Twenty-five years ago moving near a golf course was a status symbol, largely for the green space and views, but millennials aren’t interested in that type of manicured neighbourhood, writes the Business Insider.
Forget empty swathes of green, millennials are more interested in farm-to-table living, with around 150 master-planned housing communities built around working farms, known as agricultural neighbourhoods or ‘agrihoods’ appearing around the US.
The homes feature solar panels and composting, and are often minutes from city centres so as to not sacrifice work opportunities for lifestyle.
The trend means that in some places, communities are doing away with golf courses to make room for sustainable living. Read more.
Photo by Rancho Mission Viejo, Facebook.
The war on sitting:
US and UK city councils can’t decide whether to offer more seats, or rip them out, writes CityLab.
While new benches with usb charging points and other bells and whistles are appearing with fanfare in some parks and train stations, in other places seats are removed in efforts to deter drug dealers and the homeless.
The war on sitting can be waged even in the one spot. For instance, writer Amy Crawford reports that the London Borough of Islington installed new ‘smart’ benches with wifi, solar panels, and phone charging stations, but soon after the council announced it would remove them, due to a lack of planning permission and concerns about thieves.
At Disneyland benches were removed by the city from bus shelters as they’d become a hub for the local homeless and street community. “Bus riders were losing access to the benches – people were basically occupying them 24 hours a day,” a city spokesperson said.
The trend may fit in a greater context of so-called hostile architecture, where spikes are installed to stop sitting and sleeping, in tandem with anti-vagrancy laws.
However, abundant public seating helps older people stay mobile, as recommended by the World Health Organisation. To this end, an initiative by New York City’s Department of Transportation provides public bench request forms, with 1500 seats currently installed and another 600 planned by 2019.
To seat or not to seat? Cities as a whole can be indecisive. Read more.
Photo: New York City Department of Transportation.
The Street Furniture Australia factory, in Regents Park, Western Sydney, is both a manufacturing hub and R&D studio for our Australian-designed and made street furniture products. We run fun and informative group events for customers throughout the year, to share how products are designed, tested and built, and the latest products and projects. Director of Tract Julie Lee said: “It was a great opportunity for our team to look behind the scenes and understand the innovation, research and climate positive outcomes Street Furniture Australia is focusing on. Thank you for having us!” Place Design Group Associate, Liam Isaksen, said: “The factory tour is a fun experience to learn about the design and manufacturing process of public furniture we use in landscape architecture design. Seeing the work behind the scenes and …
Did you catch these most-read case studies, furnishing tips, new product announcements and special industry events in your StreetChat updates in 2023? Each month our StreetChat enewsletter publishes new projects, products and trends from the public domain; subscribe to receive it in your inbox. 10. Which design firm can see Longhorn Cattle from their office window? 2 countries. 9 cities. 300 landscape architects. Street Furniture Australia and USA partner Spruce & Gander visited offices in Australia and Texas. There were key similarities and some notable standouts. 9. Jazz at The Mint: Product and Book Launch Sydney landscape architects gathered at the iconic Mint Courtyard to launch a design book by our founding directors Darrel Conybeare and Bill Morrison, and expansions to the Linea collection. 8. 2023 Good Cause Giveaway goes to …
Street Furniture Australia has designed and built prototype charging stands as part of a Transport for NSW program to deliver free phone chargers at 15 Sydney train stations. Developed by Street Furniture Australia’s inhouse industrial designers in collaboration with Transport for NSW, the prototypes offer wireless, USB-A and USB-C charging, and can power 7 devices at once. They were built at the Street Furniture Australia factory in Western Sydney. Two Power Spots are now installed at Liverpool and Campbelltown stations. The $1 million Power Spots Project rollout to 15 transport hubs including Bankstown, Hurstville, Lidcombe, Penrith, Wynyard, Central, Town Hall and Bondi Junction will be completed by late 2024. NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the Power Spots provide peace of mind: “In the modern world, our phones are our …
Why Are Little Kids in Japan So Independent? Parents in Japan regularly send their kids out into the world at a very young age, even six or seven years old, CityLab reports. By giving them this freedom, Japanese parents place significant trust in their kids, and in the whole community. One stepmother said she wouldn’t let a child ride the subway alone in London or New York – just in Tokyo, where any member of the community can be asked for help thanks to a greater sense of social responsibility in shared spaces. A popular television show, My First Errand, follows kids as young as two or three as they buy groceries by themselves for the first time. The show has been running for more than 25 years. Small-scaled urban spaces and a culture of …
CityTree: intelligent air purifier A German-based start-up, Green City Solutions (GCS), has developed an intelligent natural air purifier, CityTree, that uses moss to trap pollutant particles. With the environmental benefit of up to 275 normal urban trees, the compact and mobile unit improves the air, cools it and protects the environment from noise. “We’re building a climate infrastructure,” says GCS co-founder Zhengliang Wu. The moss-covered air purifier, with inbuilt timber bench seats, harnesses the ability of moss cultures to filter pollutants out of the air, bind them to the leaf surface and integrate them permanently into their own biomass. The technological design of CityTree ensures the survival of the moss through an adequate supply of shade, water and nutrients; at the same time, the filter performance and the plants’ requirements …
Public art and its economic value: Public art not only enlivens urban spaces, supports local artists and sparks conversation, it’s a relatively cheap way for cities to attract both visitors and money. Events such as Vivid Sydney and MONA in Hobart have proven to have a significant impact on the local economy, in terms of the increased revenue generated from more visitors, better productivity and free publicity that unique cultural events create. As Meg Bartholomew reports in the Guardian, city planners and property developers are taking notice of the potential that lies in an ‘experience-based economy’. Art that makes people feel good makes them linger – and spend. Aside from the economic benefits, public art helps to define a city’s identity (hello, Melbourne), enhances a city’s reputation, and can even …
