Recent notes

Reading a city by its shade

The shortest path is rarely the route people actually take at noon. They trace the cool edge of a building, cross beneath a row of young trees, and wait where an awning borrows a little space from the pavement.

Draw only those choices and a second map appears: seasonal, informal, and more honest about how a street is used.

The useful life of a paper map

A screen excels at the next instruction. A paper map is better at the whole afternoon. It shows the river bending back toward the railway, the park two neighbourhoods away, and all the plausible mistakes between here and there.

Signals at the edge of the platform

Good stations repeat themselves without becoming noisy. A colour returns on the wall, then on a column, then at the stair. The traveller does not need to read every sign; the pattern carries part of the explanation.