文章探讨了如何通过增加城市环境的视觉多样性来提升人们的记忆力和美观度。作者指出，密集城市和公园等区域由于建筑和景观的多样性，已经具备了较好的视觉环境，而郊区和一些单调的城市则缺乏视觉刺激。文章提出，利用视觉艺术装饰街道墙壁或创建地下隧道网络，并在隧道墙壁上绘制丰富的图像，可以有效解决这个问题。此外，文章还建议将地下隧道网络设计成网格状，并与地面连接，以方便人们步行和骑行，同时保持隧道内的温度稳定。最后，文章探讨了如何通过规范和资助视觉艺术来提升城市美观度，并建议可以考虑合法化涂鸦，但需要设置一些限制条件，例如细节程度和重复图案等。

🎨提升城市环境的记忆力：文章指出，视觉环境的多样性有助于人们记忆所见所闻，并提升城市美观度。密集城市和公园等区域由于建筑和景观的多样性，已经具备了较好的视觉环境，而郊区和一些单调的城市则缺乏视觉刺激。

🚧利用视觉艺术提升城市环境：文章建议利用视觉艺术装饰街道墙壁或创建地下隧道网络，并在隧道墙壁上绘制丰富的图像，以增加城市环境的视觉多样性。然而，街道墙壁多为私人建筑物，获得许可可能存在困难。

🚇构建地下隧道网络：文章提出，在城市中构建地下隧道网络，并在隧道墙壁上绘制丰富的图像，可以有效解决城市环境单调的问题。隧道网络的设计应形成网格状，与地面连接，方便人们步行和骑行，并保持隧道内的温度稳定。

🎨规范涂鸦艺术：文章探讨了如何通过规范和资助视觉艺术来提升城市美观度，并建议可以考虑合法化涂鸦，但需要设置一些限制条件，例如细节程度和重复图案等，以鼓励多样性和创造力。

💰公共资金支持视觉艺术：文章认为，相比于严格限制或完全禁止涂鸦，公共资金支持视觉艺术，例如在隧道中进行艺术创作，可能是一种更有效、更经济的方式来提升城市环境的美观度。

Published on November 24, 2024 10:16 PM GMT

Moving thru a visually-varied environment helps you remember what you think, say, and hear. Adding visual variety to an area thus aids the memories of those passing thru it, and, on average, makes it look nicer. Dense cities, especially those with mixed-use zoning, already have many mutually-distinct buildings. Some other small areas, like parks, are similarly intricate. Suburbs and blander cities, however, are mostly dull arrays of streets and houses. We can do better.

Visual art can be almost arbitrarily detailed and unique. If we cover walls around streets with visual art, the problem is solved. However, most walls around streets are the outer walls of buildings, most of which are privately owned, only some of which would approve of adding lots of art. Putting art on the street-ground itself helps, but people moving outside look to the sides more than down (citation needed), and getting walked on, cycled on, and driven over could wear away the paint (or equivalent).

In much of the US, urban and (even more so) suburban streets are, regrettably, dominated by automobiles. Ideally, we would use automobiles a lot less. But, for a probably-effective stopgap: invite walking and cycling in an underground network of tunnels. Artificial underground space can get dreary, but a tunnel necessarily has walls, all of which could be delightfully coated with a wild assortment of images, completely solving my current concern. Tunnels would also be thermally insulated from the above world, and so have more stable, pleasant temperatures — especially important when moving without enclosed vehicles.

Much as it may be putting pedals before handlebars to design them in such detail:

the tunnels should form a grid, ideally triangular, or else in squares or parallelogramsthe above world should connect to the tunnels near grid intersections, and maybe other spotsintersections should cut rounded corners for visibility, especially if tunnels allow cyclingtunnel-segments should extend 20 to 100 metres between grid-intersectionstunnels should be 1.5 to 5 metres wide

Good art — at least, good-enough-art — could come from graffiti, if legalised with the right caveats, like

at most so much detail in one spot (encourage spreading out)at most so close two repeats of a design (encourage variety)keep it family-friendly to at least such a standard

Enforcing elaborate rules on graffiti is harder and more expensive than prohibiting graffiti is harder and more expensive than allowing all graffiti. It may end up easier and cheaper to prohibit all graffiti and publicly fund visual art for tunnels.

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