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Seasoned computer gamers know the power of “unlock codes”—secret keystrokes or controller movements that access hidden dimensions and increased capabilities.
Well, cities have their own unlock codes, too, and resourceful planners and designers have begun discovering them. Whether it’s repurposing a billboard to act as a humidity collection system for clean drinking water in Lima, Peru, or integrating Wi-Fi capabilities into Madrid’s paving stones with the iPavement initiative, cities are increasingly expanding the capabilities of their existing assets and reforming the urban terrain as a landscape of opportunity.
Many of the contradictions found in architect portfolios—buildings designed for use by people are often documented without evidence of use or people—also abound in urban design. Areas teaming with materials and assets are most often cleared away to make room for shiny new buildings and infrastructure. This is no longer a practical, nor sustainable, starting point.
The truth is that a city has all the resources it needs; the key to unlocking these resources is seeing the urban landscape not as the end result of a previous creative process, but as the beginning of a new one—a landscape to design with, not for.
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Via Lauren Moss
