UrbanSpaceInitiative

Improving urban public spaces through small-scale interventions and research.

[Andy Boenau @Boenau]

"The bike lane is empty."

[Mark R. Brown, AICP, CNU @CompletedStreet]

My new Substack piece: Why is Copenhagen's bike network the best in the world? (Link in reply)

[Streetsblog USA @StreetsblogUSA]

The overlooked sidewalk has become a central site of public life. We should treat it like one. https://t.co/hptQirGMmm

[Mark R. Brown, AICP, CNU @CompletedStreet]

My new Substack piece: How Copenhagen’s Bike Infrastructure Was Built. A Policy Analysis (link in reply)

[Urban Cycling Institute 🚲  @fietsprofessor]

Inspiration from the country that invented car dependency.

If Seattle🇺🇸 can change, why can't your city?

[Jeremy Wayne Tate @JeremyTate41]

This is the best preserved medieval street in Europe.

Recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, The Shambles in York, England has had shops trading on it for nearly a thousand years. It's older than the Crusades.

[createstreets @createstreets]

Street lights don’t need to be ugly. Biomorphic in Barcelona. With seats built in. The society which created this over 100 years ago was in absolute terms massively poorer than our own. And yet we cannot match it due to a total failure of regulation, aspiration & culture.

[UrbanSpaceInitiative @UrbanSpaceInit]

Narrowing urban public space by patrol: how a security robot reorders underground mobilities https://t.co/e4Zuh2wDwJ

[ParametricArchitecture @parametricarch]

A forest of colorful chimneys is rising on Albania’s coast.🌆

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Paris pollution after they added bike lanes and restricted cars

[Mark R. Brown, AICP, CNU @CompletedStreet]

Street network design can make or break a neighborhood.

Unfortunately, letting developers design suburban style networks has made many neighborhoods permanently auto-oriented.

[Streetsblog New York City @StreetsblogNYC]

Secure bike parking could be coming to a neighborhood near you. https://t.co/v3S9HyZczv

[Urban Cycling Institute 🚲  @fietsprofessor]

'Turning car street outside schools into spaces for children will not work here, we are not Paris🇫🇷.' @anjes_tjarks of Hamburg🇩🇪: "Hold my Bratwust🌭 & Astra🍺"

By making 300 school streets car free in 6 years Paris showed us what is possible. Hamburg shows us we can all do it!

[Hayden @the_transit_guy]

Park Avenue used to have a park in the median of it, hence it's name. It's time to bring that back.

[Domus @DomusWeb]

In Whittier, Alaska, almost the entire population lives in the same building: an extreme case that makes the modern idea of the self-sufficient building concrete — and problematic — from Le Corbusier's Immeuble-villa to its contemporary developments. https://t.co/sOWVzm9ozE

[Mark R. Brown, AICP, CNU @CompletedStreet]

A gentle reminder that Japan has only 12 national zoning codes and they're all mixed use and wonderful. (Link in reply)

[Streetfilms (Now 1,145+ films!) @Streetfilms]

Thanks so much to @EricsRambles for finding this great graphic I put together 2 years ago. Haven't been able to locate it for quite some time to fulfill requests.

Downloaded it. Sent it to 3 people who asked for it. Anyone else feel free to use it! A good one! @StreetsblogNYC

[Urban Cycling Institute 🚲  @fietsprofessor]

The Bourne Identity🚗 (2002) vs. the Hidalgo Legacy🚶 (2025).

Remarkable how quickly human-friendly spaces feel like they’ve always been that way!

@EmmanuelSPV compares a still from The Bourne Identity with the same place after @Anne_Hidalgo's terms as Mayor of #Paris🇫🇷.

[Mark R. Brown, AICP, CNU @CompletedStreet]

Intersection daylighting is so highly effective and low cost that every city should be installing them.

[Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard]

the idea of courtyard urbanism is that you offer residents the best of the city and the suburbs.

out the front door, access to the manifold amenities and convenience and opportunity of the city and the Great Public Realm

out back door, in the private courtyard, a tranquil garden and outdoor private sphere