daveb

jane jacobs should be a familiar name to ever city planner and urban enthusiast. she reshaped the landscape of urban planning and how we understand our cities. instead of textbook theory, now many planners try to understand their cities from the streets and sidewalks.

“Jane’s Walk is a coordinated series of free neighbourhood walking tours given by locals who care passionately about where they live, work and play. Jane’s Walk is about raising urban literacy by offering a pedestrian focused event that combines insights into urban history, planning, design and civic engagement with the simple act of walking and observing. So far, Jane’s Walk has happened in Toronto and New York in 2007, with plans to expand it to Ottawa, Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver in May 2008.” jane’s walk

NYT remembers jane jacobs

if you’d like a little read of her writings online…

or grab one of her books

otherwise, get out on your streets and walk around. think about how your city could be better.

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easter is over · 94 days ago

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david kelley on human centered design · 142 days ago

Low-key and thoughtful, IDEO founder David Kelley seems the antithesis of the “design star”—and indeed, he says that product design, within the past two decades, has become much less about the design and more about the user who’ll be experiencing it. In this classic 2002 talk, he shares some video of products coming out of IDEO, including Prada’s famous high-tech dressing rooms, “Dilbert’s ultimate cubicle,” and a gotta-have-it gadget called Spyfish. He finishes by discussing a project he’s passionate about: ApproTEC—now called KickStart—offering designs that give Kenyans the means to end poverty.

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