This year's Pritzker Prize

Brazilian Museum of Sculpture. Image from Archidose

Haven't seen much on this piece of news, though there was quite some hubbub when Thomas Mayne won it last year. (Could the Pritzker Prize site be any worse as a representation of a high design competition? I don't think it would take much to make a clean nice site.) This year's winner is Brazilian Paulo Mendes de Rocha, who's done a lot of work in Sao Paolo. I don't remember seeing anything that he's done when I was there. He's lauded for a humanist approach to concrete and steel - I would just love to see how that worked out. I can't tell from the photos at all - above.

Curating the city

Johnny's Coffeeshop, an "icon of Googie architecture on Wilshire's Miracle Mile"

Another online exhibit about the city, of a different kind. Los Angeles Conservancy's nifty web site, "Curating the City" can make anyone wax nostalgic about L.A., its boulevards and modernist architecture, no matter how much of a die-hard New Yorker you may be. (Anyone who's been there knows that sometimes, there ain't much to love about L.A. boulevards when you're sitting in the middle of afternoon traffic and the beautiful sunshine only seems to stir up more smog.)

Right now the focus is on Wiltshire Boulevard and the tour is available in English, Spanish and Korean. I also like the Memory Book, where you can submit your own stories of place.

The site looks great. But here's the thing: it seems that a preponderance of the buildings highlighted along the tour are exclusive (a la country club or office building). Few are real public spaces - though a boulevard is typically a city's easiest and most rarely pursued opportunity for a public space. At least the site will point out which public transit stop will take you to each place.

Public Place

Someone here found this public input site for the Gowanus Canal. Public Place is run by NYU Wagner students who are focusing on the site as part of a Capstone project (I'm not sure what that means). I like the simplicity of the site - no posturing yet, and this makes it easier to give your opinion.

I always romaticize the Gowanus Canal. I've walked over the canal on warm summer evenings, and felt, just a little bit, like I'm in Amsterdam/Williamsburg. In reality, the place could use some help, though I'm always pleasantly surprised at how much community already exists through the long-time presence of the Brookyn Art Exchange (formerly the Gowanus Art Exchange) and other places. Also, one of my favorite painters, Dana Schutz supposedly has a studio there.

Hidden City Winners

This one by Ohad, not sure if he's a winner but I liked it

Another fix: the winners of the Hidden City competition have been chosen (in my humble opinion one of the best contest ideas out there this year). There's a slow reveal, but in the meantime, you can revel in the Flickr pool - simply amazing.

Busy busy

Apologies for the lack of posts. We had a Board meeting earlier this week, and I have a writing deadline for the end of the week. Check out some of the links on the side to get your urban/public space fix.

Breaking story on Mosaic Man!

Image source: pnelsoncomposer.com

All around the East Village, if you pay close attention (and sometimes not even), you'll see beautiful mosaics on streetlamp posts, embedded in the sidewalk, around doorways. They look as though they're made of found china, or tile, or any other similar material.

I had always been a fan, and was even more delighted when I got to the dog park one day with our little Miss C.S. and could see with my very eyes who was responsible for all these little intercessions of beauty.

Well, there's a breaking story on the home of the Mosaic Man. Geez. If his home is where I think it is, I saw him trying to set it up as an East Village Vets Center last summer.

Bryant Park treats bathroom-goers right (again)

Fresh flowers? Sounds very nice indeed (though I thought they always had that). The full take on the newly restored Bryant Park Public Restrooms.

Toll Brothers in New York

Lots on the entree of the luxury McMansion-trolling Toll Brothers into the New York City-proper market, courtesy of Polis, whose NY Times article got mentioned here and here, and yes, even a few more places.

(Sometimes, I loathe the responsibility of feeling like I should post what I'd like when everyone else is just posting exactly what I would want to post and my post is obviously redundant because there's not much more to say...this article being a good case in point.)

A great thing about parks

Terrible photo taken with my camera phone, sorry!

Every Saturday morning I walk to my yoga class at Dance New Amsterdam (formerly Danspace). I always have to try to figure out the least depressing way of walking through the Federal district and Foley Square, which seems to be filled with jersey barriers and chainlink fences that block off alternative entrances and extend curbs without any sidewalks. The green spaces seem gratuitous and the Marth Schwartz concentric-circle-seating-as-landscaping a pathetic antidote to all the gray that screams security, as much as I like the garish colors to break up the monotony.

When I walked down today, there were policemen milling about and setting up for something. There was a mobile stage and the streets were closed off. A concert? A police memorial?

I could hear the crowd even before I left the building after class. There were thousands of people walking down Centre Street, carrying flags from Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Mexico, Irish - these were just the few that I caught as they waved by. They were protesting the anti-immigration bill going through Congress.

The first major demonstration in which I took part was with my parents, in Taipei during a visit when I was in high school, and the 100,000 or so people with whom we walked could only converge at an intersection at the closed gate of a government building. The parks were closed to the demonstration, and the national army was posted along the route, not to protect the demonstrators, but to control them. It was the first time I saw machine guns. By nature of the design, the crowd had to break up at the endpoint. There was no place to gather.

By contrast, I could hear the loudspeakers in Thomas Paine Park (the link takes you to the Parks Dept page - there's apparently so little to say about the park that there's actually nothing to say) before I could actually see the park. Walking by the demonstration, I got a little teary thinking about how great it was that in New York City, anyone - citizen, immigrant, legal or not - could demonstrate and then converge on a City park and continue to interact and speak their mind. Where would they go to be heard if not for Foley Square and Thomas Paine Park in the middle of the Federal district?

The High Line groundbreaking

I love it when people are able to accomplish something that "everyone" -- at least most people close to where I am sitting -- said was "impossible" and had dismissed. The Friends of the High Line are hosting a groundbreaking celebration on April 10, noon - 1:30 PM.

