Cities like London, Amsterdam and Rome bloom like vivid living organisms in a series of creative road network visualizations, each one as unique as a snowflake. The individual shapes of cities have just as much to do with these arteries multiplying into wispy branches as they do geography, topography and architecture, notes data scientist Craig Taylor, and when they’re rendered in color and animated, they take on an unexpected abstract beauty.

The animations represent how far you can drive out of various city centers within thirty minutes. Taylor chose the “top 40 places to live” as indicated by the Mercer Livability Index as his subjects. The time-drive analysis is based on “an optimistic view” of zero traffic. Taylor began with the U.K. before creating a visualization for the European Union and another for the top 10 world’s most livable cities of 2018.

“For the past six months I have been fascinated by the concept of making city networks look like living corals,” says Taylor. “The varying patterns of urban forms are inherently dictated by their road network; a complex, seemingly organic connection of links moving people across their city. Like branches of coral they have a pattern and a function, I chose to expose this pattern and manipulate it to become something far more conceptual. However, whilst being incredibly beautiful they are derived from various geo-spatial analysis of drive-times catchments making them somewhat informative as well.”

The project comes to life in two animated videos, and it’s also available as a high-resolution poster. Taylor goes into detail about how the visualizations were created at Towards Data Science.

These traffic safety cones manage to rise above their innate urban utility by virtue of some – dare we say ‘iconic’ – conic characteristics.

Wat Rong Khun (White Temple) in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand is truly a work in progress: construction began in 1997 and is, at press time, ongoing with no end in sight. Nevertheless, tourists are welcome to visit the Buddhism-themed art exhibit designed and owned by eccentric Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat but park VERY carefully… or else! Flickr members jay joslin (moonbird) and Bill Vriesema (bvriesem) snapped some of the White Temple complex’s many spooky skull-headed traffic cones in May of 2012 and July of 2015, respectively.

Black Is The New Orange

When it comes to those most solemn of occasions, a garish day-glo orange traffic cone simply will not do. In keeping with the primary function of safety cones, however, the example above sports a bone-white (sorry) central section with contrasting black lettering and a cross. Presumably “funeral cones” displaying Greek Orthodox crosses, Stars of David, the Islamic Star & Crescent and the Flying Spaghetti Monster lie await in storage. Flickr member Andreas-photography captured this rather funereal funeral cone from Essex, UK, in October of 2008.

A Cone With a Peel

Expect something magical when visiting the Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA… or at least, expect unexpectedly cute safety cones. This cleverly designed cone evokes the old trope of careless cartoon characters slipping on banana peels – does that ever even happen in real life? Flickr member junaidrao captured this banana peel cone poolside in May of 2017.

Here’s another a-peel-ing safety cone, saved for photographic posterity in front of the Jamba Juice kiosk at Downtown Disney District. Flickr member Sam Howzit was impressed by its presence in December of 2015. We hope Sam didn’t spill his juice (or himself) while trying to get the perfect shot.

Conic Image Search

TIL Google has their own traffic cones… and they’re WAY cheesier than anyone could imagine! OK, points for representing the primary colors of the omnipresent search engine’s logo (well, kinda) but geez, guys, with all your moolah is this really the best you could do? Flickr member Simon Law (sfllaw) couldn’t resist recording this group of Google chromes, er, cones in Mountain View South, CA, back in November of 2006.

Gold @ Gray’s

So the “How to Enjoy Traffic Cones” reception was a thing, who knew? Someone knew enough to customize some traffic cones, mind you, because boring old orange plastic cones would look so out of place at a swanky “reception” featuring traffic cones, amiright? Flickr member chashama Inc. photo-documented the October 2nd, 2009 collaborative exhibition held near the former midtown NYC location of Gray’s Papaya at Eighth Avenue and 37th Street.

“Invariably unique, eye-catching and unpredictable, traffic cones are almost art. Like sculpture, their primary function is to be looked at.” So stated Erik Sanner, event organizer and King Kone. Can we call him that, cuz that would be awesome, just like these golden safety cones. Flickr member Nick Normal caught one of the blinged-up beauties with the sadly-departed Gray’s Papaya in the background. Thanks Nick, now we’re hangry!

Beltway Lament

Indeed, no one should be judged by the color of their, uh, anything but this cone from The Nation’s Capitol proclaims its protest publicly… and pointedly. Flickr member Daniel Lobo (Daquella manera) caught this cone standing up for non-human rights way back in 2009… years before folks started hating on orange.

Corny Cones

How sweet it is… both Candy Corn and this group of traffic cones apparently tinted to match the much-reviled perennial Halloween “treat”. Flickr member Bill Couch came across this curious crop of Candy Corn traffic cones in October of 2009 while seeing the sights of Washington D.C. In related news, Candy Corn traffic cones are a sight worth seeing in Washington D.C.

Flickr member thisisbossi snapped a Candy Corn cone in Washington D.C.’s historic district of Kalorama Triangle, and on October 31st yet! The close-up shot doesn’t indicate whether this was a solitary example or part of a larger group of cones. Either way, you wouldn’t want to lick it – tooth decay would be the least of your problems.

Dick or Jerry?

Obviously, the trio of bright orange safety cones above was meant to be deployed near dangerous levees in Holland… according to my wife, Morgan Fairchild. Yeah, that’s the traffic ticket! Seriously though, where would one actually use cones bearing such an “interesting” legend? A local Pride Parade, perhaps? Flickr member Capes Treasures‘ link to a presumed proprietary website comes up 404 so we’ll have to settle on the ol’ leaky Dutch seawall explanation. Mind yer fingers!

