Bird to the North

Update on Planning Corps - Queens Blvd project

2012-01-10T17:36:00.002-05:00

For nearly two years, in fits and starts, I've been working with Planning Corps on project to improve Queens Boulevard. We finally finished the final product - a book comparing boulevards from around the world. A write-up of the process of working on this project and also our internal process questioning the work of planners and how to be useful in an immediate and tactical way, is laid out on MIT CoLab Radio.

When do experiments end?

2012-01-03T16:07:00.003-05:00

The name of this is Diagram of Urban Actors.

On the way to the Manhattan Street Grid exhibit at the MCNY last week (see here for a great article reviewing the exhibit), I stopped by the Design with the Other 90%: CITIES exhibit at the UN. Many of the projects have been well-documented in other exhibits - for example, in the recent MoMA exhibit Talk to Me or at the Center for Architecture in NYC.

The popularity of these projects in so many different exhibitions says something about the projects, perhaps that a good idea needs to integrate so many facets of what it takes to be sustainable and participatory and global that they can be viewed from many different angles.

The quality of public space continues to play a significant role in a community's ability to participate in any change-oriented project, yet there were only a couple of projects that focused on a public space itself. Though you could say that nearly all these projects are inherently about public space, whether they are physical, or about protecting the public realm.

a public gym

a communal kitchen

a public transportation system, a gathering place, etc.

There was one example of the participatory planning process (including participatory budgeting), but I would argue that nearly all these projects - from the exhibit cards - had public participation. While this doesn't happen nearly often enough and needs to scale globally in a significant way, it struck me that maybe planning, as a tool, perhaps doesn't need the emphasis that I once thought it should have. Maybe when the end-goal is better articulated for social, economic, and environmental benefits, the planning process itself is more naturally oriented to be more inclusive and strategic. What do you think?

As I looked at the projects in the exhibit, I couldn't help wondering what role Planning Corps might have in each of them. Perhaps none at all. In fact, one project was a manual on urbanism, so that informal settlements could establish a kind of order that would benefit the overall community. Here are some pages from the Manual for Urbanism:

(Manuals are something that Planning Corps has prepared as well.)

Planning Corps started out as an experiment. Was there a niche for planners to fill in the planning process? Could there be better match making between projects and planners? This exhibit made me think that maybe the thrust of the problem is that the problem is rarely defined correctly, which is why planners need to intervene in a strategic way. But if the projects were scoped appropriately from the beginning, intervention would no longer be necessary. Plus, if planners could always be strategic, then when process needs to change, all the actors can adapt. The need for a strategic process will never go away, but maybe the bad matching is not a procedural outcome, it's that we're not defining the problems correctly.

In fact, much of the preparation in advance of the monthly Planning Corps working sessions involved us re-structuring the process so that the group could be strategic. It wasn't that the group was magically strategic when they came together; we had to be very structured and careful about how we used the two hours we spent with members of the corps.

Planning Corps started as an experiment in 2010 and it's now 2012 - we're thinking about the year ahead. When you see better versions of your idea out there in public discourse, is it time to end your experiment?

In NYC, the stair and ramp combo

2011-11-21T10:34:00.002-05:00

After reading my post on Zurich, a friend sent in this photo from her walk in Fort Tryon Park this weekend. Nice! Now we have to get the public to think that this design could work on streets and sidewalks, and perhaps doesn't need to be relegated to just parks.
Thanks Deborah!

The Legibility of Street Design

2011-11-16T06:14:00.003-05:00

I had the incredible opportunity to go to Switzerland for a week devoted to the study of sustainable transport, thanks to an amazing program run by the Swiss Embassy in DC, ThinkSwiss. Yay for Swiss ingenuity.

My cohort of US transportation nerds included experts from academia, public sector, and industry associations from across the country. It was a pretty diverse group, an almost even split in gender, and not dominated by white, middle-aged male engineers.

The program design was very thoughtful. We met with Swiss people responsible for federal level transport policy, sustainable planning, financing, down to city-level design and implementation. We got an in-depth briefing about the timetable approach for managing rail systems. We visited the construction site of the Cross Rail project in Zurich, toured the Stadler rail car factory and Zurich airport, and even went down to the still under construction Gotthard Base Tunnel, for an up-close look at one of the greatest engineering feats in world history. Thanks to our intrepid hosts, our visits to all sites were conducted via rail and public transport.* I don’t know how they put up with us non-German-speaking yahoos (myself included) for so long on so many transit trips - I can’t say the word amazing enough.

For me, it’s hard to walk around a European city and not ooh and aah over the livable street design and the stories behind making them happen. On the other hand, more than once, more than one of my colleagues mentioned that he just didn’t “get” urban design/policy, so I wanted to dive into this a little bit.

Here’s a typical street one might encounter in Zurich.

We walked through many streets like this, and one day was even led by Ruedi Ott, currently Director of Transport Planning in Zurich and a hero in street design and urban planning. (If you know how lovely it is to meander around Zurich these days, you have Ruedi to thank.)

This typical Zurich street is supported by multiple policies. The parking design speaks to a culture that puts bicycles and pedestrians above cars. Look at how bike parking is treated with the same level of importance as car parking. Plus, cooperation from enforcement agencies is needed to make sure cars don't overrun the sidewalk. Look at how well the trees are protected, so yes, street trees are important. Cars have to drive down this street very slowly, since people cross wherever they like - no curbs! What does this say about how this city thinks about how people must share space and how that space is connected to the health of the environment overall?

OK, what about this image? Another typical alleyway/path in old town Zurich. Maybe it can be attributed to medieval design, but those weren’t exactly golden days. People struggled and were lucky to survive the plague. Still, the stair and ramp combo? Genius: it supports every level of physical ability, makes it easy to have a bike in spite of the hills, and kudos to modern Zurich for keeping the design. (You can see updated versions of this in mega-cities in China). As for the quality of the path materials, the cleanliness, etc, these things don’t happen on their own. They are a reflection of some form of urban design, zoning, preservation, and sanitation policies.

I bring these up because the policy-design link tends to be elusive, especially when one is so deeply focused on technology and engineering, which the transportation field tends to be. Plus it's easy to overlook small scale details when thinking about big policy. But I do believe that the way we design and therefore experience our streets and cities is an illustration of our policies and therefore priorities as a society. Don’t want to get too lecture-y, this was just one of the interesting conversations that happened a few times over the week.

* Without mentioning it to us, our hosts also chose some of the best places in Zurich for hanging out and meals. Here are a few, in case you’re in need: Reithalle is a restaurant in an old horse barn on a redeveloped military riding school on an island in the center of Zurich, worth checking out just for the history; Schipfe 16, a state-run restaurant that also acts a rehabilitation program, and it's on the waterfront on the border of Old Town; Restaurant Terroir for everything Swiss, from the tables and cutlery to the food and wine; Corazon for an extensive cocktail menu and warm, laid-back crowd; LaSalle, part of a theater, bar, restaurant, club complex in a redeveloped building that used to handle ship construction.

Winter and Summer on Capital Bike Share

2011-08-03T14:58:00.004-04:00

Somehow I got into two videos about Capital Bike Share. Obviously, this means that I can hardly wait for the NYC version to launch. The system is amazing - it really adds a much needed dimension to getting around.

The summer version by Streetsfilms

The winter version by Aurash Khawarzad of Pattern Cities, DoTank:Brooklyn, Project for Public Spaces, urbanist

July

2011-07-09T10:39:00.001-04:00

via swissmiss instagram

Swing on the sidewalk

2011-06-05T08:48:00.001-04:00

Via rubyloum

Art for All

2011-05-31T12:43:00.003-04:00

As ridiculous as it might seem, I fell in love with a poster exhibit this past weekend. The posters are from one of the most ambitious campaigns to encourage people to use public transport and staged by London Transport. Original art was commissioned and the results are an amazing exploration of consumption and place, and the creation of a strong civic identity. (The title of the show was taken from a 1948 show at the Victoria and Albert Museum that exhibited the original artwork for the posters.) The Yale exhibit site has a slide show of some of the posters - I highly recommend the book. The graphic design and art are truly beautiful. Below is a favorite by Tom Purvis. Can we do a poster contest, MTA? WMATA?

Idea #2: Public Service Announcement

2011-05-26T09:07:00.006-04:00

I have a Los Angeles bestie who I get to see about once a year. She's involved in the public space scene there - on the board of the LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, works at Getty, super talented, etc etc. Every time we get together, we show each other the latest in our respective cities, then inevitably get going on all the fun projects we want to do. Above is a little snapshot of one of those sessions from 2007. I love that we got so excited about this (you be the judge of the merit of the ideas). We were going to call our bi-coastal collaboration "Public S.A." - for Public Service Announcement. I still love the name.

About this blog

2011-05-17T18:14:00.003-04:00

Not sure where this came from...happy to credit it...

This blog started back in 2004 as a way to track public space issues that interested me. Way back then, Curbed was the reliable neighborhood development blog (rather than a hack for realtors). Jen Bekman of the eponymous gallery used to gather us design, city, urbanist, architecture bloggers together for drinks every so often. Today, it would have to be a large bar to fit just the architecture bloggers out there.

I felt OK with amateurly covering this space back then because there weren't too many others covering it. Obviously, things change, and this space changed. Tracking news stories became more about how public space gets won (markets, streets, parks, etc). It got more personal as I managed to talk my way into working at a few favorite organizations - Project for Public Spaces, Transportation Alternatives, ZGF - who were tackling the issue in their own ways. Still amateur, but different.