Though The Friends of the High Line started with some allies in high places, were able to build a network of influential support quickly, and could have tried to forge ahead with the project by mainly playing with the power brokers, they made a very concerted effort to remain true to principles of community-based planning - do community outreach, engage a broad base of professionals that they thought could help, hold community meetings, host educational programs, and essentially listen and consider what people were telling them.

Hurray! I'm very happy for them - the day is finally here, April 10! (I would go but our Board meeting is that day -- boo).

A cheerful way of looking at the city

Josef Frank print

Via Lena Corwin, who has a sixth sense about patterns, though of a different kind than that within these pages, (and also spotted in Domino this month!)

onNYTurf

We were chatting over dinner about the proposed Yankee Stadium project and what some councilman said to the community at the meeting yesterday, ("you mean, he negotiated that the Yankees incorporate what the Bronx wanted, or the Yankees leave? And now he expects the community to accept what's going down or the Yankees leave? I don't get it, and what are they doing anyway...") so Jon went to look at what was being proposed and I continued to talk to the air, and I looked up, and there was this amazing map of the Yankee Stadium proposal - map, satellite, hybrid, before, and after, all annotated with photos.

Wow.

The site is called onNYTurf, and yeah, maybe I'm just jumping on the bandwagon really late, but it really is amazing, and it's authored wiki-style, so contributors welcome.

Update: I knew I was coming onto this late. Check out Starts and Fits' deeper exploration into this site.

Squatter urbanism

There's a great interview on squatter urbanism with Wes Janz, professor at Ball State University. He gives us this persuasive reference point:

when his students are his age (52), one in four people will be living in unauthorized, "reclaimed" space.

Definitely check it out.

A fight over congestion pricing

Not happening (yet) in New York or San Francisco. Rather, it's taking place between Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London and the recently appointed U.S. ambassador to Britain, Robert Tuttle.

See, American diplomats never wanted to pay this charge. And true, according to the 1961 Vienna Convention, diplomats are exempt from local taxation. But Livingstone thinks driving a car is an extra service people must pay for in the city, kind of like paying to ride the bus, and it's not a tax.

In the previous Ambassador's term, the U.S. Embassy agreed to be good citizens and pay the congestion charge while negotiating the terms of diplomatic immunity.

Well, no more starting July 2007. The fact that Robert Tuttle (or, if you rather, Richard Tuttle) is a multi-millionaire car dealership owner and Bush family cronie didn't help Livingstone's livid tongue.

So, what is congestion pricing? Tax or service? Seems that when it's set up like that there's only one way to duke it out - a culture war. Oh, we have that going on already.

Thanks kayx!

StarQuest

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of meeting Henry Stern, aka StarQuest, former Parks Commissioner under Guiliani, and founder of NY Civic, "part-watchdog, part-cheerleader." (I hope I got that right - if he reads this and I've got it wrong, there is sure to be some kind of correction asked of me. What else to expect from someone who wanted to make sure I understood the difference between "prevaricate" and "equivocate" and yes, I was embarrassed.)

Other than feeling like I was engaged in the kind of conversation that my privileged liberal arts education had prepared me for (and prepared me for somewhat miserably, I might add), the whole experience was enlightening.

See, I think in this day and age with the deluge of media and information, bad news makes news news, and news about development is the kind of news that people love to hate. When I asked StarQuest about his idea of "good development," he named Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Lincoln Center, and thought Atlantic Yards was a great idea.

His perception of everything that was going on only made me feel that it is even more difficult than I thought (and I did think it was extraordinarily difficult to begin with) to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to understanding the good and the bad in NYC development. Perhaps this is too simplistic.

But in the gluttony of real estate pornography, it's good to know that there are some simple principles that persist, especially in real estate. First, it always looks worse than it is, but it looks particularly bad before anything has been built and everything is abstract. Second, humans are very very good at adapting to change. Third, cities do change. All we can do is hope that we increase the odds in favor of respecting humanity for the broadest group.

The culture of the perfect lawn

(sorry for the late post of this...I have quite a backlog!)

We went to see one of my heros, Enrique Penalosa, speak at the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at NYU last week. Enrique loves to contrast urban development of a resource-deprived city like Bogota, Columbia, where he was the mayor, against Western notions of development, especially to show how a "poor" country like Bogota can be one of the most progressive in terms of transportation policy reform.

Specifically, he has a common saying, which is that public spaces are the most democratizing asset any city can provide because in a good public space, the poorest worker and the wealthiest elite will come across each other. It's a cultural thing, and he certainly didn't always have a receptiv audience when he said things like this, but after two years of his public space and greenways initiatives, he made converts out of citizens in Bogota. As he kept re-iterating, the public good must be upheld above private interests.

That got us thinking at our table about how different it is for US residents, and how the argument runs counter to all the signals we're given about our collective American Dream. A common perception we encounter when we go out into the field that every US citizen is entitled to their own car, their own backyard, to their single family home and that public space is extra. Everyone is entitled to "property." The democratizing asset that the government should provide are policies that permit everyone to be able to own something of value. The public good is to ensure equal access to private interests.

The same day as the Enrique talk, I found this LA Times article about the culture of the perfect lawn, which of course is an attendant effect of owning the perfect single family home with the perfect backyard.

The article shows the evolution of the building desire for the perfect lawn, and hypothesizes, "There is no business conspiracy here, just economic self-interest."

What a contrast to Enrique Penalosa's claim that in a democracy the public good must prevail above all else, and especially above private interests!

In this world of monetizing every pro and con in order to make public policies, we wondered how to convince the unconverted that the public good, in the form of a public space, serves everyone's self-interests. As Enrique said, any child can tell you the conditions to raise a happy whale. However, we're failing in our ability to re-create an environment to raise a happy child.

Good redevelopment! (In NYC!) - edited

Due to an error on my part, I had to remove part of this post. This is a revised version.

