tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63891812557864300832024-03-13T16:48:06.185-05:00WhereBrendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.comBlogger490125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-58359546901408446682012-04-21T12:09:00.001-05:002012-04-21T12:12:27.253-05:00#rorschmap<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.google.com/maphp?hl=en&ll=40.746997,-73.843532&spn=0.018305,0.029354&hnear=New+York&t=k&z=15" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uxc8_lpT9Jc/T5LpupfOkmI/AAAAAAAABhE/N-doMJgZU3Y/s1600/flushingmeadows.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://rorschmap.com/#">I love the internet.</a> <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-77088574929409623712012-01-22T11:28:00.001-06:002012-01-22T11:28:42.794-06:00Kaleidoscopic New YorkMore fun with the Stereographic Street View hack. As it turns out, you can do a lot more than just make those cute little mini-planets. Long, low buildings, for example, can be fun to play around with. Here we are at Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SSAPMBnOSGc/TxxAh-s2TlI/AAAAAAAABek/DRvp1LoR3x4/s1600/IndustryCity.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SSAPMBnOSGc/TxxAh-s2TlI/AAAAAAAABek/DRvp1LoR3x4/s1600/IndustryCity.png" /></a></div><br />
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And, up at Viñoly's razzle-dazzle-y Hall of Justice in the Bronx:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HOQ5uDVO31k/TxxA13ISQnI/AAAAAAAABew/FaNenxopIPE/s1600/Vin%25CC%2583oly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HOQ5uDVO31k/TxxA13ISQnI/AAAAAAAABew/FaNenxopIPE/s1600/Vin%25CC%2583oly.png" /></a></div><br />
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Skyscrapers are fun for the same reason. Here's Manhattan's GM Building (and Apple's famous Cube store):<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W3094VYQAmU/TxxBOUP-4EI/AAAAAAAABe8/Mg3JUwZBiso/s1600/GM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W3094VYQAmU/TxxBOUP-4EI/AAAAAAAABe8/Mg3JUwZBiso/s1600/GM.png" /></a></div><br />
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And Long Island City's Citi Tower, warped into something of a crooked frame:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CkvtzZWsmOM/TxxBalKZ-6I/AAAAAAAABfI/f331JNNm32U/s1600/CitiTower.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CkvtzZWsmOM/TxxBalKZ-6I/AAAAAAAABfI/f331JNNm32U/s1600/CitiTower.png" /></a></div><br />
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In fact, with the right site, these stereographic images can start to look like legit abstract art:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AfAC1i1Bvlg/TxxGfon18kI/AAAAAAAABgo/Jn9pNIj1u0k/s1600/Smokestack2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AfAC1i1Bvlg/TxxGfon18kI/AAAAAAAABgo/Jn9pNIj1u0k/s1600/Smokestack2.png" /></a></div><br />
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And then, of course, there's the straight-up kaleidoscopic stuff. Here's the old American Banknote Building in Hunts Point:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x8rL9q40FgU/TxxCKxL2bUI/AAAAAAAABfg/UgBsZl80V9k/s1600/Banknote.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x8rL9q40FgU/TxxCKxL2bUI/AAAAAAAABfg/UgBsZl80V9k/s1600/Banknote.png" /></a></div><br />
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One of the covered sections of the High Line, near 14th Street:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXtzDR2vXIk/TxxGmecR4gI/AAAAAAAABg0/V8E_fAVIo68/s1600/HighLine2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXtzDR2vXIk/TxxGmecR4gI/AAAAAAAABg0/V8E_fAVIo68/s1600/HighLine2.png" /></a></div><br />
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Under the 1 tracks up in Kingsbridge:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-62FUYIWz58A/TxxDetCnRLI/AAAAAAAABf4/9ICpjOFbBfc/s1600/Kingsbridge.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-62FUYIWz58A/TxxDetCnRLI/AAAAAAAABf4/9ICpjOFbBfc/s1600/Kingsbridge.png" /></a></div><br />
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Pier Luigi Nervi's magnificently weird bus terminal in Washington Heights:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RsbhoEz3Rv0/TxxD_GaWiAI/AAAAAAAABgE/6-vJPZoW-lw/s1600/PierLuigiNervi.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RsbhoEz3Rv0/TxxD_GaWiAI/AAAAAAAABgE/6-vJPZoW-lw/s1600/PierLuigiNervi.png" /></a></div><br />
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Inside the Met (three cheers for Street View inside major museums!)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b0n67FM-qB8/TxxElWoUmBI/AAAAAAAABgQ/qDMJcX4bXlI/s1600/TheMet.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b0n67FM-qB8/TxxElWoUmBI/AAAAAAAABgQ/qDMJcX4bXlI/s1600/TheMet.png" /></a></div><br />
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And last, but certainly not least, on the Brooklyn Bridge:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CxcNuq1JdJw/TxxEwk6O2kI/AAAAAAAABgc/SwXCYyf2oLo/s1600/BKBridge.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CxcNuq1JdJw/TxxEwk6O2kI/AAAAAAAABgc/SwXCYyf2oLo/s1600/BKBridge.png" /></a></div><br />
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If anybody plays around with this thing and finds some more worth sharing, please do! <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-77193678702497621672012-01-21T13:42:00.002-06:002012-01-22T11:15:04.316-06:00Stereographic New YorkThanks to <a href="http://curiositycounts.com/post/16124029801/stereographic-street-view-a-google-street-view">Brainpicker</a> for alerting me to the presence of what may be the <a href="http://notlion.github.com/streetview-stereographic/?utm_source=Photojojo+Newsletter&utm_campaign=3575e859f2-Stereographic_Street_View1_18_2012&utm_medium=email#o=0.000,0.000,0.000,1.000&z=1.656&mz=17&mt=hybrid&p=54.21050,-2.36962">best Google Maps hack I've seen yet</a>, Stereographic Street View. Now I know what I'm going to be doing for pretty much the rest of my life. Some early successes:<br />
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Under the Queensboro Bridge in LIC:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UMiwoQNsCVk/TxsQa8fFYVI/AAAAAAAABcs/EVmKU0HIzZQ/s1600/Queensboro.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UMiwoQNsCVk/TxsQa8fFYVI/AAAAAAAABcs/EVmKU0HIzZQ/s1600/Queensboro.png" /></a></div><br />
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Then on down to Soho:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UwGOZAOQ91g/TxsQnR1xHrI/AAAAAAAABc4/VUSB1SuMmhM/s1600/Soho.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UwGOZAOQ91g/TxsQnR1xHrI/AAAAAAAABc4/VUSB1SuMmhM/s1600/Soho.png" /></a></div><br />
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And Flatbush. The uniformity of public housing blocks makes for some really great stereographic images:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z59JnQ7Tmho/TxsQ6ZiVXdI/AAAAAAAABdE/WVbllUT25mg/s1600/Flatbush.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z59JnQ7Tmho/TxsQ6ZiVXdI/AAAAAAAABdE/WVbllUT25mg/s1600/Flatbush.png" /></a></div><br />
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And speaking of uniform residential architecture, Fort Greene's Portland Avenue lends itself well to this format:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xghv2LRQvsg/TxsRUhQZm0I/AAAAAAAABdQ/OeNPunWvHtI/s1600/PortlandAve.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xghv2LRQvsg/TxsRUhQZm0I/AAAAAAAABdQ/OeNPunWvHtI/s1600/PortlandAve.png" /></a></div><br />
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As does the Greystones block of 80th Street in Jackson Heights, Queens:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h_cEfaeVInM/TxsRuBbrrSI/AAAAAAAABdc/pt1x51f4dRo/s1600/Greystones.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h_cEfaeVInM/TxsRuBbrrSI/AAAAAAAABdc/pt1x51f4dRo/s1600/Greystones.png" /></a></div><br />
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Then, on to fun with interestingly-shaped landmarks. The Bronx's Kingsbridge Armory:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L2N3nRbs7yE/TxsR_W6uOOI/AAAAAAAABdo/VL3Nxige1u8/s1600/Armory.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L2N3nRbs7yE/TxsR_W6uOOI/AAAAAAAABdo/VL3Nxige1u8/s1600/Armory.png" /></a></div><br />
