City of Minneapolis home page
Minneapolis is a unique city for a few reasons. One of the most
interesting aspects is that the entire downtown area is connected by skyways.
A person can walk from one side of downtown Minneapolis to the other without
going outside. Another interesting feature of Minneapolis is that
on its eastern edge, there is another major city, St. Paul. This
creates an interesting dynamic between the two. js
<http://www.ci.mpls.mn.us>
City of Chicago home page
Many people have made plans for the city of Chicago, and have had great
influence on how the city has taken shape. There was also a study
on legibility conducted in the downtown loop. People were asked what
they thought the edges, nodes, and paths were in the area. The most
common response for edge was Lake Michigan, the most popular node was Marshall
Field, and the major path was thought to be Michigan Avenue. js
<http://www.ci.chi.il.us>
City of Boston homepage
Boston is interesting because it is not the typical American city.
Unlike most American cities, which are laid out on grids, Boston has a
tangled web of streets. The street plan resembles a European city
like Rome or Paris. js
<http://www.ci.boston.ma.us>
Carpman Grant Associates
This is the homepage of a wayfinding consulting firm. It discusses
the importance of such things as wayfinding and orientation. It also
offers some explanations on how to improve wayfinding ability. js
<http://www.wayfinding.com>
Carfree Cities Past and Present
This is a page that tries to offer a plan for a car-free city.
The author bases his principles mainly on two ideas. One is cities
like Venice that exist today without the presence of a single car.
The other thing he is basing his ideas on is the book "A Pattern Language"
by Christopher Alexander. This book gives standards for over 250
architectural features. js
<http://www.carfree.com>
Urban Design Group
<http://rudi.herts.ac.uk/ppo/udg/udg.html>
Image of the City - Legibility
This is part of the
Urban Design Group home page. This section deals specifically with
Kevin Lynch his idea of legibility. It goes in depth about each facet
of
legibility: edges,
districts, paths, nodes, and landmarks. js
<http://rudi.herts.ac.uk/cs/stoke2/st23.htm>
Place Making Place Marking
Another part of the
Urban Design Group's homepage, this discusses Edmund Bacon and his work
in Philadelphia. It tells how Bacon distinguished between
structure and character.
It also shows how Bacon broke city planning into contextual elements, as
well as ideas theories and models. What Bacon way
saying with this was that
there isn't much new under the sun and it is okay to base projects on past
work. js
<http://rudi.herts.ac.uk/ej/udq/70/view_3.html>
Wayfinding:
Human Perception and Orientation in the Built Environment
The author of this page goes very in depth into the issue of wayfinding.
She lists the most important aspects to wayfinding and explains why they
are essential. Although some of her conclusions seem obvious, anyone
who has been lost in an airport or office building can verify that her
principle need to be followed. js
<http://www.unl.edu/casetudy/456/sharon.htm>
