Densities & Openings

Doing research for our previous Google-Earth themed posts (Dwelling-Scapes and Building-Scapes) we began noticing some interesting deviations in the urban fabric of cities. Where there is density and grid, inevitably, there is also the divergence from both. We’ve tracked down a number of examples that document the anomaly of the dense, urban grid. These pattern changes become the open spaces, the parks, plazas and public realms. The images have all been taken at 3,000 feet above the Earth’s surface and have been cropped to show a square of 1,700 feet horizontally and vertically for comparison purposes. Let us know about your favs out there…

Plaza Mayor, Madrid, Spain

Dam Square, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Soccer Field, Maputo, Mozamique

Kongens Nytorv (King’s Square), Copenhagen, Denmark

Parking Lot, Tetouan, Morocco

Cuzco Plaza, Cuzco, Peru

Broadway, New York City, USA

Townhall Center, Hamburg, Germany

Park, Seoul, South Korea

Open space, Nairobi, Kenya

Piazza Dante, Naples, Italy

Neighborhood, Mexico City, Mexico (Not really and opening but it appears to be a previous lake re-appropriated as housing and subsequently establishing it’s own exception to the gird around it.)