Fast forward today. It's amazing how much the proliferation of media and free tools has led to such great coverage of space, design, architecture, urbanism, planning, and everything in between. I stopped tracking articles about public spaces, development, and cities because so many places did it so well (and much better than me).

My interest in public spaces started broadly. I came to focus on transportation (i.e., 80% of NYC public space are its streets). From transportation, I opened up to climate change and energy (i.e., 70% of our oil is consumed for transportation purposes). And now I've come full circle back to cities (i.e., metropolitan regions take up only 2% of the earth's land mass but are responsible for 70% of global emissions).

Over the course of the next few months, I'll be developing ideas and activities around cities, energy, and climate change. After being able to work on a variety of different scales, with various communities, and in design, planning, and policy, I feel that tying this broad, long-term, global issue - climate - to a very tangible, rooted perspective - cities - is a good way to try. The point is not to duplicate the wonderful work that so many organizations are doing on urban policy. The point is to advance energy and climate policy by examining opportunities and challenges in governance, policy, innovation, systems, and participation, through the lens of cities. The second point is to amplify the work that others are doing on urban policy and in elevating the profile of cities more generally.

I'm really excited about this. I've thought a lot about whether I should shut BttN down, since it really no longer is a place to come and look at public space ideas, but I think I'll keep it up for the rare occasion that I find something worth sharing. It's a chance to continue noting a couple of things important to me: the smallest scales (that's why I love little urban interventions) when working on big policy. And signals of cultural shifts afoot - hence the inclusion of art on this site.

That's where things are in 2011. Let's see how this goes!

Idea #1: Adopt-a-Stop

2011-05-17T17:48:00.004-04:00

I was cleaning out my files today on the train and found a bunch of short documents squirreled away all over my laptop (not the most organized filer here.) I guess I used to sit down and write out a random public space idea, then save and forget all about it. Below is the first one, exactly as I wrote it a few years ago. It's silly and ingenuous and not well-developed - but I did laugh.

Small, interstitial public spaces are the best opportunities to improve the experience of a city dweller. Though New York City has lately paid much attention to reclaiming public space such as pop-up cafes, new public plazas from underutilized street space, the bus stop – and the bus layover space, with its 15 feet of curb – is an underutilized space as well. And of all of New York City’s residents, the bus rider’s experience is one given the least attention.

This is a campaign to provide to bus riders a truly magnificent experience, one that equals the benefits they provide the city by not driving a car, polluting the air, and endangering its citizens. Historically, bus riders have been viewed as second class citizens. This is perhaps illustrated by the way Charlotte, NC, in the 1980s encouraged the development of skywalks, pristine walkways that protected privileged citizens from the weather as well as providing access to retail. Down below, on the messiness of the street, no shelter was provided for bus riders. They were forced to stand up to climate and few amenities.

The campaign will identify popular bus stops – those with plenty of riders but with very few amenities. (Though NYC has launched a new street furniture system with new bus shelters, the shelters are expensive enough and sidewalk space scarce enough that not all bus stops will have shelters.) Adopt-a-Stop would pair the bus stop with a local civic organization. On a designated day of the year, the group will design an experience for riders alighting the bus at that particular stop. This will draw attention to the highly utilized bus stop system and greatly underserved bus ridership in NYC. Why shouldn’t bus riders receive the same high quality experience as other people on the street?

Yes, why the hell not?? And to get your creative juices going, here's a set of amazing bus shelters.

Soviet Style

Beat the cold in Minneapolis

In Unst

This one is famously community-oriented.

Tons more on flickr...

Towns and stadiums suffering together

2011-05-17T17:26:00.003-04:00

Image from NYT

Ah, the dream of stadiums as a driver of economic growth. It does happen. But it's not a quick fix.

The NYT has an interesting article today, "Company's Arenas Leave Cities with Big Problems." The article describes the pain several smaller towns in more remote locations are experiencing because of their stadium strategies. They are now left with the high costs of maintaining the building and paying back the initial debt without the expected revenue. Other city services are being cut to keep the stadium afloat. There are few available buyers for stadiums, though I do recall a moment during the real estate bubble when there were quite a few international buyers for unattractive real estate.

(Apparently the cities bought into the sales job from Global Entertainment, promised. Full list of stadiums this company helped build, pdf.)

[I've written a few times about stadiums at BttN and interestingly, this post, A stadium round-up is consistently one of the most popular pages on this site. (Probably because sports fans trying to find a nearby stadium vastly outnumber urban nerds.)]

Who is making progress on cities, climate change, and policy?

2011-05-10T17:13:00.003-04:00

images by Vera Frankel, rehearsals for String Games: Improvisations for Inter-City Video, 1974 from here

I'll ask it once again, who (person or organization) do you think is making good progress on cities, climate change and policy? It can be on any scale - urban intervention, city-wide, sectoral, regional, state, national, supranational, bilateral, multinational...you choose. I want to know who your city-climate change heroes are. You can define action, who does it, how much, what success is, etc. The only caveat is that your nominee should deal with policy somehow - effectively, the rules that allow multiple actors to engage with one another while avoiding public harm (btw, this is such a low bar that I feel it needs a disclaimer - this should not be a standard for public policy!)

Projet Nid du Poule

2011-04-22T17:49:00.001-04:00

Filling in the cracks - until the city decides that the sidewalks are worth taking care of? Cool project by juliana santacruz herrera.

Happy Earth Day

2011-04-22T17:00:00.003-04:00

From Jason Polan's Every Person in New York

I know this is hokey, but it being earth day (and being bombarded by everyone's green newsletter) made me a bit reflective about things have progressed since I started this blog back in 2004 - both in "public spaces" and with my work too. I'm constantly reminded that everything goes back to people - being able to connect with others and thus remember why we're all working on this grand project together.

Nerds get down and...

2011-03-08T13:02:00.005-05:00

...[fill in the blank].

I had the pleasure of emceeing the Ignite presentations for Transportation Camp this past Saturday. Great ~~presentations~~ stories from a bunch of different nerds - academics, mobility, transit, marketing, DOT, and planning; packed room, impressive for a Saturday night in New York City. Storytelling is so important when untangling complicated issues. The ability to weave a narrative is endlessly useful for problem-solving.

I also had the fun of declaring two winners - an impromptu decision before the event to raise the stakes. The winners for amazing storytelling were Chris Pangilinan from DC and Neil Freeman from NYC. Can't wait to see what will come out of Transportation Camp West.

I do have to share Neil's project: The Daily Pothole. Just try not to fall in love with this! p.s. the name comes from the longstanding daily report that the road crews send around. nothing beats the real thing.

image from The Daily Pothole

DIY Median Point

2011-03-08T12:52:00.002-05:00

Sick of sidewalk clutter? Put those newspaper dispensers in the street to create your own median point. A 15 minute observation showed that such a median point channelized cars in a much better way, making cars more predictable for pedestrians and cyclists. But interestingly, it also did not impede vehicle throughput, speed, or turns in any way.

I stumbled onto this in the morning yesterday and was surprised to find it still hanging out in the street at the end of the day. Nice.

Enjoy some sun on a chilly day

2011-03-04T15:09:00.001-05:00

Upcoming: TransportationCamp - Do Not Miss

2011-03-01T15:57:00.006-05:00

Rift #26 (Heimaey Houses), Marion Belanger, print available at 20x200.

At a recent TED talk, David Brooks, the columnist, asked, “"Why are the most socially attuned people on earth completely dehumanized when they think about policy?”

That is exactly at the heart of the challenge of understanding transportation.

Everyone knows what it’s like to use transportation – whether you walk, bike, bus, train, or drive, or a combination of any of those. These collective – yet uniquely individual - experiences are the fodder of many cocktail receptions. You can walk up to any stranger at a party and have a lively conversation for a half hour just by asking them, “how did you get here?”

From the perspective of making the policy that enables walking, biking, busing, etc, transportation is traditionally a top-down, expert-driven practice and can appear divorced from social acuity. (Come to my session at Transportation Camp to peer into the dark chasm that is the current federal transportation program. If you’re curious, there are many good books on how things in transportation got this way.)

It’s an exaggeration to say that people thinking about policy have been dehumanized though. The real problem is that the federal transportation program is broken and policymakers must struggle with an outdated structure to deliver the types of projects that the public really wants or needs. The choice we’ve made to depend on cars today forces us to send - on a daily basis - nearly $1 billion overseas, often to unstable regimes. The US transportation system currently eats up 70 percent of our oil supply. This consumption comes with a high environmental price - transportation accounts for 30 percent of US carbon emissions, and of that 30 percent, nearly 80 percent comes from our surface transportation system alone. At the same time, attempts to change the system seem futile when compared with emerging economies across the globe: China spends 9 percent of its GDP on infrastructure while we spend a paltry 2 percent.

What the public fundamentally knows about how broken the transportation system though is not from scrutinizing foreign policy or emission regulation - it's through the experience of moving around. It is much harder – more expensive, more time consuming – for people to do the everyday things they need to do. And the numbers bear witness to the hardship that our current transportation system brings: although transportation funding has increased every year, dollars lost due to congestion have also risen proportionately. Sometimes, people even risk their lives trying to get around, walking down wide, fast-moving streets without sidewalks, for example. Traffic crashes are leading cause of preventable injuries and deaths - worldwide. This has got to end.

