No matter what the Code says, it looks like the people have spoken.
Category: urban views
needed: more scale models as inspiration for urbanism
Certainly, others have documented the value and recurring popularity of the scale model as an inspiration for comprehensive thinking about city form, both from the perspective of the seasoned observer or an orientation for the neophyte. From such a one-stop view, the relationships of history land use, transportation and the natural environment can be readily ascertained.
Around the world, such city models are regularly updated as urban landscapes change, a three-dimensional depiction of what American planning and zoning maps can only hope to inspire.
The scale model can clarify the unique footprint of the subject urban area, and visits to and photographs of the model’s venue can educate, advertise and identify challenges, opportunities and solutions.
Need we be limited to the desktop Sim City? Need such real life, physical models await artistic inspiration, world expositions or other landmark occasions?
Philanthropists and grant-makers: In a time of municipal fiscal restraint when such endeavors may not be otherwise achievable, why not fund cities that apply for the privilege of creating the scale model tool?
the beatles and urbanism?
Breaking news: In anticipation of this Friday’s Royal Wedding, an anonymous urbanist reported the discovery of long-lost Beatles lyrics in an undisclosed location.*
Musical lyrics can be the rallying cry for (or a reflection of) generational change.
Consider how American land development patterns might have changed if these words from “across the Pond” had risen to the top of American charts in 1965:
Beautiful bike lane
Sharrows and green,Sidewalk seating
Street food eating,You grab my hand
In a density scene,Don’t be suburban,
Urban girl.
*Belated April Fools Day.
pre-urbanism on earth day
Before urbanism, there was pre-urbanism, a reality worth preserving.
transportation and land use, evolution and evaluation
Over the millennia, what have we learned? “Nothing whatsoever,” said the urbanist.