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The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQFHJpUff4g/TxsW286gdEI/AAAAAAAABeY/E4E_3c_gedg/s1600/Newtown.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQFHJpUff4g/TxsW286gdEI/AAAAAAAABeY/E4E_3c_gedg/s1600/Newtown.png" /></a></div><br />
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The New Museum: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NnGkJdeauHI/TxsSI9BPEOI/AAAAAAAABd0/ihMRx652okM/s1600/NewMuseum.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NnGkJdeauHI/TxsSI9BPEOI/AAAAAAAABd0/ihMRx652okM/s1600/NewMuseum.png" /></a></div><br />
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The Whit:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4aoZy4Y-Tlc/TxsSQg4zkmI/AAAAAAAABeA/T-WSOOVP75g/s1600/TheWhit.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4aoZy4Y-Tlc/TxsSQg4zkmI/AAAAAAAABeA/T-WSOOVP75g/s1600/TheWhit.png" /></a></div><br />
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And the Gugg:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8aH_jO8o7Sk/TxsSXBSP6fI/AAAAAAAABeM/S8h0sr9TJ5g/s1600/TheGugg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8aH_jO8o7Sk/TxsSXBSP6fI/AAAAAAAABeM/S8h0sr9TJ5g/s1600/TheGugg.png" /></a></div><br />
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The patchy quality of much of Google's Street View imagery means that a lot of stuff gets a little blurry around the edges, but the site is still terrifyingly addictive. If you enjoyed this post, stop back tomorrow for some more abstract fare... <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-21930463684949286662011-10-29T18:18:00.003-05:002011-10-29T18:20:28.161-05:00A Year in New York<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="500" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/31159101" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="890"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/31159101">A Year in New York</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/andrewclancy">Andrew Clancy</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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Goddamnit, this one's good. Also: clearly made by a Queenser. +1 <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-45275051453006340802011-10-15T21:21:00.027-05:002011-10-16T00:33:14.788-05:00Liveblogging the Tactical Urbanism Salon: Evening Presentations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://tacticalurbanismsalon.com" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xKzSLf91Zg8/TpnNd0wfqTI/AAAAAAAABYg/aijJJ7MaEks/s1600/tu_liveblog_head.png" /></a></div><br />
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<b>Evening Presentations</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NeqCvMMS0O8/Tpok9YH01vI/AAAAAAAABaE/LZdwRtZpgxg/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+8.27.12+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NeqCvMMS0O8/Tpok9YH01vI/AAAAAAAABaE/LZdwRtZpgxg/s200/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+8.27.12+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div>Introduction - Mike Lydon (<span id="internal-source-marker_0.545502413995564"><a href="http://www.streetplans.org/">The Street Plans Collaborative</a>)</span><br />
<ul><li><span id="internal-source-marker_0.545502413995564">Early example of tactical urbanism: Paris book boxes along the Siene; interesting parallel between historic book box tension w/bookstore owners and contemporary arguments between foot trucks and restauranteurs</span></li>
<li><span id="internal-source-marker_0.545502413995564">What we call tactical urbanism has been going on for hundreds of years</span></li>
<li><span id="internal-source-marker_0.545502413995564">There has been an acceleration of TU in recent years; of 56 Open Streets initiatives in the US, more than 40 started within the past three years</span></li>
<li><span id="internal-source-marker_0.545502413995564"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/51354266/Tactical-Urbanism-Volume-1">Tactical Urbanism</a> guide volume 2 will be available for d/l within the next few weeks!</span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.545502413995564"> </span></li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-byHYNEAgurY/TpomQlCbWoI/AAAAAAAABaM/H9js0329wqk/s1600/dotanklogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-byHYNEAgurY/TpomQlCbWoI/AAAAAAAABaM/H9js0329wqk/s200/dotanklogo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Introduction - Aurash Khawarzad (<a href="http://www.dotankbrooklyn.org/">DoTank:Brooklyn</a>, <a href="http://www.pps.org/">Project for Public Spaces)</a> <br />
<ul><li>"Do Tanks" are more appropriate right now than "Think Thanks"</li>
<li>Do:Tank Brooklyn is intended to provide a platform for people to come together and work collaboratively on projects</li>
<li>Individual Do:Tank projects are less important than the conversation happening here tonight</li>
<li>We've done the smaller projects, now it's time to come together. Tactical Urbanism is not a trend, it's a movement. Let's be more organized about it and put forth a full-throated argument for why this is important in the field.</li>
<li>People are tired of the "talk-itecture." They're doing something about it. </li>
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</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gp1O93QWPUs/TpooYB1kdXI/AAAAAAAABaU/PeZY0rgA4Rw/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gp1O93QWPUs/TpooYB1kdXI/AAAAAAAABaU/PeZY0rgA4Rw/s200/images.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/home/home.shtml">New York City Department of Transportation</a>, Andy Wiley-Schwartz<br />
<ul><li>Times Square has supposed to be torn up and re-done for over a decade; it's been in the capital plan. People have just been arguing the whole time about how it should look.</li>
<li> In a lot of ways, the engineering for a project like this is easy; the hard part is making it a great public space. You've got to <i>prove it</i>.</li>
<li>Major lesson: Never leave a public space un-programmed, even for a minute.</li>
<li>Times Square Alliance helped buy chairs since city-ordered furniture hadn't arrived when DOT got go-ahead to close Broadway; w/in the hour of them going out, they were full. As a result, no one ever talked about "Can TS be a public space?" It was proven at the get-go.</li>
<li>There are detractors, but people are voting with their feet.</li>
<li>On to Putnam Triangle in Brooklyn: residents wanted to make a public plaza.</li>
<li>The places where different grids smash into each other are really the opportunity places.</li>
<li>If you're a citizen doing a tactical action you can just do something; if you're the DOT and the bus has to make a turn, that takes a lot of planning, and you can't get around it.</li>
<li>Bus re-routing at Putnam Triangle didn't really work at first; it took a few weeks to figure that out. You have to work hard to make this stuff work, and you have to prove it.</li>
<li>Eventually, somebody has to put the purchase order for the granite blocks, and the tables and chairs, etc. </li>
<li>First weekend Putnam was open, DOT had a huge party. You have to get people out in the space immediately. </li>
<li>Next stop: Jackson Heights, Queens: "I thought for sure the community groups who brought us in would take us to the main drag, but they didn't. They took us to 78th Street."</li>
<li>Jackson Heights is one of the most densely-populated nabes in NYC, and has one half-block park. Community idea: close the adjacent street on Sundays in summer. DOT did it! Community programmed it really thoroughly. Second year, community groups asked for whole weekends, and it went just as well. Next summer, groups came back and asked for the whole summer; community board said no because they didn't want to lose the parking. </li>
<li>Citizens flooded community board with supporters and won. They even got the street closed for all of September, too. Now, they've applied to the plaza program to close the street permanently. Last week, the city voted to approve the permanent closure. Also got the city to acquire a playground from a school next door and consilodate all of it into one space. This will more than double the public space in Jackson Heights.</li>