Ground Floor

“The Wet Floor Sign That Wanted To Be a Traffic Cone” would make a great children’s book, according to Flickr member J.G. Park. Since turnabout is fair play, somewhere there’s an orange traffic cone plopped in the middle of an accidental puddle at some supermarket. The wannabe cone was snapped in 2016 while prompting double-takes from folks in Columbia, Missouri.

I Coneface

Whomever drew the scowling visage on the orange traffic cone above needs to be in an artist’s studio, not outside directing traffic or working on some anonymous construction project. Flickr member Rob Swystun zoomed in for an up close & personal view in May of 2012 while prowling the gritty city streets of Winnipeg, Canada… and you can bet he’s not sorry.

Designed to appear and disappear in response to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, this pedestrian crossing solution aims to make people safer through dynamic activation.

The interactive surface sits below high-impact plastic panels with lights triggered by monitoring cameras using smart technologies. The cameras identify crossing needs and adjust accordingly, lighting up zebra stripes that can widen at busy times of day (and widening them for particularly heavy foot traffic).

Like more sophisticated versions of traffic signals, the system can adapt and change as needed, instructing drivers when to yield or simply stop altogether. It can also be used to alert people to sudden shifts or unexpected obstacles, like a ball rolling into the street. Illumination levels can also be varied for maximum visibility by day and at night.

A recent full-scale prototype was deployed in West London by Umbrellium, a company founded by Usman Haque, who explains that “The pedestrian crossing that we know hasn’t really be updated since the 1940s, and these days we inhabit our cities in quite a different way. We have mobile phones in our hands that distract us, and our relationship to the city is very different.”

“The pedestrian crossing one of the most complex moments of interaction that almost everyone experiences on a daily basis. It’s that one moment where you’re actually negotiating with others as well as potentially as with big chunks of metal. We’re trying to create pattern sequences that unfold quite calmly so nobody’s surprised, it’s definitely not about distracting people, and the graphics themselves or notions on the surface look very familiar.”

“What we’ve tried to avoid telling people is that you must go here and that this is your area, but instead highlight the relationships between the people that are present in and around the crossing.” The goal is not to solve all crossing and street-related movement problems in one go, but to iterate on the design and figure out what solutions optimize for traffic flow as well as safety.

It’s time to pay tribute to parking meters, those metal “trees” of the concrete jungle that have collected billions of coins over eight decades of service.

Parking meters have been fixtures of the urban street scene since the first of 150 “Black Maria” meters was installed on the corner of First Street and Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City exactly 82 years ago today. The so-called “curbstone parking automats” (see photo caption above) were quickly embraced by retailers who watched their sales increase as day-long street parkers vacated choice parking spaces in favor of actual shoppers.

Park Hair

Space reserved for Jayne Mansfield? OK, that was in poor taste but still – Flickr member Lulu Vision thought this “only in S.F. moment” was worth capturing and we must agree. Parking meters have evolved over the decades but they don’t get much respect. Even so, you don’t have to be one of those “that cloud looks like Elvis” types to see the winking blonde plying her trade on the streets of San Francisco.

Wait, so putting wigs on parking meters is a thing now? Flickr member Tofu (tofuart) snapped the black-wigged meter above in September of 2013 while strolling along South of Market, San Francisc… aha, now we get it: wigging out the parking meters is a ‘Frisco thing. Whew!

Don’t Be Carless, Help The Homeless

The turnover from analog to digital parking meters left many municipalities with hundreds of obsolete meters. What to do? Well, if you’re the city of Montreal you re-install those meters with a new purpose: collecting donations to support the homeless.

Dubbed “ParcoDon” and instituted in 2007, the program saw 70 obsolete parking meters dolled-up and decorated by local celebrities and organizations. The artwork helped members of the public discern the difference between an actual parking meter and a ParcoDon meter, with roughly $23,000 being collected over the program’s first three years.

Never mind the irony of meters once used to charge drivers to park now helping to support citizens who can’t afford a home, much less a car. Oh hey, looks like the idea’s catching on – the images above hail from Miami, Florida and Pasadena, California, respectively.

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No Quarter Parking Meters Pimped To Perfection

A Chinese transportation company behind a lane-straddling bus design (which passes over lanes rather than occupying them) is moving from scale to full-sized test models this summer. The plan is to introduced fully-functional models of these “land airbuses” to (or: above) the streets of Beijing over the next few years.

The inspiration for this seemingly-novel design dates back to a 1960s “Landliner” proposed for New York City that would likewise ride on side rails adjacent to roadways. Cars would simply pass beneath the buses uninterrupted, moving faster than the bus in high traffic and allowing the bus to move over traffic jams. Such a system would be a fraction of the cost and effort compared to subway systems or even raised railways.

In China, these new buses would hold up to 1,400 passengers each and cruise at up to 40 miles per hour, which sounds slow until you consider they do not have to stop for traffic. Running on electricity, these designs would reduce the need for conventional buses and cut polluting emissions. As a cyberpunk bonus: cars passing beneath these vehicles will see digital simulations of the sky above.

For now, Transit Explore Bus is constructing a life-size model in Changzhou. This will allow real-time testing with actual cars, intersections and infrastructure, facilitating further refinements and eventual street deployments. For a country with serious pollution and traffic problems, this kind of solution could be just what is needed – for each new super-bus, 40 ordinary buses can be taken off the roads.