Emergent Urbanism

Rediscovering Urban Complexity

Parisian boulevards

A conversation about the geometry of nowhere

Submitted by Mathieu Helie on Sun, 04/12/2009 - 20:42, last updated Mon, 02/20/2012 - 16:07

In response to my previous article, Bruce Liedstrand of Community Design Strategies in Paris writes,

I read with interest your essay on The Geometry of Nowhere because I divide my time between Paris and Silicon Valley (the site of your Cupertino Target store example). After re-reading the essay, I am puzzled. I hear your frustration with narrow sidewalks, but I am lost in understanding your concept of “place”.

The geometry of nowhere

Submitted by Mathieu Helie on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 08:00, last updated Sun, 02/19/2012 - 23:32

I hate sidewalks.

The movement economies

Submitted by Mathieu Helie on Tue, 04/15/2008 - 01:36, last updated Sun, 11/06/2011 - 01:13

Bill Hillier of Space Syntax is, along with Christopher Alexander and Michael Batty, part of the British old school of urban complexity researchers. (Hillier has joked that he would have used the term "Pattern Language" instead of Space Syntax had Alexander not used it first.) He has studied the functional impact of spatial relationships on human behavior over a career spanning several decades, and came upon some very insightful results.

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