Latest news with #CarloRatti
Newsweek
4 days ago
- Science
- Newsweek
The Way People Walk in Cities Has Changed
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. City living has long been described as fast-paced. Now, there's data to prove just how much faster it has become. A new study out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reveals that pedestrians in three major northeastern U.S. cities—Boston, New York and Philadelphia —are moving 15 percent faster than they did in 1980. Newsweek discussed the findings with Ruth Conroy Dalton, a professor of Architecture at Northumbria University in the UK. She said: "A rise in walking speed shortens the average street journey by about 13 percent, which means fewer seconds in which passer‑by interactions, eye‑contact, or simply 'being present' can occur." The same study found that fewer people are lingering in public spaces, with the number dropping by 14 percent over the past three decades. A stock image of crowds of people walking across a busy crosswalk at the intersection of 23rd Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan New York City. A stock image of crowds of people walking across a busy crosswalk at the intersection of 23rd Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan New York City. deberarr/iStock / Getty Images Plus "Something has changed over the past 40 years," MIT professor of the practice Carlo Ratti, a co-author of the new study, said in a statement. "How fast we walk, how people meet in public space—what we're seeing here is that public spaces are working in somewhat different ways, more as a thoroughfare and less a space of encounter." Dalton, who was not involved in the MIT-led research, pointed to findings from her own work to illustrate similar trends. A national survey she co-authored of 2,029 UK adults found that more than half of respondents (54 percent) agreed that "walking around areas filled with boring buildings affects how I feel." She explained: "When the street itself gives you less to linger over, you tend to hurry through it even faster, creating a feedback loop of lower dwell-time and thinner social exchange. "The same study shows a parallel loss of community agency. A public that feels both rushed and powerless is, unsurprisingly, more detached from its streets." AI Meets Urban Design In the new study, the researchers used machine learning to analyze video footage taken by famed urbanist William Whyte between 1978 and 1980. These recordings—captured in now-iconic public spaces such as Bryant Park and the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art—offered a snapshot of social behavior in late-20th-century city life. In 2010, a research team led by sociologist Keith Hampton recreated Whyte's filming conditions, shooting updated footage from the same locations at the same time of day. Using AI and computer vision, the team was able to quantify changes in pedestrian behavior over time. From Sidewalk Chats to Starbucks Among the most striking findings was a drop in the number of people who joined groups after entering public spaces. In 1980, 5.5 percent of individuals arriving at locations like Boston's Downtown Crossing or Philadelphia's Chestnut Street ended up socializing in a group. By 2010, that figure had plummeted to just 2 percent. "Perhaps there's a more transactional nature to public space today," Ratti said. The reasons for this shift appear to be multifaceted. The researchers point to the rise of smartphones, which allow people to coordinate plans digitally before stepping outside. Social interactions that might have once unfolded spontaneously on a street corner now happen through text messages or group chats. "When you look at the footage from William Whyte, people in public spaces were looking at each other more," said Ratti. "It was a place you could start a conversation or run into a friend. You couldn't do things online then." Coffee culture may also be playing a role. The proliferation of chain cafés and indoor meeting spaces may be drawing people away from sidewalks and into climate-controlled, Wi-Fi-equipped venues. Designing Better Public Spaces The researchers hope their work will inform how cities design and redesign public areas — especially at a time when digital polarization is reshaping how people connect in real life. "Public space is such an important element of civic life," said co-author Arianna Salazar-Miranda, an assistant professor at Yale. "The more we can keep improving public space, the more we can make our cities suited for convening." Looking Ahead Following the success of this U.S.-based analysis, the MIT team is now expanding its research to 40 urban squares across Europe. The goal is to better understand how people use public spaces across cultures — and how city design can encourage more meaningful human interaction. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about sea silk? Let us know via science@ Reference Salazar-Miranda, A., Fan, Z., Baick, M., Hampton, K. N., Duarte, F., Loo, B. P. Y., Glaeser, E., & Ratti, C. (2025). Exploring the social life of urban spaces through AI. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(30).
