Another way to take back the streets

Before


After

Public Ad Campaign

another thing i missed

Brooklyn Makes by Sarah Nelson Wright

blu and david ellis

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

What would you do with a city?

LOVE this exhibit idea...


Just paint, a couple of hoops and voila, rooftop field. (Especially love the forbidding goalies in the form of lamp posts.) From Call to Action, currently at the Graham Foundation in Chicago...

Actions: What You Can Do With the City presents 99 actions that instigate positive change in contemporary cities around the world. Seemingly common activities such as walking, playing, recycling, and gardening are pushed beyond their usual definition by the international architects, artists, and collectives featured in the exhibition. Their experimental interactions with the urban environment show the potential influence personal involvement can have in shaping the city, and challenge fellow residents to participate.

Give it a try!

{Thx e!}

Urban Utopias!

Aerialscape by Michael Sherman

I'll be on the panel next Sunday...

"Utopian" Urban Planning
Artists and Community Leaders Discuss Brooklyn's Future
Sunday, October 25, 2009, 2-4pm, Brooklyn Historical Society
128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, First Floor Community Gallery and basement conference room
Admission: FREE

What does it take to build affordable and sustainable living, working, and transportation systems in Brooklyn? How can we develop Brooklyn responsibly to meet the needs of its diverse communities, including its artistic communities? And finally, how do artists play a role in this urban planning process?

At this round table event, Brooklyn Utopias? artists and curator will debate their ideas with community leaders, architects and urban planners, and the general public, with a focus on large-scale planning initiatives. Special guest speakers include Amy Sananman, Executive Director/Founder, Groundswell Community Mural Project, Shin-pei Tsay, Deputy Director of Transportation Alternatives, Derek Denckla, Founder, Propeller Group and Alexander Gorlin, FAIA, Principal/Founder of Alexander Gorlin Architects. The event will feature an exhibit walk-through with artists and curators, followed by a panel discussion moderated by urban historian and licensed architect Marta Gutman, PhD.

"Utopian" Urban Planning is part of the Brooklyn Utopias? exhibitions and public programs series, in which artists and youth respond to differing visions of an ideal Brooklyn. The main Brooklyn Utopias? art show will be on view in the Brooklyn Historical Society's Community Gallery through January 3, 2010.

Out and about

from Flickr

It's a full week in the NYC public space sphere.

Monday night, go to the second of the DOT's public input sessions on Broadway, including the pedestrian islands and bike lanes that run from Columbus Circle to 23rd Street and the "Greenlight for Midtown" project (aka, the coolest, most innovative public realm change this year). For those who tell me they are too busy to click through to event details here they are: Broadway Public Feedback Session, 6-8PM, New Yorker Hotel, 481 8th Ave at 34th Street. Seriously, if you like this project at all, please come out and say so. Public meetings have a tendency to attract the "no's" so if you're more of a "yes", please come out. I know that people want to pick apart the dots, the lanes, the chairs, and every other little thing, so if you're so inclined, you should first read this article by Michael Beirut and then go back to Times Square, stand on Broaday and simply enjoy watching people fill in all the space that used to go to cars.

Tuesday night is the opening night for the international conference on pedestrians, Walk 21. There's loads of great sessions at the conference which runs from Wednesday to Friday this week.

It's Architecture Week too, and for those who can't afford the Heritage Ball, the AIA NY's annual benefit ball on Thursday, the Center for Architecture throws an awesome after party with a more palatable admission.

Hope to see some of you out there this week!

Who says Block Party season is over?

One of the pleasures of living in New York City is that you'll stumble on out-of-the-ordinary events while on your mundane every day routine. This is what Cybill and I came upon on our way back from the dog run.


The Cranberry Street Festival!





And then on my way to look at refrigerators (the most mundane of all errands) there was the Dean Street Block Party.



How many types of alternative transportation can you spot in the photo below?



Summer might be over, but block parties live on! (horrible quality, I know, still figuring this out...)

UPDATE: On my way to Windsor Terrace late Saturday night, Dean Street Block Party was still happenin'...a screen had been set up for movie watching. A beautiful way to spend the evening.