Sapporo – From ski slopes to beer gardens, this dynamic destination is one of the best in Japan.
Sapporo, capital of the mountainous northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, is famous for its beer, skiing and annual Sapporo Snow Festival featuring enormous ice sculptures. The Sapporo Beer Museum traces the city’s brewing history and has tastings and a beer garden. Ski hills and jumps from the 1972 Winter Olympics are scattered within the city limits, and Niseko, a renowned ski resort, is nearby.
Moscow, on the Moskva River in western Russia, is the nation’s cosmopolitan capital. In its historic core is the Kremlin, a complex that’s home to the president and tsarist treasures in the Armoury. Outside its walls is Red Square, Russia’s symbolic center. It’s home to Lenin’s Mausoleum, the State Historical Museum’s comprehensive collection and St. Basil’s Cathedral, known for its colorful, onion-shaped domes.
Geneva is a city in Switzerland that lies at the southern tip of expansive Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). Surrounded by the Alps and Jura mountains, the city has views of dramatic Mont Blanc. Headquarters of Europe’s United Nations and the Red Cross, it’s a global hub for diplomacy and banking. French influence is widespread, from the language to gastronomy and bohemian districts like Carouge.
Shanghai, on China’s central coast, is the country’s biggest city and a global financial hub. Its heart is the Bund, a famed waterfront promenade lined with colonial-era buildings. Across the Huangpu River rises the Pudong district’s futuristic skyline, including 632m Shanghai Tower and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, with distinctive pink spheres. Sprawling Yu Garden has traditional pavilions, towers and ponds.
Walking along the scenic paths of Tiergarten from the Reichstag to the Soviet Memorial Site, Bellevue Palace, The Victory Column and visiting the Rose Garden.
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The Tiergarten translates as “animal garden,” name that came about when the park was once the private hunting ground of Prussian royalty. It is Berlin’s most popular inner-city park, located completely in the district of the same name. The park is 210 hectares (520 acres) in size and is among the largest urban gardens of Germany. Only the Tempelhofer Park (previously Berlin’s Tempelhof airport) and Munich’s Englischer Garten (See my other walking tour) are larger. Rising from the center of the garden is the 230-foot (70-meter) high Victory Column. Originally erected in front of the Reichstag building in the 19th century, it was moved to its current location by Hitler and as a result was spared from destruction at the end of World War II. Climb the 285 steps to the viewing platform for an uninterrupted view over Berlin. Look north to see Bellevue Palace, south for the embassy district and zoo, east to the Brandenburg Gate and west for Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace). Date recorded: September, 2020 Weather: ⛅ 26C | 79F
Andrew Tuck is joined by Carolyn Steel, author of ‘Sitopia’, and urban epidemiologist Tolullah Oni, who unpack the lessons for our cities from 2020. Plus: Jan Gehl brings us some inspiration and hope for what’s ahead.
Podgorica is the capital city of Montenegro. Its rivers and bridges include the modern Millennium Bridge over the Morača River, and the stone bridge spanning the Ribnica River. The centuries-old Clock Tower, built by the Turks, dominates the old town. In the Zeta-Skadar valley south of the city, Lake Skadar National Park is home to medieval monasteries, beaches, and birds like the Dalmatian pelican.
Montenegro is a Balkan country with rugged mountains, medieval villages and a narrow strip of beaches along its Adriatic coastline. The Bay of Kotor, resembling a fjord, is dotted with coastal churches and fortified towns such as Kotor and Herceg Novi. Durmitor National Park, home to bears and wolves, encompasses limestone peaks, glacial lakes and 1,300m-deep Tara River Canyon.
Zoox Unveils Autonomous, Fully-Functional Taxi Of The Future. It can operate for 16 hours straight on a single charge, without the need for a driver.
Video timeline: 00:00 Preview 02:12 Production 03:55 How it works 08:26 Design story 12:19
Testing and AR After getting acquired by Amazon in the middle of this year, Zoox unveils its first fully functional, electric autonomous vehicle. The company, which is an independent subsidiary under Amazon, said that this driverless taxi is designed for dense and urban environments.
According to the release, Zoox was founded in 2014 and used a combination of artificial intelligence, robotics, vehicle design, and sustainable energy to reinvent personal transportation. They envision a safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable future for everyone. Zoox robotaxi has a carriage design and can accommodate up to four passengers seated face-to-face. Yes, there isn’t any steering wheel as the taxi is completely driverless. Apart from that, it can reach speeds of up to 75 miles per hour (121 kilometers per hour), as well as offers bidirectional capabilities and four-wheel steering. At only 3.63 meters (12 feet) long, it is compact enough to fit tight spaces and can change directions without the need to reverse. Power comes from a 133 kWh battery, which allows Zoox’s robotaxi to operate for 16 straight hours on a single charge. This battery capacity is one of the biggest available in the market as of date.
Apart from those, the Zoox autonomous taxi is claimed to bear 100 safety features that aren’t found on normal vehicles with drivers. These tech toys include an envelope airbag for carriage seating, touted as an equivalent to a five-star crash safety rating for all four seats. The vehicle also uses a combination of cameras, radar, and LIDAR to have a 270-degree field of view on all four corners of the vehicle, virtually eliminating all blind spots. The Zoox driverless taxi is currently in its testing phase in Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Foster City.
Urban life is humankind’s biggest experiment to date, our cities are constantly evolving and adapting to climate and economy. The cities we have today are not necessarily the ones we need, but big and small innovation is rethinking visions of urbanization.
Together with pioneering research and design agency SPACE10, we present future-orientated design which enhances quality of life and makes our urban spaces more vibrant.
As technology and urban life edge ever closer, The Ideal City explores the ambitious actions and initiatives being brought to life across the globe to meet tomorrow’s demand in clever, forwarding-thinking ways. From pedestrian infrastructure to housing, the book uncovers what is being discussed at the forefront of urbanism through expert essays and profiles.
SPACE10 is a Copenhagen-based research and design agency that is on a mission to enable a better everyday life for people and the planet. They specialize in innovation and future-living, often presenting models both for urban spaces or food that could lead to me a more sustainable future.
Aerial footage of Santa Monica. Featuring: Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica Ferris Wheel, the boardwalk, and downtown Santa Monica.
Santa Monica is a coastal city west of downtown Los Angeles. Santa Monica Beach is fringed by Palisades Park, with views over the Pacific Ocean. Santa Monica Pier is home to the Pacific Park amusement park, historic Looff Hippodrome Carousel and Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. Next to the pier is Muscle Beach, an outdoor gym established in the 1930s. In the city center, Bergamot Station houses several art galleries.
Boomers Daily 