How Melbourne sets an example for urban livability

This great video by Streetfilms packs about 20 great city ideas into ten minutes, just by taking the viewer around the sidewalks and streets of Melbourne, Australia.  I was particularly impressed by the presentation of using “laneways” (alleys) and arcades to make otherwise long city blocks more connected, walkable and inviting, as well as by what the narrators call “micro-detailing” – small design features such as pedestrian elevations and cleverly placed sculpture – to enrich the cityscape.  I also learned that Melbourne has the world’s most extensive light rail system.  Very impressive. 

If you’re a city design geek (and I know some of you are), you’ll enjoy this while learning a lot:

  Melbourne: A Pedestrian Paradise from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Full credit to urbanist Mike Lydon for bringing this to my attention through a post on the new and very promising blog Pattern Cities that he writes with Aurash Khawarzad.  In another post, Khawarzad laments (me, too) that, by over-emphasizing high-tech solutions, some high-profile sustainable cities efforts miss the equally if not more important environmental benefits that encouraging more organic forms of urbanism can bring, particularly if it displaces sprawl.  Melbourne makes the case for the urbanist approach, most eloquently.