Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Neo Tokyo
Japan looks at creating world’s first backup city
Standby generators and batteries have been used extensively in industry, usually as a safeguard to keep vital production lines rolling. However a radical plan just unveiled by the Japanese Government for a standby city for Tokyo takes this concept to a whole new plane.
The new city, code named IRTBBC, or Integrated Resort, Tourism, Business and Backup City, will stand in for the capital in the event of it being hit by a disabling earthquake. A possible location has already been earmarked 300 miles to the west of Tokyo on the 1236 acre site of the largely superseded Itami Airport.
IRTBBC will incorporate all the vital functions of government, with duplicate facilities for parliament, ministries but also include office complexes, resort facilities, casinos, parks and the tallest tower in the world at 652 metres. The city will planned for a population 50,000 residents and a workforce of around 200,000 presumably drawn from Osaka, Japan's second largest city and the nearest to IRTBBC.
Hajime Ishii, a member of the ruling Democratic Party, said, "The idea is being able to have a back-up, a spare battery for the functions of the nation,"
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Friday, 11 November 2011
Place Names
This is a map of the site showing the neighbourhood names for our settlement. From here onwards the site will have a narrative and a language which will give it more of an identity.
Cuningar Loop
Heres a page based on discussion with Clyde Gateway and the Forestry Commission during our Glasgow visit.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Monday, 24 October 2011
kunstler on the city of the future and "yesterday's tomorrows"
click image to enlarge
I'm no apocalypse junkie; visions of the end of days don't do much for me. But I am going to recommend James Kunstler's most recent article anyway.
Kunstler is a major figure in discussions of both Peak Oil and New Urbanism. In the July/August edition of Orion Magazine, he lays out a nightmarish scenario of derelict skyscrapers, massive human mortality, and suburbs turned into burnt out salvage yards. (I've pasted a few excerpts below.)
I don't usually spend much time looking at grim scenarios for the future. Dwelling on catastrophe tends to shut down people's ability to think and act creatively – exactly the opposite of what this blog hopes to do.
But in a “know your enemy” kind of way, there is value in checking in with the possible future to see if what we are doing today measures up to the real scope of the challenge. And Kunstler, one of the few people writing about the combined impacts of Peak Oil and Climate Change, provides a convincing depiction of what we are up against.
Re-Localizing and Downscaling Cities
The article reads like a memento mori for the modern world. It's dire predictions give you pause for reflection. Shock value aside, it's worth reading for two reasons. First, as I've argued recently, much of current urban sustainability policy is falling far short of the kind of action we need to be seeing. Kunstler does a good job of poking holes in our conviction that novel new design meansures (vertical highrise farming, for example) will save the day. It's something I've pointed out before – glossy images from blogs like Inhabitat aside – pinning our hopes on “star-chitect” dreams and new technologies is a false hope (more on that here).
The other thing that makes the article valuable is Kunstler's challenging, but plausible, scenario of how cities could adapt to their new circumstances. Cities will continue on, he argues, only if they can find a place in a localized world based around regional trade, local production, and New Urbanist walkable communities linked by rail and water transit.
Cities of the Future: Networked, Not Centrally Planned
The one thing I truly dislike about the piece though, is the triumphalist celebration of New Urbanism that Kunstler can't resist throwing in at the end. Since the early 1990s, New Urbanism has established a check-list of sorts for creating walkable mixed-use communities.
Their principles are sensible. But one of the ironies is that New Urbanist developments are often the result of the same kind of top-down centralized planning behind the Robert Moses's inspired freeway connected dormitory suburbs that they seek to replace. Disney's New Urbanist paradise of Celebration, Florida is the most extreme, but not the only, example of this.
If there is one thing that is certain, it is that the future will not be centrally planned. The city's that we live in in 2050 – like the ones we live in now – will be shaped by many hands. The cities that adapt most smoothly to the coming changes will be those that go out of their way to facilitate meaningful civic engagement and action, innovative local businesses, and open political processes.
You could talk about emergent cities, participatory planning, Transition Towns, or P2P Urbanism. All share the idea that we need to see cities – and city making – as an organic and networked process where communities are empowered to make changes themselves and in partnership with their municipalities. This is even more relevant in an era where municipal resources are being overwhelmed by the needs of expanding, maintaining, and protecting existing infrastructure. People: citizens, experts, business owners, families, will be the fuel for successful urban transitions in resource strapped times. Learning to bring them together is our challenge.
Yesterday's Tomorrows
Kunstler begins his article with a somewhat amusing jaunt through “yesterday's tomorrows” - jetsons-esque visions like the one the one in the image above (click to enlarge) from 1925 of New York complete with blimps and buried pneumatic shipping tubes.
His point is that today, like then, we are putting too much hope in the power of technology to save us. I think he is right. What he hasn't let go of though is something equally outmoded that he shares with that technotopic vision of the future: the idea that cities can be run like machines, guided by small groups of expert planners.
