Kickstart Window Farms

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...

...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

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

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

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

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

Defining blight?

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

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

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.

Sold Out!

A re-post from Nov 17...

Local coalition vows to fight for living wage with Kingsbridge Armory Development

"The strong local opposition comes as something of a surprise."

Why? Many members of the coalition originally fought for development of Kingsbridge Armory but will abandon support of the project if it doesn't come with a living wage. It's sad that a living wage in New York City is NOT market wage.

"...a pledge to pay more than the market rate would be a death sentence for the project," says a developers spokesman.

Those who play by market rules have obviously figured out how to build big box in New York City. The jobs are welcome at first; the amenities as well. City Planning approves it as a development opportunity, hoping to spur on local business. But then you find out the jobs don't pay a living wage. As the community lives with the unveiled development, it starts to feel the negative impacts of having the development in their neighborhoods: increased traffic, diminished pedestrian experience, a shriveled public life. We're only beginning to learn how to track the physical impacts of such incongruous buildings.

First Gateway Center in the South Bronx. Then East Harlem Plaza. I hope that the Bronx community sticks to its guns on the Kingsbridge project. After the greenlight from the City, the marketplace players can forget all the promises they've made.

After the NYC Marathon...

....let the dancing begin! Lafayette St in Fort Greene was a scene out of movie. After cheering for a couple of hours, it was great to see the party continue with people enjoying the street.

Mapping Main Streets

Image from National Trust for Historic Preservation

A pretty cool project, Mapping Main Street kind of like a StoryCorp with a focus on literal Main Streets.

The goal is to document every street names Main in the country by going to each of these 10,466 places, taking a photo, recording a video or writing a brief story.

Another way to take back the streets

Before


After

Public Ad Campaign

another thing i missed

Brooklyn Makes by Sarah Nelson Wright

blu and david ellis

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

What would you do with a city?

LOVE this exhibit idea...


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

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

Give it a try!

{Thx e!}

Urban Utopias!

Aerialscape by Michael Sherman

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

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

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

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

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

Out and about

from Flickr

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

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

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

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

Hope to see some of you out there this week!

Who says Block Party season is over?

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


The Cranberry Street Festival!





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



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



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

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