Lydon and Garcia in “The Next American City and the Rise of Tactical Urbanism” provide captivating information about the phenomenon of Tactical Urbanism and its features in America (63-86). It has to be noticed that, though the trends described within the book by the authors are rather familiar for me, the term “tactical urbanism” has been rather new for me. The authors smartly define four primary trends influencing on city life: returning of people to the city, Internet’s rise, the Great Recession, and increase of disconnection between citizens and government; all these tendencies indeed take place in modern life (Lydon and Garcia 63).
Crawford emphasizes that urban space of modern cities has been greatly shaped by the daily and weekly life cycles. This is the regime of people’s life which influences on the city planning and determines the way urban spaces are being used. It is nearly impossible to disagree with the author that such commercial activities like vending or street markets are able to contribute to creating new types of so-called temporary spaces the popularity of which is undoubtedly considerable. Also, for me the concept of “defamiliarization,” presented by Crawford, was new. The example about the impossibility of returning to driving cars on the streets currently occupied by numerous of bicyclists is a highly demonstrative one (Crawford).
In the “Glossary” by Haydn and Temal a set of particularly interesting definitions and term explanations are presented (8-17). Demonstrated in the form of quotations, the clarifications of a range of architectural terms seem to be particularly smart, brief, and understandable. Even some very small quotations tend to be highly informative and appropriate. Among the sayings offered within the “Glossary” the clarifications of the concepts of “change in the culture of planning,” “do-it-yourself mentality,” “freeing spaces,” and “institutionalizing” grabbed my special attention.
The idea presented by Lefaivre in “Ground -Up City: The Place of Play” has been especially interesting for me. The author managed to actualize the topic which, despite being rather simple and familiar for people, has not been widely developed within the society. I totally agree with Lefaivre’s idea about the capability of play and humor to make people curious and draw them in. It makes me rethink the importance of the playgrounds and their role in the life of citizens. The research provided me with a special inspiration regarding producing places able to make people at least slightly happier and satisfied.
Fagan devoted his study to most threatening natural disasters and their influences on people’s life. Starting the research from describing Hurricane Sandy, the author is grabbing readers’ attention (Fagan 1). It needs to be determined that Fagan’s warnings and pieces of advice provided within the text are of considerable significance for the whole humanity. For instance, we all should take into consideration that the lessons of numerous natural disasters have to be always in people’s memory, and a sufficient conclusions need to be made in order to prevent undesirable negative effects of the catastrophes. As well, the reminding about the fact about people living in a worming world is a noteworthy one.
Metcalf in the article titled “The Great Dithering” stresses on the issue of the rising of waters and the influence of this issue on people’s modern and future life. The author’s claim about the absence of knowledge regarding the extent to which the ocean might rise sounds rather frightening. I believe that for every reader of the article it might be rather significant to recall that every member of world’s population, in particular while burning fossil fuels, makes the contribution to certain climate changes. All in all, throughout the article numerous of impressive and fascinating facts, figures, and graphs are provided.
The chapter “Public Space, Public Life: An Interaction” in How to Study Public Life is incredibly interesting and informative (Gehl 1-8). Gehl claims that public space and public life need to be understood in “the broadest sense” (Gehl 2). This suggestion contributes to the rise of the understanding of the sophistication of public space. Moreover, it becomes clear that public space needs to be wisely and smartly used in order to be functional and convenient for every citizen. In this context, the experiment with the direct observations in the city, the tool which was used by the researchers to understand major trends in the use of certain spaces seems to be particularly useful and advantageous. Besides, it is remarkable that the way the chapter organized and designed contributes significantly to grasping readers’ attention.
The chapter “Who, What Where?” in How to Study Public Life seems to be more pragmatic and theoretical (Gehl 9-19). It is focused on investigating the issues of who, how many, what, where, and how long can be interacted life in public space (Gehl 11). To provide sufficient answers for these questions, apparently, a deep analysis of people’s behavior and preferences has to be made. It is noticeable that my attention was hugely grasped by the information devoted to the explanation of the speed with which people tend to walk. I was surprised by the fact of existing of studies regarding the issues like the speed of pedestrians, and I was definitely convinced, due to Gehl, that this information is important for city planning (18).
