Shenzen, China.
When I decried a dozen generations of dead-end urbanism recently, what exactly did I mean? Let me explain.
A dozen generations is about how long it has taken us to move from the pre-industrial city of the 18th century to the post industrial city we find ourselves inhabiting today. And about how long it has [...]
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Posted in The next city, The next city: urbanism, Urban design, tagged Babel, Burnham, City of tomorrow, Ebenezer Howard, Jared Diamond, L'Enfant, Nauvoo, Pullman, Urban design, urbanism on March 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel, 1563.
We humans never seem to tire of imagining and constructing the next city, searching for an ideal home. For millennia we have conjured up cities of intent – urban places that we have designed to represent certain purposes. These intended cities fall into one of at least three categories.
First [...]
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Life in a 19th century New York Tenement.
I am getting a bit roughed up here on issues related to the need for increased density in the next city. Friends, colleagues, even siblings are suggesting that my recent proposals to use existing rights-of-way (streets, alleys) as sites for new construction illustrate that I am a slap-happy historic homewrecker gleefully [...]
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Posted in The next city, The next city: infrastructure, The next city: urbanism, tagged density, EcoDensity, Portland, The next city, Toronto, urbanism, Vancouver on March 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Let’s say that you live in an urban neighborhood that has less than 15 or 20 dwellings per acre. Let’s say that you live in an urban neighborhood of detached or semi-detached townhouses and single family homes. A neighborhood of bungalows, perhaps like this:
Chicago bungalow.
Knowing that the city must become more populous in order to serve [...]
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And now, with one single image, I will annoy whole cadres of folks, even more than I usually do. I am confident that all of my lifelong historic preservation friends will throw their hands in the air in horror. And my brother Doug, an astute urbanist with a terrific eye, and ear, for what counts in city life [...]
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