William Whyte’s “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces” is probably the best urban design/sociology film I’ve seen. It may feel outdated, but the points he makes are still very valid today. You can see the whole thing (in parts) via YouTube.
Tag Archives: public space
If your local mall has the word “Galleria” in it, it is because of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Italy. The neo-classical arcade was built in 1865 and connects the piazzas of the Duomo and the Teatro alla Scala. Photos by: tochis, FromTheNorth, Bernt Rostad, Kenya Allmond
I don’t really get the lights (orientation, idea), but they sure are pretty. Photo © Duccio Malagamba, source ArchDaily.
Continuing on the theme of profiling public spaces I’ve been to, we’re in Rome this week. The Piazza Navona was one of my favorite public spaces in Italy (and it’s right next to my favorite building, the Pantheon). The piazza started its life as the Stadium of Diocletian, a smaller version of the Circus Maximus [...]
The New York Times Travel Section has a nice article about the hidden public spaces in the Quadrat d’Or of Barcelona. It’s nice to see public spaces dedicated primarily to the residents of the area, instead of the streets which they share with tourists. The haphazard nature of the spaces is also a nice contradiction [...]
We’re going from the widest road in the world to the smallest park in the world. It’s like a public space freak show up in here. Mill Ends Park, in delightful Portland, Oregon, with an area of 452 square inches (a circle with a diameter of two feet). The park’s creation story comes from Dick [...]
Avenida 9 de Julio is the widest street in the world — the width of an entire city block. In my personal experience, it’s impossible to cross it all in one light. Instead, you cross one of the frontage roads and maybe the central artery. On the second light you complete the trip. While this [...]
Savannah’s Squares were an APA Great Place for 2009. Not bad for an amateur planner in 1733. Photo courtesy of code poet.