Rinka ZhongThe film lists quite a few cities and their urban design problems. Some got the right solution but some may not.
The situation of Mumbai is that real estate developers are going to make one residential building after another while the poor can just scavenge between buildings. It is because ’ the plan has no space for them’. Innovators are needed to change the current status.
There are many immigrants in Santiago. If migration is not taken seriously, urbanization will become the form of slums. Designers thus put the focus on the location and the semi-participatory construction, which has reduced the pressure of time and money.
The film then mentioned Brasilia, an ultimate modernistic city, but the roads there are too wild and not connected.
The mayor of Bogota has released the Bus Rapid Transit System for a long time, after finding that traffic jams occur due to numbers of trips and lengths of trips. Restricting parking, or restricting car use, will solve the problem. Also, Only-Bicycle Ways are made and connect districts. High quality increases the social status of cyclists, which show respect for human dignity and a symbol of Democracy.
Copenhagen-style bicycle lanes are built to protect the cyclists: The cars are on the outermost, then should be the parking cars, finally the bicycles. The designers also consider how to make sure that public open spaces are inviting and well used. Lots of details need to be included while making the plan for the city.
New York has always been an amazing city, where post-industrial conditions can be transformed into creative design that people really love. The most famous example is the High Line. It was supposed to be dismantled, but two designers had different ideas. They made it a totally new place where people stop the rush and enjoy the view. ‘Eyes on the street.’
The situation of Phoenix, Detroit, Beijing, Brighton, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, New Orleans and Stuttgart are introduced then. There are excellent designs which make the city better. Take Cape Town for instance, VPUU (Violence Prevention through urban upgrading) are quite effective and powerful to protect people and provide confidence for them to live. Bad designs are also included in the film. The Stuttgart 21 is the most controversial, which is loaded with high risk and cost.
From my point of view, I kind of appreciate what Bogota’s mayor has done. He firstly made a sharp point that parking is not inherent. Then, he noticed that the center of the city has always been moving, so it will waste a lot if the relatively more permanent subway is built. Only with a very deep understanding of the city’s structure and development, and the nature of urban planning, can such constructive ideas be proposed. By the time I watched this, I already had some admiration for the mayor.
What I find even more commendable is that the mayor himself has a great insight into the human heart. People are more or less likely to make comparisons between bicycle travel and car travel, and to make judgments about the advantages and disadvantages of such travel, which can lead to nuanced and complex thoughts. The mayor has cleverly raised the profile of cyclists secretly by building better bike lanes (and delaying the construction of car lanes). Imagine bumping along a muddy road versus riding on a smooth and clean tarmac road. The mayor claims it’s a manifestation of human rights, but I think it’s more of a political propaganda tactic, but it actually addresses the problem from human nature.