Connecting the bottom – “how did you get to this party?” – to the top – “where should we put our billions of public dollars in transportation funding” – is a big task indeed. That is why conferences like Transportation Camp should be important to anyone who cares about how the world is positioning itself for the future. Conversations between people of all backgrounds who have come together to work on focused, shared problems are how innovation happens. This is particularly important when tackling structural issues, like the US transportation system. Every incremental collaborative step is a move towards fixing it. Now, let’s get to work.

Transportation Camp is happening March 5-6 in New York City and March 19-20 in San Francisco. Visit the web site or tumblr for more information, or follow on twitter.

Parting shot

We need to get from this, while beautifully rendered, still eons away from people

to this - why should ciclovias only happen on special days?

via flickr, mcas_sf

How to maintain walkability on a busy sidewalk

2011-02-22T17:39:00.002-05:00

Such a small thing, but it makes a world of difference. It's a little hard to see here: the glass mender (?) was fixing a crack and had his generator hooked up closer to the power source than he could be. He wound the wire around the door frame via the scaffolding. So nice - people can still easily enter and exit the store and your mending will not be interrupted.

It reminded me of this image from this Copenhagenize post.

Play the subway

2011-02-12T11:25:00.002-05:00

Conductor: www.mta.me from Alexander Chen.

NYC subway system as an interactive string instrument, here's the artist's explanation of the project.

Silver Spring - parking lot to park to ice skating!

2011-02-10T10:23:00.003-05:00

An update on the little space in Silver Spring about which I posted a couple years ago. The folks there just keep on going with programming ideas. Here it is in full winter glory - ice skating! And is that a permanent structure to provide some shelter for the public space? What a beautiful sight.
(Thanks Patee!)

Ride the talk

2011-01-29T18:00:00.002-05:00

It's been quiet here, but not for lack of activity elsewhere. In addition to its facelift, Planning Corps' work on Queens Blvd got a press mention, the transportation climate change project is gathering steam, and we're collaborating in some great new ways.

In between the activity, we managed to hop on the Capital Bike Share one night while we were all in DC for the Transportation Research Board's Annual Meeting. What can I say? This video is a little snippet of the fun and makes me incredibly happy. Nothing beats riding bikes with friends.

Capital Bikeshare Chic from Aurash Khawarzad on Vimeo.

Return to Home

2010-11-18T09:49:00.002-05:00

This Metropolis article on bringing design and urbanism excellence to Syracuse is enough to make me feel that more New York transplants should return to the Rust Belt cities from where they came, and apply there all the energy and ideas that they've accumulated.

International Public Space Library

2010-11-16T22:55:00.003-05:00

I love the idea of leaving books around a public space for others to enjoy and share (something I have always done when I've traveled - train seats, park benches, beach hammocks). So here it is, an official Ex Libris to formalize an International Public Space Library brought to you by the self-described secretive Momentech.

Not so secretly, I do wish the logo was nicer, but I'll take the concept. People, you can easily share your books without the label - but I guess formalizing it motivates people to pay it forward.

Conversation about Planning Corps

2010-10-25T17:32:00.002-04:00

The fabulous people at MIT's Colab Radio asked us to write a short bit about the evolution of Planning Corps. Here it is. If you've never visited the site, you'll really enjoy the firsthand experience of planners trying their hand at all types of innovations to make our cities better.

Speaking of which, Planning Corps is having another working session Thursday, October 28. Join us!

A Love Letter to Syracuse

2010-09-06T09:43:00.002-04:00

A beautiful collaboration of a project, A Love Letter to Syracuse was pulled together by the Near Westside Initiative and Colab, a design collaborative out of Syracuse University. Art by Steve Powers, aka ESPO. Go Cuse!

A tree walk around the block

2010-09-04T15:45:00.004-04:00

A few locust trees here, plus a maple, maybe?

Last weekend I went out with Liz Barry and Planning Corps for a test run of the methodology that Liz and a group of other ecologists, mappers, and designers are developing for the 2015 street tree census. As Liz explained to me, street trees are part of our city's urban infrastructure, and the more that we know about them and their mini-habitat, the more that we can develop other systems to complement the existing system, such as bioswales, stormwater management, etc. Makes perfect sense.

Liz and I paired up and started down the block. We were quickly outpaced by the other groups, because it turns out that Liz loves talking to people* and nearly every tree was in more or less in the custody of the building which it fronted. We wouldn't even get to the next tree without a resident coming out to ask us what we were doing. We heard about the love of trees; the love of birds in the trees; the love of the genus of trees, but not of tree stewardship itself; and the ultimate story, requited love of high school sweethearts after 40 years of being apart. And I in turn learned to ID trees, something I used to be able to do but lost along the way.

It was a lovely afternoon. Something about being on the street and physically engaging with it. Something about grabbing hold about the details about the place where you live. We literally had to hug each tree to measure its circumference. Also, I thought a lot about scale and how to engage people to make this tree survey happen. The 1995 (is that the last one?) survey relied on volunteers. What will the 2015 survey entail? How will it dovetail with One Million Trees? I'm sure they're already working on it, but much more to come.

*It turns out that Liz and I might have been fated to meet each other. I realized much later that she was briefly profiled here years ago for one of her earlier projects, Talk to Me.

Planning Corps No. 6 - Queens Boulevard

2010-08-23T14:14:00.002-04:00

Grand Boulevard, Barcelona

Champs Elysees, Paris
Both images via Huge Ass City

Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills, looking westward, circa ?

Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills, today

This Thursday, 6:30 PM, hosted by H3, we'll be tackling Queens Boulevard, drawing up potential cross-sections, discussing their viability, coming up workable themes. Bring ideas, sketches. You're encouraged to draw, no judgments on skill. (Haven't you always wanted to give it a try? This is your chance!) You can find base map and other materials here, full details here. Hope to see you there!

Hacking the City

2010-07-28T10:07:00.002-04:00

Love this project, Hacking the City, an experimental exhibition curated by Museum Folkwang. Ends September 26, 2010, so check it out now.

Thanks Lisa!

Perceptions of change: streets, buildings, neighborhoods

2010-07-25T13:20:00.006-04:00

The water feature in the new plaza in Columbia Heights at 14th St NW and Park St only gets busier as the night goes on.

By some amazing serendipitous twist, I had the pleasure of staying last week with a writer who has worked in the community development, historic preservation, transportation, and public space arena. We got to talking about her neighborhood, Columbia Heights, which has gone through a lot of change in the last few years. A fascinating conversation, in that it underscored just how much context and firsthand experience of living through change informs our lens when deciding the type of change we want with our spaces.

Columbia Heights was recently rezoned, and instead of bundling the parcels for one developer, the local community development corporation decided to put each parcel out so that several developers would have a hand in the corridor. Having lived with the longstanding Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, this strategy didn't sound off any alarms for me. Different developers seemed to reduce the risk of a monolithic perspective dominating the area. Lisa had a another perspective: with so many developers weighing in on the neighborhood, cohesiveness was eroded and the opportunity to contextualize the new developments with the surrounding community was lost. No judgment here, the merits of this perspective are pretty clear.

The second differing opinion had to do with the design of the Dance Institute of Washington's new building. I had walked by it a few times and liked how it allowed pedestrians to see what was going on inside, a greater emphasis of opening up the studio to the neighborhood.

The dance studios for the Dance Institute of Washington are transparent to the users of the street below.

This corner of a rehearsal studio in the redesigned building in Lincoln Center allows passersby to get a glimpse of the dance students.

My positive impression was perhaps largely informed by my habit during college of walking by the performing arts building on my way home after a long day. It was lovely to see the dancers working at the barre after spending hours studying in the stacks. As a mom, Lisa was concerned about the experience of the kids; me without kids, this perspective was simply not available to me.

In spite of our differing opinions, we had a great conversation about the neighborhood. Or perhaps, because of our differing opinions, we did. She helped me understand another way of looking. And it reminded me that we're constantly writing and re-writing the narratives for our neighborhoods.

Next Planning Corps - July 28

2010-07-21T16:30:00.002-04:00

photograph by Nina Ahn

Yo yo yo, it's that time again. Planning Corps meets once a month (usually at the end) and is a way for planners to geek out, meet other planners, share a beer, and all in the act of advancing a non-profit's cause. Thank goodness for Planning Corps - a lifeline for me! A chance to apply planning at a local scale, always good for the brain, heart, and soul. We've been working on Queens Boulevard, public plazas, citizen engagement, and mapping neighborhoods. Unless otherwise posted between now and then, the next session will be at the Open Plans penthouse, 148 Lafayette at 6:30, Wednesday, July 28. Check the site for an agenda (should be up soon) and see you there!

New news

2010-07-21T14:40:00.004-04:00

"the insistence of distance" by Richard T. Walker via vvork

When I told a friend that I recently joined the Carnegie Endowment, his response was, so you're leaving planning? That's an emphatic NO. (Someone else asked me how I could choose between bike lanes and world peace.)

At face value, I get what he's suggesting. No more sketching out re-designs for street intersections, fewer opportunities to examine maps, plans, surveys, reviewing EIS, and facilitating workshops.

But at another level, I think planning is about chipping away at things and arriving at land use and transportation policies - all part of the larger built environment policy family - that promote better strategies for the way we want to live and for how we can secure a positive future. The issues that concern us as planners are very connected and operate at many scales, including national and global. Does this really need to be said again? More on my project soon, with a project site to be launched this fall. In the meantime, I'll still be posting about public space (big and small) items here, and will also be continuing to work on Planning Corps which you should totally check out in person if you haven't already.

