“Walkable” and “swimmable” cities
Let’s not be afraid of neologisms… on top of the two above-mentioned ones, this sum up deals also with “smombies”.
Hi there dear readers,
Our last readings have been about walkability and smartphone zombies; the mapping of chatty, smelly and other sensible maps as well as a growing trend about swimming in cities. Feeling like hearing more about it? Keep reading!
Though most city offices now claim to have a focus on becoming more walkable, the very concept of “walkability” still remains a bit slippery. For journalist Philip Langdon, beyond features such as urban design, density and social mix, creativity and audacity also play a role for local communities to become walkable. His book gives several (american) examples of that, like Little Village in Chicago (Illinois).
Street design plays a major role when it comes to being walkable. Places to sit and hang out are for example an important criteria as exemplified by this pic from Sønder Boulevard (Copenhagen) @carodefrancqueville
Inventiveness might also be a keyword for cities to be walkable as urban dwellers need to deal with smartphone zombies (also called “smombies”)… locked into their screens, potentially dangerous for themselves and their surroundings. In Honolulu you now risk a fine if you get caught checking your phone when crossing the street. In Japan, the train company Seibu Railways has released amazing posters seeking, among other things, to make commuters look away from their screens while walking.
That is not to say that smartphones cannot support the development of walkable communities. Quite the contrary, if one look at this initiative from the Netherlands. The elderly can use their phones to “hack” pedestrian crossings in order to get more time to cross the street (an app that would be very useful in many places in Copenhagen,… and not only for the elderly!).
The works towards a good city life must be approached from different angles. Though it is often “easier” to look at it from a technical or technological perspective — as it is often the case with smart cities’ professionals — one has to remember that peoples’ well-being is what matters most. That is what a global network of researchers tries to address through the initiative goodcitylife.org. In this project, they use technology to document urban problems that have hitherto received little attention. An output of that is their collective psychological maps, which give an alternative image of cities, as shown in these happy, chatty or smelly maps:
As much as the summer hasn’t led the herds of citizens to go city swimming (at least in Copenhagen) — it is a growing trend that creates new opportunities to enjoy public space, or should we say public water.
While Copenhagen has been a front runner when it comes to swimming in the city’s harbour, other cities are following its path, like Paris who opened some basins in the Canal de la Villette this summer (link in French — subtitles in English in the video):
Around the globe, some (literally) cool initiatives are taking place, which pay a tribute to the fun of swimming and water sports in general in bigger cities. See for example this Kickstarter project POOL + or this man who swims to work in the UK… to avoid traffic…! If you happen to be in Copenhagen, you may have attended this water bombs event last weekendand if not, you can still come to the Copenhagen swim at the end of the month.
Have a nice week everybody!
Cheers,
The SharingLab team
Say hi: caroline@ourhub.dk