Thanks to everyone who responded! Almost all polled had the similar response of, hm...I can't think of anything off the top of my head. But when pressed, there ARE examples - they're developments that work and continue to work (tested by time), have catalyzed other economic or community development, and they didn't impose a single-facet solution on the neighborhood. Not all were exemplary in terms of community process, but there were also a few examples offered as products of good process.

Before I pull out the long list, I wanted to share an anonymous comment. I felt it captured the challenge of pulling together all the fragments that would result in a whole good development. Regarding the Poly Prep School on Prospect Park West:

"Granted, they're in a very historic, landmarked neighborhood. But still they fired their first architect, made their neighbors happy, kissed the rings of the community board and civic council cranks, spent money and came up with a really nice contextual design."

Got it?

So here is the first batch, in no particular order:

* Fulton Mall (I think it's a good example though Forgotten NY sees it as a missed opportunity)
* Hudson River Park
* Metrotech (I disagree with this one; even the BID that manages Metrotech starts out by reminiscing about what once was)
* DUMBO (on the fence - are neighborhoods "redevelopment" projects? then the whole city is a major redevelopment project.)
* A community center in the Bronx (am in the process of finding out which one)
* Fairway Harlem Market
* Chelsea Market
* Battery Park City (on the fence. Very well-intended, mixed reviews in terms of sustainable success.)
* Madison Avenue urban renewal site from 117th to 120th street (have to find out more)

Paying attention to neighborhoods

I had lunch with Richard Layman yesterday, of Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space. Among many things discussed, Richard pointed me to Neighborhoods, a blog with wonderful insights on local relationships between people and their spaces. The author, Kevin Harris, is based in the UK, but it's neat how the vignettes detailing neighborhood dynamics across the pond are so similar to the ones people would tell here. Kevin is also connected to a consulting company, Local Level.

"Good" redevelopment?

I'm working on a writing project and am searching for "good" redevelopment projects in New York City. Of course there are "good" projects...right?

As I thought about it, it became hard to actually come up with a good project in NYC. So I'm appealing to any readers who also like to think about these things: Do you know of any "good" redevelopment projects? I'm thinking about projects that make you wish that all redevelopment projects as just like it...

Thanks!

Ground Zero Redux

I've been following the ongoing Ground Zero saga through my friends, the verbose Miss Representation and punchy Polis, both of whom are much more articulate than I in untangling the ins and outs of upper politics among the privileged, corporate and real estate(d). Both highly recommended. Thank goodness for their tenacity in following this story through its twists and turns or I would be an ignorant fool about the city I live in.

I do have to commend especially them for bringing my attention to an aspect of the project that I could really connect to. I found out first through Polis:

See, Miss R. actually went to the public meeting that I posted about recently, and took notes. That is in and of itself quite admirable. But then he actually wrote a very coherent and important take-down of the whole damn thing. Here's just a sampling:

(and from Miss R., quoted by Polis)
A new -- to me -- and rather disturbing detail was revealed: due to security concerns, the perimeter of the PATH station will be solid concrete up to ten feet (though this number was disputed by Mr. Plate). So the two projects that have cleared design development and security review [the other being the Freedom Tower, otherwise known as monumentum horibilis -- ed.] both will be complete opaque at street level. Which is perhaps good, since it was also noted that streetscape improvements are currently unfunded. ...

Sorry Miss R., I would have missed this if not for Polis (sometimes don't make it all the way down the page on your posts for no other reason than my short attention span in the morning.) No wonder large building projects have a low percentage of success in creating humane experiences - people don't find out about them until it's way too late. It took one intrepid blogger to sit through the insanely long meeting, take notes, digest the notes, write down his observations, and then another blogger to emphasize one aspect that would actually affect the people who are walking around and making use of the space, and who therefore might actually be made to care enough to speak up. The meta-meta required to uncover the truth is unbelievable.

Why do things built for people continue to overlook people?

To follow the story yourself,
Nothing to See Here Folks, Miss Representation
Yes, It's As Bad As You Think, Polis
Wake Up, New Yorkers, Polis
WTC Site: Good News For People Who Love Bad News, Polis
WTC Site: More Good News for People Who Love Bad News, Polis

Houses or Jobs? (Lofts or Industry?)

A press room, image from the amazing New York City Public Library Digital Archives.

The Bloomberg Administration has been trying to demarcate "industrial zones" that preserve the city's thousands of small businesses (and jobs) while responding to housing pressures. Though focused on Oakland and California, this LATimes article outlines the story well - it's a story that's being narrated in dozens of cities across the country.

The tradition of Traditional

Old Main Street Avoca, PA

Call it what you want, but the types of neighborhoods that lure buyers and people to places all tend to sound the same after a while.

In this article (WSJ, via Post Gazette), what lures buyers become somewhat formulaic:

"...Dan and Bena Tarczynski traded a four-bedroom home in the suburbs here for another one built on an old Navy base not far from downtown. It has a smaller yard, the neighbors are closer and the house is only 15 feet from the road, but the Tarczynskis say they and their two children couldn't be happier.

They enjoy being able to walk to parks or shops or restaurants. They like the full-grown trees and the varied architecture of the neighborhoods. And Mr. Tarczynski loves the fact that he can get to his office in five minutes instead of 45."

So why is this so hard to get through to people who are designing these places? This isn't about the way it looks - it's about the way it functions. So there's no reason it couldn't look different - traditional, modern, post-modern, contemporary - while performing these vital functions. You think?

Hester Street Collaborative, Bad Design Darts, etc.

A much older Hester Street, not sure which year. I'm finding some cool postcards through Google image searchs.

I went up to the Municipal Art Society today to have lunch with the lovely exhibition coordinator, Elizabeth Werbe. She's doing such a great job - there's been some really interesting exhibits over the last several months and more upcoming where the subject matter connect nicely with New York current events.