Lots being done...

2010-07-21T14:36:00.002-04:00

Very fun going through the index of Project M:

Project M is an intensive summer program designed to inspire young graphic designers, writers, photographers and other creative people that their work can have a positive and significant impact on the world.

Ideas for shifting American Dream

2010-07-08T23:32:00.002-04:00

"Housing Development at Different Stages, Las Vegas, NV, March 2005" by Alex Maclean at the jen bekman gallery

...that's right, suburbs! The finalists from Build a Better Burb competition are up, and the People's Choice vote is open till October 4. Love that this competition merges planning and design thinking.

I recently spent some time in suburbs myself and personally dislike (verging on hate) the experience, but am endlessly fascinated by how people LOVE living in that environment. Visiting is one thing, but living? That's all I can think of when we drive through the endless streets of detached houses located a drive away from anything else - people love living like this. It's truly a dream come true for many.

But when you piece together what they go through to live this dream, it seems to be a huge hassle and expensive too. On an individual level, I guess people like choosing the hassles they're willing to live with. On a community level though, the multitude of individual choices just don't mesh well, never mind the long-term problems with supporting developments of this type...and on and on. So these competition ideas each have great potential, each a creative spin on some au courant planning basics. There were only a few out of the 20 odd finalists that dealt more deeply with regionalism.

Postscript: I had a suspicion I've written about the American Dream before, the immigrant experience seems to frame things in a way that's unavoidable for me: how a city in another country thinks about its life dreams, how housing development companies capitalized on the american dream and then on the disillusionment with this dream. Whoa.

Land Use Survey

2010-06-24T14:23:00.001-04:00

Greyfield #4 by Michelle Muldrow

Very excited to check out the new show, Land Use Survey, at Jen Bekman Gallery, opening June 30, running through August 14.

The Real (and Raw) Deal with MTA

2010-06-24T11:50:00.002-04:00

Below is one of the best messages I've received recently about upcoming transit cuts. It speaks the truth then gives you ways to express yourself. Of course it is from one of my favorite people. Don't let the press dupe you into thinking that the MTA is at fault for our transit cuts. We have the laziest state politicians who cannot be bothered to think about the 2.7 million daily bus riders in New York City. BTW, do you know that we send a significant chunk of money upstate? And that the state politicians are cutting their contribution to the City's general fund this year?

Plus, having good bus lines isn't about convenience - buses are people's way to jobs, schools, and family. They have a huge impact on people's lives.

Dearly beloved transit riders,

Over recent months, we’ve watched Albany steal over $140 million in dedicated transit funding and the City and State shirk their responsibilities to fund student MetroCards. This, on top of state legislators’ failure to enact congestion pricing or bridge tolls yet and a fiscal crisis that has lowered state revenues, has forced the MTA to institute the most drastic cuts to transit service in a generation. As a Transportation Alternatives supporter, you know that we will not take these cuts sitting down!

This Friday, please join us, other advocates, elected officials and subway and bus riders to mourn the passing of the V and W trains and the M6, M18, M27, M30, B23, B37, B39, B51, B71, B75, B77, Q74, Q75, Q79, Q89, Bx14, Bx25, Barretto Park Pool Shuttle (Bronx), S60 and S67 buses. There are four transit funeral on Friday; please see below for details!

Like other funerals, these won’t just be events to mark the passing of something meaningful in our lives, but they will be a time to celebrate the importance of public transit here in New York City! We will gather together and amass our courage to carry on and prepare for the largest transit rider organizing campaign in the history of Transportation Alternatives! This summer and fall is both the MTA’s budget season and an election season for state office, and we will organize transit riders to make sure that those running to represent them in Albany know that they must stand up and fund our transit system.

In the meantime, I hope you can attend one of these (fun) funerals on Friday to meet other public transit fans and show your support for transit and the necessary funding from Albany, City Hall and Washington to keep it running.

Say hi if you catch me in the crowd and stay tuned for T.A.’s biggest transit rider organizing campaign ever!

I hope to see you at one or more of the below events!

Best,
Noah

DATE Friday, June 25
TIME 8:30am
DECEASED W/V trains
SPONSOR Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr.
LOCATION Ditmars Boulevard N/W Station at 31st Street, 22-45 31st Street, Astoria

DATE Friday, June 25
TIME 7:30p
DECEASED W train
SPONSOR T.A.
START Times Square Station, near the last car of the Uptown N/Q/R/W
QUEENS MEET-UP 8:15p, Astoria Blvd Station for rally at Columbus Square
END Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden, 2919 24th Avenue, between 29th & 31st

DATE Friday, June 25
TIME 10p
DECEASED W train
SPONSOR http://www.theawl.com/2010/06/come-along-for-the-w-trains-final-ride
START Astoria-Ditmars Blvd. Station
10:17p Ditmars Blvd
10:19p Astoria Blvd
10:20p 30th Avenue
10:21p Broadway
10:23p 36th Avenue
10:25p 39th Avenue
11:02p Union Square back to Astoria
MORE http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109181082452638

DATE Friday, June 25
TIME 11p-2a
DECEASED V train
SPONSOR NYCentric/Levy’s Unique New York
START 2nd Avenue subway station, Manhattan
END Forest Hills-71st Avenue station
MORE http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123450697690982&index=1

For inspiration watch the video below. Transit is simply more than transit.

Shifting Jacobsian and Moses views on cities

2010-05-25T09:27:00.002-04:00

This must be the most used image on this topic!

Fascinating juxtaposition: a critique of Jane Jacob's mythologized New York City, exemplified by the West Village, and a 1962 Atlantic article written by Robert Moses, criticizing those who say cities are dying. (Thanks NB!) I don't conflate Jane Jacobs with gentrification, but I do think that just as there is Disney-fication, there is also West Village-fication.

Sometimes I have a chance to visit a main street or downtown in another town or smaller city, and I can see why people might think that the West Village model might be good. But there are usually other factors that have been forgotten in the rush to replicate and make money (not that money isn't needed to run a municipality). Sometimes it's figuring out what the actual community assets are first though - imposing another city's model of a village or development is just as bad as turning a main street into a highway.

Metropolis

2010-05-09T13:19:00.001-04:00

Metropolis by Rob Carter - Last 3 minutes from Rob Carter.

via The Publics, Of Parking Lots and Automobiles, also worth reading.

Key to the City

2010-05-07T22:53:00.001-04:00

Sounds neat.

Key to the City by Paul Ramírez Jonas
A FREE public art project presented by Creative Time in cooperation with the City of New York.
June 3 to 27, 2010
Get your Key in Times Square
Broadway between 43rd and 44th Streets
Open M–F 2p–8p; Sa–Su 12p–8p

OPENING RECEPTION JUNE 3, 2010
6p to 8p

The city is a series of spaces that are either open or closed. Whether one can access these spaces or not is determined by a lock, and those locks are opened by keys. The Key to the City is an opportunity for the public to step back and reflect on this as they travel throughout the five boroughs of New York.

Civic Center

2010-04-18T13:34:00.003-04:00

Continue to be blown away by the work of Candy Chang and her collaborators including Red Antenna. Wow. The mission statement of Civic Center? "We create projects that make cities more accessible and engaging."

Looking forward to the release of "Once Upon a Highway," "Artist as Neighbor," and "Neighborland."

De-mapping man

2010-04-18T11:58:00.002-04:00

A project of one man and his relationship with Google street view mapping in Binnenhoff, Den Hague.

...paving the way to better living

2010-04-16T22:51:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago, we took NPR's Gregory Warner on a neighborhood walk that turned into an epic urban hike through South Bronx, Randall's Island, and ended in East Harlem. We had just come back from Meg Charlop's service when we met up with Gregory. In some ways, it seemed a fitting way to pay tribute to Meg.

The Marketplace segment is here. Don't you think Javier has a future in media?

Planning Corps meet-up April 21

2010-04-14T00:17:00.002-04:00

Rad illustration by illustrator Holly Wales

Come on out if you didn't make it to the first one and check it out for yourself. Details here.

BONUS: A young Dutch planning student's take on the first Planning Corps meeting. Unbridled enthusiasm makes me smile.

Banksy in LA "Park"

2010-04-13T07:49:00.002-04:00

Can't stop looking at this Banksy project in LA.

DoTank:Brooklyn

2010-04-10T09:51:00.003-04:00

Seriously, there's a proliferation of planner/designers who want to take action; enough talk, do something about it.

Here's the last one for today DoTank:Brooklyn.

DoTank is a public vessel for interdisciplinary exploration, engagement and enhancement of our urban environment through means that are outside of the formal urban planning process. We make rapid and meaningful change by exploring and testing in our laboratory: Brooklyn, NY.

By catalyzing local intellectual capital, we carry out interventions meant to improve the built environment. We connect, capture, build, design, and produce, and above all else, we Do.

Velo City

2010-04-10T09:47:00.003-04:00

So much good energy being spun out in NYC urban planning/design these days. Here's another one:

Velo City’s Story

The idea for Velo City came to us last summer after several conversation-filled bike rides led us to share our experiences as women of color in the urban planning and design professions. Acutely aware of the need for greater diversity in our fields, we have set out to make this change by starting a non-profit initiative that brings awareness of planning and design to diverse communities through the medium of cycling. Thus Velo City’s mission is to introduce youth from underserved communities to urban planning and design concepts, community involvement opportunities, and career options in architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning/design. Through cycling, Velo City’s participants will experience a safe, healthy, and sustainable way to explore the City’s built environment and access its’ open spaces. As an organization, our over arching goal is to increase diversity in the planning and design professions by raising the awareness of these fields.

