Salut, #Mastodon!

O să fac acest #introduction în engleză ca să înțeleagă toată lumea.

I am new to Mastodon, but not to the #Fediverse. I'm usually found at @petrescatraian@libranet.de, but the node has been down for almost a week already, so I decided I would try this thing out as well. The onboarding process seems to have gone pretty smoothly so far, which is quite cool. And holly cow, I have 10000 chars here, this is nice, I love it.

I am a #Romanian dude from Bucharest who likes #photography, but also staying in touch with the latest #news about #internationalpolitics and all the events that occur on this sphere of dirt and water that we live on. I'm trying to be as neutral as possible on these events, but it doesn't mean I won't also be a bit biased sometimes, albeit mostly involuntarily.

I also like #history a lot, as I studied it in college, and lately I began having a passion for #goodurbanism and #citiesforpeople and good #publictransit. #Trains, #trams and other rolling stock is just fascinating!

Want a better planet or a nicer city? Plant more #Trees ! In the book "Walkable City Rules", Jeff Speck argues that planting trees is one of the best things you can do: "There is no better use of public funds than planting more trees".

Trees provide shade, reduce summer heat, reduce flooding, absorb pollution, and even increase property values! What a wallop

Does your local area have a #TreePlantingClub ? Consider joining!

This year I started counting how many trees, perennials, and other habitat-creating plants I have been planting each year, to encourage myself to plant more. Do you plant trees? How do you do it?

#introduction Hello! I am a Zone 3 gardener who loves #permaculture , planting trees, and trying to grow food forests. I love #BuildingScience and learning how to fix or improve my house. Lately I have been getting into passive house design, insulation, and #resilience - reducing our house energy use, conserving water with rain barrels, etc.

I'm a fan of #Homesteading but also #GoodUrbanism - constructing buildings with local materials and traditional techniques so they can be cheaper, last longer, be more resilient, and better for the planet. For example #RammedEarth walls and thatch roofs. I write book reviews and longer notes on https://brownfoxff.substack.com/

Re Above all, keep cars out. Canals are good at that. Like in the medieval center of Alkmaar, which had 10,000 living on a 0.56km² sandbar. Not a place to pass through, but a place to stay. Narrow streets for people are #GoodUrbanism.

https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1296486342029987840

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Re If possible, dig your canals wide enough to let people keep houseboats on them. Not for everyone, but it is an easy way to make interesting use of urban space. Houseboats, as here in Amsterdam, are #GoodUrbanism.

https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1296483753909465088 #Amsterdam

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Not every city can be lucky enough to have a spot by the ocean or a lake, but a thousand times as many can at least build canals throughout and around. Here's Utrecht, gold standard Dutch #GoodUrbanism

https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1296480659914067970

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Re Riquewihr is the textbook example of a "compact" development/city with long views into nature.

Wrath Of Gnon: The exceptionally well preserved and well planned 16th c. town of Riquewihr, Alsatia. #GoodUrbanism means protecting the surrounding countryside by clearly defined urban borders, preserving both the urban and the rural.

https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1295907757124489216

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Alleys and streets where greenery peeks over the walls are #GoodUrbanism. The shade makes walking more comfortable and lowers neighborhood temperatures in summer time = energy savings. https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1292317324796542977 #Tempe

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“You can't have a garden without fences”, and without them it is also becoming increasingly difficult to have a street. #GoodUrbanism means clearly defined limits and borders between the public and the private. #Kamakura, Japan.

https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1290247715809406977 #Japan

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Streets built for people not cars, plenty of greenery and walls for privacy even on small plots in densely populated cities. Don't pave more than necessary. Use the space for gardens and homes rather than parking and roads. #GoodUrbanism #Kamakura

https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1290180156296794113

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Heavy rail in a small city can easily be run as a single rail system. Its kinemativ envelope (a train's "personal space") is usually less than 3,8m, same as a normal lane in a street. We have no arguments about building streets, so why not dedicate one lane to rail? #GoodUrbanism

https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1289973061068845057 #Normal

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If you must have a grid pattern of streets or if main streets for some reason run parallel, stagger the connecting streets so as to calm traffic: a typical car should not move faster through these streets than a child can dash across them. #GoodUrbanism #TheHumanScale
https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1289966548929544192

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A perfect street. Walls are by far the easiest and the cheapest way to create a harmonious balance between the public and the private in a relatively densely populated city like Kamakura, Japan. Plots in this neighborhood are typically around 125m² (1345ft²). #GoodUrbanism
https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1289528995751444480 #Japan

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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the best street is curved, and that twice curved, it is twice improved. #GoodUrbanism #Kamakura
https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1289523540383772672

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Jingumae, Tokyo. #GoodUrbanism is human scaled, pedestrian, fine grained, small but not tiny, varied. All these photos from within 10m of a kindergarten. https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1174510663227412480

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The architecture is hideous but everything else about this street says "life": the curve, the human scale, the small buildings, the trees, flowers, and plants. This is a place to visit and a place to linger in. #GoodUrbanism #Tokyo #Omotesando https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1114450244899491840

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Some human scaled streets in Tokyo. Jingumae, Harajuku. #GoodUrbanism https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1041901198201081857

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Instagram user yannik_gaertner takes wonderful photos of trad. European urbanism. Here we see why you use stones on lower parts of walls: splashing rain would melt bricks in less than two or three centuries. We also see that gates are holy. Brugge is gold standard #GoodUrbanism. https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1285811884239667201 #Europe

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Re Back to small towns with big rail! The Strausberger Eisenbahn in Brandenburg, Germany, is a good example of #GoodUrbanism, it serves the town itself, but connects to the larger European rail network at its terminal. Opened in 1893, it is 6.2km serving 26,587 people. https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1285776608960278531 #Europe #Germany

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Re Moving to a slightly bigger town, Sóller, Mallorca, Spain, has a gorgeous tramway. Wrath Of Gnon: If we must have public transport in our cities make it as human scaled and low tech as possible. Small electric rolling stock running so often you do not need to bother with a time table (Sóller, Mallorca, population 14,148). #GoodUrbanism https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1285439885524914177 #Spain

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