After I took my time with the Living Streets Exhibit, I went over to the other gallery, where there is a great exhibit on the Hester Street Collaborative and some of their most current projects. I loved it. You can get a sense of the enthusiasm from the kids too, on their very own blog, where some students chronicle personal progress on projects. To be honest, their exhibit made the Living Streets look somewhat wane. The Bad Design Darts exhibit pulls you into the projects quickly, and I loved the hands-on ways they got kids to understand, care and make place. The exhibit itself is more hands-on and 3-D. It was a fun break from looking at the walls from the Streets exhibit.

Anyhow, if you're up in Midtown, you should check out both exhibits, they're free, and see for yourself. Then go across Madison on 51st and get a snack at Prime Burger. The spin out tables (very mod, very not-renovated-since 1965, thankfully) and Atom-Age light fixtures alone are worth the trip. And where else in Midtown can you get a burger for less than $5?

LA Mayor Pitching for More Parks

Banana Grass and Pampas Grass, Los Angeles Postcard from here

Los Angelos Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other officials in charge of the environment are seeking to set aside money for more parks.

"The era of pavement and concrete is an era of the past," Villaraigosa told a news conference along a stretch of the river choked partly by dead brush and trash. "We want to grow smart. We want to grow green and we want to enhance the quality of life for our citizens."

Just setting aside funding for greenspace doesn't mean that green will sprout around the city. I hope he works to gather the support of the DOT and transit folks as well as the land use and economic development folks while he's at it. Touring around L.A., I always got the sense that the lack of parks was a side effect of being blindly in love with private transportation -- e.g. pavement -- so much. There seemed to exist a very limited sensibility about how different public spaces could relate to each other and how to provide access to such places by the city government. It was such a shame that in a place with such perfect outdoor weather I had to spend so much time in the car.

Finally a "big" downtown market hall

From Lower Manhattan Redevelopment. Here are more beautiful images of the structure from a fantastic street photoblog, rion.nu.

What's always stopped me from looking for an apartment in those beautiful, small-scale historic buildings right near South Seaport was the obvious lack of a good grocery store.

So official news of a possible market in the Landmark Ferry Building was much welcome, even if it just helps me augment my real estate fantasy. I had *known* that something was brewing down there, but I'm glad it came out in the open.

But this quote stopped me short:

"What New York is really missing is a great market hall in a historic building," said Kate Ascher, the executive vice president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Hm...what about the Market Hall in Grand Central Station to start? It's not huge, but if that's what she has in mind, bring it on!

Update on Kimmel: taking architecture to court

Or rather settling the case out of court, to avoid media bruhaha about the value of architect's design. That was close.

Ah, the complications of getting buildings built. There weren't any specified design flaws stated in the news, only that the ultimate cost of building the center was $180 million rather than the original $157 million.

Given all the criticism that is leveled at star-architect firms, among which Raphael Vinoly Associates is rising, especially about the dys-functionality of their buildings, I'm a tad surprised there aren't more court cases to settle structurally defective designs.

But only a tad. The cost of bringing such a case to court is high of course, and the number of people who may ultimately be responsible for a design flaw is also high. A team for a building design could consist of structural engineers, material engineers, operational engineers, and in this case, probably even a sound engineering firm, etc etc, all of whom inform the design. And my impression of the construction process for many large projects is that costs always continue to rise. But there is typically a designer of record, and Vinoly is it in this case.

I rather like the lush interior of the Kimmel Center main stage, and am sorry that it seems that the exterior doesn't quite work as well, though I think a lot of that is due to Philadelphia DOT's design of the street. I'm also sorry when I found out about this case, having worked with several fine architects at Vinoly just a couple years ago.

To be un-cool

From Housing Crash Blog

While many will be blogging away about the special edition Real Estate NY Times Magazine, what I loved more over the weekend was this Polis post about the virtues of the un-cool. Once a Syracuse girl, always a Syracuse girl, allowing me to appreciate all the more what is lovely about living in New York City.

And I suppose you should read the Magazine's R.E. edition too.

From Taiwan, III

 
Dining on the ledge, overlooking the harbor

For me, one of the biggest signs of the increase standard of living was the proliferation of cafe culture in Taiwan. There were coffeeshops everywhere in a range of price levels and serious application of sidewalk seating. People seem to have much more disposable income and the time to while away in a cafe. Now there are even a couple baristas in my extended family. (A cousin asked me to distinguish a Kenyan brew drank from a ceramic cup and a porcelain cup. Hm.)

Everyone takes advantage of these creature comforts, and nothing said it better than the crowds every night at the newly opened former British Consulate building in Kaohsiung. Yes, Taiwan used to be a colonial destination for traders, missionaries and military. This recently opened tourist destination had become a local favorite as well, due to the spectacular view of Kaohsiung harbor and the very user-friendly table top that was designed to extend much beyond the seat ledge, giving one the sensation of dining literally over the water. 

From Taiwan, II

 
All the pretty boxes!

 
Steaming hot and yummy.

Every day of the week, there's a night market to stroll around after dinner and have your second supper or late night snack and sift through the piles of cheap, trendy clothing and accessories. Eating and shopping are the two activities that dominate life in Taiwan, and my personal favorite was when we shop for what we were going to eat. The above photos are from Shilin Night Market, one of the most popular and extensive ones around, especially for the teeny-boppers in Taipei. It doesn't show up well here, but there's a gigantic inner market that's completely covered, where all the outdoor vendors pull their goods when it rains. We got lost in there looking for some jade vendors, and walked by amusement park games, punk outfitters and more clothing. A Mister Donut franchise decided to locate near Shilin because of the high foot traffic. Don't laugh - nearly every hour that Mister Donut is open, there's a line of teenagers out the door and around the block, waiting for the freshly fried treats. (And anyway, it's a Japanese chain.) Both Mister Donut and Shilin Market are accessible via subway transit, of course.

