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Yule Heibel's Bookmarks tagged public_space   View Popular

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"Benches easy on city's bottom line - and ours," by Christopher Hume (T.O. Star)

Brief article on the benefits of public benches on city sidewalks, and that T.O. has too few of them. Interestingly, this is something that has been bugging me for a while about Victoria, too. Too often, there is literally NO WHERE to sit, even on d/t streets with broad sidewalks. As soon as the street is out of the tourist district or off Government, no more benches. No benches on Fort or on Yates, two streets that are wide and generous in other respects (and the sidewalks are wide enough on Yates, although mingy on Fort). The comments on this article are useful, too.

Tags: thestar, christopher_hume, toronto, cities, amenities, public_space, street_appeal, street_usage, sidewalks on 2008-09-02 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.thestar.com

Closing on Broadway - Two Traffic Lanes - NYTimes.com

Article about the "Broadway Boulevard" project, which will take some of current automobile lanes and turn them into public seating/ parks and bike paths. The project stresses the importance of wresting public space back from cars, for public/ pedestrian/ non-vehicular use.

QUOTE:
“Broadway is not famous because there are a gazillion cars going through it,” she said. “We’re trying to have the public space match the name.”
UNQUOTE

Tags: nyt, nyc, broadway, traffi_calming, public_space, urban_parks, urban_design on 2008-07-14 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.nytimes.com

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"L.A. vision: a towering sign," by David Zahniser (LA Times) - Astani Enterprises Inc

File this under "life imitates art"? There's a fascinating battle happening in LA over whether or not Sonny Astani, businessman and developer, should be permitted to install a new kind of LED-generated image, 12 stories above the street and 14 stories tall, on the side of his 33-story condo building currently under construction in downtown LA.

The inspiration? Opening scenes in Blade Runner of downtown LA, showing "a skyscraper-sized advertisement portraying a Japanese woman smiling before popping a snack into her mouth. Astani says an image, such as that of a flying sea gull, could now even travel from one building to the next."

I have to admit this sounds really cool, but I can see why many factions in LA would oppose this, too. We're all familiar with the really bright illuminated advertisements -- even Victoria has a small version of one, installed outside the arena on Blanshard at Caledonia. It's bright, too bright. But Astani proposes a much more modulated, artistic, and dimmed level of lighting. If the images could look as subtle -- yet powerful -- as Blade Runner's, it could work, but there's no garantee, that if permitted, subsequent developers would follow in that "artistic" style.

Another aspect is this: the proposal, if it's art, also calls into question just how intrusive public art should be in public space. Does it have a right to be so intrusive as to be impossible to ignore? Can I, as a citizen, be obliged to register public art -- and admittedly, it would be impossible not to register this project?

Is part of what captures my attention/ imagination regarding this project its uncanny fusion of subtlety and assault, packaged as visual stimulus?

Another question: is this an art form that expresses a corporate and anti-pedestrian city ("...neighborhood anchored by Staples Center and L.A. Live, the hotel and entertainment complex that includes the recently opened Nokia Theatre"), fitting for LA where people don't walk anyway (but just wait: it'll show up soon enough on the very v

Tags: astani, advertising, billboards, outdoor_installations, public_art, public_space, los_angeles on 2008-05-26 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.astanienterprises.com

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Street photographers fear for their art amid climate of suspicion - Times Online

Here's a sobering article on the general hysteria over "terrorism," which has resulted in getting street photographers arrested or detained or questioned. Anyone seen taking photographs, especially covertly or seemingly so, is likely to get in trouble these days. But how can you be a good street photographer if you don't conceal just a little bit the fact that you're taking photos in the first place? You want that candid moment, right?

Tags: freedom, paranoia, photography, public_space, street_photography, terrorism on 2008-03-26 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromentertainment.timesonline.co.uk

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The Mobile City - TV glasses - watching video in private

Mobile City asks all the right questions (in this case, about video glasses, a visual sort of iPod or Walkman device). Eg.: "...it’s another addition to the array of media to shield off private media consumption in public places. Just like the Walkman/iPod earbuds privatized personal music listening, these glasses may do something similar for watching video/TV. The same ol’ question arises again: what does this mean for publicness of places?"

What does it mean for the publicness of places? Or, alternately, what does it mean for polite anonymity, for protective anonymity? At what point does privacy become just a big too ...aggressive and impolite for civic intercourse?

Tags: anonymity, cities, privacy, public_space, technology on 2008-01-23 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.themobilecity.nl

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Sure footing on Jarvis slip by Christopher Hume (Toronto Star)

This is the article that accompanies the video (also linked to today). It's about the three finalists in the competition to redesign T.O. waterfront along the Jarvis Slip. Best quote: "Though the three finalists are all quite different, in their own way each takes conventional notions of public space and carefully turns it upside down. This is exactly what Toronto's waterfront needs."

Tags: christopher_hume, jarvis_slip, public_space, toronto, waterfront on 2008-01-23 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.thestar.com

Enhancing the Jarvis Slip by Christopher Hume (TheStar.com - Video Viewer)

The Toronto Star put up a video of Christopher Hume explaining the 3 finalist contenders for re-making Jarvis Slip, a T.O. d/t lakefront public area.

This makes me think of how important speech (vs. the word as read) is when thinking about any issues, and of how important the speaker is (his/her manner/ abilities at conversation). Hume has done an excellent job on other videos posted to the Toronto Star, explaining the city's architecture for downloadable walking tours.

Tags: architecture, christopher_hume, jarvis_slip, public_space, toronto, video, waterfront on 2008-01-23 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.thestar.com

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Toronto's year of living large - and tall (Toronto Star)

"Love it or hate it, the ROM Crystal signalled the return of ambition to our architectural stage" -- Christopher Hume on the change(s) in the role of buildings, public architecture, and public perceptions around the values of public space.

Tags: architecture, christopher_hume, cities, museums, public_buildings, public_space, toronto, urbanism on 2007-12-31 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.thestar.com

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A Streetcar of Solace Is Back in New Orleans - New York Times

Adam Nossiter reports on the St.Charles line (downtown/ French Quarter / uptown connector), back in action in New Orleans. Many useful references for public space, urban fabric connections, lived history experiences. (via CEOs for Cities blog)

Tags: adam_nossiter, new_orleans, public_space, streetcars, transit on 2007-12-30 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.nytimes.com

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CJR Daily: Is Technology Ruining Your Morals?

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