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A huge congratulations to @philipthalis on his well-deserved award.
A huge congratulations to @philipthalis on his well-deserved award.
Philip is undeniably both one of Australia's most respected architects and a tireless advocate for good urban design.
More importantly, he's not afraid to speak up publicly against bad state government planning decisions, as he did with Barangaroo, even when there's a personal cost.
@urbanism #Planning #UrbanPlanning #Cities #Urbanism #Buildings #Architecture #Transport #Architect #Walking #Walkability
When urban renewal goes wrong: Inside a dead mall frozen in 1990.
When urban renewal goes wrong: Inside a dead mall frozen in 1990.
Very interesting short film by Bright Sun Films. Along with the usual urban exploration bits, he gives a good history of how and why it failed.
The shopping centre was supposed to revitalise downtown Hamilton, Ontario.
But within six years, it had just a 40% occupancy rate.
A decade after opening, it sold for only CAN$3.6 million — just 5% of what it originally cost to build.
https://youtu.be/NV\_c\_c\_RZdE?si=4fNO5BJAoWzcx\_bw
\#urbanism #UrbanPlanning #Canada #Ontario @urbanism #UrbanRenewal #malls #DeadMalls #UrbEx #UrbanExplaration
See, here's why I think the Parramatta light rail should be extended from Sydney Olympic Park to Strathfield.
See, here's why I think the Parramatta light rail should be extended from Sydney Olympic Park to Strathfield.
It's not just that it would allow it to connect directly to many of the train lines serving the western and northern suburbs, including the T1, T2, T3, and T9. Or intercity trains to the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, and Newcastle.
It's not just that Strathfield is a major bus hub with many services across the western suburbs.
It's not just that DFO Homebush (between Strathfield and Olympic Park) is a busy shopping centre that generates a lot of traffic.
No, the big reason I say it's a good idea is because these photos were taken on the 526 bus, between Strathfield and Olympic Park, on a Sunday afternoon.
\#bus #tram #LightRail #nsw #nswpol #planning #Urbanism #UrbanPlanning #transport #transit #MassTransit @urbanism
Climate resilience: Has the time come to start demanding lighter-coloured streets in hotter climates?
Climate resilience: Has the time come to start demanding lighter-coloured streets in hotter climates?
At this stage, the challenge with climate change is not just preventing it from happening by cutting emissions. We also need to make our cities resilient to the climate change we've already locked in.
That's where lighter coloured paving for streets, rather than dark asphalt, can help:
"Sebastian Pfautsch doesn't hesitate when asked what he would change first to cool Australian cities in summer.
"And it's not what you might expect. It's not the seemingly endless expanse of black roofs, soaking up the sun beneath a shimmering haze.
"It's the roads. About a third of any outer suburb is thermally dense black asphalt that can reach 75 degrees Celsius, according to Professor Pfautsch, an expert on urban heat at the University of Western Sydney.
...
"Lighter-coloured roads may make intuitive sense, like wearing a white shirt on a hot day, but how effectively do they reduce surface and ambient air temperature?
"In 2020, two separate cool roads trials in Sydney and Adelaide set out to conclusively answer these questions.
"The Sydney trial, which took place at about 10 sites in the Western Sydney suburbs of Blacktown, Campbelltown and Parramatta, recorded an average surface temperature reduction of 5.6C and 2C for day and night respectively.
"For context, tree shade reduced the surface temperatures of roads by 16C."
@urbanism #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #transport #cities #environment #ClimateChange
Quick tip for anyone who wants more urbanism/urban planning/cycling/public transport posts in their Mastodon feed.
Quick tip for anyone who wants more urbanism/urban planning/cycling/public transport posts in their Mastodon feed.
Thanks to the wonders of the Fediverse, you can follow and post to Lemmy groups from Mastodon.
Here are some transport/planning/cycling groups to get you started:
For those unfamiliar with it, Lemmy is basically a federated version of Reddit, distributed across multiple servers like Mastodon. (For anyone who wants to delve further, lemmy.ml, beehaw.org, and aussie.zone are three popular Lemmy instances.)
From Mastodon, you can follow any Lemmy group by following its handle, exactly the same way that you would follow a Mastodon account. Any new posts to that group will then begin appearing in your Mastodon feed.
Even better, if you start a thread on Mastodon, you can also post it to a relevant Lemmy group just by including its handle in your post. (Please note this only seems to work with the first post of a thread.)
\#urbanism #planning #UrbanPlanning #urbanist #cities #transport #PublicTransport #train #trains #tram #trams #cycling #bikes #cycle #walking #walkability #walkable #politics #LightRail #urbanists #FediTips #FediTip #FediHelp #MastoHelp @feditips @FediFollows
I'm in two minds about this one.
I'm in two minds about this one.
Yes, above shopfronts is generally a good place for housing, and densification is generally a good thing.
But.
Why are we putting more suburban subdivisions and density in towns like Gisborne, instead of having more density in the inner suburbs of Melbourne?
Wouldn't it be better to have more apartments in inner-suburbs like Camberwell, where there are multiple train and tram lines, than have more sprawl on the fringes?
\#urbanism #UrbanPlanning #cities @urbanism #Melbourne #vicpol #auspol
A tale of two Americas.
A tale of two Americas.
The untold story of mega-mansion maintenance crews. It turns out your typical US$20 million Los Angeles mega mansion costs around US$42,000 each month in upkeep costs: https://youtu.be/k-ImID3kpAg?si=fYZEEr8lLKaSInKi
Bel Air mansion on the market for US$250 million: https://youtu.be/o1d-hjuuXmI?si=1sDgXZpir8ptDgCV
Meanwhile...
Eviction notices piling up in Los Angeles: https://youtu.be/EYwpat1RDks?si=W7cJG2ipxggC9cqh
Hollywood residents outraged over growing homeless encampment: https://youtu.be/leeTGryOOfQ?si=T1rgfTsDS6NFlmJZ
@urbanism #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #RealEstate #politics #capitalism #economics
Cleveland
Cleveland
"In those metros, pedestrian-centered places are within easy reach of people of color, people with low income, and people with less educational attainment. Cleveland topped the report's "Social Equity Index" rankings; Baltimore, Cincy, Detroit and Philly also made the top 10, while St. Louis landed at number 11."
"Cleveland's current mayor has announced an initiative to transform the Ohio community into a 15-minute city."
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/02/07/americas-most-equitably-walkable-city-is-cleveland
Personally, I think Sydney could have an amazing and iconic public square at Circular Quay, if only it tore down that ugly freeway.
Personally, I think Sydney could have an amazing and iconic public square at Circular Quay, if only it tore down that ugly freeway.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/city-and-state-should-join-forces-to-give-sydney-the-public-square-it-deserves-20230510-p5d77w.html @urbanism