The invisible City
Municipalities – Cities, villages, urban and suburban areas – are full of small bits of urban fabric which we almost never foreground: street furniture. These bits of urbanity are the unsung heroes of city life. They help keep us moving safely about our day by deploying signage and traffic lights; hold our newspapers before and after we read them; street furniture protects us with bollards and separated bike lanes; and street furniture brings us joy with trees and art.
Municipalities purchase street furniture from a finite set of manufacturers. However, the composition, range, and context is different in each community. This website endeavors to present a wide cross section of communities, taking into account varying densities, geographic location, community age, and mobility mix, allowing wider insights.
EXPLORE ENTRIES
Increments of Neighborhood by Brian O’Looney
Neighborhood and building typology are a scale higher than we deal with here. So I’ve been having a great time reading Increments of Neighborhood by Brian O’Looney, recently released by Oro Editions. I’ll have a full review on the website soon, but this is a great book for those interested in urban typologies – both residential and commercial.
Each type has nice big photographs, site and aerials, floor plans, and missed opportunities. This sort of deep detail really connects with my inner typologist.
Highly recommended.
Observed: dumpster planter
To match the adaptive reuse aesthetic at Industry City in Brooklyn, they have deployed street-level planter dumpsters which have been painted various shades of pink, yellow, and red.
Science in your mailbox…
