Urban Processes

Modeling the processes of urban emergence

Mathieu Helie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:57:11 +0000

Organization and intelligence

Mathieu Helie — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:00:49 +0000

1. Sun Tzu said: The control of a large force
is the same principle as the control of a few men:
it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.

2. Fighting with a large army under your command
is nowise different from fighting with a small one:
it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals.
- From The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The geometry of nowhere

Mathieu Helie — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:00:51 +0000

I hate sidewalks.

Slumdog Urbanist

Mathieu Helie — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:13:29 +0000

A great article appeared in the NY Times about the setting for this year's multiple academy-award winning film Slumdog Millionaire, which I recommend as an instant classic of urban filmmaking, the post-shantytown Dharavi.

How they build today in Palestine

Mathieu Helie — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:20:10 +0000

The emergence of a sense of place

Mathieu Helie — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:14:00 +0000

Modern urbanism has given us a landscape that many consider to be soulless. Everything looks the same. Nothing creates a sense of place. New Urbanism has attempted to reverse this by returning to traditional architecture and town planning forms. This was done in European new towns, under the advice of well-meaning men like the Krier brothers, in the late 1970's, and did not succeed.