience that is hard to explain to anyone who has not experienced it.
Urban Trees
Comment and Link to UK article on Urban Trees
I have the benefit of living in a suburb with plenty of tree cover. In fact the view outside onto the streets is almost as if the street is a parkland. The concept that any suburb should have an abundance of trees and shrubs and associated bio-diversity is simply so logical that one wonders why would anyone think otherwise.
Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane, Part Two
Review: Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane
Part Two: The Urban Development Atrocities
The Queensland state government spent millions on the Roma Street Parklands. This parkland was set to add huge value to any apartments built around its edges. One would have thought that the City would have insisted on at least some higher levels of design for such buildings. Continue reading Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane, Part Two
Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane, Part One
Review: Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane
Part One: It is about creative Garden Design
I first visited these gardens and parklands back in 2004 and was very impressed then. This parkland project was a major commitment by the then state government to re-develop a former industrial site and to join it to the existing Albert Park to form one larger parkland, the Roma Street Parklands. I highly recommend anyone and everyone visiting Brisbane to allocate at least an hour to wander about these parklands ten minutes or more away from the Brisbane CBD. (click on any image to enlarge it)
Children’s Garden
Far East Organization Children’s Garden
at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore
I spotted this YouTube introduction to the Far East Organization Children’s Garden at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.
Capability Brown
Celebrating 300 Years of Capability Brown
click on the image below
Urban Trees
Comment and UK Research
I have the benefit of living in a suburb with plenty of tree cover. In fact the view outside onto the streets is almost as if the street is a parkland. The concept that any suburb should have an abundance of trees and shrubs and associated bio-diversity is simply so logical that one wonders why would anyone think otherwise.
2014 World Architecture Festival Awards: Vertical Garden
Review: Landscape Design/ Vertical Garden
A submission for the 2014 World Architecture Festival Awards
A-Mazing Vertical Garden, Da Nang City, Vietnam
I came across this garden when looking through the short listed projects for the World Architecture Awards to be announced in Singapore in early October 2014. At first I was very impressed with the technical qualities and that it was a form of the old fashioned maze, but done with plants in a more sustainable manner.
Continue reading 2014 World Architecture Festival Awards: Vertical Garden
Vertical Garden
Review: Landscape Design and Vertical Garden
A-Mazing Vertical Garden, Da Nang City, Vietnam
I came across this garden when looking through the short listed projects for the World Architecture Awards to be announced in Singapore in early October 2014. At first I was very impressed with the technical qualities and that it was a form of the old fashioned maze, but done with plants in a more sustainable manner.
I later searched for more on this and realised that it was very much a decorative maze in a resort in Vietnam. The resort being a re-use of a former French colonial resort. Below I have given a report on this garden from World Landscape Architecture.
Value the Landscape
How can we work with the landscape to make liveable places?
A video, about six and half minutes, introducing the concept of valuing landscape and the link to liveable settlements.
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see also – Sustainable Sites Initiative
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Paul Costigan, 24th June 2014
Value Landscape
How can we work with the landscape to make liveable places?
How the liveability of our cities means designers and planners working with the landscape rather than against it.
A video, about six and half minutes, introducing the concept of valuing landscape and the link to liveable settlements.
Canberra Architecture
Review: Book
Canberra Architecture, Andrew Metcalf
Watermark Architectural Guides, 2003
I picked up this book quiet a while ago but it is only now that I have had time to look through it. I am glad I did, as after reading through quite a bit of it, I have become more aware that Canberra has a reasonable amount of good and notable architecture.
I have a quiet interest in good architecture and have spent some energies complaining about the current crop of badly designed houses and commercial buildings being thrust onto Canberra. Residents have despaired that good design in our civic areas and suburbs has become a thing of the past.
Sustainable Sites
Announcing new Tools
The Sustainable Sites Initiative 2014
The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES™) is a program based on the understanding that land is a crucial component of the built environment and can be planned, designed, developed, and maintained to protect and enhance the benefits we derive from healthy functioning landscapes. Sustainable landscapes create ecologically resilient communities better able to withstand and recover from episodic floods, droughts, wildfires, and other catastrophic events. They benefit the environment, property owners, and local and regional communities and economies.
