The website having been an eternity in the creation, there are a few links that are now a bit old but still worth looking at.

For the Urban Designers: an interesting post by Peter Merholz on the natural creation of paths at UC Berkeley. RMIT is rather short on grassed areas, but it is interesting to contrast Berkeley with Melbourne Uni. It has a concrete 'lawn' which obviously isn't trampled, and the South Lawn which is enclosed on three sides. The eastern edge is blocked by a rather annoying water feature which prevents you from cutting across the lawn to the library/commerce building. It also reduced the utility of the lawn because you have to walk 50-60m to get to the far side. On the other hand, it looks pretty because the grass hasn't been trampled.

Two contrasting American cities. Metropolis had an article on perceptions of race in Detroit. Detroit is probably most interesting because of the way it has declined, best expressed in this great site on its ruins. A world away, the effect of Portland's urban growth boundary (amongst other things) is described in pictures by Michael Totten (scroll to the bottom).

A much older article in Metropolis on how to create a Pedestrian City by looking at Copenhagen. Interestingly, he cites Melbourne as a "people-friendly" city. To some extent this is true - Southbank, Bourke St. Mall, the arcades, and to some extent Swanston St. On the other hand, these places seem like little islands of civility in an otherwise flaming mess. Given the article advocates closing roads to traffic bit by bit, I'd be interested in hearing what roads people would like to close in Melbourne, if any, and why?

Finally, on John Quiggin's site, an interesting history of canals and railways in Britain by one of his readers. In particular, and related to sustainability, note how it took resource shortages before alternative transport types could be considered more efficient.

General 30th July, 2003 08:30:47   [#] 

Comments

Michael Totten photos
That photo essay by Michael Totten is great!

*Warm and fuzzy feeling*

:o)
Aaron Hewett  5th August, 2003 20:00:18