 
The lux-side

And on the other side of the shopping spectrum, there's the new City Hall district called Xinyi, where the tallest skyscraper, Taipei 101, is located (designed after the bamboo), and where there's a cluster of several luxury department stores (all part of a chain from Hong Kong, I believe, except for the Warner Village department store, of course.) The photo above is from a new department store-scale bookstore from the popular Eslite chain, where I oohed at clothing in the surprising D-Squared boutique, paged through loads of Japanese design books on Paris, ogled the jetblack chandeliers in the grand lobby, above (Starck knock-offs?), and picked up an always classy Josephine Tey mystery for my flight back to the States. 

From Taiwan

Taiwan has changed so much since the last time I've been. As the economy improved (the country took on more specialization in manufacturing and shed much of the production of cheap goods), and as the democratizing government started to adopt more progressive policies, the standard of living increased tremendously. Of course, this is an overly-simplistic rendering of what has happened (especially as China continues to threaten this way of life), but the most obvious bits and pieces were found in what people are now able to do in their everyday lives. My mom, who had lived in a rural town and then a suburban city for so long virtually glowed with the contentment of living in the city and being able to do nearly everything right outside her doorstep.


 
A neighborhood center in a pedestrian underground connecting two transit stations

Taipei's subway system is relatively new, and such a convenience. Taipei City government toured many of the world's best subways systems in planning for the transit system, and it shows. The subways are clean, have LED signs to tell you when trains are approaching, and maps are rendered in both Chinese characters and in English. It is no problem at all getting around the subway. Exits are clear and there is always a neighborhood map at each exit. I loved the services some stations provided, like neighborhood centers, above, or job training centers. The city also added bus lanes and is in the process of adding an extensive bikeway throughout the city (though most biking enthusiasts say that it falls short of other public transit initiatives).


 
A family at play at a rest area

Of course, one of the signs of progress for many recently industrialize countries is a national highway system. Taiwan is certainly proud of its own, especially of the newer Freeway 3 (which my father crossly stated is a tollroad, miffed that they didn't take his suggestion of renaming it "Expressway," but alas, that is how much the West is imitated). The rest areas for the highways are huge and offer so many diverse amenities that families often make the rest area the final destination on the weekends. In addition to the requisite restrooms and food vendors, there is often a playground, different green spaces, and some even have a culture center with live performances or a museum.


 

 
Flower boxes and a landscaped lawn at an aunt's house

Caring about the way a place looks and functions runs in my family, I guess. A great-aunt had flower boxes in her windows, although it only faces an alley and her front lawn was lushly landscaped. This is not the way the rest of her neighborhood looks at all, but she was determined to put on a good front for all the visitors who are just stepping off the ferry to her island in Kaohsiung harbor.

More to come... 

Back in the USA

 
My first bag!

Well, I'm back! I have photos of Taiwan to share, but before I do, I did want to put out a shout to Make Workshop, where I squeezed in a sewing class with the inimitable Diana Rupp before taking off to Taipei. The small workshop offers loads of classes in all sorts of crafts, from beginner knitting to advanced shoemaking, and I found the atmosphere to be precisely why I love living NYC. It was intimate and cozy, and with several other newbies, I learned how not to be scared of my sewing machine. 

In Taiwan

Not really representative of where I'm staying, but the photo does capture the general feeling once you start walking around Taipei. From a German Taipei site.

I'll be in Taiwan for a week or so starting today, visiting family and reacquainting myself with the country. The last visit was nearly 5 years ago, and back then, the government had just embarked on a national greenspaces plan; driving around, it felt like every piece of land near some kind of new road had a pre-development billboard on it, advertising condos not yet built; and Taipei's subway and lightrail transit system just opened. I'm looking forward to seeing how things have changed since.

Our lives, our health, our places

I just love this article, published in the NYT health section - personal health, to be exact. Now if only the NYT would start getting its design criticism to mesh more with its health and city writers. This should be a national agenda. Here it is, in its entirety so you're not blocked by the web site.

February 14, 2006
Personal Health
Time to Get Out, for the Body and the Mind
By JANE E. BRODY

After spending a weekend in the country, my grandson Stefan, then 5, remarked: "The good thing about the country is you can go pee-pee outside. The bad thing about the country is you have to drive everywhere."

Spoken like a true city boy, born and bred, who with his twin brother, Tomas, is used to getting from place to place on foot, on scooter, on bicycle, on a bus or train, but rarely in a car. But in the country, as in most suburbs of the United States, it's "get in the car" to go to the grocery store, the drugstore, the playground, the soccer field, the Y, even to the house next door.

"Kids today are better at running a software program than running a mile," said Mark Dessauer, communications director of Active Living by Design. "They have stronger thumbs than legs." Active Living is a national program to promote increased activity among people of all ages.

Thanks to the post-World War II building boom, driven by a surge in car ownership, the need for housing for returning G.I.'s and government-subsidized road building, America spread out and systematically programmed itself into a motor-driven sedentary society that is now taking a serious toll on the nation's health.

A 1995 study by the Transportation Department of found that children's nonmotorized trips to school had declined 40 percent in the previous 20 years and that adults' trips on foot dropped 42 percent in that same period. One-quarter of all trips are a mile or shorter, yet three-fourths of them are made by car. Not surprising, the number of vehicle miles traveled rose 250 percent from 1960 to 1997. With an increasing focus on roads to accommodate sprawl, sidewalks and protected crossings were often forgotten so that even people willing to walk could not do so safely.

Restoring Person Power

One major result of this failure to use "person power" is that children and adults today are fatter than ever. Diabetes rates are soaring, and an increase in hypertension and heart disease cannot be far behind. Furthermore, mounting evidence suggests that a sedentary life is bad for emotional and cognitive well-being. Then there is the pollution from motor vehicles and the stress associated with long and congested commutes that take an additional toll on health.

Currently, just a minority of Americans achieve the minimum recommended amount of physical activity — 30 minutes a day at least 5 days a week — and 60 percent get no exercise.

Impediments include lack of time (especially when hours a day are spent commuting), unsafe neighborhoods and, perhaps most important of all, no convenient and enticing place to be active.

