California (streetcar) Dreaming

On such a winters day it is good to envision the warm vibrant city life of a distant coast.
I just happened upon this convertible streetcar among San Francisco’s fleet on a recent visit. Also, discovered that while it is true that they have a car painted to replicate a historic Cincinnati streetcar they don’t actually [...]

The Art of the Urban Farm Dance Party

Work Architecture Company, winners of the Young Architects Program, installed an urban farm inside the courtyard of P.S.1 in Queens for their weekly summer dance party. What a seemingly random amalgamation of things; dance party, art and urban agriculture. Leave it to P.S. 1.
(from NyTimes)

Indy Does it Again

Sports teams are like crack-cocaine to city administrators. They seem to see them as the quick fix to harsh economic realities, building new stadiums to attract or retain teams as economic investments. Rarely does the investment change the harsh reality, but it does put a buzz in the air. Still, taxpayers are typically left paying [...]

JR Changing Face of Favelas

(from wooster)

More Urban Play

More urban play from a masters industrial design student at Central Saint Martin.

71% of adults used to play on the streets when they were young. 21% of children do so now. Are we designing children and play out of the public realm?
This project is a study into different ways of bringing play back into public [...]

Complex Ish

The only complex shit about this art installation by Paul McCarthy is the safety device that failed to work when a storm hit the Paul Klee Center in Bern, Switzerland. Titled Complex Shit, the inflatable dog turd blew away, brought down a power line, and broke a window before landing in the grounds of [...]

Domesticating Public Space

As long as there have been cities, their residents have spread out, outside, when the temperature rises. New Yorkers have long been in the habit of bringing out lawn chairs, card tables and mattresses — even sofas and televisions — turning sidewalks and fire escapes into living rooms, dining areas and sleeping porches. But there [...]

Pedestrian Culture

A short article and slide show from the NY Times looks at vanishing Newsstands in NY and suggest that they signify the pedestrian vitality and cultural character of the city. “Each reflects the personality and business acumen of its owner as well as the needs and tastes of its neighborhood.”
This form of street vending is [...]

Depave

Check out this video of more DIY urban planning. This comes from streetblog’s Streetfilms and covers Depave.org’s efforts.
What struck me is the woman half way through who talks about why she moved to Portland. This is the power of a city promoting and building DIY planning opportunities.

Reverse Graffiti

How do you see this? Reverse graffiti is made by drawing into the dirt and grime found in everyday spaces. Think “wash me”, but way more advanced. The images and video below are some beautiful examples by Moose from England, who is actually working largely for ad agencies, and Alexander Orion, working in Brazil.

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