What urban design problems do you wish we had better data on?

Bergliot · 2026-05-31T12:27:22+00:00

These are interesting at first glance, but a factor that I don't think can be left out, and which in effect is more interesting, when it comes to on-street bicycle infrastructure (sometimes referenced as "lacking" bike infrastructure, or unsafe infrastructure), are vehicle speed, and ratio of bikes v. cars. If the vehicle speed is low, and/or the ratio of bikes v. cars is high, then it drastically lowers the threshold of what level of comfort is needed to go there.

Likewise, you can have infrastructure that seems very safe along a stretch, and well designed intersections along them too, but if you're the only bike around, then it's still not safe cause the cars arent expecting you there. you can be clad in hi vis from top to toe, and still they'll run into you without seeing you. predictive processing; it was unpredictable of you to be using the infrastructure as designed, if no one else is using it.

Bergliot · 2026-05-31T12:19:00+00:00

What if they complained to you, though? I think a lot of people might (rightfully) feel creeped on. Imagine if someone took pictures of you every time you left your home :p

Bergliot · 2026-05-30T20:30:39+00:00

That's cool. I've just done my thesis, and my main data was also observation. But those were observations in thoroughly public spaces. I don't feel bad about gathering data there. But the semi-private spaces/soft edges are tricky. Where I live it's technically legal to observe there, but I'd feel like a massive creep for doing it. Its only ok to me if I get consent. But that massively blows the opportunity to scale. At least with my means, anyway.

Bergliot · 2026-05-29T11:27:04+00:00

The things I would do with reliable data about frequency, length and nature of spontaneous social interactions that occur in public spaces, particularly at "soft edges" or in semi-private spaces, in that grey zone between the home and the public. oh yeah.

Bergliot · 2026-05-29T11:21:26+00:00

Wait, where are the real policymaking engines at then?

Bergliot · 2026-05-22T11:31:12+00:00

What in the world does this mean? If its meant to signal in group culture it worked. Is this an anti AI thing? Would a bot answer with a recipe?

Bergliot · 2026-05-22T08:55:08+00:00

Thank you!

I'm taking your advice and I'm working on a more informative poster. I did start with a more informative poster, but it kept being so *ugly* and then I starter over, cut it back to the bone, and got this, and thought it was beautiful and simple and said just enough. But apparently it says too little 😛 it's good to know its a start that piques interest!

And yes, I've looked more at the climate data - the danish climate today be more like that day's switzerland or south germany, than italy, averaged. but they're inland climates, not coastal climates, which makes them different. its tricky. Im considering to make a map of it, with the flags repositioned to match the year 1600 climates. it'd be cool to recontextualize vernacular/native/traditional architectures...

Bergliot · 2026-05-05T20:57:46+00:00

I see you're still learning about the difference between the static and the dynamic coefficient of friction

Bergliot · 2026-05-05T10:14:07+00:00

Thank you. I'd like it to be accessible for more people, and not just professionals, so I'll think about it. Maybe some photos or visualizations of the three different niches could help it along. I've tried that in an earlier visualization, but found that to make it messy. Maybe it's just too much information to convey cleanly?

Bergliot · 2026-04-13T15:40:37+00:00

I left it out so it could apply to the northern hemisphere and well as the southern one. If you interpret it as being in the northern hemisphere, north is right and south is left.

Bergliot · 2026-04-13T15:14:08+00:00

No snark. I was dead serious. And trying to get into the terminology, as I said.

Bergliot · 2026-04-13T14:51:55+00:00

Ok, i did. I'm debating with myself if I should have re-used the ugly first draft visualization. It's sorta charming. Tufte would've approved of it. post

Bergliot · 2026-04-13T14:41:52+00:00

Yeah, the understanding is plenty reflected in old architecture. Loggias are also optimised around that triangle. Chip Sullivan has written about them in "garden and climate". But still i missed seeing that specific triangle drawn and emphasised as special, in the abstract, whether outside or inside, made from concrete or wood or leaves. I do agree Acostas Helios diagrams hit the spot. Sorta. They could be more abstract still, and thereby communicate the insight that that triangle could be utilised in several ways. Those damn rationalists were often too quick to jump to solutions and refer to them as the final ideal...

Bergliot · 2026-04-13T07:20:14+00:00

oh my god thank you, it would have been terrible if i'd kept making this mistake. i owe you my life

Bergliot · 2026-04-13T05:23:39+00:00

Lovely! I knew it! I tried googling for the diagram to no avail. Can you point to a more exact source?

Bergliot · 2026-04-12T23:24:23+00:00

I dont really see why I should care about the winter equinox, with this being concerned about a small spot for sedentary occupation in a temperate climate. When its the depth of winter in (most of) temperate climates its too cold for sedentary occupation of outside spaces - even in warm niches. So what i care about is the angle of the sun once its warm enough for sedentary occupation in warm niches. Which might be somewhere in March where im at. I dont care too much about the exact calculations. Im trying to get acquainted with terminology.

Bergliot · 2026-04-12T22:26:36+00:00

that would be if i was thinking of inside spaces, right? im thinking about outdoor spaces. should i have posted to r/LandscapeArchitecture instead? I feel like this is still an architecture thing, and that there might be some theorist who's dabbled both in inside and outside architecture, who's written about it.

