The ‘Social Cities’ report recently published by the Grattan Institute shows that whilst Australian cities have paid great attention to making cities more sustainable and productive they have neglected the ‘social’ aspect of cities and the need to create places for social interaction. Single households are on the rise in Australia creating more lonely and isolated Australians, the report outlines the need for design solutions to provide more places for social connection within communities. Social connections and interaction is beneficial to overall mental well-being.
“Social connection is becoming more widely recognised as an important goal in the design of streets and the architecture of buildings….”
The Navy Pier Inc. (NPI) Board recently announced that design firm James Corner Field Operations (JCFO) has been selected to help reimagine Navy Pier’s public spaces, an effort designated as “Pierscape.” Corner and his team were among the five finalists in Navy Pier’s search for a Pierscape design team that began six-months ago with 52 submissions from around the globe to redesign the Pier’s public spaces. Continue reading James Corner Field Operations selected for Chicago’s Navy Pier
Part of bustling Ballarat St in Yarraville, Australia (a suburb of Melbourne)has been transformed into a “pop‐up” park for a short term project which is introducing more open space into the Yarraville Village. The pop‐up park is one of a few installed in Australia on a public street and is inspired by similar parks installed overseas in New York, San Francisco and London.
West 8’s project Jubilee Gardens is finally going ahead and will screen live footage of the 2012 Olympics. The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has recently announced £11.5m funding to six London boroughs for public space projects that will transform the look and feel of the Capital in time for the 2012 Games.
Jubilee Gardens is situated on the iconic Southbank and forms part of Lambeth, one of the funded boroughs. Lambeth will get £1.5m to create a live site for the 2012 Games and a world-class park.
How can cognitive neuroscience influnce the way that architects, landscape architects, planners and engineers are designing? Why are architects using tree metaphors in their designs for buildings? Sarah looks at tree metaphors and how we look at the built environment. Read More….
Walk-up windows are good urbanism | Dan Malouff | Greater Greater Washington Sidewalks(Footpaths) are interesting concrete pedestrians route that connect destinations, often we walk doorway to doorway with the odd cafe spilling out onto the space. Walk-up windows are a way to break the monotony of street life. Dan looks at Georgetown and a couple of its walk-up windows. Read More….
