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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…
Tag Archives: community
Thoughts on Private Property: Or, Have I Got a Bridge in Brooklyn to Sell You
Yesterday’s post got me thinking—how has the American notion of private property shaped our culture? How has it shaped our cities? Our transportation networks? Our communities? Our ability to respond to climate change and environmental concerns? I remember reading a caption on a wall mural while waiting in line at Ikea that said Sweden doesn’t view land as private property, so one can walk anywhere one desires in Sweden and not worry about trespassing. The outdoor world most Americans experience is mostly limited to roads, sidewalks, parks, and a small number of backyards. Do away with private land ownership and the way we interact with the land changes fundamentally. I don’t know how true the Ikea caption is or how absolutely it is practiced, but I don’t imagine the Swedes have an epidemic of peeping toms or home invasions.
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Posted in Culture, Josh Grigsby, Livability, Neighbors, Placemaking, Rants, Response Pieces, Sustainability, What if?
Tagged american, antisocial, autocracy, balance, british, capitalism, Climate Change, colonialism, communism, community, Dutch, eminent domain, empires, europe, governance, green urbanism, ikea, individual rights, lenape, manhattan, napoleonic, private property, property rights, real estate, social darwinism, social mobility, spanish, sweden, tim beatley, zoning
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Fitter, Happier, More Productive: The Health, Social, and Economic Benefits of Bikes
Riding a bike makes people and cities fitter, happier, and more productive. Don’t believe me? Here are oodles of studies that prove what common sense should already tell us. Continue reading
Posted in Auto Independence, can bicycles save the world?, Climate Change, Culture, human scale, Livability, Placemaking, Sustainability, Transportation, Uncategorized, urban design, urban planning, walkable, What if?
Tagged bicycles, bike boulevards, bikes, can bicycles save the world?, community, economics, health, impact of cycling
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Urban Renewal Through Public Art?
Yesterday’s post on the extraordinary rice paddy art of the Japanese village of Inakadate got me thinking about the power and purpose of art, public art in particular. Japan’s well-documented generational flight from the country to the city has gutted many rural communities that will likely become ghost towns once their predominantly elderly inhabitants pass on, and forgotten completely once their buildings rot. Yet here is Inakadate, drawing 150,000+ visitors annually to a village of fewer than 9000 residents 400 miles from Tokyo to stare out a tower window at rice paddies. Such is the power of art.
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Posted in architecture, art, Culture, Josh Grigsby, Local Inspiration, Placemaking, Uncategorized, What if?
Tagged architecture, artistic intervention, Banksy, chalk art, civic graffiti, community, displacement, folk architecture, horticulture, inakadate, inclusiveness, Jane Jacobs, Jordan Downs, murals, Orgosolo murals, public art, rice paddy art, sculpture, signage, urban renewal, Watts
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Brad Pitt, Andres Duany, and Aesthetic Diversity: Why There’s Room for Everyone in the New N’awlins
The New Orleans that was swept away when the levees broke cannot be restored. A new New Orleans is rising—it cannot be otherwise. Isn’t it possible that in this new New Orleans there is room for Frank Gehry and Andres Duany? For the experimental and the traditional? For the future and the past? Can’t this new New Orleans be a city that retells the stories of its forebears while crafting new tales of its own? It has been a long time since New Orleans had anything new to add to the larger discussion of American urbanism. A long time since the national spotlight shone on it for reasons other than crime, poverty, catastrophe, or the musical achievements of the past.
History should never be forgotten, but neither should it be made into a golden calf. Cities need to breathe, they need to periodically remake themselves. As long as the people remaking New Orleans remain in service to the city’s most vulnerable residents, New Orleans wins. Architects win. Design wins. Creativity wins. Experimentation wins. A new vernacular arises alongside the old. Continue reading
Posted in Culture, History, human scale, Josh Grigsby, Livability, Neighbors, Placemaking, Response Pieces, Sustainability, Uncategorized
Tagged architecture, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Sustainability, urbanism, New Urbanism, neighborhoods, Frank Gehry, community, New Orleans, globalism, Seaside, Eiffel Tower, The Atlantic, Brad Pitt, Andres Duany, N'awlins, Wayne Curtis, Hurricane Katrina, experimentation, Sustasis Foundation, post-Katrina, Ninth Ward, William McDonough, Kieran Timberlake, Thom Mayne, Tulane, Global Green, Make it Right, 409 Andry Street, Chris Graythen, Tom Darden, Steven Bingler, Modern Green Design, 3428 Dauphine Street, CNU, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, porches, 3105 Law Street, William Monaghan, Build Now, neighborhood character, vernacular architecture, 2036 Seventh Street, URBANbuild, Scott Bernhard, Pacific Palisades, Spanish Villa, Victorian, Arts & Crafts, California Modern, ultramodern, Cape Cod, Colonial, American urbanism, aesthetic diversity, James Marston Fitch, Crystal Palace, Brooklyn Bridge, Andrew Blum, middle-out planning
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Why We Gave Away Our Home
One day when Hannah was 14, she became upset about the disparities between the world’s haves and the have-nots. She challenged us to be “a family that makes a difference in the world, even if it’s a small difference.” Joan asked her, “What are you willing to sacrifice? Your house? Your room?” Hannah said yes to both. After talking it over as a family, we decided to sell our house and move to one that was half its size and price –and donate the difference to charity.
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Posted in Culture, human scale, Livability, Neighbors, Sustainability, Uncategorized, What if?
Tagged 30-hour famine, Africa, Asia, community, downsizing, Ghana, giving, Habitat for Humanity, homelessness, Kevin Salwen, microloans, nonprofit, Parade Magazine, poverty, reconnecting, South America, The Hunger Project, water, World Vision
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