Ode to the Metropolis

Timelapse - The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo.

Dominic Boudreault: "a motion photographer, recorded five cities in over a year to create a time-lapse video showing the bustling nightlife of metropolitan areas. From late 2010 to early 2011, the artist documented the cityscapes in Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Manhattan and Chicago. The video is a series of images from a high vantage point gathered to display the duality of city and nature."


Music: Hans Zimmer


Watch the HD version on full-screen with the volume full-blast for the full experience!


Via: The City Fix

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words - Part Tres

As I've said before on the blog, a picture really is worth a thousand words. Highly informative "infographics", as they're called, are an outstanding way of broadening our understanding of politics, the environment, and pretty much any big questions you can think of.

Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Where do tourists take the most pictures of Vancouver? And where are the locals' favorite spots? Using geo-located photo compilations from Flickr users, Eric Fischer was able to show us a map of where their shutters go off. Blue pictures are by locals, red by tourists, and yellow is unknown.

Some other great versions of Seattle and LA:

So these pictures essentially answer the question of "where are the local secret photo spots?" I won't tell you where they are, but here are a few of my secret spots:

My friend Devon, who writes the inspiring blog "Answering Oliver"

      2.  What do 100 million phone calls say about New York?

New York City's public non-emergency hotline - where residents report anything from complaints about trash removal, to graffiti, to noise complaints, is a virtual library of information in itself. It offers a real-time glimpse at the pulse of the city's millions.

Who knew that most calls between 12am and 6am were due to noise complaints? 

            3. Just how bad is your city's problem of urban sprawl? Take a look at the ringroads, or beltways, around the city's borders and you might get a general idea.

     4. Where do people actually go when they use London's bike-sharing program? This video/graphic from The Bike Sharing Blog tells you pretty much all you need to know.

Boris Bikes redux from Sociable Physics on Vimeo.

     5. Should I rent or buy when I move to a new city? Real estate website Trulia has the graphic for you...Surprise! You should probably rent if you're moving anywhere cool (LA, SF, Seattle, or New York, that is).

Via: Planetizen and Sustainable Cities Collective