This is the digital notebook of ideas and inspiration for the Think City blog.
ThinkCity.
“ Open data will be as disruptive to how governments provide public services in the next 20 years as the Internet has been in the last 20. ”
South Florida’s criteria for its best urban block
The Miami Herald is looking for the best urban block in South Florida. Their criteria:
- People
- Mixed Use
- Building fronts and fixtures designed to the human scale
- Opportunities social Interaction
- Variety
- Sense of Place
The over-arching criteria: “The best block in South Florida ought to be a place you come to time and time again, not just because you have to, but because you can’t stay away.”
“ You can’t have a prosperous neighborhood where people can engage in social interaction and converse if they have to drive everywhere. If you can accommodate biking and walking, you’re much more likely to have social interaction, social equity, and a high performing real estate market — it all comes together. If you have a walkable environment, people that aren’t wealthy and those who are, actually end up in the same proximity. They interact, and it strengthens the culture, the economy, and the outcomes that you get. ”
John Norquist, CEO of the Congress for New Urbanism, on the value of walkable and bikable communities via Project For Public Spaces
In December 2010, Defacto, a public management group, issued a call for proposals for an innovative event titled ‘Public Health’. The event called for designers, creators and artists, to conceptualize the future street furniture of the first European business district. They requested designs that would be well out of traditional patterns and a force for innovation. Faced with the gigantic proportions of the site, FERPECT proposed to work on a “micro-architecture,” a system that would make a link between the different scales: the towers, the square and the pedestrians.
FERPECT ‘s proposal is an installation throughout the square, a series of “dunes” arranged in islets dotting the paths. The DUNE design provides places to rest and viewpoints in the large square space while also influencing the flow of pedestrian traffic. This design allows the site to accommodate street furniture while respecting the existing skyline.
The project is designed on a principle of readily realizable and transportable modules, manufactured with recyclable materials (wood strapping and painted steel supports). These simple and affordable materials are familiar to users and relate to existing benches.
The video below (in french) shows the build and installation process.
