UrbanScape: Balmain, Sydney

Apart from going to the market, another great way of spending a sunny Sunday in Sydney would be going on an urban tour in the suburbia. This is from a few months ago when I bumped my way into Balmain. I have to say I quite like this place. A little peninsula overseeing Sydney Harbour yet, at the same time, quite secluded from the City. And I vaguely remembered a local man called me an 'urban tourist' or something.

UrbanScape: Canberra

I do have much better photos of Canberra than this (Yes contrary to many of your expectations, there is some beautiful scenery in Canberra). But with this photo, I'd like to say, Canberra is much more appropriate a city to promote cycling and implement whatever grand cycleway plans and ambitions than Sydney! With its smaller population and scale of commercial activities, Canberra definitely has a great potential to be a real eco-city (Well, cities like Sydney should try their best to be green too of course).

Canberra should be Australia's Portland!

That will vitalise the city a bit!

Under the Ground We Stand: See What We Don’t See

I dare you go down!

At least go somewhere different. See something we don’t normally see.

It all started when my friend asked me out of blue:

“Let’s go to St James Lake!”

“Where is St James Lake?”

“Underneath St James in the city.”

“O_O”

UrbanScape: Valparaiso, Chile

Source: Escape - The Sunday Telegraph

Yup I do steal images that I think are appealing from other sources. Loving the colours and the vibrancy they create for this little, probably historic as well, neighbourhood. Reminds me a little bit of the eastern suburbs in Sydney, thought I am sure this place has a more interesting story to it.

Bikes in the City

More like, bike lanes and bike racks in the City of Sydney…

Continuing from the controversial extensive bike lane invasion, apparently City of Sydney is giving the incentive of increased floor space to developers to build more bike racks in their new apartment buildings in the City instead of car space. Only one in six apartment units will get a car space, while all will be ensured a bike rack.

Source: News.com.au. Click here to read an article on the inquiry to potentially remove bike lanes in the City



Good move Clover for sustainability to get people’s butts off their cars! Bad move in delivering effective and efficient service to people!

UrbanScape: Newcastle

Nice apartment buildings. What more can I say?

UrbanScape: Guangzhou 1

Had trouble selecting which photos to post. So I might post all of them eventually. China has undergone enormous development, be it planned or unplanned. High density living is more than common. (However, there also is a high level of Greenfield low density development which I will post later.)

And guess what, this is the neighbourhood I grew up in. The small building with red-tile roof in the bottom left section is my primary school. My place is not from the left corner. The large white building in the front is a hospital. My place is surrounded by more than 10 hospitals within 1~2 kilometres. Contrast to Australia much? In terms of physical forms, facilities and density of living as well as people's perception of such things.

UrbanScape: Adelaide

With the absence of a world renowned skyline like Sydney's, Adelaide here in this photo is showing an interesting view of roof-tops as well as a hybridity of history and modern development and the concept of 'nature'.

P.s. Cycling around the city of Adelaide is a joy! And it is free! Absolutely recommending :)

UrbanScape: Melbourne

Introducing my new image collection of urban landscape - UrbanScape - starting with Melbourne. Loving the combination of all the elements in this photo, taken last winter, the road, the cars, the trees, the tram stop, the buildings, the lights, the river bank and even, the bus stop ad board! In short, Melbourne has this modern and open vibe that Sydney doesn't have. More to come!

Welcome!

WELCOME!

In an attempt to integrate my passion and profession and any other things on my plate, I am starting this blog as a platform of cross-disciplinary experiment, commentary and portfolio. While my passion lies within graphic design and media, I am studying town planning with a focus on sustainable development. I believe these two seemingly different yet connected disciplines will complement each other and create positive outcomes of no precedent.

Please feel free to contact me on nathanliooo@gmail.com for any inquiries.

p.s. I do like to use big words and phrases sometimes like I just did to make things sound significant!