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How to Make an Attractive City

The School of Life · 3.2M views · 2015-01-26 · 14:21

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Overview

The School of Life sets out principles for making attractive cities, arguing that the art has been lost in the modern world.

On Hacker News

Recommended in urban planning and housing threads as a concise summary of what makes cities livable and beautiful.

Recommended by 4 HN people across 4 months · HN mentions 2015–2018

Topics

Transit, cities & urban planningVisual arts, photography & architecture
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urbanismbeautiful citiesarchitecturelivabilityschool of life

What people said

konschubert · 2018-04 · Strong recommendation

Because there are ugly cities and there are beautiful cities. And they are so for a reason. This video is really informative in this regard and has changed my opinion on a few things: [VIDEO]

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cleansy · 2018-06 · Recommendation

> Finally, it should be mentioned that buildings are owned by private companies and individuals, who generally have a right to do whatever they want to them! Err, no. A city can and should decide what the "overall look and feel" is. London fails at that spectacularly. Pretty much all cities that are considered beautiful have building guidelines in place that support that. Like: you can build only to the height of neighboring buildings, windows need to line up, specific styles and mandatory balconies to fit into the environment. Think of Amsterdam or Barcelona. The overall look of a city is part of the quality of life of its citizens. If you leave it to property developers, well, you get something like London. EDIT: "The school of Life" made a video that explains that pretty well. [1] 1: [VIDEO]

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matkam · 2016-01 · Recommendation

Relevant to this topic, Youtube channel "The School of Life" talks about this issue where people are reluctant to build, causing the housing price to go up. One Reason Homes Cost So Much: [LINK] As a follow up, the same channel offers some more ideas and broader view solutions. How to Make an Attractive City: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by The School of Life, played through YouTube.

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