Weekly Roundup 116 – 13th to 19th May

FEATURE REPORT/ ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

‘Built Out- Barcelona Makes Space for an Urban Forest‘

Authored by Feargus O’Sullivan

Many cities have been battling the issue of heat island effect owing to intense urbanization.Barcelona-a city dotted with many historical buildings has mapped out a plan to increase green cover in the city.

Allocating park areas,diverting heavy traffic through underground tunnels and providing bursaries for citizens to install green roofs are some solutions in the long term plan.What other strategies have been mapped by Barcelona city for the future?Can other cities replicate this initiative?

Read the whole piece here.

Published by CityLab.


ONLINE PUBLICATION OF THE WEEK

‘Global Street Design Guide‘
Published by Global Designing Cities Initiative

This guide compiled by the Global Cities Designing Initiative draws a set of standards to design more pedestrian oriented streets .Guidelines have been shaped based on the best practices being implemented in 70 cities around the world.They take into account the safety,mobility,economics and environmental qualities and integrate a variety of user spaces.With relevant illustrations and photos ,this guide can can serve handy .

Download and read the publication here.

VIDEO / PODCAST OF THE WEEK

‘Architect’s hands: how can we design better streets ‘
Created by Evelina Ozola-TEDXRiga

Evelina Ozola, an urban planner and founder of ‘Fine Young Urbanists’ shares few observations she learned from her urban projects.She states healthy lifestyles and vibrant street life can be embedded in urban design.

She shares the results of the urban prototyping experiment conducted at Mierigi Street in Riga.This has initiated conversations about street design among the locals.Also,she elaborates the importance of public spaces and how it can create more humane cities.

Watch this interesting talk.