city networks

A conversation about the geometry of nowhere

Mathieu Helie — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:42:18 +0000

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 complex grid

Mathieu Helie — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:52:42 +0000

In a medieval-era city the pace of urban growth is slow to a point where the growth of the city is not consciously noticed. Buildings are added sporadically, in random shape and order, as the extremely scarce economic situation makes no other pattern possible. Typically this means that the shape of streets will match the existing natural paths of movement, giving the street network an organic structure that is preserved through successive transformations in the urban fabric.

Scale-free urban systems

Mathieu Helie — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:07:15 +0000

In previous comments, I have argued that what makes cities different than building projects was the fact that they have to deal with change and uncertainty, and that subdivision-planned developments are economically inferior to random growth.