Velo City has found natural partners in Partnership for Parks and Recycle-A-Bicycle; two well respected and long established New York City-based non-profit organizations whose missions are aligned with ours. Recycle-A-Bicycle is also Velo City’s fiscal sponsor and mentor. Together we are developing innovative cycling-based education programs for youth.

In fact, this summer we are launching “Bikesplorations”, a pilot program that will be based out of the East River Park in the Lower East Side. Starting in July, 10 to 15 youth from the neighborhood will become Velo City’s first participants to explore their community through the cycling-based program. The bikes, generously donated by the Dutch government, will be made available to us by Recycle-A-Bicycle.

This is a very exciting time for us and we hope you will join us in celebrating Velo City’s launch on Thursday, April 29, 2010. All proceeds raised from the event will go directly towards funding our pilot program.

Please find us on Facebook and Twitter for updates and ways to get involved!

We’d like to invite you to celebrate this occasion by joining us for our first fundraising event!

Please join us on Thursday, April 29, 2010 from 6:00-9:00 pm for a happy hour fundraiser at White Rabbit, 145 Houston Street NY, NY. Please go to our NYCharities event page for more details and to RSVP and purchase tickets.

If you are unable to attend but would like to contribute, please go to Recycle-A-Bicycle’s donor website and simply designate your tax-deductible donation for “Velo City.”

Gettin' down Superfront

2010-04-10T09:38:00.003-04:00

One of these days, I will make it out there, promise.

From Dutty Artz

This Saturday Jace/rupture (DUTTY ARTZ) and Mitch McEwen (SUPERFRONT) are hosting a discussion panel on Do-It-Yourself Public Space Making at SUPERFRONT’s Brooklyn storefront gallery. The event is second in a series that leads up to the construction of a public space in the backyard of the gallery. Panelists include Cristina Goberna (Fake Industries | Architectural Agonism), Justin Moore, (New York City Planning, Brooklyn), Ena McPherson (Parks, Arts & Culture, Community Board 3), Jordan Seiler (New York Street Advertising Takeover).

Choose to participate in 1 of 3 teach-ins after the panel: 1) community zoning basics 2) spring gardening tactics 3) property disobedience and public dialogue.

April 10: Mixtape on DIY Public Space Makers 4pm – 6pm *plus* Opening Reception for SUPERHERO 6pm – 8pm

$5 suggested donation for the 4pm panel and workshops, but no one turned away.

The Mixtape will run from 4pm to around 6pm.

This event is part of the Cypher on Urban Affairs, a public program at SUPERFRONT partly funded by the Brooklyn Arts Council.

Memorial and Ghost Bike Dedication for Meg Charlop

2010-04-10T09:28:00.001-04:00

Memorial and Ghost Bike Dedication for Meg Charlop
Bicyclists ride in remembrance of a Bronx mother, advocate and mentor

Bike Ride Details
When: Saturday, April 10, 1 pm
What: Bicyclists riding from Norwood to the site of Meg's crash in East Tremont.
Where: Valentine-Varian House, 3266 Bainbridge Avenue between East 208th Street and Van Cortlandt Avenue East, Norwood, the Bronx

Ghost Bike Dedication Details
When: Saturday, April 10, 1:45 pm
What: Friends and colleagues speak in Meg's memory, lay flowers and dedicate the white-painted Ghost Bike in her honor.
Where: Intersection of Crotona Avenue and East Tremont Avenue, East Tremont, the Bronx

This Saturday, Transportation Alternatives will join residents of the Bronx to honor Meg Felice Charlop. Meg was killed on March 17th while riding her bicycle to work in East Tremont in the Bronx. According to media reports, she was avoiding a car door opened in her path when she was struck and killed by a bus.

Meg devoted her entire life to helping New Yorkers fight for health, dignity and a better future. She improved her community at every scale from individuals she mentored, to home improvements on abandoned houses, to advocating for better infrastructure. As the Director of the Community Health Division at the Montefiore School Health Program, Megan worked tirelessly to encourage more active, healthy living in neighborhoods with few open spaces or amenities.

Friends, coworkers and colleagues will ride from Norwood to East Tremont, where they will dedicate a Ghost Bike in her honor.

Perception: fear vs. reality

2010-04-09T01:38:00.002-04:00

Check out where pedestrian crashes lie.

Thanks jd.

Tube to walk?

2010-03-31T20:43:00.002-04:00

Transport for London has a proposal out to pedestrianize the rail tunnel between Waterloo and Bank stations. The Mayor is looking at it favorably. Hm...new meaning of transitway. Guess it's good for rainy weather...but 1.5 miles, that's a long walk. Wouldn't it be nicer to make it above ground? But if the line is obsolete...hm.

First one down, (hopefully) many more to go

2010-03-28T20:12:00.006-04:00

Source

About 30 people came out to the first Planning Corps meeting last Wednesday. The group was really diverse in age, experience, and skills. Really cool to see.

In the spirit of experimentation, we asked people to choose two Transportation Alternatives topics out of four presented that evening, and to choose at least one that they wouldn't typically try. A T.A. staffer facilitated small groups on each topic for 20 minutes, then everyone switched to work on the second one for 20 minutes. The most popular table involved the most tangible project - intersection redesigns of a dangerous arterial boulevard. Across all topics, there were many ideas generated, enough to do another meeting with just one focus.

We also tried out Hot Potato, the results of which are mixed, though with potential (especially if we can get more people to post and respond to questions hot potatoed). It made someone tell me it looked like less than 10 people showed up (he couldn't be there). [Hot Potato! Can you render photos better? And can I grab them to re-post?]

I love geeking out (no surprise) especially with planners, and the best part is that the T.A. staffers all got something useful out of it, something that will push their campaign forward. If you love geeking out planning-style too and want to put those ideas to good use, you should check this out. The next meeting is already in the works.

Planning Corps
April 21, 6:30 PM
The Open Planning Project Penthouse
148 Lafayette Ave (go straight up to the PH floor)

You can find consistent updates at planningcorps.org. Hopefully these will become standing meetings but we'll forge on with the spirit of experimentation and continue to try new things, whether it is project ideas, technology, or structure. Send over ideas if you got 'em.

Walking Men (and Women)

2010-03-28T10:48:00.004-04:00

Photographer
Maya Barkai's Walking Men 99, up till Jan 2011.
j, for ped exhibit file...

What's up with Fredericia?
NYT on it.

Transit woes guerilla style

2010-03-27T09:34:00.002-04:00

A co-worker and I caught this on our way to Union Square; of course being transport geeks we were delighted. Love subtle subversive guerrilla campaigns, took me till this morning to see what the letters spell (ok, maybe too many late nights this week). The campaign is from this place, I think.

BUT, and this is really important - it's not the MTA's fault that service cuts are being made. It's the State elected officials. It's really easy to point fingers at the MTA - so tangible, so much iconography that connotes MTA in our city. The hard part is to connect transit to State officials. We (general public) have to get better at holding the right agency accountable. Ideas on how to connect the message that we need transit to our State politicians?

You should read more about the MTA's troubles, especially if you enjoy this campaign as much as I do. Here's a good Streetsblog piece to start. It's true - there will be higher fares and fewer trains - but let's hold the State politicians responsible. They can actually do something about it.

Update on Planning Corps

2010-03-21T21:35:00.003-04:00

Art by Megan Whitmarsh from 20x200

The first Planning Corps meeting is this Wednesday!

Wednesday, March 24, 6:30 in the The Open Planning Project Penthouse. (Thanks TOPP!)
RSVP + location details: http://bit.ly/ahZR2I

More musings about it here with an excellent FAQ where you can join the discussion. Follow us here and here.

Kick-ass Meg

2010-03-20T11:05:00.005-04:00

No one is as kick-ass as Megan Charlop was. Check her out in 1981, when she was 29.

''It feels so good when you win,'' she said. ''When people stand up for themselves. When they say, 'I don't have to live like this and I'm going to fight for it.' And then they make it.''

Here she is in 2010.

I'm really going to miss you.

Creating physical networks of social and health benefits

2010-03-20T10:45:00.004-04:00

WPA2 : Local Code / Real Estates from Nicholas de Monchaux on Vimeo.

An ideal study to drive policy change in all major cities and regions, and could be funded by new health bill. New York City specifically lacks major developable parcels. Time to move to remnant parcels, those forgotten places that are city-owned and managed, but perhaps do not get the maintenance they deserve. The San Francisco case study in the video shows how the collection of remnant parcels that combined with environmental, social and public health data could become a network of public spaces that is designed to bring a spectrum of benefits. Combine remnant parcels with some street reclamations and wow.

New Fulton Fish Market

2010-03-20T10:13:00.002-04:00

I wrote about the Fulton Fish Market a couple of times when I was lucky enough to catch it at South Seaport. Catching up on comments now, someone wrote in to remind me (yikes, back in 2009, sorry!) that the Fulton Fish Market Cooperative is alive and well at Hunts Point, so you should go check it out there.

the farmer have moved to the new fulton fish market they are open for the 2009 season april brings easter flowers flower veggie starts geraniums hanging baskets and more june is the start of local produce for directions www.newfultonfishmarket.com open 2am-8am tue-sat

New Fulton Fish market, from The Paupers Chef

image by Barbara Mensch from her book South Street

Just kinda love this image of a fishmonger from the old South Street Fulton Fish Market. Being a fishmonger is hard work, much harder than this picture makes it seem.

