three of my favorite things

In our first full day in Chicago, two things really struck me, actually maybe three. One major one was the incredible level of density of this city. Everything is vertical, residential single family, gas stations, restaurants, even churches look like skyscrapers. The streets are kept clean and clutter free through the highly effective use of side alleys. All the power lines, dump trucks, trash cans, and service delivery vehicles are kept off the tree-lined, pedestrian streets and into their appropriate alley way. It’s really a great system, established within the first platting of Chicago. I’m just glad they kept it up to date all these years. And I love the way they add an industrial sensibility and create such a raw way to access the innerworkings of this city.

Two was the “el”, short for elevated train. It wiggles through the city like floating sphagetti, only much much louder. The tracks are all built out of rotting wood and rusting steel and when a train passes overhead, its so loud I sometimes hold my ears. The earth seriously shakes. According to our tour guide, most of the tracks were completed by 1897. That makes them around 110 years old. That is seriously old. Some lines are under renovation, like the brown line, which is the one that Nick uses to get downtown, so we have to jump trains a few times to get where we’re headed.

The third, and my favorite thing that struck me about Chicago was the bean. Its soo gorgeous and larger than expected. Photos really don’t capture the incredible 3D effect of its curvacious, highly reflective surface upon the verticality of the city. It’s actually called ‘Cloud gate’, but I’m not sure anyone actually uses that name. I’m sure we’ll go back tomorrow.

 

Urban Squares

Urban Squares is a unique site that video catalogs public, urban spaces in various cities around the world. Typically, he stands in the middle of the space, and circles his camera around at eye level to take a singular panorama shot. Its real great for getting an idea of proportion, use and activity of historical vs. modern spaces.

From their website:

• psychogeography – the subjective analysis of neighborhood behaviors related to a geographic location. a chronological process based on the order of appearance of observed topics with a time delayed inclusion of other relevant instances.

One of my favorite squares in Rome is documented as “the most magnificent square in the world”, according to their evaluation method. Jonathan and I visited the space on our first day in the city, climbed up the stairs of the Palazzo Senatorio and watched an unbelievable sunset with a view of the whole city. It’s located on the tallest of the seven hills of Rome, the Campidoglio.

 

 

 

On their blog, they list the parts of an “urban renewal kit”. Things like sidewalk canopies, movable piazzas, kiosks, green walls, public toilets and bus stops are all discussed in terms of cost, instillation difficulty, and design ideas.