The Art of Trees
The Art of Trees and a new twist to the tale
Braidwood Kings Highway Trees
I refer to a former post (click here) in which I provided commentary about trees in several local location.
One key story was, and remains, the special lines of trees on the eastern and western entrances to Braidwood, in southern New South Wales.
Melbourne’s Urban Forest
City Council policy to address Climate Change
Always good to check if any Australian City Councils are taking actions and setting targets despite the dangerous attitude of our Federal Governments.
Melbourne City Council has an Urban Forest Strategy to increase markedly its tree coverage across the city (remembering this is the inner city council – who knows what the rest are doing!).
Sydney Urbanity and Architecture
Is architecture is failing contemporary Sydney? Part One
There is no doubt that the City of Sydney and its harbour are magnificent to behold. (click on the photo to enlarge). The mix of built structures really makes for a view that demands you take the time to stare, contemplate and to just enjoy it for as long as it takes. However…..
Urban Agriculture
From ASLA The Dirt: Is Urban Agriculture Utopian?
(part of the series on the 2014 Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) conference
“Urban agriculture is a phenomenon today,” said Farham Karim, an architectural historian at the University of Kansas, at the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) conference in New Orleans. Upwards of 70 million people are now involved around the globe — on Farmville, at least, the popular game app, he laughed. But, in reality, there are many tens of millions farming on the ground, too. With all the growing interest, Karim played devil’s advocate, wondering: is urban agriculture scalable? And who is going to be doing all this urban farming? And if we know it’s not a cost-effective solution for solving the world’s food problems, why the persistent interest?
click here for the full article.
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Paul Costigan, 17 June 2014
Sydney Urbanity & Architecture
Is architecture is failing contemporary Sydney? Part One
There is no doubt that the City of Sydney and its harbour are magnificent to behold. (click on the photo to enlarge). The mix of built structures really makes for a view that demands you take the time to stare, contemplate and to just enjoy it for as long as it takes. However…..
Canberra Urbanity and Development
Recent Canberra Government development announcements
In recent weeks and months there have been several significant development proposals announced by the territory (ACT) government in Canberra. If all the government’s ambitions come to fruition then residents about to witness some very serious alterations and additions to the make-up of several parts of the inner city urban fabric.
Domestic Wind Power
Report on domestic wind power turbines
Silent rooftop wind turbines could generate half of a household’s energy needs
Prince Alfred Park Sydney
Review: Inner city park/ Prince Alfred Park
The redevelopment of Prince Alfred Park Sydney
It should always be celebrated when a city council looks after its city parks. The property and development lobbies of this world see these public spaces as potential for profit-making development sites and would be always on hand to lobby for any reduction such public open spaces. Prince Alfred Park in Surrey Hills in Sydney has just benefited from a wise city council that has invested in some upgrades on this fabulous inner city parkland.
Just Say No
Comment: on being True to the Planet can mean sometimes you have to just say no.
How are we being served by our professions in their provision of buildings and landscape projects? The highest priority for the future of the planet remains that every action be taken in the context of addressing climate change adaptation.
University Urbanity
Review: Campus Design
A review of new architecture and spaces within the ANU (Australian National University) Part One
Across Australia there are stand out examples of campus design amongst many of our universities. In more recent years I have had reason to visit campuses in all the states and back here in Canberra and have been constantly impressed with some of the architectural and landscape work. In most cases I have been positively impressed with the work and in others I have been taken aback.
Urban Agriculture
Urban Agriculture – one part of the solution
from The Guardian, Designing cities and factories with urban agriculture in mind. The Netherlands offers inspiration for designers looking to create environments that harvest water, energy and nutrients.
Urban farms are transforming inner city spaces – rooftops, infrastructure, streetscapes, building skin – into generative ecologies that support the lives of people, and pollinators too. They are bringing into cities, and into plain view, the natural systems that sustain urban life
Sustainable Communities South Australia
A web blog recommended
Sustainable Communities South Australia Inc.
