3 Dutch Megacities Map

Another fantastic post from Strange Maps, this time featuring the excerpt from Rem Koolhaas' fabulous door-stop like book 'S/M/L/XL'. In this case, "...a rumination on “Manhattanism” – i.e. the tendency of city centre densities to be taken to new heights, sometimes literally, in the form of an urban grid filled with skyscrapers. These three maps demonstrate the scope of super-concentrated urbanity by applying two distinct types of density to a population-versus-surface configuration reputed to be “full”."






:: image via Strange Maps

It reminds me that when we think of density, we really have not a clue - and if we start looking at this mapped, or merely looking at the gross numbers, we see there's a lot behind the idea of density - or at least more than meets the eye.

New York Day/Night

Another interesting map, this time showing the difference in population from daytime to nightime - showing the major exodus that happens when the workday is finished. Via People and Place > The Pop-Up City > The Urbanophile "...an interesting graphic that gives insight in the huge differences between New York’s day and night population density (click here for a larger image). The designer has calculated both the number of people per block during daytime and nighttime. As you can see Manhattan has far more jobs than inhabitants, which suggests a huge daily stream of people, with an average commute of 34 minutes.”


:: image via The Pop-Up City

Detroit Vacancy

Another interesting visual on Detroit - this time from the The Detroit News - on the preponderance of vacancies in the CBD: "While there is no official ledger of empty buildings, The Detroit News identified 48 major structures with no outward signs of life in the Central Business District, which covers about 127 blocks. Others have one or two remaining tenants."


:: image via The Detroit News

Perhaps the plans for large-scale urban agriculture or vertical farming may have some traction closer in. Read the rest of the article here.

Suburban Fantasies

These visualizations of suburban patterns by Ross Racine offer "...fictive urban patterns, mostly suburbias, surrounded by a desert or agricultural looking environment." (via Landezine)


:: image via Landezine

This is definitely a compelling idea to both elucidate and satirize the ubiquitous suburban patterns, and offers some commentary about the drivers of these forms. I thought at first these were some interesting photoshop-montage, but the post shows that these are originals: "All artworks are produced freehand, no scans or photos are included in the process. Drawings are printed on high-end inkjet printer."




:: images via Landezine

Radical Cartography

A very cool site that was reintroduced to me recently is Radical Cartography, one of the most interesting collections of maps out there (with the exception of maybe the wonderfully oddball collection over at Strange Maps). I had lost touch with the site, after this cool post on Agriculture maps of the US from back in 2008 - and now this won't happen again since they now have a blog that alerts readers to new content on the site.

It's not a secret that I heart maps, and anyone that offers a quote from Baudrillard for their explanatory page is tops in my book. Also check out the fully packed resources page for some great links. It's worth a perusal... here's a few teasers that I thought I'd share:

THE CARGO CHAIN
Bill Rankin, in collaboration with The Center for Urban Pedagogy, Labor Notes, The Longshore Workers’ Coalition, and Thumb Design, 2008


:: image via Radical Cartography

POTZDAMER PLATZ
from Artur Fürst, Das Weltreich der Technik (volume II), 1924.


:: image via Radical Cartography

LAND HISTOGRAMS
Bill Rankin, 2008


:: image via Radical Cartography

This is but a taste... and hours of enjoyment. Thanks Kelly R. for jogging my memory on this one!