Links for urbanists No. 1

Posted: July 28, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tags: , | 4 Comments

by xkcd

Assorted links to some of the useful, the informative, the interesting, and sometimes even the slightly weird sources I stumble across from time-to-time. Worth sharing, I think:

  1. The level of GDP is correlated with human penis length. As xkcd often points out, correlations are easy to find.
  2. History of a vacant city lot. Sad and neglected now, but this lot in Philadelphia has had some wonderful buildings in its life. This is brilliant – I wish someone would do one of these for Melbourne (note to the delicate – some colourful words).
  3. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Lamb is really high in carbon emissions – much worse than beef. The key problem is not enough of the carcass gets eaten.
  4. Why do women have to queue more at public toilets?
  5. Reimagining the High Street. Strategies for re-invigorating strip shopping centres decimated by the internet and big retail chains.
  6. Hackgate: the movie. Didn’t take Hollywood long to get on the job! Brilliant casting for the Murdoch role.
  7. Urban evolution. Animals in cities are adapting biologically to urban conditions.
  8. Opinions: most of us make it up on the spot. According to economist Robin Hanson “If you talk a lot, you probably end up expressing many opinions on many topics. But much, perhaps most, of that you just make up on the fly. You won’t give the same opinion later if the subject comes up again, and your opinion probably won’t affect your non-talk decisions”. Let me say that blogging is a discipline which makes one very conscious about being consistent because there’s always someone who’ll catch you out!
  9. Manhattanisation of Melbourne. Following on from my piece last week about developers using American place names, an American’s view of our cultural cringe.
  10. Printing with concrete. This technology makes complex shapes out of concrete using a 3D printer.

I’ll try and post more links another time.

Note the competition to win a copy of Triumph of the City closes this weekend, Saturday 30 July at midday. See sidepane for details.