The Density Atlas was developed by a team of MIT faculty, students, and affiliated planners, architects and designers. The concept of combining the three commonly used measures of density to better understand and compare city blocks and neighborhoods emerged from a series of urban design classes which looked at housing development projects in both the United States and China.

To access the Atlas, CLICK HERE

http://www.gva.co.uk/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsId=12884952601

Monday, 04 February 2013

Your urgent help is needed!

The UK’s first self-build, zero-energy, off-grid building in the Dundee Botanical Gardens

Please do read this message from Neil Burford in Architecture, and pledge any support you can give using the website

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/842476245/macro-micro-studio?ref=card

Every donation will help the fund grow to make this exciting project a reality.

If you would like further information on the off-grid building project, Neil Burford (n.k.burford@dundee.ac.uk) will be delighted to hear from you.

Space Syntax is an evidence-based approach to planning and design built on geospatial software. It focuses on the role of spatial networks in shaping patterns of social and economic transaction. Pioneered by Bill Hillier at University College London, Space Syntax is used by thousands of scholars worldwide in areas as diverse as archaeology, criminology and cognitive science as well as in its original discipline of architecture.

Through the aegis of a consultancy company, Space Syntax Limited, the approach has, for over twenty years, been used by city municipalities and property developers to plan new development, most notably the redesign of Trafalgar Square in London. With commercial success behind them, the creators of Space Syntax now plan to ‘open source’ the software. What does this mean and what are the reasons for doing so: philosophical, ethical or commercial? Who else is taking this route, what are the risks and what might be the future of urban planning software? (Source of image: http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/graduate/research/space/space-syntax)

To find out more, watch this VIDEO at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

For more information, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-20096503

Harvard Graduate School of Design

For more information on the app, visit https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ecological-urbanism/id556595863?mt=8

Harvard Graduate School of Design: Ecological Urbanism App from Second Story on Vimeo.