Data visualization

 "Data visualisation helps us to understand the world. It also has the power to change it."

Remember this post about John Snow, see more in this video.

Motivation!

Dan Pink's talk - from the video description "the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace".

What do you think?

Video of the week: What makes a place beautiful?

 It's not what you think!

"What makes buildings and cities beautiful, and why is beauty so important? How to design for beauty? I was always wondering why everything was getting so ugly, and why beauty doesn't seem to be valued anymore. So in this video, we take a deep dive into the topic of beauty - to hopefully learn some lessons from it. From the design disconnect to biophilia and deeper brain structures, no stone is left unturned to solve the puzzle: how can we build more beautiful, and why does that matter?"

Which place do you prefer to walk in?

Vancouver Vantage

"A major city portrayed in miniature, this short film was shot in Vancouver over a single year from many stunning vantage points. Visually spellbinding, it has an intuitive sense of the cadences of urban life and provides a different perspective on what it means to live in a great metropolis."

Vantage from Video Exposure on Vimeo.

Tactical Urbanism 101

"If you're a public space aficionado or transportation maven, one only needs to sign on to one of the various social media feeds to see the daily movement that is sweeping across the world: groups of people are literally taking back their streets by implementing low-cost, temporary solutions to what they see as simple ways of making their streets safer or more livable."



"In many cities, people have started placing traffic cones at intersections to slow turning vehicles and make drivers behave more predictably when they interact with bikes and pedestrians. In fact, many citizens have formed Twitter groups generally referred to as Departments of Transformation (DOTr) as opposed to the traditional city Department of Transportations (DOTs). These groups are showing their fellow citizens innovative visual solutions to make safer streets with quick strike executions - which sometimes only last a few hours until they are removed by their government. But each week more empowered people are deciding they are fed up and joining the movement and not waiting for their agencies to act. Over the years, this sort of inexpensive, rapid-deployment has been known by various terms, but since around 2010 the term Tactical Urbanism has gained a lot of traction in the transportation community. And not only are we seeing some cities starting to responding positively and making some of these citizen resolutions permanent, but even outright sponsoring and sanctioning their own. So sit back and watch as we visit just a small fraction of the community making this happen!"

Transform Your City With Tactical Urbanism from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

Shadows in the city

"If you’re staring at your phone you’ll probably miss them. I mean shadows are everywhere, do you really pay that much attention to them? Artist Damon Belanger was recently commissioned by the business owners of downtown Redwood City, California to inject a little life into the downtown core."




from:
http://twistedsifter.com/2017/08/shadow-art-by-damon-belanger-redwood-city-california/

New York view

"Times Square, New York, USA. A view from below"

from: https://brightside.me/article/100-best-photographs-without-photoshop-46555/

My city

Aerial imagery

"All of the images in Overview were created by stitching together numerous satellite photographs from DigitalGlobe’s 15-year time-lapse image library, which contains some of the world’s highest quality satellite imagery."

"Grant named the project after the “Overview Effect,” a sensation of profound shift in perspective that astronauts experience when given the opportunity to look down and view the Earth as a whole. His hope is that by giving viewers a chance to engage with these far-flung perspectives, we can not only share in that unique, rare sensation, but also gain a new understanding of our place on the planet."

from: http://twistedsifter.com/2016/10/photos-that-will-give-you-a-new-perspective-on-earth

Best Google Doodles Celebrating Architects and Architecture

"Since 1998, Google has been manipulating their iconic logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists, creating what they call Google Doodles. Since the very first doodle (used to indicate founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s attendance at Burning Man that year), Google has produced over 2000 fun, colorful drawings to inform their users about the important milestones that fell on that date. Of these doodles, numerous have featured the works or lives of some of history’s most prominent architects. Check out a sampling of some of our favorites."

from: http://www.archdaily.com/797885/27-of-the-best-google-doodles-celebrating-architects-and-architecture

I always loved a good map!

"Data lover and Geography PhD candidate Robbi Bishop-Taylor uses open-source GIS software to generate high-resolution maps of the world. In a recent project, Bishop-Taylor created a high-resolution map of Canada’s trails, roads, streets and highways; weighted and colored by size (from small unsealed trails and roads in blue to freeways in bright yellow)."



from: http://twistedsifter.com/2016/09/canada-mapped-by-trails-roads-streets-highways/

Meanwhile over on Instagram

#building #community one #apple at a time. 🍎🍏🍂🍁👫

A photo posted by Cherish (@cherish2028) on Sep 22, 2016 at 4:51pm PDT

Quick Links

Smart city components:

from: http://www.inavateonthenet.net/news/article/wifi-birdhouses-power-amsterdam-smart-cities

Bicycle highways!


from: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/07/why-paris-is-building-highways-for-bikes/489341

Art in infrastructure:

from: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2016/jul/07/urban-art-painted-traffic-control-boxes-st-johns-ian-gidge


street fun:



from: https://www.building.ca/gallery/dance-floor/


and finding home:

In an era when people are flooding to cities in record numbers, more people are looking to find ‘home’ in places where they didn’t grow up. So how do you know when you’ve made it?

from: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/31/how-i-found-my-toronto-thing-when-does-a-city-become-home

Art in the city!

"Keys to the Streets brings delight and surprise to Vancouver’s public spaces by providing vibrantly painted pianos for everyone to play. The pianos offer a space for improvisational gatherings, spontaneous connections, and celebrations of music."



"The pianos provided help to address the issue of social isolation in Vancouver by providing spaces that allow and encourage connections between many demographics, all levels of musical skill, and those that simply listen."



from: http://keystothestreets.com/#about



"These public pianos are part of the Keys to the Streets project that has placed free, playable pianos to public places in Vancouver. The pianos are available from July 1 to August 23, 2014. This project is inspired by similar pop-up piano initiatives which have appeared in cities such as Montreal, Toronto, and New York."

from: http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2014/07/03/public-pianos-vancouver-key-to-the-streets/