Bringing the human touch into our cities | Letters
Carlo Ratti’s welcome call for the humanising of urban public spaces (We used AI to analyse three cities,It’s true: we now walk more quickly and socialise less, 18 August) chimes well with Thomas Heatherwick’s latest series of Building Soul on Radio 4, where his prime concern is to encourage joy in our built environment,May I make the case for a too often overlooked space in the heart of Preston? Winckley Square is composed of largely Georgian townhouses that define an undulating park,In the mid-20th century, a public space was created with paths laid out in “desire lines” across the square,By the 21st century, repeated flooding under an overarching tree canopy made for a distinctively less inviting place.
But trees felled in the wake of the ash dieback disease, together with landscaping and rebuilt culverts, have had an enlightening effect,The gardens, looked after by the Friends of Winckley Square, host a programme of social and heritage events,Now, associations with the likes of Gerard Manley Hopkins, the suffragette Edith Rigby, the graphic novelist Bryan Talbot and the Beano artist Leo Baxendale are being looked at, with a view to setting up links to explore their work and inspire contemporary writers,Austen LynchGarstang, Lancashire Carlo Ratti presents fascinating AI-generated data on how people use public open space, arguing that this can be used to design spaces better, and suggesting architects should use these AI tools,There are some truly outstanding public spaces designed by architects.
But the professionals best placed to use these tools, to evaluate the conditions and to design creatively in response, are landscape architects (or multidisciplinary teams that include landscape architects),Annie CoombsFellow of the Landscape Institute
UK carmakers claimed leaving EV sales rules unchanged would cost jobs and investment
Carmakers claimed that leaving electric car sales rules unchanged would threaten British jobs and cost them hundreds of millions of pounds, according to documents that show the private lobbying for a slower transition away from fossil fuels.BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Toyota claimed that rules forcing them to sell more electric cars each year would harm investment in the UK, according to responses to proposed changes submitted to the government. The responses were obtained by Fast Charge, a newsletter covering electric cars, and shared with the Guardian.JLR, the Land Rover maker, said leaving the rules unchanged would “materially damage UK producers’ ability to invest in vehicle lines”.The last Conservative government said last year that automotive manufacturers must sell an increasing proportion of electric cars each year, or else face steep fines, under rules known as the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate
More than 200,000 UK workers switch to four-day week since 2019
More than 100,000 workers in the UK have switched to a full-time four-day week since the pandemic, in a further sign of the revolution in the world of work inspired by Covid, according to an analysis.Nearly 1.4 million people said they worked full-time on four days of the week between October and December 2024, an increase of more than 100,000 compared with the same period in 2019, when 1.29 million reported this work schedule, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).Campaigners and some economists say a four-day week benefits workers by giving them more time to relax and putting less strain on their mental health, while helping businesses by making their staff more motivated and facilitating recruitment and retention
Trump says Intel has agreed to give US government a 10% stake
The US government has taken an unprecedented 10% stake in Intel under a deal with the struggling chipmaker and is planning more such moves, according to Donald Trump and the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, the latest extraordinary intervention by the White House in corporate America.Lutnick wrote on X: “BIG NEWS: The United States of America now owns 10% of Intel, one of our great American technology companies. Thanks to Intel CEO @LipBuTan1 for striking a deal that’s fair to Intel and fair to the American People.”Trump met with Lip-Bu Tan on Friday and posed for a photo with Lutnick. The development follows a meeting between Tan and Trump earlier this month that was sparked by the US president’s demand for the Intel chief’s resignation over his ties to Chinese firms
Elon Musk and X reach tentative settlement with laid-off Twitter staff
Elon Musk and his social media platform, X, reached a tentative settlement on Wednesday with former Twitter employees after a years-long legal battle over severance pay. Former staff had sought $500m in a proposed class action suit against the billionaire.A court filing released on Wednesday stated that both parties had reached a settlement agreement in principle and requested that a scheduled 17 September hearing in the case be postponed while they worked to finalize a deal. The filing did not disclose any details of the tentative agreement and it is unclear what level of compensation that former employees may receive.Former Twitter employees, led by Courtney McMillian and Ronald Cooper, alleged that the company failed to appropriately pay thousands of workers severance after conducting mass layoffs
US Open tennis day one: Raducanu and Shelton race through, Sabalenka wins – as it happened
We’ll call it a day on the blog. Of course, there’s still Novak Djokovic to come in the evening, up against Learner Tien, the Serbian targeting his first slam in two years. Cheers all for reading this and I’ll be back tomorrow for more.In case you missed it, here’s Tumaini Carayol’s report from Emma Raducanu’s very comfortable first-round win.This is fun, we’re on a final set tie-break between Alexandra Eala and 14th seed Clara Tauson
Olsen-Baker and Leti-I’iga injuries dampen win as New Zealand fly past Spain
New Zealand are up and running in their Rugby World Cup defence with a big win against Spain, but the victory was marred by injuries to Kaipo Olsen-Baker, who was helped off the pitch with a suspected ankle issue, and the star wing Ayesha Leti-I’iga. The Black Ferns finished with 13 players on the pitch.New Zealand’s director of performance, Allan Bunting, had no update on either player after the game as they are waiting for them to be assessed. The lock Alana Bremner said she was proud of how they adapted.Bremner said: “We were talking after and said ‘we didn’t realise we were 13 for a couple of minutes there’
‘It has cycled back around’: Brick Lane and Bradford fear a repeat of infamous far-right clashes
Silicon Valley is full of wealthy men who think they’re victims, says Nick Clegg
‘Why here?’: inside mid-Wales village where far-right figure has created a settlement
‘If I felt Zuckerberg and Sandberg were monsters, I wouldn’t have worked at Meta’: Nick Clegg on tech bros, AI and Starmer’s half measures
Checked out: Jenrick’s migrant hotel record haunts his rightwing bid for attention
David Lammy given warning after fishing with JD Vance without licence