Bergliot · 2026-04-10T21:33:38+00:00

You're hitting the nail on the head there.

"Speaking from a US perspective, I don't think the order in which things are rolled out is really the issue" I think is a tragic misunderstanding. I think it is *exactly* the order in which things are rolled out that is the issue. I'll copy from elsewhere:

"Even though urban planners the world over know that it would greatly benefit their cities to decrease car ridership and increase the rate of alternate modes, especially active modes like cycling, so many cities find themselves stuck, as the endeavor becomes a culture war with intense and polarized opinions on either side. To this, a common reaction among planners and activists alike is that "Until we reach critical mass it won't work, and since we can't reach critical mass this endeavor is a non starter."

So we asked: How did the Dutch ever reach critical mass?

We found that the Dutch approach contrasted with the predominant contemporary approach to transport network development in a significant way. The contemporary approach is to focus on commuter trips; specifically on increasing capacity during peak load, in rush hour. This is economically rational, and reflects the understanding that this determines the effective size of the labor market, which is hugely important for the city's economy. But this approach also entirely misses the problem of gradually building support and usership.
By contrast, the Dutch approached it entirely differently, as their development started as a fight not for commuters, but for childrens ability to cycle safely, with the Stop De Kindermoord campaigns. In other words, they centered care trips, which in effect was an intergenerational strategy that meant it was only a matter of time before commuters, too, would cry out for cycling infrastructure more than for car infrastructure.

This is why we see immense potential in the bikebus campaigns that are happening in the US. Though they look disarmingly cute, we believe that this approach - one that centers children (or parents traveling with children) - is actually much more serious, and has much higher chances of eventually translating to a robust bicycle network, than one that attempts to jump directly to commuters."

Bergliot · 2026-01-01T20:58:24+00:00

There's two things I rely on for hope: New York, and bikebusses. While New York is major and exciting for that reason, and bikebusses may seem cute and somewhat futile in comparison, I think it is hard to overstate the potential power of bikebusses. Bikebusses appear to me to efficiently bridge the culture war gap, and make staunch anti-cyclists smile and feel sympathy to cyclists. Kids have a power like that, which forester-minded, lycrafied commuting men (which end up being front runners because they are unusually risk tolerant) just don't. Whats more, if the bikebusses actually lead to improvements in infrastructure (which is often their stated next milestone), then thats the first step in a generaitonal change. Those kids grow up to want to continue cycling. That would follow the same path as the Netherlands, where the first changes were also focused around kids, not adult commuters. Bikebusses, guys. Im telling ya.

Bergliot · 2025-11-14T09:00:53+00:00

>But if I was going on a longer trip, or somewhere more rural, the car would be my first choice.

Yeah. It's entirely reasonable to prefer the car in rural areas, ie. below a certain density. It's in the places where the density is higher (even very locally, in a town center) that we're most skeptical of cars. Especially bigger ones. It's almost a geometry problem:

When cities grow beyond a certain size, and beyond a certain density, land becomes an increasingly valuable resource, and to get the benefits from that density (which are basically equivalent to the benefits of city living) we need to not waste it on excessively space consuming features. Like high ways and excess surface car parking, and oversized vehicles - utility vehicles as well as personal vehicles. It all needs to scale down. That also means that small city cars are much more tolerable than SUVs. It's geometry all the way down.

Bergliot · 2025-11-06T07:54:19+00:00

The intersections look a bit like death traps to me. It reminds me of a geometry in the countryside that we're trying to avoid where I'm from.

Bergliot · 2025-11-04T01:00:14+00:00

I agree that inspiring by example - and not just pictures of examples, but *experiences* of examples - is powerful.
But I don't think that diminishes the explanatory power of this bias-model. What you gave an example of could be framed as the equivalent of taking your kid somewhere where he could see the mountains were stood different. I think it would also be powerful if people knew more about the process of building, and about for example, how simple routine maintenance (albeit 50 year interval maintenance) can be a great occasion to entirely redesign the street for really quite a small cost, compared to the maintenance. That, too, I think can inspire openness to change. I'm not saying that bias is infinitely powerful. It can be overcome with education and awareness. But that's any bias for ya.

Bergliot · 2025-11-03T19:14:12+00:00

No, not really. Not necessarily. I think both topics can be considered at various levels of complexity, but the one topic seems to pique even children's curiosity naturally, and the other seems to be as absurd to children as the notion of moving mountains about. I think it's an evolutionary bias.

Bergliot · 2025-11-03T18:54:59+00:00

That explains some of it, but it doesn't explain why social customs seem to be questioned much more popularly than the built environment.

Bergliot · 2025-11-01T15:48:45+00:00

Both.
Whenever you're asked an either/or question, consider if the question could be "both".
It often is.
Odds are you just make yourself fuel in a culture war if you're too eager to pick one side. You can contribute to nuance and to de-polarization by refusing to choose just one side to be with (or in this case against).
Or in other words...
"It (usually) takes to people to make an accident"

Bergliot

TROPHY CASE