[image courtesy of the ever excellent Retro-futurism]
---------------------------
From "Back to the Future: A Roadmap for Tomorrow's Cities"
On THE COMING CRISES
I see our cities getting smaller and denser, with fewer people. Skyscrapers will be obsolete, travel greatly reduced, and the rural edge more distinct. The energy inputs to our economies will decrease a lot, and probably in ways that prove destabilizing. The first manifestations of climate change will be food shortages, one of the reasons I think super slum cities will be short-lived. ... Food shortages will quickly bend the arc of world population growth downward from the poorer margins and inward to the “developed” center—with stark implications for politics and even civil order.
On SUBURBS
All suburbs have a problematic destiny. Some will do better than others, based on idiosyncrasies of politics and geography. A few will be retrofitted into towns... . I expect many suburbs will become squats, ruins, and salvage yards.
On PHEONIX AND LAS VEGAS
Phoenix’s fate is sealed: without mass motoring and cheap air conditioning, it will collapse. You can’t grow food in the desert without heroic irrigation, and all their water comes from elsewhere and at great expense. In Las Vegas, the excitement will be over for the same reasons. ... Given its likely isolation, whatever happens in Vegas will likely remain in Vegas in the future as well.
On NEW URBANISM
The Congress for the New Urbanism coalesced as a formal organization in 1993 to offer an alternative to suburban sprawl. As a battle of ideas, the New Urbanists eventually won by default when the housing bust put an end to further suburbanization. The New Urbanism is now simply urbanism. There is no other body of coherent principle that can produce human habitats that have a plausible future. Still, sheer human perversity manages to generate opposition from predictable interest groups.
On THE CITY OF THE FUTURE
I don’t think there’s any question that we have to return to traditional ways of occupying the landscape: walkable cities, towns, and villages, located on waterways and, if we are fortunate, connected by rail lines. They will have to be connected to farming and food-growing places. ...
The requirements for this will be pretty straightforward. It doesn’t call for “critical theory,” as the grad schools refer to metaphysical thinking these days, but rather practical skill and common sense.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Taxi of tomorrow: The space-age pods with no driver, no fumes... just a 'start' button
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 6:22 PM on 17th August 2009
A driverless taxi has been unveiled which could make traffic jams, petrol fumes and crowded buses a thing of the past.
The futuristic pod has no driver, and no opinionated chatter to accompany your journey, but instead a button set in the wall with the word 'start' written beside it.
The British-designed personal rapid transport (PRT) system is a four-passenger vehicle which is being rolled out next year at Heathrow Terminal 5
A visitor tries out the driverless pod at the Science Museum, where it is on display before becoming part of the Heathrow fleet next year
Professor Martin Lowson, the inventor, seated inside
The four-seater cab was unveiled at the Science Museum in London yesterday and will be in use from next year taking passengers between car parks and Terminal 5.
The man behind the mission, Professor Martin Lowson, who has a background in space travel and worked on the Saturn V Rocket, said: 'They could have the same effect on transport this century as the rocket had on the 19th.'
He added: 'We believe that our PRT system can transform cities in the 21st century to provide the optimum form of environmentally friendly urban transport, relieving congestion and reducing emissions.'
The bubble-shaped taxis are battery-powered and passengers select their destination from a touch screen.
Once the destination has been chosen, the control system logs the request and sends a message to the vehicle, which then follows an electronic pathway.
During the journey, a passenger can press a button to speak to the controller if necessary.
Prof Lowson has been working on the taxis with Bristol-based Advanced Transport Systems since 1995.
Inside the taxi - the futuristic controls (left), and windows, which appear clear from the inside
Easy rider: A passenger tries out the driverless cab
A test run of how the cabs could work takes place in Birmingham
At Heathrow, 18 vehicles have been bought to transport passengers and their luggage from the Terminal 5 Business Car Park to the terminal, which will take between three and four minutes.
About 500,000 passengers are expected to use the Heathrow PRT system each year.
Bath and Daventry councils are considering ordering the cabs, and ATS has already received enquiries from America, the Middle East and India.
Drawing inspiration from science fiction? The Logan's Run car was a driverless pod
Last updated at 6:22 PM on 17th August 2009
A driverless taxi has been unveiled which could make traffic jams, petrol fumes and crowded buses a thing of the past.
The futuristic pod has no driver, and no opinionated chatter to accompany your journey, but instead a button set in the wall with the word 'start' written beside it.
The British-designed personal rapid transport (PRT) system is a four-passenger vehicle which is being rolled out next year at Heathrow Terminal 5
A visitor tries out the driverless pod at the Science Museum, where it is on display before becoming part of the Heathrow fleet next year
Professor Martin Lowson, the inventor, seated inside
The four-seater cab was unveiled at the Science Museum in London yesterday and will be in use from next year taking passengers between car parks and Terminal 5.