7NEWS
25-07-2025
- Business
- 7NEWS
Visiting the Venice Architecture Biennale made me rethink my dream home
I'm what the property market would term an 'upsizer'. My partner and I purchased our first home (a modest, two-bedroom house) pre-kids and now, two kids later, we are looking for a larger home. To fund this larger purchase we put our house on the market and started working on our list of 'must-haves' for the next house. Must have: Three bedrooms, or maybe four for when regional family come to stay. Must have: Two bathrooms, one being an ensuite. We can't keep sharing with the kids forever can we? Must have: A real laundry! Not a pokey little thing that's part of the kitchen. Must have: A huge backyard. Room for a cubby, trampoline, swimming pool, pickle ball court. (That last one was a joke, but you get the idea). Despite being happy in our two-bedder - aside from the lack of storage - once we started the list, it just got longer and longer. Not to bury the lede, but after selling the house we decided to celebrate our brief time without a mortgage by taking the kids on an extended holiday to Europe. "In this economy?!" Don't worry, I hear you. We were able to fund the trip through savings, our lack of major bills in Australia, saved up long-service leave, and me continuing to work part-time while overseas. While on this trip of a lifetime, and before returning to a life of mortgage repayments, we decided to visit a bucket-list destination: Venice. Luckily for us, instead of witnessing the Bezos wedding, we got to see the Venice Architecture Biennale. Titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., and curated by Carlo Ratti, the theme of the biennale was the climate crisis and how architecture can respond to this global problem. The exhibition featured over 300 contributions from participants in various disciplines including, architects, engineers, mathematicians, climate scientists, philosophers, artists, chefs, coders, writers, woodcarvers, farmers and fashion designers. In a statement by the exhibition team, the frightening reality of the climate crisis was highlighted. "Over the past two years, climate change has accelerated in ways that defy even the best scientific models. 2024 marked a grim milestone, as Earth registered its hottest temperatures on record, pushing global averages beyond the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C target," it read. "This year's Exhibition, Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., invites different types of intelligence to work together to rethink the built environment." An architect and engineer, Professor Ratti said the biennale was unfolding at a "moment of global change". "The climate crisis is no longer a looming threat-it defines our present. Mitigation is no longer enough. Adaptation must take center stage. Architecture must learn. Must listen. Must adapt." Exploring the exhibition, the participants revealed initiative and unique ways to approach housing issues around the world, particularly in the wake of climate change. French architect and designer, Philippe Starck, created an installation with Renault titled 'A House for the Price of a Car'. The exhibit involved a car on one side, with all of its pieces displayed in front of it, and on the other side, the materials required to build a house. The sign read "Instead of creating caverns out of powdered stone and concrete, we should apply automotive engineering to all components." With one billion people around the world lacking, Starck said the construction industry should look towards the automotive model. "The automobile production model seems most appropriate for industrializing housing construction, as it uniquely guarantees a fair fixed cost, rapid and punctual production, and quality that ensures longevity," he said. "A house can and should cost the same as a car." Another exhibit exploring a unique and sustainable approach to housing was 'Deserta Ecofolie: A Prototype for Minimum Dwelling in the Atacama Desert and Beyond'. Created by architect Pedro Ignacio Alonso, the 16-square-metre structure was designed to sustain a "minimum dwelling and off-grid inhabitation". The experimental prototype contained eco-technical objects to minimise energy usage including a domestic wind turbine, solar panels, a dry toilet, and a water wall. While wandering around the exhibition and the installations, and reading the commentary on the housing industry, I began to think about how my housing choices would impact the climate. What could I do that would reduce my carbon footprint? Incorporating sustainable features into my future home would be the first step, but I also began to rethink the size of our future home. While we had definitely outgrown our former two-bedder, did we really need the house I had been envisioning? The biennale challenged me to look beyond the idea of "bigger and better" and focus on the features that would be beneficial to our lives. Instead of my previous checklist, I began to imagine a living room that would fit a couch big enough for family movie nights. Space for a dining table where we could all share a meal and talk about our days. A modest backyard with a small veggie patch and some trees to provide shade and mitigate the summer heat. What I realised was that we don't need a large, cavernous house that will take us a lifetime to pay off. Instead, what we will be privileged to have is a space for connection, for joy, for pause, and for enjoying the small things.
