Author: Iskandar

Super-Aged

#SuperFlat: Smooth Sidewalks and Vulnerable Populations

For the first time in history, there are many people in the “oldest old” category, and this population continues to grow. These very old people can be considered the “new humans,” recent newcomers in the history of mankind. -Sachiko Kamiyama, The Super Aged Society A lot of factors go into creating a good pedestrian experience.  Many of them are visible and obvious: shade trees, wide sidewalks, narrow roads. … Continue reading #SuperFlat: Smooth Sidewalks and Vulnerable Populations

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sky level

Kobe High Line 神戸の臨港線

The backbone of the Kobe High Line* is an old elevated railroad track (the Harbor Line / 臨港線), now converted into a pedestrian promenade.  It has been expanded with a new pedestrian overpass (歩道橋) that connects it directly to the Kobe Waterfront and Hanshin Kasuganomichi Station (阪神春日野道駅). The aerial view below shows covered arcades in green, pedestrian bridges and elevated promenades in yellow, and rail stations in … Continue reading Kobe High Line 神戸の臨港線

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sky level

Amagasaki High Line 尼崎ハイライン（立体遊歩道）

Amagasaki’s High Line* is a raised pedestrian plaza, with direct connections to neighboring buildings at sky level, and multiple public stairs and elevators. It runs approximate 1300 feet (1/6 the length of NYC’s High Line), from Hanshin Amagasaki Station (阪神尼崎駅) at the west end to the Amagasaki Cultural Center at the north end.  Its total surface area is just over 3 acres. Immediately west of the High … Continue reading Amagasaki High Line 尼崎ハイライン（立体遊歩道）

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arcade

Kobe: Itayado Arcades (板宿商店街)

Itayado Hon-dori (板宿本通) runs north from Itayado Station, and together with a number of branch arcades, it connects 18 city blocks with a continuous glass roof (with the proviso that Shin-machi-dori is not fully connected, strictly speaking). At ~640 feet long, Itayado Hon-dori is one of the shortest arcades in Kobe.  Altogether, this group of arcades has a combined length of only ~1900 feet.  And yet, as … Continue reading Kobe: Itayado Arcades (板宿商店街)

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Photo Tour

Nagoya: Bus Terminal (Oasis 21)　栄バスターミナル（オアシス２１）

“Oasis 21” is an enclosed bus terminal attached to an open-air shopping center.  It is located at the intersection of two major subway lines (and the terminus of a third), and is directly connected to the large underground malls of the Sakae area (e.g. 森の地下街、クリスタル広場). It is a “3D” station, with four layers.  From top to bottom: A publicly accessible glass roof.  This “Spaceship-Aqua” is covered in water, save … Continue reading Nagoya: Bus Terminal (Oasis 21)　栄バスターミナル（オアシス２１）

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urban complexity

諸駅網（しょ えき もう）

同名異駅（それよりも連結の諸駅）が複数集まれているの現象は日本では珍しくない。それどころか、同名・連結の諸駅は日本の特徴である。 「三宮駅」って、いったい何を示しているか。「三宮」と言うの駅は、６つもあるよ。 西神・山手線の「三宮」 阪急神戸線の「神戸三宮」 JR神戸線の「三ノ宮」 ポートライナーの「三宮」 阪神本線の「神戸三宮」 海岸線の「三宮・花時計前」 特定の一つの駅ではなく、その連結領域を示したいの場合、いかにはっきり区別できるか。「諸駅網」と言うの用語を提案する。話し言葉で「もろもろ えき の あみ」と言います。 諸駅網の代表的な例： 三宮 梅田 渋谷 新宿 池袋     Continue reading 諸駅網（しょ えき もう）

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arcade

Kobe: Shinkaichi & Shinsen-ichiba (新開地・新鮮市場)

Green: covered arcades. Orange: slow street (curves have been deliberately added to street to slow traffic). Blue: underground halls and malls attached to subway stations. Stats: Length: 5,450′(from north end of arcade to south end of highlighted slow street). Spans roughly 1/2 the total width of Kobe (from the mountains to the sea). Change in elevation: 60′. The arcades running from Shinkaichi 3-chome to the Shin-Minato canal in Higashiyama-cho have … Continue reading Kobe: Shinkaichi & Shinsen-ichiba (新開地・新鮮市場)

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urban complexity

Fractal Order: Organic Cities vs Mechanical Cities

Fractal-like networks effectively endow life with an additional fourth spatial dimension. This is the origin of quarter-power scaling that is so pervasive in biology. Organisms have evolved hierarchical branching networks that terminate in size-invariant units, such as capillaries […] Natural selection has tended to maximize both metabolic capacity, by maximizing the scaling of exchange surface areas, and internal efficiency, by minimizing the scaling of transport distances … Continue reading Fractal Order: Organic Cities vs Mechanical Cities

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woonerf

Narrow Streets Index

For a very thorough and extremely well illustrated explanation of the advantages of narrow streets, please see these definitive posts by A.A. Price: Human-Scale Streets and Narrow Streets. A.A. Price’s posts demonstrate viscerally the aesthetic value of narrow streets.  But how can we quantify this quality? First, we must look at what we mean by street width; does it refer to the width of the road itself, or the … Continue reading Narrow Streets Index

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woonerf

Kobe Photo Tour: Kitano-cho (北野町)

“…asked whether it was not all a dream… It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before…” ~Bernal Diaz del Castillo Today’s photo tour brings us to beautiful Kitano-cho (北野町) on the north edge of Kobe, where city meets mountain.  Not only is it one of Japan’s most … Continue reading Kobe Photo Tour: Kitano-cho (北野町)

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