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Creator at Substack

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/10748432

Alternative Invidious Link

cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/12718654

> Group of university students awarded plot after city hall passes plan for 15 to 20 cooperative projects > > De Torteltuin, or “Dove Garden”, was born from an existential, if depressingly common, question. A group of young Amsterdammers, most still at university, looked into their futures and asked how they would ever afford to live in their own city. > > “It was 2020, we were 22 or 23 years old,” said Iris Luden. “It was a dream. We were fantasising. What if we built our own place? We imagined a kindergarten, growing our own food … We got together every month to talk about it. But slowly, it happened.” > > Amsterdam, the sought-after capital of a country in an acute housing crisis, is one of the toughest places in Europe to set up home. Private-sector rents are sky-high – €900 (£770) for a room in shared flat – and you can wait up to 20 years for social housing. > > "It’s just so bad,” said Luden, an AI engineer fortunate enough still to be living in her old student accommodation. “People are just constantly on the move, once a year on average. You can’t settle. We wanted somewhere affordable. And a community.” > > The group’s vision might have stayed a dream had city hall not passed a plan for 15 to 20 cooperative housing projects within four years, half of them self-built. The aim eventually is for 10% of all new Amsterdam housing stock to be cooperatively owned. > > “We started to take things more seriously,” said Lukas Nerl, 28, another Torteltuin member. “We set up subgroups: financing, sustainability, the rest. We had to learn a lot, fast. We registered as an association, wrote a project plan. We applied.” > > To their amazement, they were accepted – perhaps, said Nerl, precisely because of their youth, and because, as recent graduates, they might be assumed to be capable of navigating their way through a labyrinth of rules, regulations and bureaucracy. > > They secured a team of architects with experience in non-profit cooperative projects, raised the money to pay them, and presented a plan for a four-storey, timber-clad, sustainably built block of 40 apartments, from studios to three-bedders. > > Against stiff competition with other projects, De Torteltuin was awarded a plot 20 minutes from the city centre by tram and 45 minutes by bike, in IJburg, a new residential quarter slowly emerging on artificial islands rising from the IJmeer lake. > > Through a mixture of loans from a bank and city hall, crowdfunding from friends and family and two bond issues, the 26-member group has raised almost €9m of the estimated €12 to €13m construction cost. With luck, work will begin by year-end. > > The cooperative will own the building, with every resident paying a monthly rent, said Enrikos Iossifidis, another member. About a third of the apartments will qualify as social housing, while the most expensive – a family flat – should cost €1,200 a month. > > "A decade ago it wouldn’t have been possible,” said Iossifidis. “Even now it’s been a rollercoaster ride: when building costs soared after Russia invaded Ukraine, there was a truly awful moment when we thought it might not happen after all.” > > But by late next year or early 2026, the group should be thinking about moving into a carbon-neutral home complete with roof-top solar panels, communal spaces on each floor, guest rooms, a shared toolshed, a stage and a music studio in the basement. > > Their adventure is not just about affordable housing, said Luden. “It is very much also about building a real community,” she said. “Some flats are being reserved for people who face even bigger housing challenges – asylum seekers, for example.” > > De Torteltuin, said Nerl, “actually sets a vision of future city living. It’s not one of pollution, concrete, high-rises, speculation, ever-rising rents and more unaffordable mortgages. The new homes of the city will be social, sustainable – and affordable.”

A huge congratulations to @philipthalis on his well-deserved award.

Philip is undeniably both one of Australia's most respected architects and a tireless advocate for good urban design.

More importantly, he's not afraid to speak up publicly against bad state government planning decisions, as he did with Barangaroo, even when there's a personal cost.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/architect-philip-thalis-paid-the-price-for-being-outspoken-now-he-s-won-the-profession-s-gold-medal-20240510-p5jcjb.html

@urbanism #Planning #UrbanPlanning #Cities #Urbanism #Buildings #Architecture #Transport #Architect #Walking #Walkability

> Inklusibo’s new manual on housing rights provides an in-depth narrative of the urban poor’s right to housing and livable spaces. This is the first free publication under the Housing and Living Spaces category.

Why do alt-history people never focus on infrastructure or innovation? What would have happened had bikes been invented centuries before cars instead of around the same time? How different would the built environment and our culture have looked?

Personally, I think centuries of more established bike use would have created an infrastructure that limits how well cars take off. Cities would have entrenched themselves in a cheap, dense manner of transit.

I could be wrong, lots of dense cities were wrecked by the car when it was commercialized. I'd love to hear any thoughts :)

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/8079352

> > Instead of putting in more drainage pipes, building flood walls and channeling rivers between concrete embankments, which is the usual approach to managing water, Mr. Yu wants to dissipate the destructive force of floodwaters by slowing them and giving them room to spread out. > > > > Mr. Yu calls the concept “sponge city” and says it’s like “doing tai chi with water,” a reference to the Chinese martial art in which an opponent’s energy and moves are redirected, not resisted. > >

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKoUX1YxkQ0 In case anyone was wondering how life is outside the former Iron Curtain.

As someone born and raised in such an environment, I can safely say that all the points raised in this video are valid.

