MetaFilter posts tagged with cities and urban

OASIS

ocherdraco — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:02:21 -0800

The New York City Open Accessible Space Information System Cooperative (OASIS) is an online, interactive mapping and data analysis application that gives an incredibly detailed view of New York City's open spaces and how they are used. The map enables overlays of information like: transit; parks, playgrounds and open space; zoning and landmarks; current and historical land use; social services; demographics; and environmental characteristics.(via The Ministry of Type, who like OASIS mainly for its pretty map possibilities.) From the project's "About" page:

How: A community-based undertaking, local organizations design and test the first city wide, web-based, open space mapping resource for NYC. OASIS facilitates and focuses the delivery of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) resources to provide timely and accurate information about the green infrastructure of NYC. What OASIS Will Do: OASIS will enable NYC community residents, for the first time, to:
create maps of open space by zip code, borough, tax block and lot, and/or neighborhood;
identify key open space resources within or near a user- defined area;
locate these resources by name, type, and other attributes in addition to geographic-based searches;
identify other natural resources and landmarks near or adjacent to open spaces in the city;
calculate statistics based on open space patterns by zip code, borough, tax block and lot, and/or neighborhood;
undertake “what if” scenarios, such as, what would my neighborhood look like if these vacant lots remained community gardens, or how would new bike lanes or bus routes improve my access to a park in the Bronx?; and
use other mapping and data analysis tools.
Why: OASIS is based on the belief that a common, free, open space inventory – really a web-based GIS mapping resource – is invaluable to NYC’s greening and planning communities. In NYC and across the Nation, GIS and other GeoData Systems are critical planning tools for enhanced spatial visualization and data analysis. They integrate socioeconomic profiles and demographic analysis with data set creation, strategic mapping and comprehensive community and regional planning services. GIS is an invaluable resource for environmental, design, health, safety, economic and planning decision making.

The Changing Face of the Inner City

digaman — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:43:58 -0800

Are you a young middle-class creative type (probably white) who has chosen to live in an urban neighborhood that your parents would have shunned? Have the families that formerly lived in your neighborhood (probably not white) been pushed out by soaring rents and real-estate prices to the city fringes or suburbs? The New Republic on demographic inversion.

Get yer urban exploration/dead mall fix right here

limeonaire — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:59:13 -0800

"Q: What the hell is this site about? This is a site about urban exploration in the Ozarks." Abandoned water slides, underground tunnels, abandoned buildings and half-demolished malls throughout Missouri were all once fair game for this blog, and remain fair game for those who post in Underground Ozarks' forums.

Urban pranks

CunningLinguist — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:46:00 -0800

From the Improv Everywhere people comes the Urban Prankster blog to keep track of delightful shenanigans around the world.

Detroit Public Schools Book Depository

ottereroticist — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:54:09 -0800

"This is a building where our deeply-troubled public school system once stored its supplies, and then one day apparently walked away from it all, allowing everything to go to waste...All that's left is an overwhelming sense of knowledge unlearned and untapped potential." (Via Making Light.)

#7: Ten percent of all city space shall be open land where you can "touch the dirt"

salvia — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:26:49 -0800

"First we kill the architects..." Photographer Danny Lyon [1, 2, 3, 4] offers ten suggestions for New York City. Suggestion #6: "Leave the World Trade Center excavation exactly as it is and use the space as a freshwater pond planted with pink, white, and yellow lilies..." His essay is only one of many from names you'll recognize in a book called Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York. An associated exhibition opened yesterday [museum, NYT review]. Is New York City moving in the right direction? Is your city? [via] Footnotes: * It might also be interesting to see what others think about the direction of NYC. (Though only eleven people had expressed their opinion as of this posting.) * Background on Lyon's suggestion #7: he titled a collection of Polaroids of his children I Like to Eat Right on the Dirt.