Building resilient communities to achieve a one planet lifestyle
click on the image for more. and please let us know of others that we could feature.
Car Parking
Using Parking Meters in Climate Change
There are all sorts of stories in circulation in Canberra as a result of the decision to introduce paid parking for all areas within the Parliamentary Triangle. This has a big impact on those who work in the area. Some public servants are devising clever tricks to continue to have free parking.
This will also mean that visitors will now have to pay to visit the national institutions and have limited time to visit. This could be a marked change in how visitors regard the national cultural institutions. I know as a local, it will mean less visits to these institutions.
Brisbane Ugly Part Six
Urbanity: More on comments by Alain de Botton, Part Six of Six
That parts of Brisbane are ugly and the local government has allowed this to happen
Part Six of Six – some final words
See previous: Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four – Part Five
Brisbane definitely would not win any ‘most attractive city award’.
Italy Infrastructure
Politics and Infrastructure, Italian Style
So we have governments in Australia trying to make political capital out of any proposals on infrastructure. Have we ever considered how other governments travel when it comes to delivering on infrastructure. Well let’s try Italy.
Brisbane Ugly Part Five
Urbanity: Following up comments by Alain de Botton, Part five/six
That parts of Brisbane are ugly and the local government has allowed this to happen
Beauty in urban development is something we should insist on!
Part Five of Six – South Bank and West End.
Links to all: Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four – Part Five – Part Six
There is no doubt that there are aspects of Brisbane that a far more interesting than the city centre. South Bank and the West End are such places. South Bank Parklands have been managed well for years up till now – but I am not so sure about the current management.
South Bank is a place for leisure, for the family, for picnics, for food and cafes and the cultural centres, for events, and especially for culture such as visits to the state gallery.
Brisbane Ugly Part Four
Urbanity:
Following up comments by Alain de Botton, Part Four of Six
That parts of Brisbane are ugly and the local government has allowed this to happen
Beauty in urban development is something we should insist on!
Part Four – nearby the Brisbane Central District
Links to all: Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four – Part Five – Part Six
There are aspects of Brisbane are beautiful. The river is magic. The photo above, taken some years back illustrates this. The evening lights enhance the unfortunate placement of major roads along the river’s edge. These freeways are transport engineering successes but are barriers to any hope of joining the city to the river.
Brisbane Ugly Part Three
Urbanity: Following up comments by Alain de Botton, Part Three
That parts of Brisbane are ugly and the local government has allowed this to happen
Beauty in urban development is something we should insist on!
Part Three – Brisbane Central District
Links to all: Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four – Part Five – Part Six
The central area of the city of Brisbane has evolved into a modern city with many historic buildings surviving. These heritage buildings are now surrounded by an over abundance of glass and concrete walls of taller office building. It is not a pretty sight.
Brisbane Ugly part Two
Urbanity: Following up on comments by Alain de Botton, Part Two
That parts of Brisbane are ugly and the local government has allowed this to happen
Beauty in urban development is something we should insist on!
Part Two – arriving from the airport
Links to all: Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four – Part Five – Part Six
New Acton Precinct, Canberra
Review: Urbanity
New Acton Precinct, Canberra
There was much ado about this whole precinct development when it was being built and this continues through to today. Having visited the site a few times now, to meander, to eat, to meet for coffee and the occasional business, I have to say that it is a very mixed result. It is worth a visit on a busy day to see for yourself. But it does not match some of the rhetoric that has been put about – click here for an example of some project-porn spin*.
Brisbane Ugly Part One
Urbanity:
Following up on comments by Alain de Botton, Part One of Six
That parts of Brisbane are ugly and the local government has allowed this to happen
Beauty in urban development is something we should insist on!
Part One – commenting on the News and its response to Alain
Links to all: Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four – Part Five – Part Six
A mild storm recently broke in the media around comments made by Alain de Botton. To view one Brisbane local news piece on this and see Alain respond – click here. I was alerted to there being something wrong here when certain commentators responded. Oh the media just did not read his new book on the media!
