Artist and musician Zach Katz virtually transforms the streets of the world's major cities in order to show how the space could be made more hospitable to pedestrians. Every day, he posts new creations on his Twitter account and, in the space of a few weeks, has become something of a star among internet users, city planners and politicians.
How do we imagine the downtown zones of the future? The Twitter account @Betterstreetsai explores this question by using DALL-E, the artificial intelligence (AI) that has started a real trend on the web. Here, fountains, green space, rails or even roads reserved for bikes and cyclists take over the space to dramatically change the urban landscape.
Behind this account is the artist and musician Zach Katz, who thinks up alternatives to give more space to pedestrians in urban zones. He shares his creations via the account created specially for this purpose on July 20, 2022. His very first image focused on his own street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York. The asphalt was replaced by a paved street with a fountain in its center.
Considering the results of this beneficial experience, the artist now envisages continuing the initiative more seriously by visualizing other such changes in a variety of cities, mainly in the United States and Australia. As such, Adelaide, Sydney, Boston or even Los Angeles are all destined for some fascinating transformations.
"Visualizing things is the most powerful way to effect change," the 28-year-old told Bloomberg CityLab.
Underneath the posts, comments are pouring in asking him to create custom designs. Mayor Ryan Sorenson of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, even sent him a tweet.
“Council members and urban planners from all over the country seem to be very inspired by the images,” said Zach Katz. But is it enough to spur them into action?