The man behind the mission, Professor Martin Lowson, who has a background in space travel and worked on the Saturn V Rocket, said: 'They could have the same effect on transport this century as the rocket had on the 19th.'
He added: 'We believe that our PRT system can transform cities in the 21st century to provide the optimum form of environmentally friendly urban transport, relieving congestion and reducing emissions.'
The bubble-shaped taxis are battery-powered and passengers select their destination from a touch screen.
Once the destination has been chosen, the control system logs the request and sends a message to the vehicle, which then follows an electronic pathway.
During the journey, a passenger can press a button to speak to the controller if necessary.
Prof Lowson has been working on the taxis with Bristol-based Advanced Transport Systems since 1995.
Inside the taxi - the futuristic controls (left), and windows, which appear clear from the inside
Easy rider: A passenger tries out the driverless cab
A test run of how the cabs could work takes place in Birmingham
At Heathrow, 18 vehicles have been bought to transport passengers and their luggage from the Terminal 5 Business Car Park to the terminal, which will take between three and four minutes.
About 500,000 passengers are expected to use the Heathrow PRT system each year.
Bath and Daventry councils are considering ordering the cabs, and ATS has already received enquiries from America, the Middle East and India.
Drawing inspiration from science fiction? The Logan's Run car was a driverless pod
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Hi, just while looking up info for neighbourhoods have been coming across alot of things in relation to Freiburg, Germany especially Vauban thats mainly relating to Transport strategy, is on a smaller scale (city of 210,000 and Vauban 5,000) but basically it sounds like what they have been doing is similar to us in idea- communal garages etc, hierarchy for transport i.e. big car routes, public transport routes, play routes (similar to our 'green' streets in usage i think) etc, their smaller 'play streets' have a 3-5m wide pavement, 1m of which has a lowered curb so occasionally when needs be larger delivery type lorries can drive on it. They have also judging from pics got trams running on rails through the 'grassy' strip of land separating pavements from the car roads with trees between two which breaks up the wider streets a bit. I'm in neighbourhood group but think also links into transport for ideas.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Place Diagram
I found this diagram showing that a successful public space should consist of 4 things:
- Accessibility
- Activities
- Comfort
- Sociability
Saturday, 15 October 2011
LONDON ROAD TUNNEL
Found these images on an urban exploration forum of the old railway tunnel underneath London road. Have a look at the rest here.
I had a quick look at the rest of the posts related to Glasgow but couldn't see anything of relevance. Check them out here and see if I've missed out on anything... some pretty amazing images.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Jan Gehl - Human scale in cities!
A very interesting interview that focuses on the human scale in city design. Has to be watched!!
Friday, 7 October 2011
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Rehabilitation Community
Due to the strong drive for health within the group's Masterplan strategy, I felt that it was appropriate to design a Rehabilitation Community within one of the neighbourhoods.
The design rationale behind my Rehabilitation Community is focused around the idea of escape. Patients who will be using the facility need to feel that they can escape from the urban environment to deal with their serious mental and physical addictions. The idea of this escape is enhanced by the landscape in which the rehabilitation community sits, where the buildings seem to emerge from it. The small timber structures puncture the landscape and create a sensitive environment and atmosphere in which the patients can begin their recovery process.
The rehabilitation community is centred around patients battling drug abuse, alcohol abuse and eating disorders. Each of these facilities contains 3 blocks which provides:
The design rationale behind my Rehabilitation Community is focused around the idea of escape. Patients who will be using the facility need to feel that they can escape from the urban environment to deal with their serious mental and physical addictions. The idea of this escape is enhanced by the landscape in which the rehabilitation community sits, where the buildings seem to emerge from it. The small timber structures puncture the landscape and create a sensitive environment and atmosphere in which the patients can begin their recovery process.
The rehabilitation community is centred around patients battling drug abuse, alcohol abuse and eating disorders. Each of these facilities contains 3 blocks which provides:
- 1 which provides accommodation
- 1 which provides recreation facilities
- 1 which provides therapy/counselling (both individual and group)
Saturday, 11 June 2011
THE BICYCLE HUB - Ross King
The master plan created for the east end of Glasgow by our unit involved a green route system providing a simple way to get around the settlement using sustainable transport such as cycling. For this network to work and continue to flourish until 2050 and beyond it was felt that a social hub was needed. The original concept for the building was the ability to cycle up and over the building, integrating the routes with the structure creating a dynamic route alongside the river Clyde. The interior spaces involved retail, repair and rental compartments based on cycling as well as cafe and lounge areas. On the upper, less public floor there is a classroom with the aim of teaching the citizens of Glasgow how to use the new cycle network along with how to repair and look after their bicycle. This floor also features the cycle headquarters in charge of the upkeep and future of the green route system. Level 2 contains the pit-stop information pod and juice bar as well as the main entrance and vertical circulation down into the main spaces.
Friday, 10 June 2011
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