This is a good idea (taken from a recent FT article by Edwin Heathcote): The hotel lobby is already understood as a kind of public space, the corporate lobby should belong to that same world, a place open to the functions of the city, porous… Read More
All posts tagged “public spaces”
Learning from Lisbon
This happened earlier in the week: And it got me thinking about how much I love Lisbon: But the important story here is that these tweets made it abundantly clear to me that (1) people from all over want far more from their parks and… Read More
Portuguese pavement
One of the defining characteristics of Portuguese cities is the stone paving that is used in many or most pedestrian spaces. In European Portuguese, it is called calçada portuguesa. Above is a photo — that I didn’t take — of Rossio Square is Lisbon. This… Read More
Tenji blocks
Today, Google’s daily Doodle celebrates the work of Japanese inventor Seiichi Miyake. See above screenshot. (I wonder who at Google is responsible for coming up with these. Imagine having to post something new every day.) I am sure that most of you have come across… Read More
Short term, lasting impact
NXT City and Pavilion Project are hosting an event on March 23, 2017 here in Toronto (at the Drake Hotel) called Short Term, Lasting Impact. It’s all about how “temporary, low-cost and scalable [urban] interventions” can bring about lasting / meaningful change within our cities. Here’s… Read More
re:Public + NXT City Night
On Friday, November 25th, NXT City will be hosting a one-day symposium here in Toronto (re:Public) that brings together some of the top people, projects, and ideas in the world of public spaces. Following that will be an after party (called NXT City Night) that… Read More
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
“It is difficult to design a space that will not attract people. What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished.” -William Whyte In 1980, the sociologist and urbanist William Whyte published a revolutionary book called The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. The… Read More
10 reasons to visit Philadelphia right now
Today’s ATC post – which happens to be a guest post – is coming to you live from on board the UP Express train that runs from Union Station in downtown Toronto to Pearson Airport. (Everywhere should have free wifi.) I’m on my way to… Read More
How Melbourne reinvented itself one block at a time [Video]
{ Explore the CITY } by Thai Hoa Pham on 500px https://500px.com/embed.js Melbourne is famous in urbanist circles for the revitalization of its central area. In 1992, 40% of the buildings were empty above the first floor and only 5 (yes five) residents actually lived… Read More
A video and conversation about laneways
Two weeks ago I gave a brief presentation at The Laneway Project’s inaugural summit here in Toronto. I then wrote about it here on ATC. At the time, I wasn’t sure if the event was being filmed or not, but it turns out it was.… Read More