Urban Design Discussion

Note in UD Video request for SketchUp Users and other ‘single comment’ or ‘theme’ pages below.  Also seeking Google Earth on Urban Design.

Please review and comment on the following Urban Planning and Design Video selections….

 Light Rail Video).  This is followed by an amateur’s walk through Denver’s bit of sanity for contrast.

Designers of the Nature City
All of the answers are right here in tiny forms as this glimpse from Timothy Beatley, author of Green Urbanism, indicates using sthis Green Planet Film.

Would Real Time Digital Be Useful?
Georgia Institute of Technology’s students are using CCTV video to map actual vehicles and people into Google Earth. Would this help or hinder the public dialogue on planning and community development?

Key Component’s of Ann Arbor’s Main Street
In comparison to all of the steril digital animation of urban life out there, the following piece is that first breath of fresh air just outside the fantasy world of a movie theater.  Thanks Kirk, any other small college towns in MI like Albion, Kalamazoo, or Detroit have an AA main street?) On the point of digital exploration there are exceptions (see

To New Yorkers, these “one street wonder – pedestrian pocket”  type stories are instructive.  Our density puts these streets throughout the city, but we tend to disregard their beauty and importance.  The urban design investment board could help by finding more work like the above or find a way to and send Kirk off to examine places like Denver’s 16th Street for a comparison.   A peak at what is possible is illustrated in this early morning walk by a casual observer. It is bumpy but worth a brief look, before moving on.

All of this aside, one key question has to be asked. How can the places like those selected above become the subject of the ideas briefly outlined in the following bit of instruction from Janine Benyus author of “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature”? Please forgive the introduction… it is well worth a few seconds of aggravation.

Dori on Design

U.S. National Design Policy Initiative has several enthusiastic points to make. Take a moment. Have look.

This page has the following sub pages.

• Sketch Up Users
• David Orr

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