Los Angeles in 2033
From The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post presents a wonderfully optimistic report about a city that is often regarded as being a terrible example of urban development. I disagree. It has many things wrong with it but if you spend time there you can see that there are some really great things happening. All cities have their problems and many do not much to boast about.
Main street & human-scale
City main street networks show a drastic shift away from historic patterns of human-scale design
Have you ever wondered why some places seem built for automobiles as opposed to humans?
In a recent study, J. Alexander Maxwell and fellow researchers from the University of Strathclyde’s Urban Design Studies Unit find evidence that before the rise of the automobile, cities developed on a walkable “human” scale, with main streets that rarely exceeded 400 meters (a little more than 437 yards).
Along with Charles R. Wolfe, they argue that this uniformity reveals an underlying pattern to pedestrian city settings, which should be considered in contemporary urban design and policies.
North Canberra Greenway
A brief concept proposal:
The North Canberra Greenway and Artwalk.
This is a proposal to enhance some present green infrastructure within inner north Canberra.
The North Canberra Greenway could be formed by linking and then enhancing the present green infrastructure elements throughout inner north Canberra.
wetlands
Comment: Wetlands and Climate Change Adaptation
Australia has a very mixed understanding and relationship with wetlands. I happen to be fortunate to live close to one. This came into existence just a couple of years ago when the local government transformed a disused and degraded parkland into a wetland attached to an old style concrete drain.
LA in 2033
From The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post presents a wonderfully optimistic report about a city that is often regarded as being a terrible example of urban development. I disagree. It has many things wrong with it but if you spend time there you can see that there are some really great things happening. All cities have their problems and many do not much to boast about.
Canberra Urbanity – Fast Track Developments
Opinion: Proposals on fast track development precincts
Introducing democracy into ACT planning and development
Feathers have been quietly ruffled locally as the ACT Government (local government for Canberra) has announced it is to introduce a new proposal that would see identified precincts developed using a fast-track development process. This change to planning has been reported on in the Canberra Times and should be read before reading my comments that follow below – click here
What follows was edited down as a ‘letter to the editor’ on this subject.
Continue reading Canberra Urbanity – Fast Track Developments
Equity & Parks
Urbanity: Parks for everyone
There’s many a piece of research and publication about the links between access to parks and people’s health and wellbeing. Any urban area that includes ample public green spaces will always be sought after and the benefits are evident in the community attitudes towards their residential areas. Parks enhance the sense of community.
Most Australian urban areas usually have had parks provided as part of the urban infrastructure. However in too many cases these parks and open spaces end up not being maintained well and sadly many also become places of neglect.
Equity and Parks
Urbanity: Parks for everyone
There’s many a piece of research and publication about the links between access to parks and people’s health and wellbeing. Any urban area that includes ample public green spaces will always be sought after and the benefits are evident in the community attitudes towards their residential areas. Parks enhance the sense of community.
Public Transport Facts
Public Transportation Use is Growing — the Facts
Two reports on the rise in the use of public transport in the USA.
First – set out below is a March 2014 media statement from the On March 10, 2014 by the American Public Transportation Association. or – check out the original on the association’s own web site – click here.
The second is an article in the New York Times, March 10 2014: Use of Public Transit in U.S. Reaches Highest Level Since 1956, Advocates Report – click here
Happy City
Reviews: Book
Happy City, Charles Montgomery, 2013
From the blurb online:
“A brilliant, entertaining and vital book. Montgomery deftly leads us from our misplaced focus on money, cars and stuff to consider what makes us truly happy. Then everything changes – the way we live, work and play in humanity’s major habitat, the city.” – David Suzuki
The UK Olympic Park
YouTube presentation – The Olympic Park: a Landscape Legacy
a presentation put online by the UK Landscape Institute. Enjoy!