The Star
14-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY
Purposeful and visually striking, well-designed buildings have the capacity to create emotional connections between people and communities. Rolex, partnering some of the world's most talented artists and leading cultural institutions for more than half a century, champions architectural achievement at the highest level. Architecture responds to our human and environmental challenges, and profoundly influences our experience of public and private spaces. Akin to creating timeless watches, architectural masterpieces require meticulous attention to detail, from planning to execution, ensuring structural integrity and aesthetic harmony. Rolex Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Partnership with the Biennale Architettura Since 2014, Rolex has served as Exclusive Partner and Official Timepiece of the Biennale Architettura, the world's leading forum for architectural ideas and debate. The Biennale Architettura 2025 exhibition, held in Venice, Italy, was launched on May 10, 2025 and runs until Nov 23, 2025. The exhibition titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective is curated by acclaimed Italian architect and engineer Carlo Ratti. Ratti has asked for ideas on how the built environment can be adapted sustainably in the face of a warming world, with some 60 countries mounting a national pavilion in the exhibition, each of which chooses its own curator and exhibitors. Anne Lacaton (left) and Arine Aprahamian, Architects. Made to last Replacing the previous structure built in 2018, the Rolex Pavilion has been reimagined along principles of sustainability, using local craftspeople, traditional building methods and recycled materials. Talented international architect Mariam Issoufou was invited by Rolex to design the pavilion to reflect the brand's identity and its philosophy of sustainability that stems from creating watches that are made to last. Issoufou, an academic and architectural leader who puts intersectional sustainability at the heart of all projects, runs a practice that extends from Niamey to Zurich and New York. Mariam Issoufou, Architect. She founded Mariam Issoufou Architects in 2014, with one of her completed projects named the Hikma Community Complex, a library and mosque complex in Niger, which won two global LafargeHolcim Awards for sustainable architecture. In 2020, she was named as one of 15 Creative Women Of Our Time by The New York Times. The ecological vulnerability of Venice, as well as Rolex's commitment to craft, was her inspiration for the pavilion. Her approach to sustainability is one that extends beyond environmental factors, ensuring that the pavilion promotes the social fabric, cultural history and economic conditions of crafters in Italy, and more specifically in Venice itself. The pavilion features a wooden facade, crafted locally from recycled wood beams and fashioned to evoke the fluted bezel of many of Rolex's iconic watches. Inside, the translucent coloured ceiling – made by Murano glassmakers – produces a range of shades and hues that morph throughout the day. The terrazzo flooring is made of an aggregate that includes recycled 'Cottisso' crushed glass. Variety of displays Alongside models showing the evolution of its design, a film about the construction of the pavilion will be on display. Images of work carried out by Italian craftspeople who live in or near Venice, and who supplied artisanal materials, will also be included. Reclaiming space in Beirut, an exhibition by French architect Anne Lacaton, espouses building renewal over demolition. Named a Laureate of the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize along with her partner Jean-Philippe Vassal, Lacaton is recognised internationally for designs that maximise the discipline's human and environmental potential and make sustainable use of what already exists. In 2025, she received the Jane Drew Prize for Architecture awarded for raising the profile of women in architecture. Rolex Boutique, Milan. Through Rolex, in 2023 and 2024, she mentored young Lebanese-Armenian architect Arine Aprahamian. In a documentary Aprahamian directed, Bourj Hammoud: The Value Of The Existing , she presents her two-year research project under the guidance of Lacaton. The project explores how small and strategic interventions can improve daily life in Bourj Hammoud, a dense neighbourhood of Beirut where she grew up. The architect, designer and researcher champions an innovative, affordable and sustainable vision of the future through architecture, drawing inspiration from science fiction and the qualities of existing sites. She founded architecture and design studio Muller Aprahamian with partner Adrian Muller in 2018, working on cutting-edge