Student of Cities
When one studies modern city planning today, it would be incredible naïve not to talk about the outstanding contributions of Jane Jacobs. She, single-handedly, is the most influential voice on how we plan our cities today. She was not a city planner nor an architect but simply someone that cared about her community.
Biking into the Future
This paper will be about bike infrastructure in cities today with a focus on Guatemala City. Guatemala City has started to build its first official biking infrastructure in order to fix its major traffic problem. The paper will show the benefits that a good biking infrastructure can bring to a city and also discuss the best way to actually achieve a near perfect biking infrastructure. By examining Copenhagen and New York City, the paper will try to understand what Guatemala City needs in order to become a bike-friendly city.
Topography and Hydrology of New York
A plan had to be put in place to adapt the city’s raising population. In 1811, the gridiron plan was established by the Commissioner’s Plan of 1811 for the island of Manhattan in order to develop the city in an organized and easy manner. Civil engineer, Egbert L. Vielé, shows how disruptive this plan was to the natural topography of the land in his map and essay, Topography and Hydrology of New York.
Superblocks vs. Regular Blocks
Walking around a cite and observing its streets, buildings and what people do there can tell you a lot about the intentions that the architects and planners had for the place. While walking around Washington Square Village, I could understand the original intentions and also how they failed to come true.