Happy City
Reviews: Book
Happy City, Charles Montgomery, 2013
From the blurb online:
“A brilliant, entertaining and vital book. Montgomery deftly leads us from our misplaced focus on money, cars and stuff to consider what makes us truly happy. Then everything changes – the way we live, work and play in humanity’s major habitat, the city.” – David Suzuki
After decades of unchecked sprawl, more people than ever are moving back to the city. Dense urban living has been prescribed as a panacea for the environmental and resource crises of our time. But is it better or worse for our happiness? Are subways, sidewalks and tower dwelling an improvement on the car-dependence of sprawl?
for more on the book – click here – or for a full review – see the article in Metropolis Online – click here
The UK Olympic Park
YouTube presentation – The Olympic Park: a Landscape Legacy
a presentation put online by the UK Landscape Institute. Enjoy!
Empires of Food
Review: Book
Empires of Food: Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations
Evan D. G. Fraser and Andrew Rimas. Random House, 2010
As if there was not enough information available on how the world is not paying attention to all the warning signs, this book was recommended to me to make me aware of the dire situation coming our way in relation to the supply of adequate food for coming generations.
This is all linked in with the issues of climate change, population growth and the way we have allowed our food supplies to be controlled by particular market and political forces. This book is a must read for all.
Suburbia
Book Review: The Charms of Suburbia
This is a link to a review on the online Magazine: Metropolis.
I was attracted to this as I believe in suburbia but get very annoyed (or is that angry) about the way current planning and development agencies have gone about ruining concept of suburbia through their lack of care for developing sustainable settlements.
This new book is a comprehensive history that rescues the garden suburb from the periphery of urban design, and repositions it at the heart of the debate on cities.
Gardens By The Bay
Review: Gardens By The Bay, Singapore
This is a difficult review. I am not as enthusiastic about this major park project as all the reviews I can find online. I am very ware that it has been granted all sorts of awards. Please check award accolades here in the UK Telegraph, and again on this award site.
places for play
Places for Play
Referring to a posting on The Nature of Cities: Involving Children in the Design of Park Renovations to Create Green Places for Play with Urban Nature
Locally there have been several wonderful initiatives that have delivered wetlands to local neighbourhoods. These developments were very much welcomed and have become destination for people taking walks.
The new wetlands were primarily established to become catchments for run off water that had previously been channeled into 1960s concrete drains straight down through the suburbs into the lake. Water is now being partially diverted along the way to provide storage as well as being piped off site to other large water tanks for other irrigation purposes.
neglected trees
Opinion: Trees
and yes, we should be looking after them.
During times of heat, drought, and extreme temperatures, it really demonstrates how the planning of Canberra, ‘the garden city’, was based on serious misunderstandings.
click on any photograph to enlarge it
urban ecology
urban ecology
re-posted article: What are the social justice implications of urban ecology, and how can we make sure that “green cities” are not synonymous with “gentrified” or “exclusive” cities?
Here is Australia there is a lot of talk amongst city planners and such that there is a need for green cities, sustainable cities and lots more simplistic terms. It is very hard indeed to find amongst the rhetoric any realistic commitment to urban ecology.
The need to base all urban developments against a measure based around preserving and enhancing the soil, the ecology and the green infrastructure remains an optimistic wish for those interested in the survival of the planet. Current approaches to urban design and planning are still very much ‘business as usual’ with market forces, meaning the quick dollar, as the drivers and measures applied.
Lawns of Kingston
Opinion: the Lawns of Kingston return
Beware politicians and designers: We love our Lawns
In a previous post I had spoken of Australia’s love of the lawn. (click here)
In particular I mentioned a local battle over Green Square at the Kingston Shops in Canberra whereby the local government had replaced a green square of lawn with a designed space, complete with brick walls and seating and drought friendly, low maintenance plants.
Edible City
Advocacy: Edible City
A presentation: Turn your city to being an edible city
Developed by the American Society of Landscape Architects, this presentation will assist advocacy to deal with the forecasted food shortages as climate change kicks in. The presentation demonstrates how to turn a conventional community into an edible city. Learn how to transform unproductive spaces into agricultural landscapes that help fight obesity and reduce food deserts. Make sure you note the address and send it onto anyone in decision making roles.