<li>"If that's not the most perfect tactical urbanism story, I don't know what is. The community did all of the work; all we [DOT] did was get out of their way. If they can get their act together, a <i>lot</i> can happen."</li>
<li>There are 54 plaza program spaces around the city in various states of permanence. DOT also now developing street cafe spaces now.</li>
<li>"One of the things I've been most surprised about since coming to DOT four years ago: if you'd have told me 25 different nabe groups would <i>apply</i> to close their main commercial streets over the weekends, I would have said you were crazy. But with very little marketing, we've had this happen dozens of times. This is the seed ground for these bigger ideas like 78th Street to grow."</li>
<li>Audience question: What happens when there's a new mayor? Andy: We're trying to build mechanisms people can still use; if the folks in Brownsville want to play chess in the street, we hope there are still ways for them to figure out how to do that. We hope that the power center goes beyond the mayor's office. </li>
<li> Audience question: How can the city better encourage engagement and programming from its citizens? Andy: I'd acually flip it around. Demand outstrips our capacity to regulate and approve this stuff--that's very cool. We document the process, we communicate very clearly that programming is important; it's up to other groups to encourage more of this type of stuff. Audience member: Maybe there's more of a role for groups like Partnerships for Parks. Andy: Bingo.</li>
<li>Aurash: How can people be flipped from fighting plazas to actually putting pressure on politicians to support it? Andy: Some people don't like the aggregation of power in any form; unless it's a form that they're controlling. We have to make sure that people support this stuff; the more we can do this and the more places we do it in, the more people hear this music and like to dance to it.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ftM1-rEqnI/TpowK5H4hZI/AAAAAAAABak/Ffeg3zhGWUc/s1600/cartopia.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="81" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ftM1-rEqnI/TpowK5H4hZI/AAAAAAAABak/Ffeg3zhGWUc/s200/cartopia.png" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://portlandfoodcartsbook.com/">Cartopia</a>, Kelly Rodgers </span> <br />
<ul><li>Issues in Portland (600,000 people) are very different from New York (8.3 MM people). Our food cart issues are very different; a lot of smaller cities have trouble just getting people out to support carts.</li>
<li>Many of the food carts are actually on private property in Portland. There are a few (maybe 16) mobile units in the city; we have close to 700 food carts operating on private property. It's doubled from 2006 to today.</li>
<li>How do food carts operate on private property w/o crazy regulation? Technically they are called "stationary mobile unit." As long as they can (in theory) move, they are indeed mobile, and are not subject to building code.</li>
<li>Same health & safety regulation as a restaurant. Same quality assurance level. But food carts were never planned by the city; there is no official food cart policy or regulation; it happened through coincidences and convenient loopholes.</li>
<li>Portland has a big food culture; as a result (and this is national, not just Portland) there is very high-quality food in the carts. Food reviewers in Portland do not distinguish between restaurants and food carts.</li>
<li>Great thing with carts: you're very small, so you can be creative and experiment.</li>
<li>Survey showed that food cart vendors value independence even higher than turning a profit.</li>
<li>First stage was food carts downtown; then food carts started taking over vacant lots and creating impromptu food cart courts; now, developers are actually bringing in food carts themselves (landscaping, power and water hook-ups, etc). The coordination improves as you go up in levels. </li>
<li>Some smart developers have actually laid infrastructure for food carts in ways that will be useful for buildings planned to occupy those sites in the future.</li>
<li>Jane Jacobs concept of "economic gardening" -- figure out where the entrepreneurial energy is and then target those areas with the resources to grow businesses. Many food cart operators in Portland do eventually want to open permanent spaces. How can we open spaces on a continuum in between food cart and restaurant to help people along?</li>
<li>Food cart model has shifted in PDX; other kinds of businesses are now opening in carts: salons, stores, etc.</li>
<li>Taxpayer-building: doing interim low-cost building that generates enough revenue to pay your taxes until you can afford to do something bigger. This is a role food carts now serve in PDX.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-su-UABQKVkI/TpozapEAtkI/AAAAAAAABas/Bh3nH9008Ig/s1600/depave.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-su-UABQKVkI/TpozapEAtkI/AAAAAAAABas/Bh3nH9008Ig/s200/depave.png" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.depave.org/">DePave</a>, Ted Labbe </span> <br />
<ul><li>Project started about 4 years ago; since that time, proven to people in PDX that we can transform underused spaces at a grand scale.</li>
<li>Experimentation is an important theme; It would be very easy to over-design these projects, but it's fascinating to see how these sites emerge and evolve</li>
<li>Community that emerges from creation of these spaces. Would be easier to do with a back-hoe, but that's not the point.</li>
<li>Leadership is important. Officials have gotten engaged in many DePave projects. Leadership has also emerged through the movement. It's largely led by women.</li>
<li>Stewardship: people actively create these spaces, they understand where the water goes. "Big part of DePave for me is people reclaiming the headwaters."</li>
<li>Lots of Art w/DePave. "This isn't us coming in, doing design work, leading--we come in with tools and some assistance, but DePave's are very community-driven projects. About 10% of the work is done by people from organization. 90% of the people are from the site." Pavement is not permanent.</li>
<li>Another theme is Transformation. Easy to get caught up in Before & After pics, but the biggest transformation can be seen in the people who participate.</li>
<li>In Portland, there is a lot of nature close at hand. There is a lot of inspiration there.</li>
<li>In four years, DePave has transformed 19 sites -- around 150,000 square feet of impervious pavement has been removed. More than 2000 people have been involved, which is a lot in a small city of PDX's size.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kHPBBsZ8ohA/Tpo2fVM9hLI/AAAAAAAABa0/-hSqkmhsqsw/s1600/pps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="94" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kHPBBsZ8ohA/Tpo2fVM9hLI/AAAAAAAABa0/-hSqkmhsqsw/s200/pps.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.pps.org/">Project for Public Spaces</a>, Ken Farmer</span> <br />
<ul><li>PPS does Placemaking, making places where people want to be. Grew out of the work of William H. Whyte.</li>
<li>Whyte: "It is difficult to design a place that will not attract people; what is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished."</li>
<li>When you focus on place, you do everything differently.</li>
<li>What if we focus on building our spaces to be comfortable for 8 year olds and 80 year olds?</li>
<li>To create a space that really brings out the best qualities, PPS uses a community-driven approach; work with the 'zealous nuts' (term used lovingly!) to plan and manage spaces.</li>
<li>PPS version of Tactical Urbanism: "Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper"</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pps.org/articles/the-power-of-10/">Power of 10</a> is based around the idea that you need a fine-grained mix of uses to drive people back to a place again and again. Triangulation is how these things work together.</li>
<li>"If you seed an idea of a possibility for a space, it can be made real. It can be a source of inspiration in powerful ways."</li>