buildings and proposals, as well as on forward-thinking projects with notable designers, artists and institutions. They recently launched Terraforma, an in-house R&D project working with local industry to explore the traditional, ancient building material of clay and produce innovative, domestic alternatives for architectural materials. Noteworthy enhancements Rolex's tradition of exquisite craftsmanship is revealed in the refurbishment of two boutiques, through samples of materials and two films displayed in the pavilion. In Milan, an extensive restoration of a Rolex boutique in the world-renowned Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, offers a new language for retail space design. This is based on the enhancement for traditional Italian craftsmanship and a selection of refined materials and custom furniture. ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel's design was inspired by the original architectural details of the gallery, reviving its Milanese atmosphere in a contemporary key, while preserving the historic value of the location. Rolex Boutique,Tokyo. The boutique extends across three floors, and the restoration concept was designed to create a seamless continuity between the Galleria and the retail space, integrating patterns, geometry and Venetian terrazzo flooring to maintain a strong connection with its surroundings. In Tokyo, the new Rolex flagship store features a facade that shimmers with a unique double bezel pattern thanks to metal mesh produced in Kyoto and embedded in the glass. In a kinetic effect, the pattern changes depending on the viewer's angle. Occupying four floors of the Rolex Tower, the facade and store were designed by Gwenael Nicolas of Tokyo-based design studio Curiosity, who worked with local artisans and artists. Delicate aesthetics are created by the subtle palette of carefully selected materials: travertine, Sen wood and frosted glass. Traditional Nishijin-ori fabric and deep green furniture with a lacquer-like texture provide a distinctly Japanese feel. Perpetual Arts Initiative Rolex celebrates achievement, recognising how the journey is marked by milestones, culminating in moments of success – defined by a path followed, not just an award. Through the Rolex Perpetual Arts Initiative, a broad portfolio of arts that extends through architecture, cinema, dance, literature, music, theatre and visual arts, the brand confirms its long-term commitment to global culture. In all these endeavours, Rolex supports excellence in the arts and the passing of knowledge to future generations, who in turn pass on the world's cultural legacy.
Bloomberg
22-06-2025
- General
- Bloomberg
Why Climate Adaptation Must Become Architecture's Central Project
'Architecture must reorient itself not as resignation, but as an act of creative resistance,' says 2025 Venice Biennale Curator Carlo Ratti.
New York Times
20-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Searching for Meaning Amid the Jumble, at the Venice Architecture Biennale
To walk into the main exhibition at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale is to plunge into disorienting darkness, oppressive tropical humidity and haunting music over the throb of air-conditioning units. A disturbing — if visually arresting — vision of Venice in 100 years. And an admonition on the consequences of the overuse of A.C. Passing into a much cooler space, a concave wall of white bricks rises sharply. Dates on the side mark the exponential growth of the world population since 3,000 B.C., with an uptick starting in 1804 that is expected to peak soon, and then fall. The two installations go to the heart of the issues that inform the 19th Architecture Biennale, which runs through Nov. 23: climate and population. Titled 'Intelligens: Natural, Artificial and Collective,' the show explores 'how architecture can be at the center of adaptation, adapting to a changing planet,' its curator, Carlo Ratti, said during a walk-through last week. He paused to read out one of the introductory wall panels: 'The future of architecture lies not in control of nature, but in partnership with it,' he said. He continued reading: 'In this new era we must ask: Can we design a building as smart as a tree?' The answer isn't always overtly apparent in the 300 projects from about 750 international contributors — far more than previous exhibitions — packed into the Arsenale, a historic Venice shipyard. Some are invited submissions, but the majority were selected after an open call, officially called a 'space for ideas,' a first in the history of the Biennale, which opened the door to younger, fresher voices 'on the other side of the world' that might normally not have been heard, Ratti said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