"The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects." Baudelaire

bijou — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:09:41 -0800

WebUrbanist: Collective Bloggings about Urban Cultures and Alternative Arts

Exploring the City

salvia — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:29:15 -0800

The Conflux Festival brings together mapmakers, urban adventurers, and performers to "investigate the physical and psychological landscapes of cities," NYC in this case. Tunnels and shortcuts, turning city sound samples into music, guerilla radio on unused FM frequencies, and a nighttime game of pursuit. My personal favorite is tide-propelled commuting on the Tide and Current Taxi. Via Flavorpill.

Photography of Japan's Underground

jonson — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:57:00 -0800

Joe Nishizawa's new photojournalism book, Deep Inside, is a visual exploration of the amazing, highly mechanized world under Japan's urban areas. This brief interview with the author is accompanied by several interesting photos.

Transit in Detroit

gregb1007 — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 19:13:42 -0800

Transit in Detroit details an urban planner's initiative to cut the costs of the city's traffic congestion-relieving highway expansion by proposing a transit system combining light rail and bus-rapid-transit. [More Inside]

Maybe a graboid got him?

deafmute — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 18:05:12 -0800

Ed Bacon, friend to skaters, died Friday. He presided over a successful urban renewal campaign (a rarity), yet leaves behind a complex legacy in the city he loved. [bugmenot]

Philly in 3-D

luriete — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 15:11:04 -0800

Is a "virtual" Philly even better than the real thing? Well, GeoSim Systems thinks so. Except for the aroma of freshly-grilled cheesesteak, at least. Their "Virtual Philadelphia" is the most detailed urban imaging system I've seen yet, and you can read about the monumental process of turning photographic images (taken from both aircraft and street-level) into this incredible rendering in a February 17 NY Times article (reg req). And - as expected - Google wants to get in on the action and do the same thing in San Francisco. via BB

Shinsato

hama7 — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 21:09:28 -0800

Shinsato: Great vacant night cityscapes of Osaka and Tokyo.

The fabulous ruins of Detroit

ryanshepard — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 22:40:30 -0800

The fabulous ruins of Detroit: "After decades of blight, large swathes of Detroit are being reclaimed by nature. Roughly a third of this 139-square-mile city consists of weed-choked lots and dilapidated buildings . . . rather than fight this return to nature, urban farmers have embraced it, gradually converting 15 acres of idle land into more than 40 community gardens and microfarms — some consuming entire blocks." [note: NY Times link]

SimCity 5: ReDevelopment

kliuless — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 09:28:51 -0800

Why we are all Venetians now Witold Rybczynski talks about the changing functions of cities, urban planning and reuse, and the tourism industry where "the urban experience has become a new product of cities."

Ruavista - Signs of the city (Photography)

chill — Thu, 28 Nov 2002 04:47:20 -0800

Ruavista explores city streets and urban life through all kinds of signs: street graphics, architecture, street sounds. Put simply, a fantastic resource for urban photography.

mcwetboy — Thu, 29 Aug 2002 15:34:00 -0800

Sprawl-induced aberrant driving behavior is a theory proposed by University of Ottawa geography professor Barry Wellar. Suburban roads, built for speed, encourage aggressive driving and bad habits that drivers can sort of get away with in the suburbs, but that carry over to other areas. So that's why it always seems that they're trying to run me off the sidewalk.

Salmonberry — Sun, 23 Jun 2002 14:34:39 -0800

'You will stay in Saskatoon, you will stay in Moose Jaw': Plan would force newcomers to agree to live outside biggest cities for three to five years A new idea would have immigrants forced to live in rural Canadian communities for the first 3-5 years to offset the fact that young Canadians are fleeing them for the opportunities in the big cities. I sympathize with the loss that rural Canada is facing, I just don't see this working out the way proponents expect.

badstone — Fri, 10 May 2002 10:04:19 -0800

Lane Splitting 101. Do you ride? Do you commute on your bike? Are you insane enough to split lanes? Or... Do you drive? Do lane-splitting bikes piss you off? Do they give you heart attacks?

wsfinkel — Tue, 05 Mar 2002 07:12:15 -0800

Pigeons Ride the Subway!(NYT Link) This reporter found truth behind a New York urban legend, train riding pigeons. Any weird stories of urbanized animals in your area?