<li>Buffalo waterfront -- PPS working on redevelopment. After community input process, local paper proclaimed "It's now the peoples' waterfront."</li>
<li>Adirondack chairs are a big draw--people love them, they are a simple amenity that fill a space and get people to stop and enjoy.</li>
<li>How can we create platforms where there are organic opportunities for people to interact with the space? That's an exciting thing about this tactical urbanism movement.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JXHcYbTcD88/Tpo8fCtEAUI/AAAAAAAABa8/bFoM1IL7dAQ/s1600/cmg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JXHcYbTcD88/Tpo8fCtEAUI/AAAAAAAABa8/bFoM1IL7dAQ/s200/cmg.png" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.cmgsite.com/">CMG Architects</a>, Kevin Conger </span> <br />
<ul><li>People will use whatever public space is available; they'll get creative.</li>
<li>CMG thinks about all of the many factors that are involved with space as vectors that intersect at different points in different spaces.</li>
<li>Intervention is a way of accrual</li>
<li>Do a lot of pro bono work w/<a href="http://www.publicarchitecture.org/">Public Architecture</a>; pro bono work is important, especially when starting out.</li>
<li>Starting to talk about "Tactile Urbanism" -- a riff on tactical urbanism.</li>
<li>At Golden Gate Park, put in a bandshell made out of salvaged car hoods and recycled bottles</li>
<li>There was a website where people could go throughout the summer that the bandshell was up where they could reserve time for programs; it was organically programmed</li>
<li><a href="http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/treasure-island-interview-revisited.html">Treasure Island</a> -- man-made island developed to be an airport, hosted a world's fair and navy base, airport never materialized. Now there's a major redevelopment underway.</li>
<li>CMG worked to develop a "non-hazardous" hybrid street type for Treasure Island to encourage pedestrianism</li>
</ul><ul></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MIZ65ymHM64/TppAGLAD0CI/AAAAAAAABbE/rhWUKfSmmA8/s1600/playlab.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aziiB3KuCso/TppBqKphNbI/AAAAAAAABbM/ChrDP5Czh-0/s1600/Worm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aziiB3KuCso/TppBqKphNbI/AAAAAAAABbM/ChrDP5Czh-0/s200/Worm.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.playlab.org/">PlayLab</a>, Archie Lee Coats IV</span><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span"> It's hard thing to do, propose and execute ideas without money! So we try to meet as many people as we can, as often as we can.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Work a lot with Dong-Ping Wong of <a href="http://familynewyork.com/">Family Architects</a></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.storefrontnews.org/">Storefront for Art & Architecture</a> launched a competition to challenge designers to re-think the traditional street fair tent. PlayLab won the competition with their "Worms"</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Example of city orgs partnering with other orgs to make something new for the city.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Thinking about the East River now; have proposed a project called Plus Pool to allow swimming in the river. Idea is for pool walls to filter the river water to clean the East River. Not sure how this will work, but we proposed it anyway!</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Created a lot of renderings to communicate the idea to people and start a discussion. We didn't know how to make a floating pool that would cost millions and millions of dollars, but we knew we could start a conversation and get people talking about it.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">End of the first week of promoting this idea, got a call from the principal of the NYC office of ARUP! ARUP worked to help PlayLab design a filtration system.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">We thought of this pool as a big Brita filter floating in the East River.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Started a Kickstarter campaign to try to raise $25K. Reached that in first week, wound up raising $45K to test the filtration system that they designed.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span"> Went to Columbia to float the idea of testing the water; they helped with research. Got Parks Dept. buy-in, Columbia contributed a mobile lab and lots of researchers.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Next phase: trying to get the entire project funded. Want to test year-round; Mayor of Sydney wants it to happen down under.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Stoops are an important component of public space in Brooklyn; working to develop large mobile stoops to install in vacant lots.</span></li>
</ul> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-07xz2Pj1MpM/TppFQTqtLDI/AAAAAAAABbU/Yc_IsCFKpQg/s1600/interboro.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-07xz2Pj1MpM/TppFQTqtLDI/AAAAAAAABbU/Yc_IsCFKpQg/s200/interboro.png" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><a href="http://www.interboropartners.net/">Interboro Partners</a>, Daniel D'Oca<br />
<ul><li><i>Holding Pattern</i> won MoMA PS1's courtyard installation in the summer of 2011 to provide seating and shade for the summer Warm-Up series.</li>
<li>We wondered: "What happens to all of the stuff when this four-month installation is over?"</li>
<li>PS1 is located in "most greatest, awesomest place in the world: Queens." [<i>Editor's note: YES!</i>]</li>
<li>While PS1 is great and energetic, it seems a bit isolated from the neighborhood around it.</li>
<li>The needs for Warm-Up seemed to overlap somewhat with community needs. Interboro talked to the museum's neighbors to find out what material needs they had and incorporated those materials into their design so that they could be donated after Warm-Up ended.</li>
<li>Community desires: mirrors, mulch, ping-pong table, rock-climbing wall, lifeguard chair, street furniture, etc. LIC tried to figure out what needs were both fun and in the public interest. Result: 80 objects and 84 trees.</li>
<li> Interboro considered this as a neighborhood improvement project in disguise.</li>
<li>Worked with <a href="http://www.thumbprojects.com/">Thumb Projects</a> to develop a labeling system to show where each object was going and why. Also made a newspaper to show where materials would go.</li>
<li>Invited community orgs to program the courtyard. The library had artists read their favorite children's books to kids, Irish Center did quilting workshops, LIC School of Ballet did a performance.</li>
<li>Let the community take over the PS1 bookstore and choose what books would be sold.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HR7HGVsDipY/TppJJn9d6BI/AAAAAAAABbc/ft0VdKoXG_M/s1600/72hua.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HR7HGVsDipY/TppJJn9d6BI/AAAAAAAABbc/ft0VdKoXG_M/s200/72hua.png" width="172" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.72hoururbanaction.com/">72 Hour Urban Action</a>, Nick Griffin</span><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span"> Development does not have to be a zero-sum game.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">72HUA is a real-time design-build competition where 10 teams of 10 teams get a public site and have to imagine and implement a design intervention.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">As Flux & Queens Creative Cluster work on their SumCity plan for the Dutch Kills neighborhood, 72HUA will work with them to re-imagine sites that are determined important through that plan.</span></li>
</ul>Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-21202087114869296252011-10-15T15:56:00.002-05:002011-10-15T17:34:23.175-05:00Liveblogging the Tactical Urbanism Salon: Pecha Kucha Presentations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://tacticalurbanismsalon.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xKzSLf91Zg8/TpnNd0wfqTI/AAAAAAAABYg/aijJJ7MaEks/s1600/tu_liveblog_head.png" /></a></div><br />
