On the Downtown Project’s website, among several lofty goals—such as adding ground-level density and creating passionate communities for downtown Las Vegas—one goal sticks out as a bit different, if not simply odd: "Create the shipping container capital of the world."
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Moscow has chosen a design for its first new public park in half a century. Zaryadye Park will sit on a 13-acre site that’s been host to some colorful history: The homes of 16th century aristocrats, 18th century peasants, a Stalin-ordered redevelopment, a failed plan to build the city’s tallest skyscraper, and finally, the world’s largest hotel—demolished in 2006.
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With supertall towers popping up along Central Park’s southern edge like wildly expensive luxury mushrooms, Manhattan’s largest park is about to be cast into shadow—some as long as half a mile. The real estate boom is stirring up a debate: Do we have a "right to light"?
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Living in cities, driving on freeways, going to work, sitting in cubicles, shopping at supermarkets, surrounding yourself in urban density and all around stepping away from nature makes it easy to forget how beautiful she can be. We should never forget.
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As you’re driving around town today, you may find yourself asking these questions: Why are they sold out of astroturf at the hardware store? How did this cello end up in the street? Who are these people doing yoga in my parking spot? Welcome to the ninth annual Parking Day.
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It seemed like a good idea at the time, right? We’d build vast, multi-lane roads slicing through the center of our cities, bulldozing our most historic architecture and displacing tens of thousands of residents at a time, all in the name of progress. 50 years later these genius improvements have severed our neighborhoods, ruined our air, and may not even have helped that much in the way of traffic. So why have a freeway exposed like a gaping, oozing urban wound when you can put a park on it?
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In 1857, Central Park was carved out of the still-wild landscape of Manhattan. In 2013, a new park in the middle of super-dense New Delhi is poised to dwarf Central Park by almost 50 percent.
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Benches are just benches, until a huge red clip is attached to one end of it. Then it becomes a Ruilbank, which is Dutch for “barter bench.”
Essentially, they’re there to hold some reading material in place. Whether it’s a book or a magazine or a newspaper, this trusty red clip will keep it in place.
It’s a project by Pivot Creative to get people reading more – and to pass on good reads. From July 28th to September 28th, nine locations areas around Amsterdam will have benches supplied with different reading material from various sponsors, including newspaper Het Parool and the city’s public library.
Passersby are free to read, take, or barter the reading material with something else when they come across it.
Wouldn’t it be fun if someone did a similar thing on our side of the planet?
[via Pop Up City]
Sitting is fantastic, but benches are boring. Imagine if the world was just littered with hammocks and swings for your own extravagant public lounging pleasure. These clever transforming swings could make that a blissfully lazy reality.
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San Francisco has been striving for city-wide internet access since 2007, and with a little help from Mountain View, it’s now one step closer to achieving that lofty goal. After receiving a $600,000 donation from Google, 31 public parks in one of the world’s most tech-savvy cities will have free WiFi for at least two years. Google’s gift will cover installation and maintenance of all necessary equipment for the project, which builds upon the the city’s existing public WiFi hotspots like San Francisco International Airport and City Hall. While blanket coverage for the entire city is still a ways off, offering free internet access in places like public parks is a giant step forward in making the web accessible for all.
Via: SF Gate
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