Many moons ago we talked about starting a Slow Roll here in Cardiff. Sadly life got in the way and we never really pursued the idea. Fortunately, DJ Dom Whiting brought his decked-out cargo-bike to Cardiff and showed everyone how it could be done.
Going backwards on Castle Street
Just when you think we might be making progress here in Cardiff, the council goes and undoes it with a daft consultation that didn't need to take place. After enjoying the serenity of no through traffic on Castle Street, the council has decided to turn it back into a traffic sewer. A recommendation to reopen... Continue Reading →
Social Media
I've long had a love-hate relationship with social media. Whilst it has the potential to connect people, it's all too easy to lose the finite hours we have arguing with strangers or being bombarded by the worst that society has to offer, just because someone you know, or someone that person knows has reacted to... Continue Reading →
Analogue experiences in a digital age
It matters little how we got to this place, but I think we need to take a step back. We sit, staring at our phones, pulling down to refresh in the hope that some life-affirming news will appear in our social media feed. When times are bad, we scroll. When times are good, we scroll.... Continue Reading →
Something to watch: Lands that will flood in our lifetime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CurmnLKikyI Just a short one for today, but this loops back around to our relatively recent fork-in-the-road post. There's also a little Easter Egg in there at around 12:50 for people still talking about building a relief road around Newport in the age of remote work. You can spend as much money as you like... Continue Reading →
Between a rock and a hard place – Thoughts on the next Local Development Plan
A few days ago, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Planning, Caro Wild shared a long thread on Twitter talking about the next LDP. I've linked to the thread below, but it touches on the quandary that councils and urban planners now find themselves in. I feel this requires further discussion, so, here goes...... Continue Reading →
Something to watch: How America bankrupted its cities…
https://youtu.be/7IsMeKl-Sv0 Just a short one today, but as we’ve been talking about urban planning lately this short clip about the US love affair with car-dependent sprawl is interesting. I suspect that whilst funding arrangements between local authority and state are going to be different, the principles remain the same. The more you sprawl, the more... Continue Reading →
Car dependency and cultural deserts…
This article popped up on our Twitter timeline earlier, but whilst it is a couple of years old at this point, it is just as relevant now. Houses that were in the planning stage when this article in was written in 2018 will probably be seeing their first residents right around now. However, in 2020... Continue Reading →
Another year begins…
Well, we seem to have made it through 2020, possibly one of the most unsettling years I've had so far. However, whilst we can hope that 2021 will bring better times, initial signs point to yet more weirdness. Whilst we have vaccines for COVID-19 now, we still have an awful lot of people ill with... Continue Reading →
The Canal Quarter and Cardiff East Transport Scheme – Oooh, yes…
Let us take you back in time, to the days of Cardiff's industrial past. Barges brought coal, iron and steel up and down the valleys to the port and out into the wide world. But then at the turn of the 20th century the world changed. The barges started to disappear, the canals were paved... Continue Reading →