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<b>Pecha Kucha</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WerKoTIi-Xg/Tpnm5EXZmLI/AAAAAAAABYo/ha_otLKjMh4/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.02.18+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WerKoTIi-Xg/Tpnm5EXZmLI/AAAAAAAABYo/ha_otLKjMh4/s200/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.02.18+PM.png" width="193" /></a></div><a href="http://inthenameofbrolab.org/">BroLab</a><br />
<ul><li> BroLab used Q32 bus line between Flux Factory & Momenta Art to stage "<a href="http://brolab.org/2011/10/bench-press/">Bench Press</a>"; created a template & built benches along bus lines.</li>
<li>Project allowed people to see benches building built, get a sense of the work that went into them.</li>
<li>Did 12-15 live-build installations of benches at bus stops over the course of one day.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VWRuxNpp1v8/TpnnhvIbjcI/AAAAAAAABY0/n8Pj5ghx044/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2011-10-15%2Bat%2B4.04.47%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VWRuxNpp1v8/TpnnhvIbjcI/AAAAAAAABY0/n8Pj5ghx044/s200/Screen%2Bshot%2B2011-10-15%2Bat%2B4.04.47%2BPM.png" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://www.vertical-theory.com/">Vertical Theory</a>, Karen Mackay<br />
<ul><li>Wanted to find solutions for large-scale sustainability issues on a local level; looked at urban farms as a solution</li>
<li>Cities = limited horizontal outdoor space; how do we grow food here? Farmscrapers need lots of time & $, but VT looks at how do non-horizontal farming in a more DIY way</li>
<li>Looked @ hydroponics, wooly pockets, not nobody was doing these two things together; started doing prototypes to use piping in pockets to distribute water</li>
<li> Also working on creating prototypes in glass; harder to be DIY, but can still have an impact and get people thinking</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NiUJEypkYLk/TpnpZ3RltFI/AAAAAAAABY8/G-QYlAhPp4Y/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.12.52+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="43" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NiUJEypkYLk/TpnpZ3RltFI/AAAAAAAABY8/G-QYlAhPp4Y/s200/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.12.52+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://treekit.org/">TreeKIT</a>, Sophie Plitt<br />
<ul><li>Urban trees have many benefits: "Trees really make cities; although they're extremely ubiquitous, we don't always see them for how valuable they are." </li>
<li>NYC is relying on individuals, developing a stewardship model. Not really working yet.</li>
<li>TreeKIT hias developed a "Track, See, Collect" mapping model to increase stewardship. Currently collecting the data to allow people to track their stewardship.</li>
<li>Draw people [general public] into the data-collection process - "Participatory action research"</li>
</ul><br />
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<ul></ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YKe6nhey8LM/Tpnq6DZgCSI/AAAAAAAABZE/BlSOXopNeig/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.19.41+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YKe6nhey8LM/Tpnq6DZgCSI/AAAAAAAABZE/BlSOXopNeig/s200/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.19.41+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://busroots.org/">Bus Roots</a>, Marco Antonio Castro<br />
<ul><li>MTA has 4,500 buses: if every bus had a green roof, that = 35 acres of new greenspace (that's about 4 Bryant Parks)</li>
<li>It's a network of mobile parks that can go to the places that need them, "A network of moving gardens rolling around the city"</li>
<li>Prototype was built using a van; Castro developed it as part of an artist residency in New London; another was done on a small bus in Guadalajara</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ixiGTdyCJc8/TpnsQ-texZI/AAAAAAAABZM/5qOUvN73-2w/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.25.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ixiGTdyCJc8/TpnsQ-texZI/AAAAAAAABZM/5qOUvN73-2w/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.25.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ixiGTdyCJc8/TpnsQ-texZI/AAAAAAAABZM/5qOUvN73-2w/s200/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.25.26+PM.png" width="199" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://www.bringtolightnyc.org/">Bring to Light</a>, Anna Muessig<br />
<ul><li> Nuit Blanche events are one-night events that transform public space w/light from dusk to dawn; first Bring to Light happened in Greenpoint, BK, on Oct 1st 2011</li>
<li>Created a temporary public path along the waterfront (normally private space)--NYC has a long-term plan to make that path permanently public (example of using art to help people visualize change)</li>
<li>Had to work with private developers to gain access to a lot of places</li>
<li>Doing a nuit blanche is unique; uses industrial space, becomes more of a tactical intervention</li>
<li>Project increased public access to waterfront, changed the way people inhabited streets at night, and used art as a wedge to advance an urban agenda</li>
<li>De Certeau: Strategy is the tool of the planner, tactics is the tool of the pedestrian</li>
<li>Raise collective intelligence and cohesion of pedestrian</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KgamdQlNki4/TpnuB-Td1XI/AAAAAAAABZU/ed-oKkbAILw/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.32.56+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PiVTTpASugM/TpnvBJoCefI/AAAAAAAABZc/jzPAEzx_Bh8/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.37.08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PiVTTpASugM/TpnvBJoCefI/AAAAAAAABZc/jzPAEzx_Bh8/s200/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.37.08+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://tomorrow-lab.com/">Tomorrow Lab</a>, Ted Ullrich<br />
<ul><li>Tomorrow Lab's idea: Small objects can lead to big change!</li>
<li>Industrial designers can help create things that shape cities; objects help to shape cities, every object is designed</li>
<li>Tomorrow Lab created downloadable instructions and DIY kits for creating hydroponic systems for urban environments</li>
<li>Want to flip the typical planning process on its head and <i>make</i> things</li>
<li>Three ideas behind Tomorrow Lab: Meet to Make (leave a residue when you meet); Communicate assembly instructions (if it can be repeatable, make sure that it is); Publish Online early, iterate!</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HodzjQSV_Bo/TpnvqrWfSAI/AAAAAAAABZk/eaWPjtRJG1w/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.39.57+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="164" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HodzjQSV_Bo/TpnvqrWfSAI/AAAAAAAABZk/eaWPjtRJG1w/s200/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.39.57+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://socialbicycles.com/">Social Bicycles</a>, Ryan Rzepecki<br />
<ul><li> Challenge: Velib in Paris is amazing but very infrastructure-intensive</li>
<li> Rzepecki joined the NYC DOT around the time of the Times Square closure; founded <a href="http://ibikenyc.com/">I Bike NY</a></li>
<li>Filed a patent in June 2009 to build locking mechanism into bikes and track with GPS; low-intensity infrastructure</li>
<li>Gained exposure & support through the Pepsi Refresh crowdfunding project; as a result, stepped up prototyping efforts</li>
<li>Connected bikes to an app that maps available bikes nearby</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzagW_3dKFI/TpnzXQ2cqBI/AAAAAAAABZ0/CyHbpHAl-s8/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.55.32+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="111" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzagW_3dKFI/TpnzXQ2cqBI/AAAAAAAABZ0/CyHbpHAl-s8/s200/Screen+shot+2011-10-15+at+4.55.32+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://enablingcity.com/">Enabling City</a>, Chiara <span class="Apple-style-span">Camponeschi</span><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span">From urbanization to overconsumption--the way cities decide to address these issues and increase livability, we need to think about new ways of experimenting and being more curious</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Who we include, variety of constituencies, makes a crucial difference</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">EC is a toolkit for creating enabling places of participation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">How can we engage our neighbors and work together to "create networks of urban solidarity"?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Cities need to open up spaces for public experimentation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">"If cities aren't 'enabling,' then what are they and who are they helping?" </span></li>
