Fuck Yeah Public Space

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” -Jane Jacobs

[thisiscitylab]

Kids in India Are Sparking Urban Planning Changes by Mapping Slums

[Photo courtesy Humara Bachpan]

[fuckyeahpublicspace]

Let us not forget just how much space cities still dedicate to cars. Illustration by Claes Tingvall of the Swedish Road Administration.

[historicaltimes]

Kids playing on the Lower East Side, New York, 1963. By William Carter

[fuckyeahpublicspace]

pictured: Bhubaneshwar, India

Making space for street vendors: Towards equitable urban development. From TheCityFix

[mark-making]

In Praise of Very Large Staircases: A Brief History of the Social Function of Stoops

To Jane Jacobs, the great champion of urban living, stoops were as integral to the health of a city as parks, sidewalks, and street life. In our own era, as prices of townhouses soar and they once again become the domain of the city’s wealthiest residents, will the stoop survive as a neighborhood gathering place? Or are we on the verge of a new Gilded Age? After all, you need a big stoop to carry in a 100-inch TV.

[oahficw]

[vizualize]

Streetmix

[fuckyeahpublicspace]

Build-your-own streetscape app!

[whatdaheart]

protesters repairing their streets

[fuckyeahpublicspace]

Very cool kickstarter project to create the first transit network map in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The buses in Dhaka are independently run, and it can be very difficult to navigate the network for newcomers and long time users alike. Urban Launchpad, the group working on this project, explains why a user friendly transit network is so important to the future of the city:

"Since the alternatives like public transport are often much worse, when a family has enough money, the first thing they do is buy a car. [...] This trend of motorisation is already underway in many places that can least afford it (dense megacities of the developing world), bringing with it not just gridlock (see traffic in Bangkok and Jakarta) but also pollution and a city where cars get more preference than people.

In Dhaka, car ownership is at a low 1%, which means now is the critical time to shore up the alternatives and the 5 million plus ridership bus system (one of the largest in the world) is perhaps the best place to start."

Dhaka transit map kickstarter page

[floresenelatico]

matthew mazzotta

[fuckyeahpublicspace]

yokahma, japan. by masaaki miyara (on flickr)

[fuckyeahpublicspace]

Original captions: Outdoor Food Market at Haymarket Square. Public Protest Saved the Square from Incorporation Into an Expressway 05/1973

Archival photos from 'DOCUMERICA', a US Environmental Protection Agency program whose aim was to  "photographically document subjects of environmental concern". The program ran from about 1972-1977

[urbanination]

The Place Diagram, as developed by the Project for Public Spaces, evaluates the quality of place. 

[loiseaujaune]

[hedonisticsustainability]

Make space.

[oahficw]

Imagine if highways were rivers. Well, in Seoul, you wouldn’t have to imagine too hard. One of the city’s busiest highways has been transformed into a beautiful river, and it has made the city more liveable in the process. 

[fuckyeahpublicspace]

"Conversions of old city centers into traffic-free shopping and tourists’ malls have frequently been performed according to trite recipes.[...] a process of ‘gentrification’ in which old substance is scenically pepped up, while local societies are hollowed out and superseded.

Contrary to the interpretation of the task, the commission itself developing from a small local competition was not at all typical of AWG, declared freaks for cars as they are. Innichen experiences tourist peaks. In the off-season, the center is deserted, and the locals suffer from a hangover following the seasonal stress. The center’s novel open space development reacts to these seasonal fluctuations. The varied zones are interactive and can easily be modified. "

 -pictures and more text from Otto Kapfinger here

-before and after pics from here

[humanscalecities]

12 Steps to a Great Public Space

1. Protection from traffic

2. Protection from crime

3. Protection from the elements

4. A place to walk

5. A place to stop and stand

6. A place to sit

7. Things to see

8. Opportunities for conversations

9. Opportunities for play

10. Human-scale

11. Opportunities to enjoy good weather

12. Aesthetic quality

— Jan Gehl & Lars Gemzoe

[imagecollectiondecarlyn-blog]

[fuckyeahpublicspace]

toronto!