After decades of urban evolution, the world’s major subway systems appear to be converging on an ideal form … [Statistical physicist Marc] Barthelemy and National Center for Scientific Research complex systems analyst Camille Roth focused a network analysis lens on the aforementioned cities’ subways, along with Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, Madrid, Mexico, Moscow, Osaka, Paris, Seoul and Tokyo … Patterns emerged: The core-and-branch topology, of course, and patterns more fine-grained. Roughly half the stations in any subway will be found on its outer branches rather than the core. The distance from a city’s center to its farthest terminus station is twice the diameter of the subway system’s core. This happens again and again.
“Many other shapes could be expected, such as a regular lattice,” said Barthelemy. “What we find surprising is that all these different cities, on different continents, with different histories and geographical constraints, lead finally to the same structure.”
Subway systems seem to gravitate towards these ratios organically, through a combination of planning, expedience, circumstance and socioeconomic fluctuation, say the researchers … The convergence “is a sign that there are some basic, profound mechanisms that drive the development of urban systems,” said Barthelemy.
A Smart Guide To Utopia - 111 inspiring ideas for a better city
The “video” tag in my Delicious keeps growing and has reached 275 references. I opened this tag to prepare an experiment of facilitating a discussion session in the course Repensar las políticas urbanas 30 años después. That exercise took place late in 2010 and one year later, I posted A selection of 75 videos about cities and urban policies highlighting some of the videos that were considered for the final short-list of videos we finally used in the session. I will try to find the time soon to update this list but, in the meantime, here you can find 10 pieces that draw a selective and incomplete (but still relevant I guess) picture of some of the main ideas that influenced how cities were thought, designed and built in the 20thcentury. A mix of names, cities and rarities in some cases, and not an official chart of the most important ideas or topics of last century urbanism.
A quirky documentary on urban living and placemaking, How to Live in a City (1964) was produced in cooperation with The University Council on Education for Public Responsibility. The Council, which operated from 1961 to 1975, funded a successful project on urbanism, examining the…
Can a UNESCO World Heritage Site fit in a parking lot? Small Street looks into it and compares size of a parking lot in Maryland with size of Telč, Czech Republic. Amazing experiment!
“Let’s take these parking lots and build small streets villages”.
With the objective to generate sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty, the Urbanization Knowledge Platform will connect and convene national policy makers, cities, researchers, the private sector, and civil society. It will draw on the best available knowledge and experience. And it will help translate ideas into action.
Human Cities: Celebrating Public Space As a Common Good
Found in my recent trip to Sydney:
“A city is the greatest work of art possible”
Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution
![emlocke:
World’s Subways Converging on Ideal Form | Wired Science | Wired.comBy Brandon KeirnMay 15, 2012
After decades of urban evolution, the world’s major subway systems appear to be converging on an ideal form … [Statistical physicist Marc] Barthelemy and National Center for Scientific Research complex systems analyst Camille Roth focused a network analysis lens on the aforementioned cities’ subways, along with Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, Madrid, Mexico, Moscow, Osaka, Paris, Seoul and Tokyo … Patterns emerged: The core-and-branch topology, of course, and patterns more fine-grained. Roughly half the stations in any subway will be found on its outer branches rather than the core. The distance from a city’s center to its farthest terminus station is twice the diameter of the subway system’s core. This happens again and again.
“Many other shapes could be expected, such as a regular lattice,” said Barthelemy. “What we find surprising is that all these different cities, on different continents, with different histories and geographical constraints, lead finally to the same structure.”
Subway systems seem to gravitate towards these ratios organically, through a combination of planning, expedience, circumstance and socioeconomic fluctuation, say the researchers … The convergence “is a sign that there are some basic, profound mechanisms that drive the development of urban systems,” said Barthelemy.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4hckvYqGV1qzok36o1_500.jpg)
