Posts Tagged ‘public space’

November 05, 2014

5 Things I Learned from Enrique Peñalosa

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Enrique Peñalosa is the former mayor of Bogota and he has become famous for putting in place radical equity measures such as restricting private car use and installing hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks. Some of his most well known accomplishments during his tenure as mayor of Bogota are organizing the first city-wide Car-Free day in 2001 where a city of 6.5 million people banned cars from its streets, opening up public spaces for all people to walk, bicycle, and enjoy the city and bringing a very successful Bus Rapid Transit system to…

September 17, 2014

Reclaiming Urban Space for People with the Picnic Blanket Effect

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Recently, fellow blogger Hart Noecker of Rebel Metropolis shared this photo from Shorpy with me: I was struck how these people managed to define a totally new space within this parking lot merely by taping down a bunch of butcher paper. It’s as if they were “drawing” a new space on a plan, but they did it in real life at full scale. I encountered another example of defining a new space merely by putting something on the ground this weekend at the Belmont Street Fair. At the intersection of SE 34th and Belmont, which is usually never…

May 02, 2012

A Field Guide to Activating Place

by: Kirby Hoyt

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Kirby Hoyt: A while back I was asked to present at the Phoenix Urban Research Lab (PURL) during the Phoenix Urban Design Week at an event called “PURL Jam” wherein 20 slides were to be shown each with a 20 second time limit. The topic was “Activating Space.” After procrastinating for weeks as I usually do, I finally came upon an idea I thought worthy of 400 seconds of the audiences’ time. The concept was based on one of my favorite contemporary artists, Mark Dion. I’d seen one of his pieces a few…

July 18, 2011

Phoenix’s Need for New Public Squares

by: Will Novak

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Will Novak: Phoenix’s park system is something of an enigma: part of it is breathtakingly wonderful, the other part embarrassing. The City’s desert and mountain preserve system is world class and a jewel all Phoenicians should be proud of. However, Phoenix’s “traditional” parks and squares are poorly designed and often don’t even exist where you’d expect to find them. Phoenix has four areas that are either urban or semi-urban (Downtown, Midtown, Uptown & Biltmore), and not a single one of them has a well-designed urban park at their heart. In order for each…

March 09, 2011

Exploring the Public Face of a Residence at the Castaway House

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Last week, when I interviewed architect Marlene Imirzian (I’ll be posting the interview next week), she said that every project has a public aspect to it, even private residences. What she meant was that even houses have a way to address the street, have a front yard that the public can see, and has a front door for the public to knock on. Good architecture addresses the public face of the house with intention. At the Castaway House, we have layers of space that lead from the public to the private. The diagram below, created by Cavin, illustrates what…

August 11, 2010

Trees Improve Social Connections, Who Knew?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today is the second installation in a month-long Wednesday series on The Phoenix Tree and Shade Master Plan. Last week I talked about the concept of the Urban Forest and why it’s important. Today I’m going to try to address this notion quoted in the Master Plan: “(The) General public has a limited understanding of the importance of trees.” This may be why most people have no idea or don’t care that our Phoenix urban forest is being destroyed slowly. Planting trees is not in the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to improving livability. Here’s why trees…