</ul><ul></ul><ul></ul><ul></ul><span id="goog_1508251556"></span><span id="goog_1508251557"></span> <br />
<ul></ul><ul></ul>Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-91825931559042849912011-10-15T14:28:00.001-05:002011-10-15T17:34:33.699-05:00Liveblogging the Tactical Urbanism Salon: Intro & Panel Discussion: Tactical vs. DIY Urbanism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://tacticalurbanismsalon.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xKzSLf91Zg8/TpnNd0wfqTI/AAAAAAAABYg/aijJJ7MaEks/s1600/tu_liveblog_head.png" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<b>Introduction</b><br />
<br />
Mike Lydon - <a href="http://www.streetplans.org/">The Street Plans Collaborative</a><br />
Aurash Khawarzad - <a href="http://dotankbrooklyn.org/">DoTank:Brooklyn</a> / <a href="http://www.pps.org/">Project for Public Spaces</a><br />
<ul><li>ML: Idea for the TUS was to look at short-term actions driving long-term change</li>
<li>AK: Old process of building communities is not working anymore; new more collaborative ways of doing things</li>
<li>AK: We want everything about today to be different; everything we do should be action-focused. </li>
</ul><b>Panel Discussion: </b><b>Tactical vs. DIY Urbanism</b><br />
<br />
Tony Garcia - <a href="http://www.streetplans.org/">The </a><a href="http://www.streetplans.org/">Street Plans Collaborative</a><br />
Chiara Camponeschi - <a href="http://www.enablingcity.com/">Enabling City</a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span">Quillian Riano - <a href="http://dsgnagnc.blogspot.com/">DSGN AGNC</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span">June Williamson - The City College of New York, <a href="http://www.cuny.edu/">CUNY</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span">ML: New York seems to be a center of urban tactical innovation in the US; <u>what can other cities learn from NY?</u></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">QR: NYC in particular attracts best & brightest because there's a lot of energy; but we can't ignore that these things have been happening elsewhere for a while now. A lot of these tactical actions elsewhere are done to kind of "shame" the public officials into action. And we're learning from that now. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">JW: One of the factors to consider is the top-down leadership; compare that to suburbs, which have some of the most fractured governance structures in the US. Metro structures, kinds of innovation that happen here happen because, to some extent, of top-down model.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">TG: Why wouldn't it start in suburbia? Urbanism in NY, SF, etc lend itself more to these types of tactical urbanism. Trying to choose areas that are more urban than not--pushing places that are almost there a bit further rather than starting from scratch. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">JW: How do you find the mechanisms to make change? In suburbia, need to develop stronger relationships with private partners, developers, who own more of that landscape.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">QR: We're doing tactical urbanism because of politics. We're doing these things to combat the slowness of govt. And in the suburbs, you don't have the concentration for a constituency. In the US, our own democratic processes are beginning to stifle innovation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">CC: Positive side of chaos--drives new, groundbreaking thinking. In suburbs, most of the time, the effort is to get rid of that layer of chaos and make a more quiet community. How do we form networks for people who really care about where they live? Chaos can be used in very positive way. You have to be comfortable with the unpredictable.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">AK: Occupations around the country are a great example of how action can affect community planning; will discuss how to support movements like that in a bit. Question for now: What makes experience for people doing tactical projects is that we have to work with the public, a very broad group of people. A lot of people "get" tactical urbanism and understand the value in that. But many are skeptical; <u>how do you address the skeptics?</u></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">TG: You don't convince anybody; you do the project in spite of the skeptics. When they see it in action, they'll understand. It's not about asking permission, it's about doing something and using the result of the action to convince the skeptics.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">CC: Value is in creating these "aha" moments; engage in a conversation following the action. Filling the gap btwn the distrust and traditional systems, show the many ways to start getting engaged. Arts-based approaches create new opportunities for thinking about engagement and challenging traditional modes of engagement. Phrase things in positive terms; help people understand that their own creativity matters.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">QR: Now, the designer is the politician, in many ways. Tactical urbanism is an alt. to New and Landscape urbanism, but it overlaps a bit with both. Example LU's hold up is Olmsted and the Emerald Necklace, Olmsted created a ground-up movement. Design was matched w/ a political, economic and social agenda and constituencies. Here, Chris Reed is doing this in Lowell, where he's creating constituencies. No one is ever 100% happy but if they're not <i>against</i> you these projects can move on.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">JW: Tremendous power in visualization and being able to see changes. A lot of people have trouble imagining what change would look like. Even a pilot project temporarily shows alt uses; physical representation is important. Showing before & after images of retrofitted suburbia, is very useful.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">TG: Suburban tactical interventions are more challenging exactly because the scale is different. Retrofitting a mall is much harder; goes beyond tactical. There is something to be said for visualization, here.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">ML: What's fascinating about tactical urbanism and makes it different from guerilla tactics--it can scale to both large and small scales, from big projects to block-level actions. You're also starting to see corporations get involved in pop-up spaces--i.e. the BMW Guggenheim Lab. Panelists: <u>can you speak to that continuum, from bottom-up to top-down?</u></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">CC : That's how you can move from a short-term action to long-term institutional change. I think tactical urbanism works best when those two worlds meet, create a conversation around participation. Citizens need to state values, push for co-design, have enabling policies to democratize access to funds. We can demand more flexibility from governance models. It's ultimately up to us to push for that.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">JW: Connect this to the politics of public space. What is it, and who owns it? We have public spaces, privately-owned public spaces, de facto public spaces in shopping centers, etc etc. In suburban, partially-public spaces, there are levers that do come back to the physical form. Even if it's ersatz designed, once you put public streetscape iconography in shopping center, you're inviting people to act as <i>citizens</i> rather than <i>consumers</i>. We're operating at the blurring of the line; we have to bring private corporations into the discussion.