Revitalizing Cities with Parks
Advocacy: Sustainable Landscapes – Revitalizing Cities with Parks
Developed by the American Society of Landscape Architects, this presentation should assist anyone with their advocacy for Revitalizing Cities with Parks. In these times of reactionary governments and tight budgets, it is important to maintain efforts to introduce the simple idea to create more parks.
Leadership in Design
Leadership in design of the built environment
I was attending a meeting of combined community council two years ago, when to members of the public who were in attendance made very similar appeals. Both were very upset with the quality of the redevelopments that had appeared within their street, despite the local communities objections about key aspects of the developments.
As far as I could ascertain, they were not necessarily opposed to the infill of their suburb. It was more about the nature of the apartments being built.
Leadership in Design
Leadership in design of the built environment
I was attending a meeting of combined community council two years ago, when to members of the public who were in attendance made very similar appeals. Both were very upset with the quality of the redevelopments that had appeared within their street, despite the local communities objections about key aspects of the developments.
As far as I could ascertain, they were not necessarily opposed to the infill of their suburb. It was more about the nature of the apartments being built.
Urban Forests
Advocacy: Urban Forests
A presentation: Urban Forests = Cleaner, Cooler Air
Developed by the American Society of Landscape Architects, this presentation will assist advocacy for more resource allocation for urban forests. Governments need to deal with climate change in the urban areas, and dealing with urban forests is a good place to concentrate some resources. The urban forest issues are linked to the population’s health and wellbeing and avoiding heat island effects.
Leadership
Leadership
Online Presentation: The Best Planned City: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System
Despite all the evidence and all the advocacy, our political leaders are still not up to the challenge of dealing with something that is a threat to life as we have come to know it here on this planet. True leadership seems to be in short supply these days.
There are a host of professions that could be showing much greater leadership. Many have learnt to be spin doctors and have filled pages with their commitments and their policies. All this is very nice and very polite.
the city and cyclists
re-posted from Gehl Architects:
The City and Cyclists
Their guest blogger reports:
Brussels – a city of cars, Amsterdam – a city of cyclists
By Devon Paige Willis
Devon is doing a Masters program called 4Cities, an Erasmus Mundus Masters that takes students from Brussels to Vienna, Copenhagen and Madrid to study cities. Gehl Architects met her when she was interning at the Montréal Urban Ecology Center in 2013.
horticulture
Is horticulture a withering field?
re-posted from Philly.com
By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: January 07, 2014 Coming from image-conscious professionals who prefer to gush about the beauty of flowers and the joys of growing vegetables, the words were downright shocking: “Horticulture is under siege.” They jumped off a three-page letter penned by a half-dozen of the country’s most prominent plant people sent in December to 800 schools and universities, government agencies, industry associations, and growers of everything from almonds to onions. Clearly, horticulture – once a priority, if not an obsession, for generations of Americans – is in trouble. The letter warns that if something isn’t done soon to boost the ranks of plant scientists, breeders, students, and others in the field, horticulture could become a lost art and a forgotten science. see the full article on Philly.com: click here
Urban Transportation Change Maker
Re-posted from The Dirt
Rina Cutler: Urban Transportation Change Maker
When I retire I will write a book called, ‘you can’t make this sh*t up,” said Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation and utilities, Philadelphia, at a National Complete Streets Coalition dinner in Washington, D.C. In a review of her experience serving seven mayors and governors, Cutler revealed the sometimes painful truths about pushing for positive change in urban transportation.
Big Road Projects
Big road projects don’t really save time or boost productivity?
from the Conversation, 24 Jan 2014
With the Rabbott government expressing support for large infrastructure projects in the shape of more big roads, there is the absence of any sense of what some these projects do to local communities. Let’s not also consider how roads encourage more traffic, that is more cars, that is more use of petrol, that is less use of any form of public transport and other more sustainable transport – such as walking.
