Tag: Cities
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Density without Delight: Vermonniitty’s Lessons for Urban Planners
Vermonniitty’s design highlights a pressing need: reinventing our approach to suburban design for a better future.
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Seven Takeaways from the Urban Future Conference
Top ideas to improve cities from the UF22 conference.
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Collaborative learning and an updated toolbox: two ideas for cities to make a U-turn on car-centric planning
Helsinki’s car tunnel plans show how taking action is the hard part in sustainable mobility policy. Turning transportation departments into learning organizations can help untie the knot.
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Inspiration for a “15-Minute City” Action Plan
The pandemic has highlighted the need for sustainable city development. The 15-minute city concept, promoting walkable, multi-purpose neighborhoods, is gaining traction. Explore the potential of this vision as a post-Covid-19 recovery policy.
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Did the Virus Kill Helsinki? I Don’t Think So.
Debating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cities has occupied the urban discussion airspace across the globe. Finland is no exception. The mainstream narrative, also boosted by the media, is that people are fleeing cities in search of a healthier life in the exurbs, if not venturing even further to the solitude of the…
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‘This Waterfront Needs a Highway’: The Huge Mistakes Cities Keep Making
Making mistakes is an important part of life. It’s an opportunity for growth and a lesson to others. Unless, of course, you’re a city. Too often, cities think they’re unique and repeat the blunders that others have made before them. Here are three of the worst ideas that keep getting recycled. This article was originally…
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From Life-Filled Imagery to Dead Plazas – Why Cities Need a Place-Driven Future
Does anyone else pay attention to this: many times the renderings of new urban development projects include a plaza or similar open space, sitting somewhere in front or between the proposed new buildings. Scaling purposes aside, the glitzy visualizations paint pictures of future plazas teeming with life. People are lounging around, meeting each other and…
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Global warming is slowly changing life in Finnish cities
Fighting climate change is unavoidable to save the planet. But for everyday life, the future has already arrived in urban Finland. To soften global warming’s impact on social sustainability, cities need to get active about adapting and keeping traditions going. Finland’s chilly temperatures this summer have inspired many to talk about global warming. They’ve called…
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Istanbul: Notes on the Eternal City’s Urban Problems and Ideas
I had the pleasure to visit to Istanbul last week. This was just a leisure trip to explore the city (and have a break from work), but when roaming the streets I quickly noted that there’s no way I can keep myself from reflecting on what I’m seeing and hearing. I also had the privilege…
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Changing Work Patterns and the Rise of Urban Innovation Districts – The Future in Finland?
The changing nature of how and where we work seems to be hollowing out Finland’s science & business parks and industrial areas. Is the geography of innovation shifting and leaving cities facing a choice between sticking with a landscape of vacant business premises and nurturing lively innovation districts? Last month an over 10,000-strong horde of…