Traffic calming in Downtown Brooklyn

2010-03-14T23:31:00.002-04:00

There was a stream of cars passing right before I took this picture. Each one paused as it approached the green light, thanks to the curb extension which pinched the intersection as well as making the walk crossing distance so much shorter. Such a nice treatment for this block, which is actually rather lengthy though residential, with parking on both sides. Cars used to speed up the hill to catch the green light - this pinch point helps to remind them to take it easy.

In the world of transportation, this is really great stuff and part of the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming study, which T.A. instigated ages ago, and is finally coming to fruition. There are more than 100 improvements slated for this spring according to the NYC DDC and above is an excellent example.

An interesting thing about NYC's improvements on the street: though there is an attempt to standardize improvements with the Street Design Manual, there is also a wide variety of applicable treatments. These are the first white ADA-compliant curb cuts I've seen in the city - I've also seen yellow and gray. I kinda like that there is some flexibility and experimentation with this, and not one size (or color) fits all. After decades of one-size fits cars, seeing how things break loose is rather fun.

Planning Corps! aka the work that goes into changing planning

2010-03-12T08:13:00.006-05:00

Image by Youngna Park, available via the always wonderful 20x200

Exciting news! T.A. is starting up a Planning Corps, to gather together planners/designers and apply their amazing skills for change on our streets.

This idea was hatched out of numerous conversations with two different groups that only sometimes interact. One set was with T.A. staff who wanted to beef up on technical expertise and stay relevant. The face of advocacy has changed considerably in the past few years, tools are very different, technology development outpaces a small non-profit organization's ability to keep up, and the political climate is very different. Generally, we're pretty nimble, but this is partly because we know when to change accordingly.

The second set of conversations was with planners who had a itch to change the conventions of urban planning. How do we use planning in a way that benefits communities and organizations that really need it, instead of contributing to master plans that sit on the shelf or to EIS's that become a mockery of true environmental sustainability impacts? Not to say that long-term planning isn't necessary, but what can be done now to enable change?

A call was put out for planners (e-mail me if you're in the NYC area and are interested in participating) and a project list from T.A. staff was compiled. But...

As I was trying to come up with projects that people could work on, I realized that I was really grappling with conventions of planning and experiencing how deeply ingrained they really are.

The staff came up with a long list of projects necessary for their campaigns. Most of them are those that are one-on-one with a staffer or small group (aka the "client"), longer-term due to research, data collection, where the planner goes off to do work, whatever that is, and hopefully comes back with a final product. But the ones that the planning group expressed interest in are those that can be done in a group, at once and still end up with something useful. (Charrettes qualify, but few other things do - can you think of any?)

I was really challenged with coming up with "on the spot" project ideas where a group planners could come in and get their hands dirty right away. At minimum, planning projects must have a strong connection to T.A. advocacy - so that there is a high potential for change. That part wasn't hard. What was hard was thinking about re-structuring work so that it had at-the-moment application and was highly productive.

I stopped worrying about how it would happen and embraced the idea that what we needed could be done in many different ways. But, that means that the hard work is really on us, the organizers of Planning Corps, to structure creatively any piece of work on the existing project list so that it can be done in a group, at once and productively. If we get through this though then maybe we'll start to see a shift in how planning can change.

Planning Corps is new with lots of space for experimentation, so if you have ideas and suggestions, please do share. Our first meeting will be March 24, location TBD. People's schedules change quite a bit as job/personal responsibilities shift, so the hope is that the way Planning Corps works - matching planners to non-profits/campaigns for change - will endure.

Yay Transitways!

2010-03-02T20:48:00.004-05:00

It's all over the transportation world, but worth posting about here. NYC is getting closer and closer to delivering transitways - first Select Bus Service, especially the designs for 1st and 2nd Aves, now this proposed project on 34th Street. Thanks DOT for trying out another innovative design in CBD Manhattan. This is a huge improvement in terms of prioritizing use on our streets. What do vehicles really need to move? This is a much more efficient use of the public right-of-way, let alone a vast improvement over streets clogged with one-passenger cars.

You can leave comments on the project page and there's a series of public input workshops going on this spring. (I would be curious about handling bicycle traffic, curbside management of drop-offs and deliveries, and timing of projects in other boroughs).

via Streetsblog, which you should visit for a detailed discussion and some interesting comments

P.S. 1 Young Architect's Program 2010

2010-02-25T17:39:00.003-05:00

Always love to see who wins the Young Architects Program competition to design the front yard of P.S. 1. Pole Dance by SO-IL doesn't look as salacious as it sounds.

d, you're coming back to NYC for the opening, right?

All that glitters is good

2010-02-25T17:36:00.003-05:00

Go for it!
Update: not public space related, nor really planning related, I realized belatedly. Did I really fall for the sparkling logo? Maybe.

UPDATE: Winners announced!

Is there such a thing has a good mall?

2010-02-25T07:42:00.003-05:00

This made me take LEED off my business card.

Neighborhood month

2010-02-23T19:08:00.001-05:00

From GOOD

the OBJECTIVE
Make an infographic about neighborhoods and/or your neighborhood.

the Assignment

Art atop billboards

2010-02-22T21:07:00.004-05:00

Missed the MAK Center's how many billboards in LA.

Update: Was wondering how I missed the billboards when I crossed paths with the art so many times...in the car that is. I'm rarely in a car in general. Guess I never looked up in LA. I'm fascinated by driving behavior in general. Everyone trying to talk to each other while muted; imagine trying to tell someone where you are going while covering your mouth. Little signals mean a lot. I also obsess over pedestrian behavior: are they walking for fitness, fun or work, with friends, where are they walking to/from, do they cross with the light? Enthralled by the few mixed-use retail areas. It seemed like LA lacks bus shelters though there are many bus riders. Finally, I literally count cyclists, check out their bike and see if they obey traffic laws. Total urban planning-transpo-geek.

Pothole gardens

2010-02-22T16:46:00.001-05:00

Real guerrilla gardening from the artist Pete Dungey.

Fine-grain, useful mapping

2010-02-15T17:24:00.005-05:00

Joseph O. Holmes, 20x200

[super wonky post follows]

There were many good sessions at the Active Living Research (ALR) conference, but my favorite one was the session on micro-scale GIS, based on work out of the Urban Form Lab at the University of Washington in Seattle, run by Anne Vernez Moudon (who also moderated the panel I was on) and Chanam Lee. That intersection of anthropology (specifically, collecting observations on human behavior) plus the mapping of data in local-space always gets me.

The methodology she showed us was of particular interest because it employs sophisticated tools for data that some of us working at the local level collect all the time - desire lines, most popular access points, local walking routes, local destinations, local transit use, micro-land use, etc. We do this by hand; lacking the GIS tool, we have literally hand-drawn layers of collected input on top of each other. Very time-consuming and static. Still, it's done because it's really useful for understanding neighborhood-wide transit use and the use of amenities to encourage walkability, for example.

Scale is all so important when it comes to understanding how to make tweaks to systems. An appropriately small scale at 20/50/100 feet reveals useful marks that can be easily lost when you go up to 500 feet. An example she showed us was on local transit use for Seattle. At a transit system level, the neighborhood was well-served by transit stops - an even distribution of bus stops, it appears. When individual self-identified use was mapped at a smaller scale, it became clear that one bus stop was preferred against all others. This stop is essentially the transit heart of the neighborhood. Should more resources go to reinforce this stop? What made the other stops less desirable? This mapping exercise allowed the transit agency to see more about use on the transit line than would be readily available with conventional data sets, though I'm no expert.

Perhaps the concept is well understood in the theory of urban planning, but this micro-level of spatial analysis is rarely applied to real projects going on now. It would be fun to see Open Street Map do a Micro-Street Map version allowing for local built environment condition mapping, maybe as a companion to Open Route Service. Professor Moudon, maybe you should donate your data?

(I tried to find the presentation online but it's not up yet; I'll update this post when it is).

It's not just the mapping that makes this work. The lab makes some good-looking maps too, adding to the overall persuasiveness of the work.

Woody Project

2010-02-15T12:44:00.003-05:00

A collection of Woody Guthrie's America sung by people from many different places. Hosted by Akron Family. Send in your own version.

L.A. Mini-story

2010-02-15T10:29:00.002-05:00

Oh L.A....groovin to a DJ at my type of club where all tables have two types of mustard // thrifting in Costa Mesa // new sharrows on 2nd St in Belmont Shore // not getting into LA Street Food Fest // Chinatown // Happy New Year! // overwhelmed by coffee indulgence of LA Mill // late night conversations around a fire pit and listening to Raymond Pettibon do spoken word backed by guitar, snare and cosmic video at a warehouse-studio-loft party - no idea where // intelligentsia // home snowy home.

Research to policy change: ALR wrap-up

2010-02-12T11:22:00.005-05:00

Nothing compares to the enthusiasm, sincerity and energy of Dr. James Sallis for Active Living Research. I first heard him speak at a NYC Fit-City conference and have been a fan ever since. He and his team have really built this small-ish area of research into a body of work on which policymakers have come to rely.

