Monday, August 23, 2010

Radio: Cities that work

How do we build a city we can all love living in? From public art and integration to defying developers and preparing for the post-oil age… what it takes to make a place liveable, and likeable. Radio Netherlands World Wide produced a program just about that.  You can also hear the following chapters separately: Good planning vs. bad planning; Host Marnie is joined by urban planner Hannah Evans* to discuss this. Can art fix bad planning? Earth Beat producer Ashleigh Elson takes a walking tour around the Bijlmer with Dutch artist Walter van Broekhuizen who was commissioned to create six public works as part of the most recent transformation. Getting there by bus; Hannah Evans reacts to the idea of commissioning art as a way to make things a little less ugly, and comments on how important it is for planners to take the bus if they want to improve public transportation. We hear about a controversial new project in Toronto, which re-envisions the city’s mental health centre as a place where patients and neighbourhood residents co-exist, inside and outside the facility.  More items discussed in this radio program: What makes a city great? Denying developers.Tripping up Trump. The failure of planning. Peak oil. Post peak living. Planning for the future