TED Community » Justin Swan

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I'm passionate about

Urban realm innovation is something I'm very passionate about. A career in municipal planning has certainly opened my eyes to the barriers, opportunities, and ultimately the importance.

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Health, Environment, Liveability, Politics, Psychology Transportation, Urbanism, Cities, Development, Art, Philosophy, Ideas

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• A reply on Conversation: In your opinion, what is the greatest city in the world and why?

  Dec 27 2011: That is true - the Mercer report is quite objective and perhaps arguably is more in tune with the 'potential livability' of a city rather than the actual livability. I'm sure we can both think of some great examples of urban "pokazukha". There are so many up here in North America - it's terrible. Ultimately it is the conviction / desire of people and communities to foster a sense of place and ultimately provide it with the qualities that make it livable. You mentioned the street experience which is a huge focus in terms of policy moving forward in North American cities, but we are plagued by relic policy that persists. Other cities around the world typically foster this concept in better regard (we could get into the impacts of the post World War 2 interstate policy framework on the US and Canada, but will leave that for now).
  
  Interesting that you work for AECOM. I work with individuals in this company right now and I used to work with a competitor (GENIVAR) as a transportation engineer / planner. What are some of the new concepts or methods being pushed in Sao Paulo? I have never been, but I imagine the place to have quite favourable density to acheive good street interaction. Certainly, the size of the city as well probably brings opportunities for some pretty interesting solutions to be considered that aren't in most cities. If you have a linkedin account, please consider connecting - http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/justin-swan/1a/3b0/420

• A reply on Conversation: In your opinion, what is the greatest city in the world and why?

  Dec 24 2011: Interesting comment and I couldn't agree with you more. The term "best" was used because the word in it's nature is vague and prompts opinion. Actually, your comment reminds me of the annual livability study done by Mercer where they rank cities across the world in terms of their livability based on numerous criteria. The surveys they conduct are completed by expatriates to try and avoid bias from emotional connections to a place.
  
  Perhaps the question wasn't quite phrased properly. The intent was to try and generate some feedback as to why somebody may feel a stronger desire toward one place over another. Interesting how you mentioned you love Sao Paulo. What exactly do you love about it? I just saw the documentary Manda Bala which focused, like most documentaries, on some of the more negative aspects of Sao Paulo.

• A comment on Conversation: What is the most beautiful thing you find in a big city?

  Dec 15 2011: Old public walking squares that still act as the centre of many city gatherings and have a whole range of different people, activities, and land uses.
  Can't think of any big city right now that really hit all targets well, but the older part of central Munich is great in many respects. There are many smaller cities near the Austria-Swiss-German tri-border which have great city centres (like the city of Signen).
  If anybody else can suggest some other cities, I'm trying to find some examples to include as part of a presentation. Any help would be great!
  ____Justin
  @urban_future
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia

  Dec 15 2011: Good talk. I would add one comment to this nice summary on new urbanism:
  
  THE RETROFITTING OF SUBURBS WORKS UNDER FORECASTS THAT POINT TO POPULATION GROWTH.
  
  The amount of low density sprawl that has occurred in North America will require more than the projected population increases to infill the majority of suburbs with new compact smart growth communities. We as urban planners must also be cognizant of the need for abandonment / vacancy planning for low density communities in the future if we are to meet our smart growth objectives under a low population growth scenario. Not an easy task.
  
  Atlanta is probably one of the most complicated places to realize benefits in compact urban community planning without big implications to existing low density communities.
  
  I'm all on board for smart growth, but we can't keep shying away from talking about the low growth scenario.
  
  ____Justin
  @urban_future

• A comment on Talk: Alex Steffen: The shareable future of cities

  Dec 5 2011: Great talk!
  
  It's amazing how the importance of urban density and it's inherent link to energy consumption is a concept still being digested in certain parts of the developed world. I'm glad the message is continuing to surface in numerous publications, presentations, talks, and municipal planning documentation. The next step will be with respect to legislation. If we are going to continue to limit the flexibility of North American cities to govern urban infrastructure planning methods through federal / state / provincial policies that trump municipal jurisdiction, we can expect the vastly slow rate of urban innovation in North America to continue.
  
  That said, it is reasuring to see that continued pressure from municipalities is beginning to bear some fruit in this regard - hopefully this will continue until an appropriate balance is reached.
  
  ____Justin
  @urban_future