It's always good to be immersed in a context in which you're unfamiliar. The conference was fairly multi-disciplinary, as professional conferences go, with researchers, advocacy, urban planners, and designers, but it was focused on the needs of researchers. Safe Routes for Seniors and Harlem River Park ped improvement projects went over surprising well given our lack of co-efficients and model names (e.g., Likert scale a very popular one, even T.A. was in on it without knowing it).

I don't think I've seen more shorthand for concepts since...maybe college calculus. In the world of shorthand, transportation is filled with an alphabet soup of acronyms that only insiders intuitively understand (at least you can always try to figure out the words to the letters). Public health studies are full of proper nouns that researchers recognize as the author who did the past study that came up with the concept. (Hence JD got the question for the poster, "You didn't put an author for this study?" since it only had our logo on it.)

I only bring this up because I think it incredibly important that we (all of us, advocates and researchers and policymakers) make research accessible to people from all backgrounds. What is the point of research if it can't be communicated? There are so many fabulous studies that are going to come out later this year (looking forward especially to one on Bixi from the University of Montreal that might have the right data to draw some conclusions about mode shift; walkability and depression from Andrew Rundle and the Built Environment and Health group at Columbia University; and the health impact assessment of congestion pricing from the San Francisco Department of Health). Let's make it open and accessible!

Maybe next year's conference should have a working session on how to communicate the results of your study. So many smart and fabulous researchers had to talk through their posters - which presumably are a digestible version of their very long and important study - for anyone to understand what they did and found. What if the posters did the work and the people could do the discussing? I went to a lot of sessions excited by the topics listed and sometimes left wondering what the study found although I agreed with the policy recommendations in the conclusion (almost all studies had policy recommendations.)

To get us to that policy change, make it accessible. I remain excited by the potential of ALR and I'm looking forward to learning more (and getting a handle on public health proper nouns).

Mapping play

2010-02-06T16:15:00.001-05:00

Urban Cursor

Make Bike Buddy a reality

2010-02-01T11:29:00.005-05:00

Vote for this project - $250,000 at stake! We all know that when there's more cyclists on the road, there is greater visibility, fewer crashes and ultimately higher prioritization of bike-friendly city policy on all sides - infrastructure, enforcement, etc.

Yes, I know at least a little bit about all the big picture stuff on why biking is good - climate change, global warming, urban transportation systems ... but starting to ride in a dense urban environment can be really intimidating, especially in the beginning.

Just orienting yourself to the street - which side is best to ride on? What about an avenue? Skirting buses? Handling left turns? How do you let drivers know your movements? What's actually safe?

Then all the prepping to get on the bike: what to wear - for work, for evening parties, for long rides, to City meetings. How to stay warm or cool, what's helpful vs. extraneously cool (or dorky) gear. What should I use to carry my stuff, where do I go to buy those things? When my bike breaks down, what's something I can fix on my own and something I should take into the shop?

I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by a large group of seasoned bike commuters when I started riding in NYC nearly two years ago. I literally had a "buddy" who was willing to work out the small details with me, like best footwear while riding, to big decisions, like which routes are the safest. People met me in the morning and rode home with me at the end of the day and at night, never resenting the fact that I doubled their trip time since I rode so slowly. They patiently showed me how to change the tube in my tire endless times and would give me a tune-up while they were at it. And after a few months (and only a few mishaps, like when I nervously stopped at a stop sign, got rattled at the too-close shy distance with a fellow biker and literally fell over slowly and sideways on top of him in front of 10 aforementioned cyclists), I started to get the hang of it.

I couldn't imagine living in the city without biking now. Riding has become one of the best ways for me to get around, live, work, and play in New York. I would love for every new bike commuter to have the same experience of getting up to speed. Go Bike Buddy!

p.s. An individual email can vote for the same idea 1 time every day during the entire voting cycle from February 1 - 28. Please vote!

A balanced electoral college

2010-01-31T12:44:00.002-05:00

Might it look like this?

From Fake is the New Real

Here it is, a plan to plan

2010-01-24T11:08:00.002-05:00

I knew someone had figured this out. Absolutely, the first response is not one of reconstruction...here's some ideas for the long-term.

Hm...at least it's now serving bus riders

2010-01-21T11:50:00.003-05:00

image source

...and not just car drivers, but on the plus side, this also prevents people from circling around looking for a spot...but still. You have to give to get. Check it out: Roadify, a service for community transportation driven by user-input. I like the idea of BusAroundMe, now possibly augmented with MTA data?

Can't get enough of this

2010-01-21T09:15:00.002-05:00

Cut a break, it's related to cities after all!

In public service

2010-01-18T12:51:00.004-05:00

This is a little rumination I've been sorting out, so apologies upfront for the rudimentary nature. If I've been workshopping in my head, BttN seems to be a good spot to lay everything down and geek out.

I've been spending some time thinking about the multitude of ways planners can contribute to change; learning about the situation in Haiti has made it more immediate. (To be honest, I was also inspired by the Bauhaus exhibit at MoMA where examples abound of workshopping and testing the flex of combining multiple disciplines to contribute to society.) Other professions have figured out a succinct and valuable way to apply the skills of their profession for public service. Examples of those groups include Medicins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders, Union of Concerned Scientists and Architecture for Humanity. There are myriad smaller organizations that do similar work: engineers working on eradicating TB, architects working on affordable, community-based sustainability, for example. All of these groups are emblematic of specific knowledge and skills applied to a specific situation. Sometimes the need is much more immediate, as in Haiti. Other times, it's a longer-term need. Doctors may be the only profession with a common oath; however, it seems that the creation of the organizations is an implicit recognition that many other professions also have distinct power through their specific knowledge to save lives and make people's lives better.

What would a so-called Planning Corp do? Sorting through this brings up more questions than answers. Fundamentally, what do planners do? They help make decisions about how the built environment will be formed, how the natural and built environments will relate to one another, and all with the goal of making people's lives better. Planners collect data, and conduct research and analysis against an understanding of space. How does planning happen? Through a series of decisions, sometimes through an established public process or a private development process, usually a combination of both. How do those decisions get made? What's required to make them? Yikes. The arc of planning always seems long-term; what do planners have to offer in the short-term?

(In disaster situations, there must be (hopefully?!) a typology of responses that has been established among relief agencies. The process of response also carries with it a geo-political context. For example, without knowing the particulars, the decision to cede control of the airport to the U.S. seems loaded. Who gets to go into Haiti - what groups? Who receives access to resources to set up and has legitimacy to be there? Who decides?)

Planners often get lumped with architects and designs. A quick look through the Architecture for Humanity opportunities list shows that the focus on the building facility first; the design process proceeds from that starting point. Architects probably take on a huge amount of the planning responsibilities too, but it's hard to know where that starts and ends. There's Architects, Planners and Designers for Social Responsibility too; role? It would be interesting to follow-up with folks who worked on the Katrina reconstruction and see what lessons and best practices could be found.

I think it's dawned on everyone that the practice of planning needs to extend beyond the effort of making the planning process more inclusionary - or maybe the definition of inclusion needs to be expanded. Though that aspect of planning is absolutely necessary, planning as a discipline seems to have to make a bigger change than just getting community input per se.

Outside of physical design, planners also deal with a lot of data - from how it's defined to how it is collected to how it is communicated. I've become more and more curious about open data and the politicalization of analysis and access, thanks to the nudging of a couple of good folks in NYC. I guess it's about time! In this vein, the CrisisCamp response to the Haiti situation seems extremely appropriate and efficient. The application of data across space is very much an exercise in planning - but participation seems very much defined by computer program developers, not planners (the CrisisCamp folks made a great effort to include a role of non-techies in the projects).

Mobile app developers working on Creole/English tool at Haiti CrisisCamp DC

So I'll put it out there: what do you think a Planning Corp would do? If planners had to band together to respond to crisis, to injustice, to social change, in the long-term and short-term, what would they bring to the world? Sometimes I try something more specific: what would the Hippocratic Oath be for planners? And finally, what's missing here?

Grand Army Plaza - book release!

2010-01-13T00:17:00.003-05:00

The fine folks at Design Trust for Public Space have released the book (free download available) on the Reinventing Grand Army Plaza design competition. The book looks wonderful - they always kick out stellar publications, those people.

If you'd like to get involved with the ongoing improvements at Grand Amy Plaza, there are a lot of opportunities through GAPco, the community-based coalition led by residents, business owners, elected officials, and among them, quite a few folks who are experts in public space and transportation. The first meeting is coming up soon...check the web site for updates.

This is a great example of organizing, coalition building, ideas design competition - all leading to physical changes in this space.

For the love of bikes

2010-01-11T18:10:00.003-05:00

Recent industrial design Pratt grad Vanessa Marie Robinson has a few great ideas to make biking easier, safer and much more stylish up on her awesome blog, for the love of bikes.

A cool bike bag with expandable helmet area...

Reflective riding gloves that don't scream spandex warrior...

A bicycle tool utility bench for our tiny NYC apartments...

New old news

2010-01-08T18:15:00.002-05:00

source

Britta/Window Farms reached its fundraising goal!

Another discussion about defining blight...

What is Affordable Housing?

2010-01-08T13:41:00.002-05:00

Center for Urban Pedagogy only gets better and better. It launched this new project, Envisioning Development, that investigates first, "What is Affordable Housing?" Awesome!! Check out the map. Looks like Zoning and ULURP are next in line...

From CUP:

Our work grows from a belief that the power of imagination is central to the practice of democracy, and that the work of governing must engage the dreams and visions of citizens. CUP believes in the legibility of the world around us. What can we learn by investigation? By learning how to investigate, we train ourselves to change what we see.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes!