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">QR: Tactics implies that there is a larger goal we're trying to fulfill. In a democratic society, our tactics should be leading to something. Need to talk about strategy. The collective force in our society, the govt, should help set the agenda. People say it's actually a positive that OWS is happening in a POPS, since it's 24-hrs. But even if it were in a public park, we are the ones allowing it to close at midnight. The private space does not have to answer to us.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">JW: But they do at some level if they're been publicly-funded.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">QR: It depends on contracts, etc. But what is the end-goal of tactical urbanism?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">TG: Government doesn't change or adapt fast enough to how people use public spaces. There's a lag-time there. Govt has to catch up and become that nimble, at least re: public space.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">CC: What inspired me to write Enabling City is that blurring of the line between citizen and consumer. The idea that we can shop our way out of huge problems is really problematic. OWS shows that we can participate in ways that are not just about shopping. Commercial model excludes a lot of people. Challenging the privatization of participation is important.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">JW: The shopping center I've been thinking about is in Silver Spring MD; there was an incident at a publicly-funded private dev where someone was prohibited by a mall cop from taking photos. Started a campaign on Flickr, had a big rally to put pressure on local govt to stop the private owner from blocking the use of the space as a public space.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">AK: Community projects at DO:Tank are designed to help community but also to shock people into realizing that they are not engaged and can actually be. We have to ask now, though, why does this system where the public is so excluded exist? How did this system come to be? <u>Can tactical urbanism change the underlying values system of how we develop and interact w/cities?</u></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">QR: Great time to ask; in the US we're starting to question a lot of things. There is a fear of power, a questioning of authority--there's a real sense that this has gone too far. TU at its best will be a thinking about how we collectivize America instead of the Tea Party isolationism. How do we come back together to produce and create together and use processes to agree on what cities should/n't have?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">CC: The desire for a commercial competitive edge causes us to only celebrate values that don't allow us to think about how we want to collectively structure our cities; emphasis on individualism and consumerism creates isolation. Tactical urbanism shocks that, causes us to reformulate and reclaim public discourse for alt values to emerge.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">TG: What's the value system of dev in cities? Right now it's megadevelopment. Complexity for developing property is insanely difficult--and it hasn't always been like that. Incremental development created urban fabric we love. We need to return to a tactical development model. This answers econ projects too. Ease the rules so we have smaller-scale development. That's the scale we want to build our cities at.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">JW: There's an argument you can make about having a variety of scales diversifies risk; not everything has to be mega. Another question that I have is whether there are generational issues at work here? Baby boomers are moving into what they call the "senior tsunami." There's also the shrinking of the middle class, and social/econ anxieties that have driven this consumptive culture of "keeping up" with neighbors. We're going to have these people who can't drive occupying huge neighborhoods where you have to drive everywhere.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">TG: Obv answer is the tech divide; digital natives here have grown to expect instant results, something we can react to. Parents' generation is more willing to wait and see the result of work. Technology is changing the way that we want to do things in the world.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">CC: It's not just a matter of speed, but w/Web 2.0 values, transparency, openness--also values we want to see in the democratic process. Maybe the trust in govt is declining, faith and attachemnt to other values is growing. We see it w/digital platforms, movements like OWS, they really attract people, even w/o larger infrastructure behind them.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span"> QR: I remember when Obama was running, there was a feeling like we were moving beyond the Baby Boomer values system. We've lived with a lot of meaningless; there's a sense were even getting tired of Web 2.0. We want meaning again. We want to think about what these things actually mean and what they do, more than improving Coca Cola's brand name on Facebook.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Audience question: Seems like, when people choose to do something rather than waiting for govt is that it offers room to fail! <u>Can anyone talk about failed tactical urbanist moments and what that means?</u></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">QR: Was just at a conf of community design centers, and we did an entire panel on failure. Was called Fail Now Fail Often. Raises the issue of what our responsibility is to the city. If a software startup fails no one notices; if you fail in a city, it could actually hurt people. W/my own projects, I want them to fail. I want them to be so open, malleable. The failure is the game.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">CC: Slogan--Try again, fail again, fail better. There is an attitide w/TU that allows for greater experimentation. If something isn't working, TU offers the opportunity to open it up to more diverse viewpoints.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">TG: What's the metric by which you're measuring failure? That's an important question.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">AK: We go into TU inverventions expecting to learn; there is no failure, no right way. Just go and get your hands dirty and learn over time, develop a set of principles that help us figure out what failure is.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Audience: We have to get rid of this concern with failure. The idea that there is a govt separate from people w/the answers is ridiculous. When you talk about failure, the biggest failure is when something is built exactly as you designed it. It's been imposed.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Audience: Do we really need gatekeepers? <u>Are there examples where TU projects get shut down because they didn't get permission</u>?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">ML: Re: yarn-bombing--what is the long-term vision or goal? Is there one? Does every intervention have to have that? DIY keeps itself to small scale, chief difference with Tactical Urbanism is that there's a larger range of scales.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">AK: It's important to network with gatekeepers if you want an action to have a life past your initial intervention. It's important to keep people engaged so that people actually know what you're doing. You have to work w/people who know how to get the message out. Imagery is a critical component. Can't just have images, can't just have intervention, need to have all of it to reach people who have power to make projects go beyond what you intended them to be. You'd be surprised how many gatekeepers actually do want to work with you and get involved.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">Audience:<u> Is there any way we're starting to evaluate and codify what we're doing, as a movement?