Congress has not helped matters. Several years ago, it voted to increase financing for highways but against more money for bike lanes.

It is time to make changes, in what planners call the "built environment," to give more people the opportunity to become physically active and remain so. "It's not just a question of health. It's also quality of life," Mr. Dessauer said. "Can I walk to the store, bike to the park, see my neighbors out on the street?"

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is underwriting the $15.5 million active-living program in 25 communities to test the widely held belief that making the built environment friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists will encourage more people to become active and increase activity among those now less-than-optimally active.

Each of the 25 communities (of the 963 that applied) has received a five-year grant of $200,000 to create partnerships of programs, promotions, policy changes and physical projects like sidewalks, bike lanes and racks, speed bumps and striped crossings aimed at making the community safer and more accessible to those willing to use their feet.

The philosophy is that a holistic approach, not just education, is needed to change people's behavior. One such project is under way at the site of Denver's old Stapleton Airport that will eventually be five town centers with 30,000 residents, 35,000 jobs and 2 square miles of city parks.

The 1,500 residents of the first finished neighborhood can walk to two parks; a swimming pool; an elementary school; and a town center with a grocery store, drugstore and restaurants, as well as bus service. The sidewalks, narrow streets, parkways and greenways are links to 150 miles of Denver trails.

Chapel Hill, N.C., the base of Active Living by Design, is another test case. There, a mile from the University of North Carolina, a community called Carolina North is being developed.

A combination of homes, stores, parks and playgrounds will result in a "mixed-use community of pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods well connected to Chapel Hill's network of sidewalks and bus routes," the planners say.

In still another project in the South Bronx, a part of the Sheridan Expressway will become a greenway where people can walk, bike and plant gardens. "We're not anticar; we're pro-choice," Mr. Dessauer said. "People should have the option to walk and bike, as well as drive."

Even without the support of a major foundation, communities and individuals can do much to promote healthful activities among their fellow residents. Mr. Dessauer suggested supporting bond measures to establish or extend trails where people can walk and bike. When new housing developments are proposed, zoning requirements should include building sidewalks and safe play areas. Cluster housing, leaving a large community-accessible area in the middle, is a concept gaining acceptance in many areas.

Making Your Next Move

When moving to a new home, consider whether the neighborhood has sidewalks and how close the home is to shopping, schools, parks or exercise centers. Can children walk or bike to school? Is there a trail or park or playground nearby where you or your children can run around and play and get the 30 minutes a day of moderately intense activity that can preserve health?

Is the neighborhood safe and accessible for older adults who may not have cars or may be too old to drive?

If possible, support programs like Rails to Trails, which establishes walking and biking trails all over the country on unused railroad tracks. These trails, found in many urban, suburban and rural areas, often pass through some of the most beautiful countryside.

Encourage transportation authorities to establish bike paths, install traffic lights, create pedestrian islands and hatched crossings and close neighborhood boulevards to traffic on weekends.

Get children involved in fostering active programs, perhaps through fund-raising (though, please, not selling candy), selling raffles or distributing fliers. If possible, volunteer to be a parent chaperon from time to time so that children can be taken to activity areas beyond the school and become better acquainted with what's available in the neighborhood.

The bottom line? Being healthy is not just a matter of avoiding illness. It also means feeling strong and vibrant, able to walk up stairs, carry a child or bag of groceries and otherwise perform life's activities without becoming breathless or exhausted, no matter what your age.

About Wal-Mart, by a small business owner

A truly thoughtful account of Wal-Mart's impact on one small town in Wyoming, written by the daughter of a small business owner. No ribald bashing, simply what happened. Scroll down for the interesting discussion.

Belated snow

I'm incredibly late on posting: The blizzard has come and gone into slushy mush, and by all accounts, the phrase "the best time to experience New York is during a snow storm" is verging on cliche. It was great that so many people were out to enjoy the snow.

We went sledding in Central Park, a repeat of what we did during last year's big snow storm. I love that the Parks Department prepares by putting out bales of hay at the foot of any large hill, in anticipation of sledders. Sledding is really the only time in the city when sharing a rare commodity - a good sled - is de riguer and knocking people head over heels is appropriate -- nay, expected! I didn't take any pictures myself, but from the numerous flashes that were going off in the gloaming, I couldn't wait to see what was posted. Here's a few of the best off of Flickr.


by Adam Pantozzi


from drewbic gallery


Another from drewbic gallery. Watch out!!!

On target - Spanish architecture

Morphosis Housing Complex, Madrid, Spain

I went to a preview of the new exhibit of modern Spanish architecture at the Moma this week (the page has a good audio tour explaining the rationale behind the selection). I love how daring Spanish architecture has been of late. It appears in my mind's eye as colorful and whimsical. I was also really excited to see the Moma without the weekend crowds. I personally love people in the building, but many people don't and some have issues with the building layout itself.

The exhibit itself was really fun. The buildings were shown at a few different scales to provide profiles up close and from afar.

The architecture was fascinating, yet were not always the most colorful, whimsical or livable designs. There were plenty of buildings that looked beautiful from about the second story up, but unfortunately were pretty blank and non-descript at ground level. As a pedestrian, it wouldn't be something I would want to walk next to or live next to, though looking at models from that seemingly standard architecture/art model height of about 50 feet taller than the height of the building, many of the buildinsg showcased looked magnificent and forward.

Has beauty been divorced from function in the architecture world? Only 18 of the 35 buildings showcased were complete - the proof is in the pudding. I would love to visit these buildings and see if impressions based on the models are accurate.

Living Streets

An "after" pic depicting the beautiful potential of Astor Place

If you missed the Livable Streets gala this past week, the exhibit will still be up at the Municipal Art Society's Urban Center through March.

Here's a trailer of what the exhibit is all about.

Homage to Jane Jacobs

...and some good post-war "urban renewal" history too. A very nice way of getting introduced to Jane Jacobs.

