The Petite Ceinture: the battle over Paris's abandoned railway

A stretch of the 19-mile Petite Ceinture – or ‘little belt’ – in Paris. Photograph: Palmryre Roigt

A unique 19-mile belt of neglected green space in the very centre of the French capital is sparking debate among environmentalists and entrepreneur around the future direction of development in the city.

A little-known wasteland nearly 20 miles long, the Petite Ceinture (“little belt”) is an urban phenomenon: an abandoned railway built more than 150 years ago in the centre of Paris. At a time when cities everywhere are struggling for space, the future of this expanse of land, precious in its biodiversity as well as its prime location, is a contentious issue.

“Foxes and various other wildlife use the railway as a passage to get from one place to the other in Paris,” says nearby resident Denis Loubaton. “To chop the Petite Ceinture up and sell it off in chunks would destroy the wildlife that lives here.”

A treasure trove for entrepreneurs, graffiti artists and nature-lovers alike, the disused line – Paris’s last great green space – also serves as a haven for social recluses and a shelter for the homeless. Sixty-year-old Daniel has lived on it for almost two decades after deciding to withdraw from society; Marc from Russia lives in a glass-roof hut he built himself; Michel has chosen to retire into the darkness of his cave to indulge in crack cocaine.

CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year 2014 – winning images

The theme of this year’s competition – Cities at Work – challenged photographers from around the world to capture the beauty and day-to-day reality of working life. The overall winner of the CBRE sponsored competition was German photographer Marius Vieth with his striking image ‘Masks of Society’

1am: Tokyo Late Night Dinner     Photograph: Chris Jongkind

The Nanny named State!

On a recent holiday in Europe, I found myself having the same thought over and over again: “this would not be allowed to happen in Australia”.

Enter the Nanny State, a term of British origin that conveys the view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice. The term “nanny state” likens government to the role that a nanny has in child rearing (Wikipedia).

The more I think about it the more it bothers me. Helmet laws, footpath width regulations, liquor laws, handrail requirements, alfresco dining permits, rubbish collection, house design, lighting etc. etc. etc! The level to which we Australians over regulate things is quite frankly astounding, and it is holding our cities back.

I have always felt a little hemmed in by Australian law and cultural norms but recently visiting France and Italy acted as a stark reminder that so much of what the world loves about Europe (it’s worth noting that France is the world’s most popular tourist destination) is actually illegal in Australia. Even though lots of us (planning and design circles particularly) want to, we simply can’t replicate key facets of the vibrant and exciting places found in great European cities because of our overly restrictive laws.

Plyscrapers: Skyscrapers getting back to their roots

Terrible heading I know but stick with me here.

In the past 100 years, the use of wood has generally been limited to light timber framing, generally no more than three to six stories high — structurally, the practical limit for that type of construction. But in the past 10 to 15 years, the development of new heavy timber products — cross laminated timber (CLT), glued laminated wood (glulam), and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) — has opened the door to taller and bigger buildings with wood as the primary building material.

Creating glitches in the matrix: Engaging and Playful Smart Cities

At a time where technology aims to remove all the friction from our daily lives, guiding us to exactly where we want to be, Playable Cities aim to interrupt this utilitarian efficiency with a touch of creativity and ludic intervention. From Stockholm’s Piano Staircase to Lisbon’s dancing traffic signals, there is a global trend of introducing playfulness into cities.

The Playable Cities movement is a creative response to the highly functional and structured urban environment. A situation that the Smarter City movement threatens to exacerbate. It’s by no chance that films such as the 1920’s Metropolis or the more recent film, LEGO present cities as machines and their inhabitants as workers. People in cities are often completely absorbed in getting from one place to another. It’s not called rush hour because people are going for a stroll.

Smart cities: The future of urban infrastructure

Infrastructure is not exactly the sexiest word in architecture. There are no “starchitects” proudly boasting about their pipe designs or subsurface drainage systems. By its very definition – the underlying structures that support our systems – infrastructure is inherently hidden from us, and therefore often overlooked. But without it our current cities couldn’t possibly exist. Without finding ways to improve it, our future cities will struggle to survive.

High Line-Inspired Copy Cats

To coincide with the opening of the final stage of the High Line in NYC, Inhabitat have conveniently collated a list of 6 High Line-inspired copy cats that are changing cities across the globe. Including Sydney's own the Goods Line in Ultimo.

Iconic High Line Park in NYC Opens Final Section To Public

NYC's most loved and iconic elevated park is finally complete! The third and final section of the High Line, aptly named The High Line at the Yards, is a verdant retreat incorporating real elements of its once standing original railway, as well as native flora and fauna. The serene half-mile pathway seamlessly blends nature into the surrounding cityscape, with more native plants than ever before.

Infographic: A Map Of New York's Hip-Hop Heritage

Yo yo! Listen up! P to the L to the A to the double N - ING. (Yes I am too fly for a white guy)

Following on from the popular post on how planning created hip-hop, I thought I'd share an inforgraphic that you may rekonize (see told I'm cool). Word out.

How Self-Healing Materials Could Change the World

Self-healing or "smart" materials may seem as magic as the alchemy of old, but they carry the very real potential to change our roads, buildings, and means of transportation.

Dr. Erik Schlangen, a Dutch civil engineer at Delft University has successfully created a road-ready material that’s practically self-healing 'with a little bit of help from the outside'. In the video of his TED talk, Dr. Schlangen demonstrates his miracle asphalt onstage. In front of an audience of undergrads, he karate-chops a block of asphalt into two. As he begins to talk about how nice it is to drive on asphalt, he places the two pieces side-by-side in an industrial microwave. MAGIC!!