MOD 6

I am fascinated by the way cities evolve and grow.  I really enjoyed the lecture that delved into the positive growth patterns cities can take.  I am, however; constantly surprised by the poor choices made by cities or the delay it takes to begin implementing smarter growth techniques.  Creating transit along with a city as it grows seems like common sense yet few cities actually take that initiative.  Seattle, for example, has been fighting to create a efficient rapid transit system.  Recently they have been making strides catching up to cities like Portland and San Francisco.  The effects of good public transit are incredible.  Portland is one of the easiest cities to navigate, in large part due to its transit systems.  The entire city is accessible; not just the downtown.  

The traditional neighborhood design is very familiar to me as Moscow is a smaller scale version of this.  When Main Street was redesigned to allow for more pedestrian traffic it became the spine of the city.  Main street is home to local businesses and residences above the street level.  The surrounding areas are the more traditional one and two family homes with some smaller apartment buildings.  It is actually an amazing example of urbanism on an extremely small scale.

I think what excited me the most about urban growth moving forward were the ad hoc approach to design.  Communities taking it into their own hands to change their built environment.  It is important that these instances spread; the more people care about and understand the effects of their environment the richer the environment becomes.  I was reminded of the work of Tom Rankin with Tevereterno.  

Their goal is to bring life back to the Tiber river in Rome through temporary installations.  They have been doings so by creating a Piazza along the Tiber between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini.  One of the works that reminded me of both the Slow City and Urban Instillation was their project in 2010 called "Chance Encounters."  They placed 100 of red chairs in Piazza Tevere along the west side.  The chairs were not bolted down so users could arrange them in whatever configurations they wanted.  This small intervention allowed the space to be populated and for users to make it what they wanted it to be.   



Simple interventions call people to them as they open their eyes to the possibility of what a space can be.  The chair intervention lasted only a few days but it allowed the citizens of Rome to see what could be done along the Tiber; rather than leaving it abandoned and wasted.  That is the trick with great urban design interventions; taking under-utilized spaces in the midst of urban fabric and repairing them.  Bringing the life of a city to all corners of a city.  The power of mobilizing a community is undeniable.  If we as designers can inspire the greater population to take part in bettering their built environment our mission to create great urban spaces becomes achievable.