2blowhards's Jane Jacobs via curbed.

Street Foodies Unite!

Image from urban75

This has been posted and sent around, but just for my reference, I also wanted to give some space to Platial. It was noted initially for its ability to generate a street food map (I suppose I should submit the obvious oversight of the Dosa Guy in Washington Square Park), but I like that it is simply a democratic way for people to mark their favorite vernacular places. All Google Maps carry an element of that, but the purpose behind the site says more. I like that it does so in a sensible way, less W. Benjamin-y than glowlab, though I like that technique too.

I for one can't wait until someone with enough time and energy and tech know-how maps these great places, since the descriptions that people send in are so fun.

Round-up on Detroit

There's a report card of sorts on how Detroit fared with hosting the Super Bowl. Did it hit its economic goals? Check out Detroit Free Press to find out.

And for another bout, of a completely different sort, Richard Layman, a native Detroiter, offers thoughts on Detroit, and picks up a couple of things from Seattle, here, here and in general, if you couldn't tell, he's extremely prolific and brings in thoughts on Detroit in many posts. I confess I can't always keep up, but it's always an interesting read.

Who's in charge of sidewalks?

Look at that narrow median and barely existent shoulder on Bowery! Not seen here, the sidewalks are wide, crossing the street is what remains difficult. Image from Flickr, by antiparticle.

I thought this vignette well illustrated the lack of coordination in our streets. I believe sidewalks are a part of the street. But with no one taking responsibility, then...

Speaking of which, walking my dog has been a good experience in learning about good and bad pedestrian harbors. The median on Bowery between 4th and around Grand is just pathetic. Cybill S., a non-skittish, skinny dog, uncharacteristically cowers at approaching traffic, because she cannot stand in the median without some part of her in the traffic lane. The cars speed, taking advantage of the wide lanes. And there's barely any shoulder, so truck tires really do feel like they are running you down. I'm afraid that the same changes are going in for the median on Houston between Bowery and Broadyway.

These are wide streets with great sidewalks! They could be so much nicer, with a boulevard effect. If only.

Update: Polis weighs in on the matter!

Downtown Detroit

Image from City Skip

For the last two years, I've been following the reaction to the new Campus Martius Park. Partially it was because it opened just as I started working on public spaces. Also, it was one of those projects that is a huge risk for the city to invest in when they had many other economic development issues to take care of (and were in the process of taking care of). But the hope was that a park would stimulate externalities to support other city-wide economic development efforts. Last summer, the project manager for the park showed us some of the effects of the park, whose presence strongly encouraged development on its outer boundaries (cafes, and it seems now inevitably, loft condos). This what we hoped would happen in the short-term.

Lately, there's been even more coverage about the city, since it's sprucing up for the Superbowl, and because this is Detroit, the coverage has not be entirely positive. Reports make the city sound a bit desparate. Look at "Come on in," and "Detroit Cleans Up for the Big Game." The AIA has gathered together Detroit-area architecture firms to deck out storefronts. (I like the idea.)

Anyway, I guess what I'm doing here is sticking up for the underdog -- Detroit, which has some fantastic civic leaders who have been strategizing and planning for a revitalization effort that will bring the city back to the people. I don't think this is a city-wide sentiment yet, but I like the incremental steps that are being taken. Better that as a way to see what works than huge capital projects in one fell swoop (into debt).

For more on Detroit, you should read all about it from a native Detroit-er who writes about these issues, Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space.

Good luck Detroit!

Taking David Brooks to task

Thank you Starts and Fits, for taking David Brooks to task.

Waxing architectural

I really enjoyed this diatribe.

Bad writing about architecture makes me appreciate one of my heroes even more: Ada Louise Huxtable. What I really like about her is that she's sensitive to context, and is willing to change her views with changing times - she's not for or against anything just because.

A vision for NYC transportation

Image from Gotham Gazette

I got this Gotham Gazette article sent to me about 4 times this morning, so it's the must-read of the day. (And the Issue of the Week on the Gazette).

It's just terrific to see how multiple advocacy organizations are banding together and trying to define an alternative to NYC transportation as we know it. It's also wonderful that there's mass appeal to city-wide leadership.

However, I'd like to see the focus of discussion shift from cars (e.g., more cars, less cars, less congestion, through-out, level of service, etc.) to something that says we'd like make our streets more friendly for bikers and pedestrians. Something that includes the people who travel the streets, like we'd like to make our roads the kind that children and seniors can cross safely.

When we constantly define success within the parameters of what already exists, it gets nearly impossible to create transformative change. For example: NYC DOT, and many other transportation agencies, defines agency success by what's called "level of service." Level of service is primarily driven by how well the roads service vehicular transportation. This typically implies that congestion is bad. But it's not always bad. Congestion in an urban context used to be considered good. (West Palm Beach has changed its understanding of level of service to be that congestion in the city center is actually good! If you're a wonk, check out this report, opens in a PDF.)

Still, this says nothing about the other 80% or so of the travellers in NYC -- the walkers, transit riders, and bikers. If we don't start looking beyond the end of our nose, we'll constantly struggle to come up with some different way of defining good performance, and we'll consistently stay pretty much the same. Sure, there will be incremental change along the way - a spot victory here and there, like a sidewalk widened or a bump-out added or a bike lane painted, but how much longer can that level of struggle be sustained? Isn't it time we just come together and really understand: what do we want our city's streets to look like?

This can be done. Think of Copenhagen, which went through a multiple decade process, starting in the early 1960s. Or London, which recently went through its own street (and public space) renaissance. Instead of prematurely offering another transportation solution (congestion pricing, value pricing, bridge tolls, etc.) how about we offer a transportation vision, and consider transportation our bikers, bus- and train-riders, and pedestrians -- as well as our drivers.

