December 2010
16 posts
3 tags
“On a day when the cafe Internet connection had already been down for four hours,...”
– Where Open Laptops Mean a Buzz of (Quiet) Activity - NYTimes.com
3 tags
Watch500 mile per hour internet, from Lufthansa
CloudStream on Vimeo
4 tags
Lufthansa adds Cloudstream and internet content to...
by Grant Martin on Dec 3rd 2010 at 2:00PM
Up until late this year, internet access has been a privelege served only to those flying on domestic carriers — the signal delivered on most of those flights is provided by land-based mobile phone towers. Those flying overseas, conversely, were doomed to their overhead video projectors and DIY in-flight entertainment.
With satellite communication,...
3 tags
5 tags
An Architecture of Resistance
“If the value of real estate in the traditional urban fabric is determined by location, location, location… then the value of a network connection is determined by bandwidth, bandwidth, bandwidth… The bondage of bandwidth is displacing the tyranny of distance, and a new economy in which high-bandwidth connectivity is and increasingly crucial variable.” (p. 17)
William J. Mitchell....
3 tags
4 tags
The Frictions of Space
The frictions of space produced by modern economic growth illustrate the complex nature of the movement of people and the movement of goods. The development of New York Harbor provides an example of how the often overlooked infrastructure of freight transportation can serve as a critical modifier of regional growth.
Pubic transportation is, by definition, a visible and democratic regional...
November 2010
21 posts
3 tags
4 tags
Access
“Spatial cities, of course, are not only condensations of activity to maximize accessibility and promote face- to-face interaction, but are also elaborate sturctures for organizing and controlling access.” (1)
Access is one of the key indicators of mobility for cities. It should be no surprise that two of the MTA largest infrastructure projects
in recent years are called East Side Access and...
3 tags
The Case for Mobility
For centuries the critical link between mobility and the economic prosperity of a region has been well documented. The uninhibited flow of people, goods, and information is vitaly important to the economic and cultural well-being of cities; the historic analogy between physical circualtion and the metabolism or life blood of a of a city remains apt.
One of the challenges facing regional planners...
3 tags
3 tags
parasitic real estate
Yacht interior design technology and crumbling 60s and 70s tower blocks may yet become the unlikely saviours of those falling off the greasy rungs of the property ladder.
The concept is thus; pre-assembled pods that are complete compact apartments, (similar in concept to bathroom and kitchen pods slotted into hotels and flats) being then slid into empty tower blocks. A little like Alien but...
3 tags
4 tags
Ecological Urbanism
The return of regional thinking in planning can be attributed to several factors in the design professions: The environmental movement of the 1970s encoured a new public consciousness regarding resource consumption that engendered “environmentally friendly” technological developments in the building trades over the next several decades. Yet there seems to be a consensus in recent years that such...
3 tags
Abandoned Railways, Trains, Stations, Tunnels &... →
puddingcan:
fascinating! i really like the idea of converting abandoned infrastructure into a new use like new york’s high line.
6 tags
4 tags
Alameda Corridor
Perhaps nowhere exemplifies the consolidation of the flows of freight better than the Alameda Corridor running through the heart of Los Angeles. A 20-mile rail freight expressway, the $2.4 billion triple-track project was completed in 2002 to separate more than 200 grade crossings in the increasingly urbanized Los Angeles region. Designed to facilitate the movement of containers off the docks of...
4 tags
4 tags
4 tags
