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| The rise of urban playgrounds for the elderly | The rise of urban playgrounds for the elderly |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| This week’s best city stories from around the web include playgrounds for older generations, protests against London’s anti-homeless spikes, recycled car tyres helping street trees in Seattle – and an influx of hanging dildos in Portland. | This week’s best city stories from around the web include playgrounds for older generations, protests against London’s anti-homeless spikes, recycled car tyres helping street trees in Seattle – and an influx of hanging dildos in Portland. |
| We’d love to hear your responses to these stories, and any others you’ve read recently, both on Guardian Cities and elsewhere. Just share your thoughts in the comments below. | We’d love to hear your responses to these stories, and any others you’ve read recently, both on Guardian Cities and elsewhere. Just share your thoughts in the comments below. |
| Play time | Play time |
| As many cities adapt to ageing populations, urban design has to keep up. In order to encourage more active lifestyles in later life – as well as spaces for socialising – playgrounds and outdoor gyms are being created for the older generation. As Upworthy explain, this has been a developing trend in Spain for a while, in addition to Japan and even Manchester. Now, the organisation KaBOOM! has built over 50 intergenerational playgrounds in the US. | As many cities adapt to ageing populations, urban design has to keep up. In order to encourage more active lifestyles in later life – as well as spaces for socialising – playgrounds and outdoor gyms are being created for the older generation. As Upworthy explain, this has been a developing trend in Spain for a while, in addition to Japan and even Manchester. Now, the organisation KaBOOM! has built over 50 intergenerational playgrounds in the US. |
| Power line pop-ups | Power line pop-ups |
| Portland’s power lines have got an unusual addition – and one that is causing a fair amount of controversy. As reported in Vice, one woman in Oregon’s self-proclaimed “weird” city has been decorating the city’s power infrastructure with hanging dildos. “It had to be done,” the anonymous woman told Vice. “I have no idea why, but it had to.” | Portland’s power lines have got an unusual addition – and one that is causing a fair amount of controversy. As reported in Vice, one woman in Oregon’s self-proclaimed “weird” city has been decorating the city’s power infrastructure with hanging dildos. “It had to be done,” the anonymous woman told Vice. “I have no idea why, but it had to.” |
| Guerrilla birdhouses | Guerrilla birdhouses |
| Next spring you may see colourful birdhouses pop up on street sign posts in your city. Designed by Robin Howie, the Nest Project creates these temporary avian homes that anyone can put up in their city. As well as providing nests for birds, Howie intends them to highlight where nature is lacking in the urban environment. | Next spring you may see colourful birdhouses pop up on street sign posts in your city. Designed by Robin Howie, the Nest Project creates these temporary avian homes that anyone can put up in their city. As well as providing nests for birds, Howie intends them to highlight where nature is lacking in the urban environment. |
| The birdhouses also act as pencil sharpeners - so you can use pencil shavings to pad the bottom of the bird nest. As Fast Co Exist explain, each birdhouse comes with a set of instructions explaining how to work with city officials to successfully install it. | The birdhouses also act as pencil sharpeners - so you can use pencil shavings to pad the bottom of the bird nest. As Fast Co Exist explain, each birdhouse comes with a set of instructions explaining how to work with city officials to successfully install it. |
| From hostile to homely | From hostile to homely |
| A group of artists recently decided to protest the rise of defensive architecture features in London by transforming a row of anti-homeless spikes in Shoreditch into a makeshift bedroom, complete with foam mattress and a bookcase acting as a public library (full of books on architecture and urban planning). | A group of artists recently decided to protest the rise of defensive architecture features in London by transforming a row of anti-homeless spikes in Shoreditch into a makeshift bedroom, complete with foam mattress and a bookcase acting as a public library (full of books on architecture and urban planning). |
| As reported on Little Atoms, the Space, Not Spikes project invited people to rest and read in the installation, thereby changing somewhere which is very hostile to human presence into a public space. | As reported on Little Atoms, the Space, Not Spikes project invited people to rest and read in the installation, thereby changing somewhere which is very hostile to human presence into a public space. |
| Mapping Jakarta’s floods by tweet | Mapping Jakarta’s floods by tweet |
| Jakarta, as you may remember, is the city that tweets the most in the world. As CityMetric explain, researchers at Australia’s University of Wollongong and the Jakarta Emergency Management Agency (BPBD) decided to take advantage of this in their pilot mapping project, by crowdsourcing flood reports and locations in the Indonesian capital. When anyone in the city tweeted the word “flood”, the system uploaded the location of the tweet onto a map. | Jakarta, as you may remember, is the city that tweets the most in the world. As CityMetric explain, researchers at Australia’s University of Wollongong and the Jakarta Emergency Management Agency (BPBD) decided to take advantage of this in their pilot mapping project, by crowdsourcing flood reports and locations in the Indonesian capital. When anyone in the city tweeted the word “flood”, the system uploaded the location of the tweet onto a map. |
| How car tyres help Seattle’s trees | How car tyres help Seattle’s trees |
| Cars aren’t often thought of as beneficial to pedestrians or nature in cities, but in Seattle one recycling initiative is seeing this change. Flexi-Pave, a material consisting in part of recycled car tyres, is being tested as a material to plant trees in along streets in the city’s downtown. As CityLab report, it’s easier to maintain than soil, doesn’t wash away, costs less than metal tree grates, keeps trees healthy and saves rubber tyres from landfill – as well as providing a stable surface for pedestrians to walk on. | Cars aren’t often thought of as beneficial to pedestrians or nature in cities, but in Seattle one recycling initiative is seeing this change. Flexi-Pave, a material consisting in part of recycled car tyres, is being tested as a material to plant trees in along streets in the city’s downtown. As CityLab report, it’s easier to maintain than soil, doesn’t wash away, costs less than metal tree grates, keeps trees healthy and saves rubber tyres from landfill – as well as providing a stable surface for pedestrians to walk on. |
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