Summaries on TEDx Talks

TEDx Talk 1

Making Urban Planning Urban by Gregor Wiltschko

Urban Planning decisions are always long-term decisions. Planners have to deal with a lot of issues like housing, architecture, mobility, transportation and so on and these deals are linked to certain regulations thus the legislation has to be respected. As an urban planner, one has to come up with a plan or a product or a framework. Of which, one way to come up with a plan is by following these steps such as analysis/concept, design competition, decision and execution. Urban is much more dynamic and interactive. When designing a plan, it is important to have a framework where the city can grow. 

TEDx Talk 2

Urban Playtime by Shanaz Gulzar & Steve Manthorp

Infrastructure then was not just urban substructure but urban structure itself which is some sort of an operating system in shaping the city. Architecture has become information itself, and not through texts or books but information in activities that would organize how the buildings circulate the city. The City in A Box is based on New York, Sydney and has a central park, a world trade tower. As architects, one can design the new skyscrapers for the cities but what makes it more powerful than that object form is using that highly contagious form as a carrier of something else. Of which would be the carrier of technology, carrier of vehicle, of a new protocol or a new formula and these also predict the next zone entrepreneur. 

TEDx Talk 3

Reading the City: A Question of Quality and Scale by Brendan O'Sullivan

What makes up the whole city is the scale of it. In terms of the unity, the balance and the appropriateness in terms of site and in terms of the way it's being laid out. Our sense of the urban environment is much more sophisticated. We are now more concerned about the urban spaces, the edges of buildings and streetscapes and all of its different complimentary uses. Brendan breaks down the way to read a city in three sections - the quality of size, scale and quality of spaces. Cities have their own identity or characters, just like how we look at a person and this is shown in the signs of the cities and its details. The paths in the city is an important element and it may come in different styles such as greenery, vibrancy or hectic. It could bring its users to places that they may have never encountered before. The sense of direction in a city also plays a part in the city and this can be shown through the existing sign posts. 

TEDx Talk 4

How cities evolve through temporary spaces: Stephen Yarwood

Cities are always transforming every day, every week, month and year. Cities are effectively a 4 dimensional construct and the missing dimension that we often do not care about when planning cities is time.  Time is a process of change and this is a natural tension between the future versus now. This is where temporary spaces come into the picture. It is about reinventing a culture that reflects the city. A city that is dynamic and evolving from day to day. The community expects that change in the process of evolution in a much more rapid way that has ever done before. It is about having a city where one can actually dare to dream about what is possible.