The New South Wales and Victorian governments have recently released business cases for their pet motorway projects, WestConnex in Sydney and East-West Link in Melbourne. But will these big road projects, costing a combined A$20 billion (with A$3 billion being donated by the federal government), really generate the economic benefits promised? Read the full piece from The Conversation – click here
Play
Play, Recreation and Children
While sustainable settlements debates more often than not focus on such key issues as climate change, carbon, energy, green infrastructure, weather etc, emphasis must also remain on the rights of children to have access to play.
It is overdue that planning and development legislation to be inclusive of the ‘need to create time and space for children to engage in spontaneous play, recreation and creativity, and to promote societal attitudes that support and encourage such activity’ (1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child article 31).
The problem has been that play has been a separated issue for planning. At worst it is a token of optional matter to be addressed. The contemporary view is that whether the planning is for a street, a park, a suburb or any form of redevelopment of urban areas, play and the rights for children to have access to safe and engaging recreation must be as important as the rest of the requirements. This is rarely the case.
Urbanism, Climate Adaptation and Health
Reporting on research being undertaken
Urbanism, Climate Adaptation and Health
You are urged to ‘watch this space’ for research and reports by scientists who have been carrying out research on Urbanism, Climate Adaptation and Health. To quote from their website:
Safeguarding future health in Australian cities, The CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship has funded scientists and researchers from a range of disciplines to develop adaptation strategies which will improve the health of urban populations in the face of a variable and changing climate.
The Urbanism, Climate Adaptation and Health Cluster was established in 2010 and officially launched in March 2011 at a Conference in Cairns, bringing together nine different partner organisations focusing on 7 major research projects.
Grace Marchant Garden
Review: Grace Marchant Garden, San Francisco
Location the Filbert Steps between Telegraph Hill Boulevard down to Levi Plaza and the Embarcadero.
This is a story about local people caring for their own. In the first instance one woman’s determination to make the open space beautiful around her new home. And then a story about the local community who have since stepped in to keep and maintain her legacy, now called the Grace Marchant Garden.
Urban Heat
Opinion: Urban Trees and Heat
A case study of neglect and willful blindness?
There was a routine piece in the Canberra Times about the current heat wave, temperature around and above 40 Degrees Celsius, and backyard trees or in some case about the lack of them. The article pointed to the now well established reality, that during such times those residential properties that lacked shade were suffering higher temperatures.
Urban Trees and Heat
Opinion Editorial: Urban Trees and Heat
A case study of neglect and willful blindness?.
(cross posted from our other blog)
Cities and Heat
Opinion Editorial: Cities and Heat
Melbourne city centre a death trap as heat-island effect takes its toll
It is about the urban heat island effect
Green Spaces and the Health Budgets
Green Spaces and the Health Budgets
re-posted from the BBC
In Australia planning authorities and government administrative services sections still do not address the proven links between health and the access to open spaces. One has to only look to the small budgets for parks initiatives and worse still to the shrinking allocations for park maintenance within local governments.
Meanwhile all our governments are under stress because of the increasing requirements being identified under their health portfolios.
Health Wellbeing and Parks
re-posted from BBC, science and environment
It’s about the links between Health Wellbeing and Parks
Green spaces, Parks, have lasting positive effect on health and wellbeing
Living in an urban area with green spaces such as parks has a long-lasting positive impact on people’s mental well-being, a study has suggested. UK researchers found moving to a green space had a sustained positive effect, unlike pay rises or promotions, which only provided a short-term boost.
The authors said the results indicated that access to good quality urban parks was beneficial to public health. The findings appear in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
Opinion: Climate in danger from Australia
re-post from the Guardian
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
Once upon a time, not that many years ago, Australia was on the world stage as a leading in actions on climate change. It was not that a lot had actually happened. The truth was that a many new initiatives were being proposed.