Jacobs in the introduction to the book titled “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” emphasizes on the most intriguing aspects and trends of city planning process (3-25). It is noticeable that the author describes some principles and fundamentals of city planning and rebuilding. For instance, it was interesting to learn that there is the principle of the necessity of the cities in intricate diversity as it helps with establishing within the society constant social and economic mutual support. In addition, the comparison of the cities with “immense laboratory of trial and error, failure and success” seemed for me exceptionally wise (Jacobs 6).
Gehl Studio provides the presentation of a unique event called Market Street Prototyping Festival, which took place in San Francisco, in April, 2015. Apparently, the event by itself seems to be particularly fascinating and significant as it integrated designers, makers, and artists for the purpose of developing ideas regarding enlivening of sidewalks. Within the presentation inspirational photos are provided and informative facts about the festival’s results are noted.
Whyte’s film, titled “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces,” was devoted to a highly significant topic related to the issues of architecture and city planning. In the film a set of failures and success of using urban spaces are provided. Numerous of different locations were analyzed within the video, and variety of useful pieces of advice was provided as well. It can be suggested that in case this pieces of advice were taken into consideration, people’s life might have become considerably more convenient.
Beatley in “Biophilic Cities: What Are They?” analyses the importance of biophilic buildings and space which is surrounding them (Beatley 45-81). I should note that the term “biophilic” was rather new for me. The author managed to convince me in its significance for modern people. Particularly, the role of sounds in our life was discussed in a captivating way.
Wolch in “Zoopolis” focuses on the investigation of effects of the urbanization on animals (119-135). The author profoundly analyses an indeed serious issue, determines major its problems, and offers a set of wise suggestions regarding solving the issue of inhumane treating animals in modern cities.
Works Cited
Beatley, Tim. “Biophilic Cities: What Are They?” In Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planning. Island Press, 2011. 45-81. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Beatley.pdf>.
Crawford, Margaret. “Temporary Urbanisms.” In Reclaim Market Street! Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Crawford.pdf>.
Fagan, Brian. “Minus One-Hundred Twenty-two Meters and Climbing.” The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels, Bloomsbury Press. 1-19. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Fagan.pdf>.
Gehl, Jan. “Public Space, Public Life: An Interaction.” In How to Study Public Life. 2013. 1-8. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Gehl.pdf>.
Gehl, Jan. “Who, What Where?” In How to Study Public Life. 2013. 9-19. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Gehl.pdf>.
Gehl Studio. Makers on Market: Lessons from San Francisco’s Market Street Prototyping Festival, 18 Dec. 2015. Web. 3 March 2016. <https://issuu.com/gehlarchitects/docs/mspf_report_final_20151218_final>.
Haydn, Florian, and Robert Temal. “Glossary.” Temporary Urban Spaces. Eds. Haydn, Florian, and Robert Temal. Birkhauser, 2006. 8-17. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Haydn_Glossary.pdf>.
Jacobs, Jane. “Introduction.” In The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books. 3-25. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Jacobs.pdf>.
Lefaivre, Lian. “Ground -Up City: The Place of Play.” In Ground-Up City: Play as a Design Tool, 36-71. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Lefaivre.pdf>.
Lydon, Mike, and Anthony Garcia. “The Next American City and the Rise of Tactical Urbanism.” Tactical Urbanism. Eds. Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia. Island Press/Center for Resource Economics, 2015. 63-86. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Lydon_Ch_3.pdf>.
Metcalf, Gabriel. “The Great Dithering.” The Urbanist. Issue 532. April, 2014. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.spur.org/publications/article/2014-04-10/great-dithering>.
“The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces: William H. Whyte.” Online video clip. Vimeo. Web. 3 March 2016. <https://vimeo.com/111488563>.
Wolch, Jennifer. “Zoopolis.” In Animal Geographies: Place, Politics, and Identity in the Nature-Culture Borderlands. Eds. Jennifer Wolch and Jody Emel. Verso, 1998. 119-135. Web. 3 March 2016. <http://www.studioforurbanprojects.org/readings/Wolch.pdf>.
