Physicist Geoffrey West has found that simple, mathematical laws govern the properties of cities — that wealth, crime rate, walking speed and many other aspects of a city can be deduced from a single number: the city’s population. In this mind-bending talk from TEDGlobal he shows how it works and how similar laws hold for organisms and corporations.
News for the ‘design’ Category
Geoffrey West: The surprising math of cities and corporations
Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals and the art of roughness
About the Talk
At TED2010, mathematics legend Benoit Mandelbrot develops a theme he first discussed at TED in 1984 — the extreme complexity of roughness, and the way that fractal math can find order within patterns that seem unknowably complicated.
About Benoit Mandelbrot
Benoit Mandelbrot is the pioneer of fractals, a broad and powerful tool in the study of many forms of roughness, in nature and in humanity’s works. [Full Bio and More Links]
Artificial Paradise, Inc.
Cityscape by Arne Quinze
For the duration of a year the suburban quarter of Brussels, Quartier Louise, will play host to a vast wooden sculpture by Belgian artist Arne Quinze. For anyone who remembers UCHRONIA, by Quinze, in the less accessible destination of the Nevada desert last year, you’ll be familiar with the precarious oversized matchstick quality of his work.
Speaking about the sculpture, Quinze explains, ‘It resembles a frozen movement, speed caught in time. It is a powerful means of communication – if you look at it from a distance, pure movement seems to keep the volatile structure in the air, whilst its immense size (40m x 25m) absorbs you.’ And for anyone worried about the wood used to build CITYSCAPE, the design house assures us that everything will be fully regenerated and recycled.
Dupli.Casa
Dupli.Casa is the latest recently completed project by architect Jürgen Mayer H.
The geometry of the building is based on the footprint of the house that previously was located on the site, originally built in 1984 and with many extensions and modifications since then. The new building echoes the „family archeology” by duplication and rotation. Lifted up, it creates a semi-public space on ground level between two layers of discretion.