The skies over Osaka yesterday. With the approaching typhoon it is probably even more dramatic right now.

Once we made the most of valuable street frontage. This store just won't stop.

In India we know how to build railway stations whose interiors are pleasantly cool even in summer months when the average outdoor temperature is 40°/104F, without any cooling. Obviously we are now building a series of stations as HOTHOUSES (Bhopal). This is lethal architecture.

Begging Indian architects to stop putting glass facades on every building in a country with near 50°C heatwaves.

The Imperial Seal of Japan, the Chrysanthemum Seal, and a real chrysanthemum, both at Meiji Grand Shrine, Tokyo.

Meiji-Jingu holy forest, central Tokyo. There's 99 years between the first photo and the second two. A better world is possible.

Four man made holy forests in Japan: Miyazaki-Jingu (1907), Kashiwara-Jingu (1941), Gokoku-Jinja (Shizuoka 1941), Gokoku-Jinja (Nara 1942). All of these were planted by hand on empty fields or industrial sites.

Modern suburbs, towns, developments, cities, all lack vision. All of them. I am sorry but that includes your pet development project or favorite Friendly Mayoral Team. I appreciate the many emails but I can't help you design a better suburb unless you first present a vision.

My fourth Substack long form is Part I of a series (of two or more) essays on what defines the term 'human scale', and what happens when you over-reach it. I hope you will enjoy reading it. wrathofgnon.substack.com/p/the-human-sc…

Strong Zootopia x Christopher Alexander Pattern Language x Urbanism thread here. Many good points. Hey Mayor, watch and learn!

“First, the whole grows piecemeal, bit by bit. Second, the whole is unpredictable. Third, the whole is coherent. Fourth, the whole is full of feeling, always. All traditional towns have these features in their growth.”
— Christopher Alexander, A New Theory of Urban Design, 1987

“The life of a public square forms naturally around its edge. If the edge fails, the space never becomes lively.” — Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language, 1977

“Which design is more alive?”
— Christopher Alexander

'Swimming against the current is not idiotic if the waters are racing toward a waterfall.'
— Nicolás Gómez Dávila

Now I really feel like submitting my resume just to see if I could pass this interview. Can it be this bad?

Finally: 'Companies will be obliged to allow employees with preschoolers age 3 and older to choose from at least two working style options, such as remote work, shorter work hours or staggered work hours.'
japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/05/2…