The aura was that the country was on the move. The Australian Government was open to do business on climate change. Continue reading Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
Heat and Australia
What’s cranking up the heat across south-eastern Australia?
re-posted from The Conversation, Tess Parker, 13 January 2013
In the midst of a January heatwave in South East Australia, with temperature outside being around 40 degrees Celsius for several days, it is refreshing to see the science being discussed as to what happens and why. As usual there will be the trolls who try to distract the facts being put forward. I for one thank the researchers who continue to seek evidence based answers to the many queries around weather and the links to climate change. Here’s the link to the piece by Tess Parker, on The Conversation
Education in Biodiversity and Ecology
Re-Posted from The Sustainable Settlements Institute
The urgent requirement for education to address ecology and biodiversity
Our cities and towns need to be adapted to deal with the current and future pressures of climate change. This requires a new level of expertise. One essential element in this the education of the professionals who must deal with climate change adaptation in the design, planning and development of our urban spaces. Green wash, which is the current standard, is no longer acceptable. Continue reading Education in Biodiversity and Ecology
Cities and Biodiversity
Re-posted from The Nature of Cities
Cities and biodiversity and national parks.
It is about equating the Natural Environment of National Parks to the natural environment of Cities – there are the one environment!
Many the time I have had frustrating debates with bureaucracies over how we address the issues of biodiversity and landscape. Often it results in the otherwise intelligent bureaucrat insisting that we talk about two separate entities, the built environment and the natural environment. This perception has also surfaced in discussions with organisations such as Conservation Foundations and their like.
Education in ecology and biodiversity
The Nature of Cities
Education in ecology and biodiversity
If cities look to stay within their boarders, there is the need to seek acceptable ways to intensify the number of residents within the older suburbs. This requires an intelligent engagement with the present residents of suburban areas on a case by case basis.
Given the need to address climate change within the suburbs as they are being redeveloped and upgraded throws up a host of requirements that should have by now have been built into legislation. Sadly this is not so as most of the re-development and intensification as been left to laissez-faire market forces.
Cities and urban wildlife
re-post from the Guardian
Cities and Urban Wildlife
Take any city and ask, has the government in place a long-term strategy to enhance the biodiversity through maintaining and increasing its green infrastructure? This requires not just consideration of the public realm but also ways to encourage citizens that this needs to happen in the backyard of every home.
In the past governments have often established arboretums to undertake research on trees and shrubs. It is now far more realistic to continue the aims of arboretums not by having these specialist sites, instead the approach needs to be to increase the range of trees and shrubs within the urban areas themselves.
Cities and Women
Re-Post from the Guardian
Making cities safe for women and girls
It’s about Cities and Women: World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty is focusing on how to tackle violence against women and girls in public spaces Whether walking city streets, using public transport, going to school, or selling goods at the market, women and girls are subject to the threat of sexual harassment and violence. This reality of daily life limits women’s freedom to get an education, to work, to participate in politics – or to simply enjoy their own neighbourhoods. Yet despite its prevalence, violence and harassment against women and girls in public spaces remains a largely neglected issue, with few laws or policies in place to address it. click here for the full article
Women and the city
Re-Posted from The Global Urbanist
A woman’s right to enjoy the city
Dealing with the overlooked issue in Urban Design, Women and the City. As part of our series on eliminating violence against women and girls in our cities produced in collaboration with the Huairou Commission, Mumbai architect Pallavi Shrivastava offers a personal reflection on how the threat of violence forces women not only to change our movements but also prevents us from enjoying our cities, and thus from helping to make them the cities we want them to be. click here for the full article.
Public Transit
Re-Blogged from WIRED
Public Transit Is Underfunded Because the Wealthy Don’t Rely on It, By Keith Barry 2013
Canberra has traditionally not had a great public transport system. The population is 350,000 and as it continues to climb it is approaching the levels to support some forms of rapid bus transit or a light rail systems. There has been some very strange opposition. Maybe the article from the WIRE magazine goes some way to giving some of the possible reasons behind this opposition.
Central Park Sydney
Review: Urban Development
Sydney’s Central Park development, Chippendale, Sydney
photographs by Paul Costigan – click on image for larger
The Central Park development of the old brewery site opposite UTS in Sydney, has attracted much attention in the last couple of years. Most of this was in the form of churnalism, being column space based on using the developer’s media releases. There has also been the expected paragraphs of praise by ‘industry’ experts in profession’s trade magazines.