Sometimes it’s nice to sit back and let someone else do the thinking. TED videos are about “ideas worth spreading”, and you can see them all for free at this link. If anyone has some downtime and wants some food for thought, I recommend the following TED talks that are all relevant to urbanism:
Jaime Lerner:Â A discussion of the promise of cities from the former Mayor of Curitibia, most famous for his BRT system.
Emily Pilloton:Â she discusses her design/build classes in rural NC, and how to leverage community assets into rebuilding a city.
James Howard Kunstler:Â he is famous for dismissing suburbs as “the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world”, and he has some interesting observations to share.
Majora Carter:Â A discussion of Environmental Justice as it impacts an urban NYC neighborhood.
Ellen Dunham-Jones:Â A discussion of some ways to convert existing suburban developments into more more urban patterns.
Norman Foster:Â The world famous architect discusses his understanding of sustainability.
Stewart Brand:Â An environmentalist focuses on the most important issues facing the world, with some really interesting stories about cities, slums, and the future of society.
David Macaulay:Â A celebration of the Rome, the eternal city, as told by a famous artist/author through the eyes of his creations.
Robert Neuwirth:Â Another discussion of slums and their impact on the future of our cities.
Finally, I wanted to include a link from Squint Opera. This viz studio does some of the best work in modern architectural communications. See some of it at this link.
James Howard Kunstler and Ellen Dunham-Jones were the ones that I enjoyed the most…
I agree, those were two of the best. Kunstler is always entertaining, though.