This takes some change at all levels. Advocacy/grassroots groups need to continue to be as strong as they are, but also offer alternative ways of looking at transportation and think beyond the traditional transportation street paradigm. Planning and transportation professionals should think beyond performance metrics as laid down by the Green Book, and think about the community goals they can contribute to -- with streets as the main tool. And leadership should think beyond the narrow band of political agendas and create a broad vision for their communities, districts, cities, and yes, regions.

Country Boys

Cody Perkins (top) and Chris Johnson from Country Boys

In addition to the discussion brewing on Gehry and the Atlantic Yards project, I've been obsessed all week with the latest Frontline special, Country Boys. You can watch the entire program from the web site, if you missed it.

There's something I love about this glimpse into the inner life of two boys, Chris and Cody, trying to grow up in Appalachian Kentucky. This gets more personal than I've been on this blog. I'm not sure if it's my own family's rural and humble roots (albeit in another country), or my own struggle to belong when I was growing up here as a new immigrant, or the experience of having to grow up quickly, which is typical of new immigrant children, and which intensified when my sister and I decided to stay in the United States while my parents decided to return to their home country, just as I started high school. I grew up in a privileged community, so watching Chris explain what it was like to pay bills and take care of the house while handling school work was the first time I saw my embarrassment, but in another, and completely different person.

The other thing I pay close attention to when I get a chance to get close to another life is how people live their days - how they get to work or school, what they do in their free time, how they get their groceries, run everyday errands, how they choose to get together and meet other people. I'm sure that what the two boys did was not entirely emblematic of everyone's lifestyle in Eastern Kentucky, but it was fascinating to see how hard it was for them just to see...anyone. And in a rural area where people are few and far between, it seems even more important that people who do live there have places to gather. This is a kind of revelation I experienced when I moved from a generally rural/suburban area to a more metropolitan area for the first time. In the city, through my everyday routine of walking to work, getting coffee and breakfast, getting groceries and schlepping them back to my tiny studio apartment, I realized that I wasn't as lonely as I had been in the suburbs, even though I knew absolutely no one in the city.

I don't think everyone needs to live in urban areas. I just think that we haven't been paying the right kind of attention to suburbs and rural areas, which should also address basic needs and in a socially constructive way. Regardless of environment - urban, suburban, rural - everyone needs to buy groceries, go to work, go to school, run errands, and see people every once in a while -- no matter who we are.

Gehry in New York

And on Brooklyn. As part of TimesTalk, a speaker series hosted by the NY Times, Gehry was in town and took questions from an audience, moderated by Nicholai Oussourroff. There's a great, though very biased pretty much focused on Brooklyn, report from the talk on TimesRatnerReport. (via Veritas et Venustas, via Curbed).

The statement that stuck out for me was from Peter Krashes, president of the Dean Street Block Association, who said to Gehry,

"We don't want you to turn your back on us, as an architect. What we want you to do is explain your role as a planner."

Architects do design for large contexts - their designs don't end at the building edges - so it is worthwhile to really understand the urban context, especially for those who profess to be "do-gooder, lefty types." I have always felt that Gehry just didn't get what he was doing to Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards neighborhood, either by not asking enough questions from the people he's working with, or by simply not having the experience of asking. This talk corroborates my impression. Or perhaps it's more simple: ignorance is bliss.

I'm looking for a more pro-Gehry account of the talk, but nothing has shown up yet. Let me know if you see one!

10 Steps to Turn Around Wal-Mart

I know, I know, so much about Wal-Mart. I do curate for diversity, but this is too good to pass up. From Fast Company, Ten Steps to Turn Around Wal-Mart, Parts I and II. Enjoy!

Wal-Mart Realty

116,924 sq ft building available in Niagara Falls, NY

Kevin left a comment in my last post, letting us know about abandoned Wal-Marts FOR SALE. Now you can see where they've forsaken a community promise, or are planning to -- I noticed a few "Available in 2006" properties. There's one in Camillus, close to my hometown!

[I hate that the comments are so hidden, but I do read them! So please write.]

Also, I've posted about this before, but check out Big Box Reuse to see how people are reusing these big boxes. There aren't many new re-uses since the last time I checked over a year ago. Any ideas on what's going on with the Wal-Mart properties "Under Contract"?

Abandoning Wal-Mart

Abandoned Wal-Mart store in Oskaloosa, Iowa courtesy of flickr

Wal-Mart is abandoning the U.S., more like it.Last night, PBS re-ran Frontline's November 2004 report "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?", a program worth revisiting. It shows how Wal-Mart's business practices are tied to globalization and international trade, and how it has sold out the American Dream for corporate profit.

Also covered in the program is Wal-Mart's forcing of the hand of a new corporate ethic: instead of the high value, high innovation differentiator -- which had been the reputation of the United States for a long time (speaking from my immigrant background) -- Wal-Mart's playing the lowest price, lowest cost differentiator. Also, Wal-Mart's influence on national economic development in China is phenomenal, but not at a net benefit to the US. Just goes to show that those who dismiss the link between city planning and internationalism are missing some key indicators.

The Frontline report was a good follow-up to the viewing of The High Cost of Low Price over the holidays. Despite the poor execution (I wish I didn't have to say so, though many thanks to the volunteer film crews, check out the story behind the movie to see what I mean), the film had enough facts and data to make me believe even more strongly that Wal-Mart is systematically destroying the social, economic and built environment that has made this country. The anecdote that stayed with me is told by one city manager. Essentially, Wal-Mart has enough start-up capital that it never has to respect the term limits of its tax abatements: all it needs to do once it has reached its term limit is to shut down the old store and build a new one just beyond the taxable border. Just beyond is fine...Wal-Mart'll seal a deal with the neighboring town to suck it dry and not pay taxes.

Those poor city managers. The city manager said he had no choice: either he accepts Wal-Mart's terms, or Wal-Mart will go and build its store just outside the town border and suck the town dry anyway, without any of the meager residual benefit it gives within town limits. There's the datapoint floating around that there are around 300 abandoned Wal-Mart stores in the US.