How to Make an Attractive City

3.2M views · 11 years ago · essay · evergreen

A School of Life video essay on what makes cities attractive or ugly. It argues that beauty in cities comes from shared rules on how buildings look, as in Amsterdam or Barcelona, rather than leaving the look of the city to property developers.

HN people say it explains why some cities are beautiful and others ugly, and that it changed their opinions on city planning and building guidelines.

“This video is really informative in this regard and has changed my opinion on a few things”

11 comments from Hacker News

k
@konschubert2018 · in “The Dow of Cities”
Because there are ugly cities and there are beautiful cities. And they are so for a reason. This video is really informative in this regard and has changed my opinion on a few things: ▶ this video
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c
@cleansy2018 · in “Future generations will laugh in horror and derision at the folly of facadism”
> Finally, it should be mentioned that buildings are owned by private companies and individuals, who generally have a right to do whatever they want to them! Err, no. A city can and should decide what the "overall look and feel" is. London fails at that spectacularly. Pretty much all cities that are considered beautiful have building guidelines in place that support that. Like: you can build only to the height of neighboring buildings, windows need to line up, specific styles and mandatory balconies to fit into the environment. Think of Amsterdam or Barcelona. The overall look of a city is part of the quality of life of its citizens. If you leave it to property developers, well, you get something like London. EDIT: "The school of Life" made a video that explains that pretty well. [1] 1: ▶ this video
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c
@cleansy2018 · in “How to Make an Attractive City”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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m
@matkam2016 · in “San Francisco's Fog Over Growth”
Relevant to this topic, Youtube channel "The School of Life" talks about this issue where people are reluctant to build, causing the housing price to go up. One Reason Homes Cost So Much: link As a follow up, the same channel offers some more ideas and broader view solutions. How to Make an Attractive City: ▶ this video
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c
@csantini2015 · in “Why cities in the US are so ugly”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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Z
@ZenoArrow2015 · in “Land-value tax: Why Henry George had a point”
What do you think of the ideas in this video: ▶ this video I believe it captures most of what is important in making a livable city that people enjoy living in.
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Z
@ZenoArrow2015 · in “Land-value tax: Why Henry George had a point”
This video captures quite a bit of what I consider important in city planning, would be interested to hear your thoughts on it: ▶ this video
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c
@currysausage2015 · in “How to Make an Attractive City”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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t
@talles2015 · in “How to Make an Attractive City”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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s
@spectrum12342016 · in “New Cities”
Reminds me of this: ▶ this video
Z
@ZenoArrow2016 · in “Home is where the cartel is: On the politics and economics of land-use controls”
The problem can be tackled by making efforts to tailor new developments to the environment they are being placed in. ▶ this video