Berlin is one of the most dynamic of world cities. The core is a high density urban environment. It is formed into city blocks and the streets are choking with traffic - much like most other major global cities. Yet Berlin holds some of the best examples of urban solutions which are extremely suitable for future city planning. In behind the imposing facades of the impressive street architecture there is the hidden world of back courts. The city blocks in Berlin are large enou

Date: January 19, 2015 By Nehal El-Sherif Numerous governments have tried to re-arrange Cairo’s urban planning by getting rid of many buildings built illegally, where the ownership of the land is always under dispute. However, with almost 50 per cent of the population living in such areas, the moves were always met with controversy and sometimes riots. The last move to redraw the provincial map in Egypt was in 2008, when two provinces were established around the capital, name

Date: January 13, 2015 By Nehal El-Sherif Cairo is one of the most crowded cities worldwide with an estimated population of 20 million, so there is less and less space to accommodate everybody. Many of the poorest citizens have even taken to building shanty towns in the city cemeteries. Construction and real estate boomed in Egypt in the 2000s, as it did worldwide. Under the rule of Hosny Mubarak, the government encouraged the private sector to develop mega projects. While ma

There are few cities in the world that have managed to create such an incredibly well functioning and harmonic city environment. All architects should learn from these prime examples of high density urban planning. The hierarchy of access is a very subtle yet effective means of protection for families and individuals. By defining what is entirely public and, then by stages, defining a kind of access filter, you build up a language that can be read instinctively. The importanc

Date: January 5, 2015 By Nehal El-Sherif It rarely rains in Cairo. In the last days of November, it rained for less than 30 minutes for the first time after a very hot summer. While many enjoyed the cooler weather, complaints began flooding the social media as rapidly as water began flooding the streets. The roadways filled with water and aggravated the normal traffic jams, a problem that has long been connected to the Egyptian capital. Many people had to spend up to four hou

This is not Hallstadt am See in Austria. It is Hallstadt See, the Chinese rip off of the Austrian village. A true copy in southern China without any agreement with the original. Like the real village, it is an attractive place and with so much identity, that there are constantly crowds of couples being photographed in these surroundings. Of course the falsity of this endeavour is disturbing. A copied identity of a foreign culture is without intrinsic value. It is fundamentall

You walk down the street. It's a cloudless day. The air is crisp. The sky is so blue that it is bordering on indigo. Then you get that optical illusion where the sky becomes the dominant shape and the buildings take on a minor secondary role. This first essay is about those times when the sky wins. Then the solid blue takes on a dominant form like an abstract painting. More details are on page 14 of BLUE and other shapes 2. https://www.steenssen.com/product-page/blue-and-othe

Liberty Square in Taipei is quintessentially oriental. Also quintessentially euphemistic. The monumental Democracy Stairway on the right leads to the tomb of Chang Kei Shek, the brutally non-democratic totalitarian military dictator, who ruled over the society from 1949 until his death in 1975. More details are on page 156 of Creating Compact Cities. https://www.steenssen.com/product-page/creating-compact-cities/ #LibertySquareTaipei #Urbanistico #DesigningTownscape #StreetsS

Date: June 3, 2015 By Frederick Rickmann Renewing our cities can take really many forms. Old buildings can be torn down and some of the more outstanding ones can be rebuilt. Whole areas can be cleared and then stand vacant for years. The old Central District of Taichung city once used to be called "Little Kyoto" because of its charm. But today, the word "charm" would hardly be an appropriate adjective. Years of commercial despair and planning neglect have left this area a gho