Ines Koval/ index

Everything I have written, filed by year.

18 essays and short notes on cities, tools and slow software. Search a title or pick a topic.

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City skyline at dusk seen across the water
Essay, 14 min

Walking a city until it makes sense

The longest thing I have written, and still the one readers send to friends.

White building corner against a pale sky
Note, 5 min

A short guide to owning fewer apps

Five rules I keep taped above my desk.

Archive

2026

5 entries
  1. Sep 14The bench outside the library is the best room in townCities6 min
  2. Aug 02A pencil, a ruler and nothing with a batteryTools4 min
  3. Jun 19Notes on reading slowly in a fast yearReading8 min
  4. Apr 07Why I stopped syncing everythingSoftware5 min
  5. Feb 11Street signs that explain themselvesCities7 min

2025

5 entries
  1. Nov 23The joy of a text file that never changesSoftware3 min
  2. Sep 30What carpenters know about deadlinesCraft9 min
  3. Jul 16Twelve bridges, one afternoonCities6 min
  4. May 04Buying books by the metreReading5 min
  5. Mar 12A desk that fits one projectTools4 min

2024

4 entries
  1. Dec 01The last good calendar appSoftware7 min
  2. Oct 08Sanding by hand, and other slow winsCraft6 min
  3. Jul 22Night trains and the art of arrivingCities10 min
  4. Mar 15Margins, in books and in plansReading4 min

2023

4 entries
  1. Nov 04Starting a notebook on the first of the monthTools3 min
  2. Aug 27Concrete, rain and the smell of a new cityCities5 min
  3. Jun 10Software that tells you when it is finishedSoftware6 min
  4. Jan 18Learning joinery from a library bookCraft8 min