Archive for November 2011

Pearse Street, Dublin

November 18, 2011 Collaborative Consumption, Happy Cities No comments

Pearse Street, DublinPearse Street Dublin is very interesting from a development point of view. It’s almost a classic case study of so many of the things you see discussed in the literature on development.

First it has a bad neighbour – Trinity College Dublin. It’s difficult to get to Pearse Street from the rest of the city, because Trinity cuts through what would be a natural street plan. From Front Gate to the Science gallery, there are no access routes permanently open to the public. What access there is, tends to only be open very limited hours such as 8am to 10am. The street plan problem is exacerbated because while Trinity owns many of the buildings along the street, the buildings open into the campus. The buildings facing on to Pearse Street seem abandoned, decaying and unusable.

To compound the problem, the train line runs overhead, causing noise pollution and creating visual shadows. That lowers property values in the area, and creates an uncomfortable atmosphere. The street is also a major artery into town from South Dublin, but it leads through areas with alot of social housing and social problems.

That’s where it gets interesting though. The classic regeneration model, well the one that’s thought that actually works, is to start at both ends and gradually regenerate towards the centre.  Local traders are clearly interested in putting their best foot forward, then further along the street, the new Trinity Biosciences building is opening, bringing a huge amount of life to the area. Further still, the Docklands regeneration with its new bridge, new theatre, and the connection to the Luas seems to be working. In the future there are plans to move Pearse Station onto Pearse Street itself, and who knows, maybe even put the Dart underground.

There is a lot of scope right now, to make small improvements that would really improve the atmosphere on Pearse Street. A small amount of plant life, a few brighter colours, paint the windows and doors of Trinity, maybe remove some of the street furniture clutter, a pedestrian crossing in a place people want to cross . . .

A little work, a lot of gain, and a real opportunity to collaborate.

An Interesting Equation

November 14, 2011 Happy Cities, Sustainable Transport No comments

I was reading a paper today, it was called “Changing consumer behaviour through eco-efficient services: An Empirical study of car sharing in the Netherlands“. Aside from the fact that academics really need to work on their titles, there is a very interesting equation discussed.

EI = P * US * EM

  • EI is the environmental impact of production and consumption
  • P is the population
  • US is the units of service. These are the outputs of the consumption process. When you consume it’s because you need or want something. The consumption provides a service to you. US is basically the volume of consumption.
  • EM is the environmental metabolism, or how efficiently the production technology behind the units of service works.

To reduce our environmental impact we need to reduce, P, US and EM or preferably all three. Looking at the world today. P is growing rapidly, though less rapidly than before. Technology is now immensely more efficient than it was before, and likely to keep improving. Think about how many miles to the gallon your car does compared to your grandparents car.

The problem is the units of service. As we get richer, we consume more. The graph shows it better than I can explain, and if you click here, you can watch how it’s changed over time.  Almost everything our governments do is directed at improving living standards, which has been defined as “make people richer” for the last 25 – 50 years. Unless we can tackle the constant drive to increase US, then changing EM is never going to solve our environmental problems.

 

Incredible Edible Todmorden

November 10, 2011 Happy Cities No comments

Reading the website, they seem like unlikely proponents of guerrilla tactics, but when it comes to gardening, the citizens of Todmorden are more than dedicated. What do they do?

They plant vegetables and other food crops around the town. They’re no longer guerrilla, but what they’re doing makes a real difference. Lower food miles, healthier food, no transport. I particularly love the map they have here. Things like this are so obvious, that I can’t help but wonder why it takes something like the second world war to make them common place. Why can we not have a scheme like this in Dublin?

 

 

 

 

Intuitive interface

November 9, 2011 Happy Cities No comments

There has been alot written lately about Steve Jobs and his genius use of intuitive interfaces. Maybe for some balance, maybe just out of interest, I suggest reading this article. My favourite part?

This:

Power grip to loosen the lid

 

You’ve made this switch on every jar you’ve ever opened. Not only without being taught, but probably without ever realizing you were doing it. How’s that for an intuitive interface?

The point he makes is excellent. We need to stop thinking about how we interact with what’s around us in terms of one finger of one hand, and start thinking about the whole range of what we can do.