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- Today's Moment of Idealistic Naivete: Wikileaks: http://wp.me/pCprU-mB 2 years ago
- Ending the War on Drugs: http://wp.me/pCprU-mw 2 years ago
- Twilight Of The Suburbs, Now Home To One-Third Of America's Poor http://huff.to/bGZP7F 2 years ago
- U.S. Subways Harness Kinetic Power To Recycle Train Energy http://huff.to/bVsXvR 2 years ago
- America's Walk Deficit http://yhoo.it/dijIvg 2 years ago
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Recent Posts
- Today’s Moment of Idealistic Naivete: Wikileaks
- Ending the War on Drugs
- The Most Walkable Cities in the World
- It’s Where We Live
- Can Cities Feed Themselves?
- French Street Artist Wins TED Humanitarian Prize
- Dimanche Sans Voiture
- Are Brussels and Los Angeles Sister Cities?
- Masdar begs the question: What exactly is meant by “a sustainable city?”
- Is Generation Y Passing on Cars?
- Can Cities Make Us Crazy?
- Stranger Studies 101: Cities as Interaction Machines
- Does New Orleans Have an Identity Crisis?
- Three Urban Interventions in Two Hours: NYC
- Cargo Bike Spotted…
Category Archives: Personal Experiences
Dimanche Sans Voiture
Car-Free Sunday, or Dimanche Sans Voiture, capped the 9th Annual Week of Mobility here in Brussels on 22 September, 2010. The goal is to encourage people to explore other modes of transportation, from various types of mass transit (trains, trams, … Continue reading
A Question of Nomenclature: What is a Neighborhood?
What, exactly, is a neighborhood? People on all sides of the urban conversation talk about neighborhoods, trotting them out to support everything from transit oriented development to the suburban status quo, from Smart Growth to no growth. Formal definitions vary, but few include criteria beyond a set of distinctive characteristics shared by a contiguous geographic area inhabited by people who behave neighborly. Which, despite its vagueness, sounds sensible enough. Imprecise, but sensible. And yet, when I think about the neighborhoods I’ve lived in, or spent time in, few of them fit even this ambiguous definition.
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Posted in Culture, History, Josh Grigsby, Nomenclature, Personal Experiences, Sarasota, urban design, urban planning, vernacular architecture, walkable, What if?
Tagged American urbanism, Back BAy, boston, Burns Square, Cambridge, city planning, community planning, convenience shopping, definition of neighborhood, electricity, Florida, Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, Harvard Square, Jane Jacobs, Laurel Park, Main Street, Margaritaville, Methyl Street, Mongols, Montana Avenue, neighborhood, neighborhood association, New Urbanism, Nomenclature, North End, Pacific Palisades, pedestrians, planning theory, Providence, Santa Monica, Sarasota, Siege of Baghdad, small town, Smart Growth, surburban, Tamiami Trail, tourists, Towles Court, transit-oriented development, urban, village, walkable, zoning
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3 Stories About Regional Architecture
Over at Inventing Green, Alexis Madrigal looks at the adoption of air-conditioners. He talks about how the rise of electrical cooling seems to have lead to a crash in regional building techniques.
“Of course, the use of air conditioning allowed homeowners to enjoy a new degree of comfort, but a goodly portion of the residential air-conditioning load simply replaced the comfort once provided — at little environmental cost — by good design,” Rome writes.
The whole thing put me in mind of three incidents that highlight the critical importance of a regional context in usable architecture. Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Livability, Personal Experiences, vernacular architecture
Tagged Alexis Madrigal, British Columbia, Canada, contextual sensitivity, Dalhousie, Earth Rangers Wildlife Center, Halifax, imported design, insulation, Inventing Green, Killam Library, LEED, Ontario, Quiet Babylon, regional architecture, regional building techniques, regional context, Salt Spring Island, thoughtful design, Tim Maly, vernacular architecture
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Coming Home: Stories of Simpler Times
You can’t ask an acquaintance if he had a good childhood. It’s too personal — and a potential can of worms. But we’re naturally curious, looking for clues about the situations that our friends come from. This interest comes out in questions like “What do your parents do?” “Are you close with your family?” “Have you been home recently?” and even the straightforward “Where are you from?”
But what does a “good childhood” mean anyway? Most upbringings are complicated; mixed bags. Most parents try their best, and all make mistakes.
Descriptions, whether words or images, of the physical spaces of our formative years hint at the relationships within. If these walls could talk, they’d tell tales long forgotten. Continue reading
