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Posts Tagged ‘urban design’

Also in Copenhagen we went on tours of some of the newly developed mostly residential areas…in particular, Nordhavn, which used to be a port and is now mostly apartments. Our tour guide told us that this and other newer parts of Copenhagen are built on what was once water. She mentioned that the master plan included both green space and blue spaces for enhancing the human environment – regular parks (green) and all sorts of connections to the water and uses of the water for transit, swimming, boating etc. (blue) Lots of mention of environmental certifications, and we also toured a very nice recycling/reuse facility. Nesting sites for 3 species of bird were incorporated into the roof of one tall building. The courtyards and other outdoor spaces, (blue and green) were mostly quite nice. We were wondering about impacts on the greater environment, wildlife, of expanding over the water…and how they were preparing for sea level rise. Multi family housing is already more energy efficient than single family houses, but we were told that most of these buildings incorporate many environmentally conscious features, but that wasn’t the focus of the tour. We did tour a very nice recycling and reuse facility serving the neighborhood. The entire waterfront is public space available to all residents and non- residents.

perhaps not very functional for playing or otherwise occupying, but still very nice
Playground on parking garage roof and two of the taller apartment buildings in background
side of parking garage and stair up to the playground with another playground at ground level
water interfaces under construction still…but already in use.
School on the waterfront
School on the waterfront

We headed home on the electric ferry

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Built into a valley with steep hills all around, Bisbee has very interesting sectional properties (archi-speak for lots of level changes and three dimensional relationships between structures and spaces.) Every view is slightly different and the absence of significant trees makes the effects of the topography more dramatic.  In addition to the elevation changes the curving streets make things even more picturesque.

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