Docklands faces overhaul as Gehl report urges major changes

Y (p) Connect?

It’s that time of year again. Everyone’s back at work, uni is starting, and the traffic snarls and tram crushes are back with a vengeance. That week on the beach seems but an all too distant memory… But I’m excited - because it means that March is upon us! And that means its YP Connect time!

What's your Future City?

Check out the BMW Guggenheim Lab’s Urbanology game

The game seeks to teach players something about urban sustainability by asking them to give “yes” or “no” answers to a series of urban policy questions. It then produces some quick-and-dirty findings about the governing values implied by the answers, and identifies a real city that best matches those values. The eight values at issue are Affordability, Health, Innovation, Lifestyle, Livability, Sustainability, Transportation, and Wealth. Questions include items such as “Will you double the cost of public transport to fund its conversion to a carbon-neutral system?” or “Will you pay for a free bike service in your city”? Working with such yes/no dichotomies is not ideal, but it’s also not unreasonable as a starting point for conversation.

Link

Highs and Lows: Abandoned NYC Tram Station likely to become the World’s First Subterranean Park

You’ve most likely heard of, or even visited New York’s High Line, the elevated linear park recycled from the city’s former central railroad. But it’s time to get to know the “Low Line”…

A dark and abandoned one-acre underground space with loose wires and dampness all around– what could there possibly be here to ‘get to know’? This neglected subterranean site is the location of the former Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal, which from 1908 to 1945, served the tram passengers of New York City. It is also the location of one of the most exciting and unique urban project plans the world has ever seen.

New musical follows the life of a city planner

"If/Then," a new musical at the National Theatre, follows the life choices and regrets of a fictional city planner in New York. But does it also say something about the choices that cities face?

10 Inspiring Architecture TED Talks

Scientific Proof That Cars and Cities Just Don't Mix

A fascinating new study has revealed what many planners already know: cities aren't meant to be experienced from behind the wheel of a car. Researchers at the University of Surrey found that drivers perceive exactly the same things more negatively than those who walk, bike, or take transit, confirming the anecdotal experience of literally every person that's ever tried to find parking in an urban downtown.

"Participants who lived in denser or more developed neighborhoods reported a larger perceived risk of crime, but a diminished fear of it".

Read more at Planetizen - Link

"Auto"-Mobile Beijing

Beijing’s bicycle culture needs a comeback. Cars, roads, and smog now consume the city, as “modern” residents leave their bicycles behind. This project proposes a bicycle transit centre prototype for Beijing, woven as a network into the elevated highways that dominate the once human-scale city. The bicycle centres create an attractive alternative lifestyle to catalyse a bicycle revival in Beijing.

Read more over at Velo-City - Link or Bustler - Link

Bikehangar: 1 car = 12 bike spaces

Smarthangars are a compact communal bike storage solution that can be installed in any existing car parking space, providing those living or working locally places to securely store their bicycles. Operated by secure smart card system, the design allows spaces to be rented out for long term or short term use, creating a sustainable economic model for bike storage in the city. 

Bicycle theft and the lack of secure cycle parking is a huge problem facing many cities. This is one of the major inhibitors to the growth of cycling and research has shown that a third of those who have experienced theft stop cycling.

Bicycle shelters and lockers offer the best security by fully enclosing the whole bike away from potential thieves. However it is often expensive and difficult to find space to install these large and bulky structures in our crowded cities.

Where can we find space for bicycle parking? If we look at our streets, cars often line up both sides of the road. These large machines take up large amounts of space and make our streets less permeable.

The solution is to convert these readily available car parking spaces into bicycle parking.

1 car = 12 bicycle spaces
Read more at Velo-City - Link

The Secret Second Lives of Pizza Huts

The first Pizza Hut opened in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, the brainchild of hometown boys Dan and Frank Carney. It got its name, according to lore, from Dan Carney's wife, who thought the small building that housed it looked like a hut.

But the Carneys' project could not long be contained. As they expanded, they commissioned an architect named Richard D. Burke to design a building that they could call their own -- a hut in name only, recognizable to all comers. These "Red Roof" locations multiplied rapidly, eventually numbering in the thousands. The company has discontinued the design and changed its business model to emphasize delivery and other types of outlets. But the distinctive silhouettes of those buildings remain one of the most reliable and recognizable features of the suburban landscape, even if a lot of them are no longer Pizza Huts.

Read more on The Atlantic Cities - Link