The Economist published today another article about the success of the cable car in Latin America where they explain that the following factors are key for its success: Landscape of the cities (hilly) Fast construction time (the mayors can cut the ribbons within their legislative) Little displacement of people Positive development effects in the respective … Continue reading The success of the cable car in Latin America
Every time I visit Paris I am positively surprised that even though the city center has undergone countless transformations over time, it still kept its human scale. In the past, many architects and city planners have, as for most other cities or urban developments, proposed radical changes to Paris. From brutalist architecture to garden cities … Continue reading Cities that never have been built – sometimes for the better
Since all stakeholders seek the utmost flexibility when planning a town, it is not surprising that government regulations are perceived as blockage for innovation and development. However, the recent - and ongoing - events in Texas demonstrate once more the value of forward looking government regulations to limit loss of life, economic and environmental exposure. … Continue reading The effects of natural disasters on urban sprawl
When talking about traffic flows, congestion, transport planning, public transport and its respective optimization, we too often tend to focus on the aspect of the transport of people. As we know, space for transport axis may need to be shared with more and more transport demand in sprawling cities and sub-urban areas. A significant part … Continue reading Challenges of City Logistics
Over the weekend I saw a fascinating TED talk about the usage of glass in modern cities. Justing Davidson elaborates what he thinks is the effect of glass as a main fassade building material used in urban areas nowadays. He points out that other materials, from stone, brick walls, up to copper have strong advantages … Continue reading The effect on overusage of glass on cities
I just red this interesting article about marginalized communities in the mega cities of the futures. While the article shows stunning visualizations prepared by Olalekan Jeyifous, he also points towards an issue that is often overlooked: In urban planning, the focus usually is on industry and high quality/high wealth residential areas - other aspects of … Continue reading Envisioning the shanty town of the future
When we talk about urban transport systems and in its extent about urban planning, we usually discuss about utilities, pphpds, density, living spaces etc. However, one aspect we often neglect due to its nature is architecture. Architecture can, but not necessarily need to, play a crucial role in the success or failure of an urban … Continue reading The role of architecture in urban planning
CityMetric pointed in a recent article on Elon Musk's vision for autonomous driving towards an interesting point regarding spacial limits: Musk's vision that everybody will not be moving anymore with public transport but with autonomous cars that offer point-to-point travel is somewhat flawed. The limits are or geometrical nature due to the limit in capacity … Continue reading Spacial limits of alternative transport systems in urban areas
Over the holidays I read this article in German about the development in transition regions after conflicts. Three aspects are in my opinion critical about that: Urbanization, resource consumption and respective migrant movements will have a significant impact in the future way of living The potential to start and support social healing through common projects … Continue reading Developing transport in post-war regions
With the vast proliferation of the mobile phone, starting in the 2000s we have gained access to increasing access to communication tool for consumption of information as well as interactions. In 2015, the average American spent over 15’000 minutes per year in commute, mostly by car. With the autonomous vehicle, this time will experience a … Continue reading Why the automated car will change the way we communicate on our daily basis
