This Big City team looks at "small places of anarchy" in Toyko that has taken root in DIY Gardening, Collaborative Mental Mapping and FIXing the Neighborhood.
Small places of anarchy can achieve the following:
"1) Replace state control with regards to an aspect of city life.
"2) Take away that aspect from the requirement of majority rule.
"3) Promote unimposed order as the style working."
Tokyo DIY Gardening's creativity brings nature into city in various ways
"It is an open sourcebook and resource for urban gardening on a personal level –'hands-on gardening for a crowded city'. It documents the objects and techniques of Tokyo's informal gardens – down-to-earth places and constructions which blend social norms, tradition, personal memory, community and friendship, frugal pleasures and practicality, beauty, and mutual independence between gardeners and plants."
The article uses photography and brief descriptions to show the three activities in action.
Read the full story: Small Places of Anarchy in the City: Three Investigations in Tokyo
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority