How to design a city?

I'm with Mother Tynan on this one...

I like this idea of shared space.

Ha! I was searching my own blog for that very collection of images and couldn't find it! :)

Red Star = Me
Everything else = My minions

Job done.

a big +1 to that ^^^superprecise.

If more places were like that (as I think eventually they will be) everyone would get along much better in our congested city.

Tynan - can we have a beach too?

Minions FTW!

one way to make a city better would be to sort out crap weather....

In December 2006, Kazakh President unveiled plans to build , a "giant, transparent tent", over an area of the city. The tent will be 150 metres high, and was designed by Norman Foster. It is expected to take around a year to build.

Astana is also a 'new city' in a kind of weird way. Only half is new build, they want to be a freight-city rather than eco-city and they want to be like berlin rather than canberra (the really strange bit canberra is an excellently planned city).

Ha! I was searching my own blog for that very collection of images and couldn't find it! :)

I love those images. People just don't realise how much space cars take. I wish they had sound effects too.

I always laugh when people critically say "imagine if all cars were replaced by cyclists", errrr more space for all. Imagine if all the cyclists were in a car.

I love those images. People just don't realise how much space cars take. I wish they had sound effects too.

I always laugh when people say "imagine if all cars were replaced by cyclists", errrr more space for all. Imagine if all the cyclists were in a car.

imagine america....and you are about there.

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Yay!

Thanks tynan. And merry winter seasonal celebration tidings to you.

Astana is also a 'new city' in a kind of weird way. Only half is new build, they want to be a freight-city rather than eco-city and they want to be like berlin rather than canberra (the really strange bit canberra is an excellently planned city).

have you actually been to canberra?

it's just that canberra is incredibly reliant on cars, which doesn't seem to fit with your previous comments...

it's also soulless, but that's probably just because it's full of bureaucrats.

Canberra looks kinda nice but it's a bit shit. Billy Connelly doesn't like it either :)

yep i've been to canberra. i agree it is dull and overrun by cars but the thing about canberra is that it was planned for an additional 400,000 people but never filled up due to socio-political factors. therefore it feels like it is empty and not working but if it was full it would probably would feel good. also the problem with 'cellular cities' (similar to milton keynes) people generally don't work where they are meant to due to buying nice cars.

interesting the architect (and very importantly his wife who was siad to be the brains behind the operation), when kicked off the project, went to syndey and designed a small community north of the river - this is extermely successful and still running today.

it also looks nice as a plan.....

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oh yes, when i said excellently planned city i didn't mean it was a good place. i prefer melbourne the original capital of aus.

the thing about canberra is that it was planned for an additional 400,000 people but never filled up due to socio-political factors.

socio-political factors being a handy euphemism for "it's incredibly dull". that and nobody wants to live next door to a politician or party hack.

not entirely walter burly-griffin's fault, i'll admit.

i still think judging the effectiveness of a planned city should include how well it can adapt to unforeseen circumstances (eg it doesn't fill up properly). canberra should have started small, with a pre-defined plan for expansion as and when necessary. as it turned out it's become an empty city where everything is 15 minutes drive from everything else. i think that indicates a planning failure.

oh yes, when i said excellently planned city i didn't mean it was a good place. i prefer melbourne the original capital of aus.

that's no competition.

highfive! ;)

the best thing about Melbourne is that it was founded by Batman.

Le Corbusier FTW? Discuss.

culprit number one. brilliant architect, terrible urbanist.

i vote for a less walking and more rolling city...

i vote for a less walking and more rolling city...

Pretty sure I have seen this idea discussed somewhere else,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd9r9r25uEc

It's all about the instant city

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/2765805140_8f190c5b3e_o.jpg

culprit number one. brilliant architect, terrible urbanist.

this is spot-on. terrible urbanist that has a lot to answer for around the world.

arn't rolling cities cycling cities??