A map of Elephant & Castle’s Urban Forest (re-posted from sarahinwaterloo) . You wouldn’t think there would be a hidden bounty of vegetables, woodland and community events in this urban jungle, but there is. http://elephantandcastleurbanforest.com
open street map
Open street map is the place to be, us Londoners should all use it a bit more as the maps are often much more detailed and cycle/walking friendly.
As much as I love google services, I do prefer the principles of open street map and it has much more potential for doing clever collaborative things.
You can compare the two types of map here: http://tools.geofabrik.de, or use this clever transparancy tool to switch between the two.
A new home
I’ve been moving house today, from my cosy Zone 4 eco-pad at BedZED, deep into London in the Kennington/Elephant & Castle area. I’m excited to have a new place to explore. I will miss the old, but embrace the new. It’s great to be closer to the city and to have housemates again.
Moving house means lugging a lot of records up and down stairs. It’s fun, but a back breaker and I’m very grateful to have had some help from friends. Moving closer to the city led me to look up my notes on urbanisation where I came across three interesting things:
- For much of the last century, no more than 15 per cent of people across the world lived in the city…
- …in 2008, more than half of the world’s people were living in cities
- And over the last 100 years, while global population has quadrupled, the global urban population has increased ten fold
That’s quite a shift and it’s fascinating to think how cities have influenced and shaped cultures.
Above is a picture of Elephant and Castle back in 1912. I would love to have seen it then, before the influence of 60s architecture, before the war when it suffered bombing, and before the motor vehicle became so dominant. What history Elephant and Castle must have seen! And what a future it will have too.
Image credit: Elephant and Castle online
