A project by French artist Armelle Caron looks at what happens when you take the patterns of blocks that make up a city's form and organize and stack them sideways. Robert Krulwich investigates what such an exercise reveals about a city.
By dismembering, dissecting, categorizing, sorting and stacking the shapes that make up a city's blocks, Caron has constructed her own visual language of cities. So when you look at some of the urban areas that have come under her knife, what might they be saying? Krulwich takes a stab at translating some of the forms.
On Berlin: "Berlin, of course, contains mainly rectangles. It also has trapezoids,
triangles and, down in that last row, weirdly shaped squiggles that
represent actual city spaces. So, if you are walking through Berlin, the
cityscape isn't going to repeat endlessly. There will be surprises.
There are some totally irregular nooks and crannies there."
On New York: "Take away the bums, the fashionistas, the food carts, the cabs, the
colors, the smells, the sounds, cut it up and stack it on a table, New
York's grid system seems more than a little monotonous."
And on Istanbul, seemingly the most diverse set of blocks illustrated in the article: "Check out the top few rows - these are blocks, remember - and then
imagine wandering around these curves, angles, sudden narrowings.
Walking that city has to be amazing."
FULL STORY: Odd Things Happen When You Chop Up Cities And Stack Them Sideways
The Sweet Smell of Density? Subconscious Influences on Perceptions of Urban Form
Michael Hooper of Harvard University writes about a recent article in the Journal of Planning Education and Research
The Block Fallacy, or How Not to Build a Circulation System
An examination of the Block Ordinance as a panacea for the ailments of modern cities.
Friday Eye Candy: Comparing a Square Mile of the World's Famous Cities
Street networks and city blocks, reduced to their fundamental attributes, reveal the vast differences between cities.
Seattle Legalizes Co-Living
A new state law requires all Washington cities to allow co-living facilities in areas zoned for multifamily housing.
NYC Officials Announce Broadway Pedestrianization Project
Two blocks of the marquee street will become mostly car-free public spaces.
The City of Broken Sidewalks
Can Los Angeles fix 4,000 miles of broken sidewalks before the city hosts the 2028 Olympic Games?
Minneapolis Awards Affordable Housing Funds
The city awarded over $17 million to affordable housing construction and rehabilitation projects.
Tall Vehicles: Unsafe at Any Speed
Vehicles with taller front-end designs are more likely to injure pedestrians even when traveling at lower speeds.
Commentary: Minimum Lot Sizes Drive Up Housing Costs
How making residential building requirements more flexible can ease the housing crisis and make neighborhoods more livable for more households.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
Village of Glen Ellyn
City of Laramie
American Planning Association, Sustainable Communities Division
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Cambridge, Maryland
Newport County Development Council: Connect Greater Newport
Rockdale County Board of Commissioners