pedestrians

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

by Brian on 12-11-2009

Interesting clip from a longer film based on The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces by William H. Whyte (probably better-know for his monumental book, The Organization Man). I’m sure some of it is outdated (e.g. nothing about skateboarders… or, MOUNTAIN BIKES!) but most of the observations about human behaviour and interaction I’m sure hold true. Even [...]

Tagged as: cities, pedestrians, people watching, public spaces, urban design, urbanism

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Envisioning London’s Downtown Future

by Brian on 07-30-2009

in civics,london

I deliberately called this “Envisioning London’s Downtown Future” rather than merely “Envisioning the Future of Downtown London” because I believe London’s future is downtown… Not everyone would agree (see Dan Brown’s column challenging the notion that downtown is the heart of the city, discussed here), but I wasn’t convinced. Even detractors have to admit it’s [...]

Tagged as: deliberative democracy, downtowns, neighbourhoods, pedestrians, planning, social media, traffic, urban, urban design, urban planning

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Pedestrian Apartheid

by Brian on 05-12-2009

in civics

Something occurred to me while I was reading Paul Berton’s editorial about changes in the way we get around: through all of the arguments about who should own the streets and sidewalks (e.g. Toronto’s proposed right-turn ban, Vancouver’s planned cycling lane conversion), the most vocal people seem to be using absolute, race-like (i.e. racist) categories and assumptions. [...]

Tagged as: conflict, cycling, pedestrians, public transit, traffic, urban planning

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