Landscape architects, who pay increasing attention to programming the events which take place in the spaces they plan and design, could give more thought to weddings and wedding photography. Every couple likes to have brilliant photographs of their wedding and…
Blog Archives
Posts on Urban Design (+ see introduction to urban design)
Green the Redways: Copenhagenize the TfL Transport for London Road Network TLRN
TfL should Copenhagenize London’s the TLRN (Transport for London Road Network. Copenhagenization means confiscating the warships of a defeated enemy, which is what the British did in 1807. Mikael Colville-Andersen uses ‘Copenhagenize’ to mean good cycle planning. I’ve been…
Little Free Libraries for urban landscapes
Little Free Libraries are a great idea. Landscape architects should include them in designs for public open spaces including parks, squares, piazzas etc. Universities should have several on every campus for textbooks as well as leisure reading. In 2010 I…
Michael Brown and the landscape architecture of housing
Many thanks to Colin Moore for remembering Michael Brown’s work in a Merl blog post. Michael Brown’s office (in which Colin worked) produced the best UK housing landscape designs of the 1960s and 70s. The outdoor space was very well…
The Yorkshire trod is a great way to make a footpath
The OED defines a trod as ‘A trodden way; a footpath, path, way. (dialect)’. Phillips New World of Words (1678) explained Trode as ‘an old word signifying a path’. It slipped out of general use but survives in some parts…
Should wearing cycle helmets be compulsory? No.
No. The below diagram from Copenhagenize illustrates the balance of expert opinion. A cycle helmet will save your life in a relatively low proportion of cycle accidents. So I wear one, except when the weather is too hot. When they…
Posted in cycleways, urban design
Parliament Square in Westminster should be re-designed
The public open space outside the Mother of Parliaments should be re-designed as a place for MPs to talk to constituents and demonstrators. It was filled with protesters on 15th January 2019. This was the day on which the first…
Posted in landscape architecture, urban design
London Cycle Action Plan TfL: a review
The Guardian is too kind when it says the London Cycle Action Plan is ‘bold but has a major flaw’. It has many major flaws. But before looking at them let’s note the document’s good points: It acknowledges that London’s…
Four step model for bicycle network infrastructure planning
Traditional four step models provide a rational framework for transport forecasting (see Wiki). The 4 steps are trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice and route assignment. It is a predictive model and was often used to ‘predict and provide‘…
Posted in cycleways, urban design
How to integrate cycling with urban design: Copenhagenize
Copenhagenize: The Definitive Guide to Global Bicycle Urbanism by Mikael Colville-Andersen, Island Press, 2018, review by Tom Turner The great strength of this book is its focus on bicycle planning being an aspect of urban design. Illustrations support this point: the…
Recent comments on LAA