Thinking Cities - 21 minute video

Although this is a commercial video produced by Ericsson, Thinking Cities outlines at least some of the key aspects of urban development and city planning that we are facing today. One of the biases is developed cities (not much is said about informal development even though it is the most rapid area of city growth globally). Geoffrey West, Carlo Ratti, Mathieu Lefevre along with a handful of others feature as the narrators of the changing global urban patterns.

I was most interested in the social city angles as well as the trash tracking project as both relate to my own research interests in mapping social capital in urban settings. Though West is very much criticized in some circles, I applaud his efforts to try and understand if they are variables and constants in city growth, development and change. The angle is interesting even if it will end up being refined or changed over time. Ratti's work is also well worth paying attention to, particularly where it can be integrated with other research and planning processes.

DIY Street Planning for Neighbourhoods

It can seem very simple - neighbours work together to solve the immediate design challenges of their neighbourhood where they live, pay taxes, and interact (or not) with each other. But it isn't simple. Not at all. We aren't in the habit of tackling the issues we face together. We're great at autonomy, fantastic at looking after ourselves. But some things just can't be tackled that way. 

My experiences living in Canada seem very similar to this UK example. I like the idea of DIY planning and development for adjusting things toward a better solution. We need the specialists but they should never be able to do their work in isolation. An even if one solution worked at one time, an ability to evolve over time is essential to our design work at all levels.