Modern Shipwrecks

2010-01-07T08:39:00.006-05:00

"My belief is that uncertainty brings about a heightened awareness of place." - Marie Lorenz

Anyone who's traveled to a different country knows how much this rings true. I heard Marie Lorenz's talk at the Gel conference back in 2007; she was one of the more memorable speakers. I love her deep commitment to the basic theme, which is a simple idea - build boat, explore shoreline - with the experiences extremely unpredictable. Her execution is impeccable. Simple ideas really are the most brilliant.

Read her statement and go through the many trips (and maybe one shipwreck) she has taken on the shorelines of New York City. You can view her most recent shipwreck at her opening tomorrow night, January 8, at 6 PM at the Jack Hanley gallery.

Narrow streets experiments

2010-01-05T19:10:00.003-05:00

One can always dream...

westwood boulevard + pico boulevard, west los angeles

...fun to check out.

Looking for good people

2010-01-05T18:37:00.004-05:00

Transportation Alternatives is looking for a few good people to intern and hire.

Down to (vendy) business

2009-12-29T17:46:00.003-05:00

A message from Sean Basinski, Director of the Street Vendor Project:

A couple weeks ago at a holiday party, I heard someone describe the Street Vendor Project as "that group who puts on the Vendy Awards."

I was impressed that he knew about our big yearly event, which continues to thrive and grow. But I was frustrated that the Vendys had again overshadowed the work we do at SVP every day, organizing and advocating for hundreds of vendors who will never receive an award but deserve our recognition and assistance just the same.

One of those vendors is Mohammed Ullah, and immigrant from Bangladesh who sells roasted peanuts near Times Square. With no vending permits available, Mohammed can´t open his own business - the cart he works belongs to his boss, who pays him $60 to $70 a day. He lives in a small apartment in Brooklyn with his family.

Read more about Mohammed and a request for micro-lending.

Another one

2009-12-24T09:36:00.003-05:00

Am finding endless awesomeness this week (in spite of the wack).
Yay for Candy Chang. Her projects are amazing and the process really illuminating...connecting a design product to advocacy. Yay! Thanks Urban Omnibus for pointing her out again.

(I'm a softy for the Street Vendor Project too. This year's at the Queens Museum was worth the trek.)

Scattered Light

2009-12-23T22:58:00.002-05:00

ASDF designed six posters.
One poster will be released a month.
Each poster has a photo by David Horvitz on one side and a text on the other. Together, the photo and text present various themes relating to the concept of space/place/surroundings.

Each poster release serves as an open call for photographic responses. The response should be based on the poster's text and image, along with an “Assignment”. The “Assignment” is announced with the poster release / open call. These open calls are open to everyone who wishes to participate.

Assignment 1

WTF - Copenhagen Climate Talks

2009-12-23T09:41:00.003-05:00

Read this last night, listened to this just now (check back tomorrow for today's program). Speechless.

Opening up process with open (specific) data

2009-12-23T07:53:00.005-05:00

I visited DC a couple weeks ago and hung out with my close friend/doppelganger who works at the National Democratic Institute (NDI). She seems to have no end of interesting projects, but one of her latest, mapping voter data from Afghanistan's November 7 elections, in partnership with DevelopmentSeed, is really amazing. You can play around with some of the results at Afghanistanelectiondata.org.

The issues barring democratic civic engagement in Afghanistan are obviously different than the ones that we face in the US. I think the lesson here is that you have to identify data collection/visualization with a heavy dose of political strategy that's connected to influencing the change you want to see. She and I bandied this around a bit; she's a master at political strategy and can talk you through/out of anything you might think is a brilliant idea (<3 her!)

OK, duh I know, but how many times has data been collected/analyzed/visualized to look cool but still doesn't seem to say very much or remains disconnected to advocating for change? For example, I'm looking at the viability of inserting health impact assessments (HIA) into the planning process for local development projects. Yes, conceptually it totally makes sense. But when you drill down, identifying the most valuable public health indicators becomes really hard. Plus, what difference would a HIA make in NYC's ULURP or CEQR process without advocating for changes in those outdated processes as well?

It doesn't matter how big or small the project is; identifying the specific data needed to create the change in the specific political/cultural context is absolutely necessary. Sometimes simple is good, or the best. Getting to simple specifics is the hardest part of the thought process.

(Whoo-hoo, congrats cc!)

Green It Yourself

2009-12-20T10:41:00.002-05:00

My partner in the Grand Army Plaza design competition, Lori Gibbs, and the talented Atom Cianfarani, just finished another project that promotes local sustainability - a DIY workshop book on green roofs, part of their Green It Yourself series. They break down the process and language of this kind of project and give you lots of pointers on what is absolutely necessary and what can be more flexible as you design your greenroof. The greenroof workbook is available now; they'll sell green roof supplies on the same site soon. Congrats!

Kickstart Window Farms

2009-12-18T13:18:00.001-05:00

A note from Window Farms:

We are making a big leap and turning The Windowfarms Project into a NON-PROFIT WEB STARTUP dedicated to grassroots R&D on food growing in apartments! We are writing to all of you to ask for your support during our online fund-raising drive. We have until 2pm EST on Jan 4th, 2010 to raise $25K, and we're more than half way there -- please contribute!

Britta Riley started The Windowfarms Project as a grassroots way to start to address issues concerning our food system, and to give ordinary people a way of participating in the "green revolution." Over the last year, through an organized online collaboration of regular folks, we "Windowfarmers" have designed a system for growing nutritious veggies in the windows of homes in a way that looks like an elegant garden/fountain. We have given away the plans and shown anyone how to make them out of cheap, easily accessible and recycled materials. Windowfarmers are continuously testing new techniques and sharing results online to make Windowfarms more efficient, more productive, more nutritious, quieter, prettier, and more tasty.

The project has been exceedingly popular (worldwide, even!)-- so much so that it has grown past Britta's capacity to manage it and financially support the work to be done. It needs to become an organization and have its own patrons until the grants we have applied for (surely!) roll in late next year. Together with Maya Nayak, Britta is attempting to turn it into a nonprofit dedicated to the open research and development of Windowfarms for our homes! We are applying for 501(c)(3) status, and have a 3 member Board.

"Monkeying around" with what you've got...

2009-12-16T12:47:00.006-05:00

...it might lead to something good!

The night I was over at Eyebeam working on the Buckminster Fuller competition with some cool folks from the New Amsterdam Bike Slam, I was psyched to get a mini-tour from Britta Riley about her hydroponic window farming system, designed specifically for urban dwellers who have no access to dirt or horizontal space but may have a window available. You can read an interview with her here; I love that she says "monkey around" a couple of times. A Window Farms kit is in the works, I think.

NYC BigApps

2009-12-15T16:30:00.004-05:00

Kinda love this competition and the many applications that came out of it. As with many of these types of things, you can see the high potential of pairing technology, information and space; but you also experience many limitations of existing data and our definitions of space. The decisions that get made along the way - whether because of individual biases, data restrictions, existing systems, etc - do have a big influence on what can be served up.

(Course I'm always behind on this stuff...this isn't news.)

Bikes in Buildings

2009-12-09T11:04:00.003-05:00

The look of pure glee! This guy, the official photographer of T.A.'s Bikes in Buildings event at WTC 7 last night, won the raffle and took off down the hall on his new bike. The security guys didn't even give him a second glance: another definition of bikes in buildings.

Watersquares

2009-12-08T13:59:00.003-05:00

via Pruned

My head is filled with process these days; a part of the practice of urban planning that is somewhat opaque and difficult to show others. So I was keen to find out about this Watersquares project (pdf) in Rotterdam; a cool example of how something moves from:

problem --> design concept --> research and dev --> urban planning --> urban policy

The problem of stormwater management and an overtaxed sewage system led to a potential design solution that was then prototyped and developed, put through the applied planning wringer, and emerged as viable urban policy for the City of Rotterdam. And, to make it completely accessible to those who never come in contact with the wonkiness of "urban stormwater management" it looks like a graphic novel is coming out to explain how it works. The work is by Florian Boer and Marco Vermeulen (friend of yours v?) This project sounds awesome.

Office of Urban Affairs

2009-12-07T08:21:00.002-05:00

Fascinating story about the Office of Urban Affairs's agenda by WNYC's Andrea Bernstein.

Defining blight?

2009-12-04T12:43:00.003-05:00

How do big organizations who can issue bonds to fund development projects on land that is seized through eminent domain define "blight"?

Hopefully this Columbia University court decision will make more people question the certitude of these projects.

Hard at work

2009-12-01T17:33:00.003-05:00

Bedford Avenue is one of the longest streets in New York City, running nearly the full length of Brooklyn. It's a vital corridor that handles a lot of traffic of all kinds (many many peds, bikes, cars, buses, and trucks) and is truly representative of the different neighborhoods through which it travels.

So it was particularly saddening to see this happening, this morning...

It's pretty clear once you get past Flushing where the bike icons have been removed that, as a cyclist, you are not welcome here. So sad, I love Bedford Avenue for its vibrancy, especially in this part of the city. It's hard to be made unwelcome in a neighborhood you like.

(Thanks CS for the images!)

Looking up

2009-11-29T09:11:00.002-05:00

My favorite thing at PS1 is James Turrell's Meeting, for the feeling of the sky on your face and for seeing everyone alter their behavior as soon as they enter the room.