I currently do live in a denser area, but you can clearly tell it's just not such a lively area. You do get to travel for a while to do your errands or hang out with people, as most people usually go downtown to get to the "third place", as the old town is filled with bars, pubs, restaurants etc. And indeed, transit connectivity is good, but the years of neglect in the 1990s and early 2000s gave it a bad rep., so people were more inclined to get a car and ask for more car infrastructure. And yes, newer supermarkets post 1990 were indeed built with fairly large acres of land dedicated to parking.

cross-posted from: https://aus.social/users/ajsadauskas/statuses/112121946640090153

> Waverley Park — Melbourne's car-dependent suburban AFL stadium with a planned seated capacity of over 150,000 (not a typo!) > > A really good run down by @philip on the plans by the AFL (and its predecessor, the VFL) to build the world's largest stadium in outer-suburban Melbourne. > > Unfortunately, a planned railway line past the stadium to Rowville was never built. That meant a massive 25,000-spot car park as the only real means to get there. > > While most of it has been demolished and redeveloped for housing, the oval itself still used by Hawthorn Football Club as a training and administration centre. > > https://youtu.be/LvvLwiRCx4s?si=x2QvxepgPtBtJZfx > > @fuck\_cars #AFL #Urbanism #UrbanPlanning #cars #stadium #stadia #Melbourne #sport #footy #football #stadiums #history #Victoria #VicPol #Australia #planning #Hawthorn #AusPol #CarBrain

cross-posted from: https://aus.social/users/ajsadauskas/statuses/112105256146111201

> Sydney has opened up consultation on a strategy to reduce car traffic and make the city more walkable > > "Driving in central Sydney will become harder under a plan to make the city more comfortable for pedestrians. > > "The City of Sydney wants to narrow roads for wider footpaths and push for lower speed limits to discourage drivers from the CBD and transform Sydney into a walkable city. > > "The council will also install more pedestrian crossings and prioritise people over cars... five times more pedestrians than motorists on the average street, yet just 40 per cent of road space is allocated to footpaths." > > https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/greener-safer-calmer-the-plan-to-discourage-drivers-from-central-sydney-20240312-p5fbr7.html > > Some key points of the strategy are: > > We will ensure that there is sufficient space for people to walk. > > We will improve connectivity for people walking by ensuring there are frequent street crossings that give people priority and that align with people’s walking routes. > > We will ensure that footpaths and crossings are accessible so that everyone can use them. > > We will plan our city based on 10-minute neighbourhoods so that people are able to meet their daily needs easily by walking. > > We will make it safer for people to walk by reducing vehicle speeds. > > We will reduce traffic volumes on surface streets and manage through-traffic in residential neighbourhood streets to improve both safety and experience for people walking. > > We will work to make all people feel safer while walking around our city. > > We will work to improve compliance with road rules, especially the lesser-known rules that benefit people walking. > > We will make our streets and public spaces comfortable and inviting by ensuring that they > are green and cool. > > We will make sure that there are frequent opportunities for people to stop and rest, use the toilet or have a drink of water. > > We will make our city more pleasant to walk in by reducing noise and air pollution from > traffic. > > We will make all streets interesting to walk along by ensuring that built form has active, permeable frontages that invite engagement and curiosity. > > We will use design, activations and installations to create neighbourhood-based community and encourage people to interact with their streets. > > Full details here: https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/policy-planning-changes/your-feedback-walking-strategy-action-plan#strategy > > Unfortunately, the car-brained leader of the local business lobby isn't on board: > > "Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou welcomed efforts to make the city pedestrian-friendly... But Nicolaou said it was difficult to see how making Sydney a predominantly walking city would benefit businesses such as retailers." > > (Worth repeating that 80% of people on an average city street are pedestrians, so it already is a predominantly walking city.) > > Anyway, if you think the plan's a good idea, make sure you let the Sydney City Council know by emailing [email protected] > > \#urbanism #UrbanPlanning #Sydney @fuck\_cars #walking #walk #walkability #nswpol #auspol #nsw #planning #cities #UrbanGreening #city #cities #australia

I love systems that turn a problem into an asset. It's the kind of balanced improvement we're almost taught is impossible. So cities capturing storm water, effectively turning floodwater into drinking water they can use by allowing it to filter back down into the aquifer, seems like a great move. Especially when it comes with green areas that improve city life, lower daytime temperatures, and reduce the heat island effect.

When urban renewal goes wrong: Inside a dead mall frozen in 1990.

Very interesting short film by Bright Sun Films. Along with the usual urban exploration bits, he gives a good history of how and why it failed.

The shopping centre was supposed to revitalise downtown Hamilton, Ontario.

But within six years, it had just a 40% occupancy rate.

A decade after opening, it sold for only CAN$3.6 million — just 5% of what it originally cost to build.

https://youtu.be/NV\_c\_c\_RZdE?si=4fNO5BJAoWzcx\_bw

\#urbanism #UrbanPlanning #Canada #Ontario @urbanism #UrbanRenewal #malls #DeadMalls #UrbEx #UrbanExplaration