Roman Mars didn’t have the COVID-19 pandemic in mind when he first pitched the idea of a book that explores the origins and stories of things that make cities work.
But as the pandemic and lockdown measures became bigger parts of people’s lives, his book, The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design, became a “strange book of the moment.”
The cover of Mars’s book The 99% Invisible City. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
“In this moment when we can’t go to far-flung cities and other countries and marvel at the cool things that they have there, you really can look at the everyday things right outside your door and marvel at those instead,” he told The Current‘s Matt Galloway.
The book, which he co-authored with Kurt Kohlstedt, is based on his podcast 99% Invisible, which explores and exposes some of the overlooked aspects of design and architecture from around the world. The book hit stores this past October.
He says the podcast, which launched in 2010 as a collaborative project between San Francisco public radio station KALW and the American Institute of Architects, encourages listeners to notice the good design choices “made by usually smart people to make our lives better.”
“It’s a lovely way to navigate the world because it’s really easy to get caught up in the bad design and the things that aren’t working and ignore the 99 per cent of things that are working really well for you and making life better,” he said.
He called his book a field guide to the “cool stories behind everyday things that are right outside your doorstep.” It shines a light on some of the unsung heroes of a good urban environment, from power grids and fire escapes to drinking fountains and street signs.
Plaques and statues
One group of items Mars addresses are historical markers such as statues, monuments and plaques.
Plaques in particular can be found anywhere from the sides of buildings and homes to on park benches. And Mars says it’s always worth reading the tidbits of information etched on them.
“There’s an information layer about the built world that’s sitting right there in front of you,” he said. “They just tell you something to get you started and get you intrigued.”
Mars says plaques, such as this one commemorating scientist Ignaz Phillip Semmelweis in Vienna, Austria, are always worth reading — and interrogating. (Alex Halada/AFP via Getty Images)
But Mars emphasized that they must be recognized as “a reflection of the time that the plaque was erected, rather than the time that they’re depicting.”
“[For example], a lot of the Civil War monuments in the American South were erected in the 1920s and ’30s as a tool of oppression, even though they’re commemorating a time in the 1860s,” he said.
Nonetheless, Mars believes they should be used as a gateway to research.
“They’re worth interrogating,” he said. “You should always read the plaque, but you shouldn’t always believe everything on the plaque.”
Voting with your feet
Historical markers aren’t the only design details people have used to spark public conversations. Another way people have done so is through desire paths, which are typically created by foot traffic following a path other than the paved trail.
“When somebody sees that piece of grass tramped down, they also tramp down on it, and it sort of creates this dirt path,” he said.
Mars says these paths are an example of “people voting with their feet” and an “intersection and a conversation” about how a public space was designed, versus how it’s used.
“It’s worth paying attention to desire paths because we could learn how to use those spaces better if we pay attention to people that use them,” he said.
Toronto’s raccoon war
Not every design detail was born of human-to-human interactions; some focus on our interactions with other animals.
Take Toronto’s raccoon-proof compost bins, which were rolled out by the city in 2016 as a way to prevent raccoons from pillaging through residents’ food waste.
In his book, Mars highlights the latch on Toronto’s green bins, which were designed to prevent raccoons from pillaging through residents’ compost waste. (Paul Borkwood/CBC)
Toronto director of collections and litter operations declared at the time that “there’s not a raccoon that’s gotten into it yet.” But some residents said the animals were able to dislodge the bin’s special raccoon-proof lock just enough to open it.
Mars says the evolution of raccoon-proof technology tells a story about our values and our war with these animals that have thrived in our cities.
“It’s a nice sort of cold war of escalation of the arms race” between humans and raccoons, he said. “So to me that is hilarious.”
Looking ahead
Unsurprisingly, Mars has spent time in the pandemic noticing some of the changes that have been implemented as a result of social distancing and lockdown measures, from Plexiglas panes in stores to pieces of tape on the floor that guide consumers where to stand in line.
As the world continues to battle the coronavirus, Mars wonders what the place of COVID-inspired design choices such as Plexiglas will be in a post-pandemic world. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)
He says he was surprised at how quickly many of these changes were implemented, and is interested in seeing what sticks in a pre-pandemic world.
But as cities across the world continue to deal with the pandemic, Mars says it’s important for people to recognize that there are a lot of things working in your favour, “even when things in the world seem broken.”
“Cities have always been through lots of changes, and I do think that cities will survive,” he said.
“I think it resets my mind a little bit to think about the care that goes into making the world…. I’ve become a much more optimistic person through the production of this show just because of that; just noticing that people care, they’re trying hard and they’re making stuff and they’re making stuff for me.”
Written by Mouhamad Rachini. Produced by Idella Sturino.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
