This got me thinking about urban design and more specifically what I like about other cities I have lived in or visited. In Europe, most cities are very old and established. They have a mix of architecture through centuries, not just decades. They carry the ideas urban planners who designed for people walking or moving goods with carriages and horses. I particularly am fond of the roundabouts in the United Kingdom that were designed to keep traffic flowing.

Interestingly, in Germany, the government long ago set a goal of significantly increasing the amount of green space, especially near residential developments. Their stated aim is to ‘harmonize social, economic, health-related and environmental planning requirements.’ I love that government white papers state “Authorities, citizens, companies and stakeholders must regard the development and maintenance of high-quality, sustainable public spaces, including open green spaces, as a common task,’’ as part of urban panning directives.

While making citifies walkable may seem to some as a climate-reactionary, a way to reduce vehicle emissions, the benefits have long been touted. Urban theorists, like Jane Jacobs in the 1960s, found that urban vitality, or vibe, is only found when human density is combined with the physical routes and spaces that allow for intense and diverse human overlap, imagine a ‘sidewalk ballet.’ These daily interactions between neighbors and strangers creates a community built on mutual trust.

Phil Roeder, Nighttime in Greenwich Village
Photograph public domain

I see this in my own neighborhood. Within a 15-minute walk, I can access doctors, pharmacy, hair dressers, bakeries, restaurants, and shopping. It was the same when we lived in London, well frankly most cities we have visited in Europe. The tree-lined streets, the nearby parks, the wide sidewalks and bicycle lanes, as well as reliable public transportation, all make it a comfortable place to live. In contrast, where I grew up in a small town in Tennessee, one always had to get in a car to get anywhere. And, there were hardly sidewalks in our residential areas to even casually run into neighbors.

As we a a society continue to urbanize, I am glad to advocate for public spaces. We need them not only for improving air quality and reducing urban heat, but as importantly for relaxation and fostering social interaction.

Sunday morning, the sky was clear and the warmth of the day was just starting to rise. I was walking the dog through one of our nearby parks to enjoy the view from the bench. It is my quiet time, usually not very crowded so one can get lost in one’s thoughts. As we left, a lady was coming towards us from the opposite direction. She carried a book in one arm and a coffee in the other hand. I knew where she was headed. What better way to ease into the day than with a good book, a hot drink and a brilliant view in the fresh air.

Blankenese

Soft socializing.

As we walked further, we passing the church in the district square with parishioners entering. Some of the older folks waited patiently on a bench to be escorted inside. Then we passed fathers picking up breakfast rolls with the little ones in strollers or walking hand in hand. The little ones could not wait wait to eat their franzbrotchen, so they sat on the nearby bench. All along the way, the families ran into friends and neighbors and had a short chat.

Softening focus.

Outdoor spaces, especially green ones, are calming. The health benefits of being outside, seeing the sun, focusing on the colors of green and blue, and breathing fresh air are well-known. I regularly get out of the house to walk and sit in the park. Some times I might even be on the phone to friends or colleagues. Other times, I just need a quiet place to think and clear my head. Studies say exposure to nature lowers cortisol levels and restores cognitive attention. In turn, this reduces anxiety and improves mental wellbeing. I can fully subscribe to this in my experience.

I finding it is an amazingly simple reset to stress or anxiety to just sit for a few minutes staring into nature. There is no app required, (unless you are using my parkbenchnearme.com to find a bench!) there is no cost to taking the space or the air, and there is no stigma in sitting and watching the world go by for a while. Allowing the mind to rest and visual adjust away from screen is part is a daily habit of slow living.

Here is one of my favorite views from a bench in Baurs Park, Hamburg overlooking the Elbe River.

The request for finding park benches came out of a request from my daughter

My daughter came home one day with a friend. It was a warm, sunny day and they wanted to be outside in the city. They had been walking around for ages with a cold drinks in hand looking for a place to sit and have a chat. “Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an app to find park benches near me?” they asked retorically.

So I thought, why not build one?

I have spent my career in tech — hardware, software, cloud and more recently with data and AI. I actually studied engineering because I could not get my portfolio of hand-drawn sketches together for admissions into architecture programs. Now, with all the new tools that are available, I thought I will just see what I can build that can bring together communities online and offline.

Click to view the app

Park Bench

Local community accessible to all

I have always been interested in the dialogue of public/private spaces. And, lately I have been thinking about how that also applies to digital space and urban planning. This will be a space where I explore topics related to the built environment and society; how people use public spaces and how those spaces become part of their individual and collective memories.

I will be posting every two weeks. I am open to guest essays if anyone would like to contribute their perspective or expertise. This is a creative space for me and I will keep it free. All I ask is if you find something interesting or you want to reference it, please just link/credit it back to me.

A word about the tech

I used Claude to help me understand what types of maps I may be able to access as well as see if there were soltuions already availabe. Though I found two others using the same Open Street Maps (OSM) data, they did not deliver the same type of experience I wanted to offer around community building. Then I asked Claude the pros and cons of different app and web building tools. I decided to go with Loveable even though it was not on the top of the list. My decision was mainly based on the the other recommendations being more for developers, though easy to use. I did not want to get lost in the weeds of coding and API calls. I wanted something that could evolve with me and still allow me to question certain aspects of the build. And I wanted to be EU based. Interestingly enough, Loveable is built using Claude Code, it is based in the EU (GDPR requirements built-in), it is hosted on AWS (full-disclosure, a former employer) and one of the investor is out of Hamburg.