Pavement art taken to the extreem with a large icy crevasse.

Excellent fun for East Pier in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, as part of the town's Festival of World Cultures.

The art only works from one view point but get it right and the impact is huge.

Lost London is a fascinating look at how London has evolved. More than 500 images of streets, buildings and the people are a rich resource. Lost churches, shops, inns, villages within the city and sad sight of ruins are shown. Included are curious places known to Dickens, which you can see for yourself.

Lost London 1870-1945
Philip Davies, English Heritage
Transatlantic Press
ISBN:   978-0-9557949-8-8
Available to order from the Sunday Times Bookshop - 0845 271 2135

A   SEE 

    • Paris
      Traffic calming

    • San Francisco
      Improving Market Street

    • London
      100 Public Spaces Programe

    • New York
      Time Square public space

People constantly respond to their environment.

And when an environment is changed it can have an affect of behaviour.

This is how a keen topiary artist has carefully trained and pruned a shrub to spiral up a lamp post.

As seen in Surrey - do you have any other examples of the personalised public realm?

Urban Engineering - Positive steps to bring together
Urban Design and Highway & Traffic Engineering

A new approach is needed to deliver high quality public realm. Current professions are segmented and often required to argue for opposing/conflicting needs of street users.

Urban Engineering is a new discipline evolving from within the professions working on the Public Realm. It combines a broad understanding of the practicalities of traffic and highway engineering as well as the opportunities of urban design.

Large schemes are designed by multi-disciplinary teams but smaller schemes don’t have this luxury. They may be carried out to answer single issues such as road safety, street lighting or adjustment to public transport. They are too small to warrant the expense of multi-disciplinary teams but they have a huge cumulative impact on the public realm.

The IHIE, English Heritage and PRIAN have joined together in a unique training course seeking to produce the new generation of Urban Engineers. They are supported by a number of like minded institutions and organisations as well as leading industry experts.

Street signs with a twist
Where signs and public art meet with a splash of humour for good measure.

For more go to: http://www.jenbekman.com/dariusdowney/

Shop Fronts
Every shop front tells a story. Most multiples present the same well washed and brushed, yet bland face to every high street.
Here are some characterful independents: a little rough around the edge yet fiercely individual. Inside, you can imagine there is real human interest.

Link to see more: