(Pssst!... this movie is available to stream on Netflix...)
Today I watched Urbanized - an intriguing, well-made documentary about how urban environments and development affect society and people's lives around the world. It featured both high and low points of urban planning and design.
Some of the high points mentioned:
The High Line in New York City - smart city planners and citizens took advantage of an old forgotten elevated freight line and turned it into a beautiful public park and trail. Since it was built on the freight line, the park is elevated and overlooks the west side of Manhattan.
Bicycle-friendly Copenhagen, Denmark - a vast number of people bike in Copenhagen. The streets are designed so that the bike lanes are inside the line of parked cars. That way, the parked cars serve as a safe barrier between bikers and moving vehicles.
Some of the low points:
Brasilia, Brazil - criticized for being too grand and too disconnected. Brasilia was built in a modern style with large monumental structures. The problem is: they were built too far apart, leading to a total lack of walkability. To get from one monument to the next... just hop in a car.
Phoenix, Arizona - although Phoenix has apparently been criticized as the poster-child of sprawl, I liked that the documentary interviewed a guy who defended the city, saying that while he thought living in a condo was cute, he enjoyed his 2 acre plot of land and pool. I guess it's different strokes for different folks. (We can always bring up the topic of sprawl in Dallas/Fort Worth by the way, and I intend on writing about that.)
Beijing, China - massive, overpopulated, not planned with pedestrians in mind...
