The Walkshed project is a very graphical representation of how easy it is to get around on foot in an urban area. It is similar to projects like Walk Score that rates neighbourhoods based on proximity to amenities used in your daily lifestyle. Both are very good attempts to visualize the concept of urban walkability, which is a combination of pedestrian pathways, accessible features, amenities and urban attractivity.

The European Platform on Mobility Management has released a great visual tool for the usage of transportation methods in 150 European cities. It’s called TEMS – The EPOMM Modal Split tool – and its data comes from local authorities and surveys.

From the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a poll in the form of a quite simplistic “game” called Urbanology that lets you answer ten YES/NO questions and suggests a city that matches the profile based on the answers. Could be interesting and would be fun to see this fleshed out into a larger and more detailed “game”.

3D models and 2D site plan projections simply can’t instill the same sense of place and depth as a physical model can, so I felt that a physical model was necessary at this stage. In part to explain the site better in presentation, but also to get a grasp on non-linear distances and directions.

45 x 64 cm, cardboard

Oloph Fritzén at a "cow safari" guide session at Hästa Gård, September 11, 2011

Dagens Nyheter, one of the larger newspapers in Sweden, writes about a farm located close within walking distance of the subway line. The farm in question is named Hästa Gård, owned by the city of Stockholm but run in a low-impact fashion by Oloph Fritzén and Jenny Olofsson. They treat their livestock in a respectful way and allow cows, pigs and poultry to graze, dig and pluck outdoors, and due to a great collaboration project, the pigs get to eat excess fresh produce from a nearby supermarket. It is further surrounded by activities in conjunction with among others 4H and an educational project for growing vegetables locally.

Activities on these sites actually touch my thesis project site along their extension as their livestock grazes along the cultural reserve along Igelbäcken, almost to the extent of the border to Sundbyberg.

These photos are from August 2011 and show the approach and character of the site.