1. The Help-Yourself City

    Image from 99percentinvisible.org on 2020-09-12 at 11.52.53 AM.jpeg

    Astoria Scum River Bridge. Photo by Jason Eppink.

    There are lots of actions that skirt the boundary between “formal” and “informal” urbanism. In the last decade, there’s been a rise in tactical urbanism and guerrilla urbanism, where regular people make interventions in their communities. This ranges from hastily painted bike lanes, to do-it-yourself park benches in under-served communities.

    1. ​A collective right to the city​
    2. ​Tactical urbanism​
  2. Lawn Order

    In communities across America, lawns that are brown or overgrown are considered especially heinous. Elite squads of dedicated individuals have been deputized by their local governments or homeowners’ associations to take action against those whose lawns fail to meet community standards.

    Call them—lawn enforcement agents.

    1. ​The American lawn​
  3. Names vs. The Nothing

    This is the first site along the tour. In here we have a void. I remember the building that used to stand here, it was painted blue. Passing through it, you can imagine how us, as ghosts – should the building be standing here – would have to actually be invisible to pass through these walls and now it’s the reverse. The building is the ghost and we’re passing through these walls.

    1. ​New Public Sites​
    2. ​Local Code: 3,659 Proposals About Data, Design & The Nature of Cities​
  4. Rain Chains & Musical Drains

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    A rain chain in winter; Dresden Kunsthof Passage; Drainage planters near Pike Place Market in Seattle.

    If there is a larger takeaway here perhaps it is about paths of least resistance, with regards to both the actual flow of water and design decisions. On the one hand, it is easy to blindly follow regional precedents and traditions with long histories (or grab whatever is handy at the hardware store). On the other hand, sometimes it makes sense to take a step back and decide consciously how to reveal (or conceal) a natural process.

    1. ​Rain chains​
  5. Tracing Power Lines with the Pylon Appreciation Society

    Image from 99percentinvisible.org on 2020-10-21 at 10.24.26 AM.jpeg

    According to Emma Ailes of BBC News, the first pylons in the UK were designed by architect Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1928, with a “lattice” approach that “sought to be more delicate than the brutalist structures used in Europe and the United States.” Reportedly, he was “inspired by the root of the word pylon – meaning an Egyptian gateway to the sun.”

    1. ​The Pylon Appreciation Society​
    2. ​Pylon of the Month​
  6. Here Be Dragons

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    Dragon hole in Hong Kong by Tim Hill.

    Such “dragon gates” are designed to let these mythical flying beasts pass from their hilltop homes down to the water each day and then return again each night. Considering the flow of dragons, air and energy is just one part of a much larger phenomenon: feng shui.

    1. ​A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams​

    Subtitled: "How Feng Shui Shapes the Skyline of Hong Kong"

  7. The Right to Roam

    This walk across private land was not unusual. Thousands of distance walkers in Britain, regularly do the same thing , which is different from what people typically do in the United States. If you wanted to walk across America, you’d have to do it on a combination of public trails and roads and you certainly couldn’t cut across Madonna’s property.

    In the United Kingdom, the freedom to walk through private land is known as “the right to roam.” The movement to win this right was started in the 1930s by a rebellious group of young people who called themselves “ramblers” and spent their days working in the factories of Manchester, England.