</u></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">AK: One thing is the Tactical Urbanism Report that's being worked on now. Another idea from Dan Latorre @ PPS is to create a wiki where people around the world can share their experience re: action, success, failure, etc.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">QR: I'm uneasy w/metrics, but stories matter, narratives are important. We need what architecture has traditionally had: critique. Talk about more than just form. Kimmelman @ NY Times is beginning to try to expand that. Focus more on critical discourse.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">CC: There are a lot of efforts starting to track this stuff; more participatory research tools are starting to be used to track. Ultimately, this is tied into a conversation of metrics and expertise and the hard facts that currently influence policy-making and these arguments that w/o quantatitve data, projects are less valued. We need to figure out alternative narratives; there's a challenging but wonderful opportunity to talk about how we measure change. How do you measure empowerment? Can you?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span">JW: Have to get back to articulating what the strategies are. Do we debate strategic goals or do we assume that we all agree on what those are? As these actions begin to have larger effects, that discussion around assessment is important. <br />
</span></li>
</ul>Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-88377165679121206452011-10-15T11:04:00.000-05:002011-10-15T11:04:36.667-05:00A Modest Proposal...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WCENEUI47Pk/TpmsOSBaUII/AAAAAAAABYQ/deXzZXhxD7o/s1600/groundzero.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-twtiia4ncAU/TpmtSj8nrSI/AAAAAAAABYY/KAykM2RYy5E/s1600/groundzero_900.png" /></a></div><br />
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A few years ago I made a series of hackmaps, using Google Earth to cobble together a few visualizations of alternate urban realities. I'd always planned to post some of the better ones to Where, and never got around to it. Recent events, however, made me think that there was one in particular that was worth sharing.<br />
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The image above was created in the fall of 2008, right as the financial meltdown was getting white-hot. The idea that the wizards of Wall Street should share their posh financial district with a Rio-style favela seemed fitting, given the number of people who were suddenly finding themselves homeless. Luckily, there was a huge hole in the ground right next door.<br />
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The site may have been overly ambitious, but it's good to see that some people have been feeling the same way. <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-83444926503961712652011-09-05T14:50:00.002-05:002011-09-05T15:29:17.049-05:00MAS Context Issue 11: SPEED<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yfJ-E9bb7K4/TmUoWzXnaRI/AAAAAAAABYM/BpN1MX86KpQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-09-05+at+3.51.29+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yfJ-E9bb7K4/TmUoWzXnaRI/AAAAAAAABYM/BpN1MX86KpQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-09-05+at+3.51.29+PM.png" /></a></div>The new issue of <b>MAS Context</b> is out today, and you can read the whole thing online <a href="http://www.mascontext.com/issues/11-speed-fall-11/">here</a>, or buy a printed copy <a href="http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/mas-context---issue-11---speed/16816626">here</a>. I've got an <a href="http://www.mascontext.com/11-speed-fall-11/on-the-quickening-of-history/">article</a> on the effect of mobile, digital tech on the future of historic preservation, entitled <i>On the Quickening of History</i>. An excerpt:<br />
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<blockquote><i>These applications will eventually be used not just to find a good place for Thai food or to see where a bus route leads, but to interpret and alter the physical realm, as well. As augmented reality applications become increasingly ubiquitous, it will become impossible to separate the city from its digital self. This means that, in the not too distant future, digital layers will need to be thought of by preservationists in much the same way that buildings are today. And while it’s true that digital preservation is already a subject of discussion, that discussion is currently focused on the use of digital tools to preserve the physical world, or to preserve artistic or cultural projects that were created on digital platforms. The preservation of the platforms themselves is largely uncharted territory, regardless of the outsized impact that they have had on our lives.</i></blockquote><br />
Other great stuff from Candy Chang, Jesus Maria Ezquiaga, Andrew Clark, Antón García-Abril, and a slew of other great urbanists. Read on! <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-36702653549252492102011-07-24T10:15:00.005-05:002011-07-24T12:23:56.324-05:00What Color is Your Favorite Architect?Oh joy, <a href="http://thecolorof.com/">thecolorof </a>works for architects, <a href="http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-color-is-your-city.html">too</a>! There are some fascinating results--so many, in fact, that you'll have to travel beyond the jump, as I don't want them mobbing the Where homepage, heh.<br />
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Corbu's swatch is, oddly enough, distinctly pastel. While the Frenchman was no stranger to the occasional burst of color, he generally opted for bold primaries. His is by far the most perplexing of this bunch, but it felt wrong to leave him off, so...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-drU1dLz1OAc/TiuaxYr4NLI/AAAAAAAABXE/F_PybPz9_ZA/s1600/corbu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-drU1dLz1OAc/TiuaxYr4NLI/AAAAAAAABXE/F_PybPz9_ZA/s640/corbu.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Next up is Peter Eisenmen; as it's about 800 degrees in New York right now I've found no reason to venture outside, I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon playing with thecolorof. Eisenmen's is my favorite swatch yet. It's angular, ethereal, and undeniably Eisenmen-y; more importantly, it's just plain lovely. There's an iridescence to it that I can't stop coming back to stare at. Digital happenstance at its best.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XYKNRTzkYZU/TiuazKy6cGI/AAAAAAAABXI/FKi1P_k_zT8/s1600/eisenmen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XYKNRTzkYZU/TiuazKy6cGI/AAAAAAAABXI/FKi1P_k_zT8/s640/eisenmen.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Gehry's swatch is ever-so-subtly swoop-y. There's a sense of vertical movement that I've often noticed in his buildings: they reach, as if straining to leave the ground. That comes through here nicely.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FM-RsbCOo8E/Tiua1Et15YI/AAAAAAAABXM/Zd5_-GvSKBM/s1600/gehry.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FM-RsbCOo8E/Tiua1Et15YI/AAAAAAAABXM/Zd5_-GvSKBM/s640/gehry.png" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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I love Gilbert's if for no other reason than the fact that the first thing I see when I look at it is the Parthenon. For such an devout Classicist, this seems totally fitting. It's almost eerie, actually.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B2TMGR_EYvA/Tiua23XAO7I/AAAAAAAABXQ/WuMigW5ETBk/s1600/gilbert.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B2TMGR_EYvA/Tiua23XAO7I/AAAAAAAABXQ/WuMigW5ETBk/s640/gilbert.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Rem's is a hot mess, but it's probably one of the most fun of the bunch to look at. Once again: fitting.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JtX5ZMrprpI/Tiua6k8qipI/AAAAAAAABXY/qFOPqviR9Uc/s1600/koolhaas.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JtX5ZMrprpI/Tiua6k8qipI/AAAAAAAABXY/qFOPqviR9Uc/s640/koolhaas.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Like Gehry's, Niemeyer's swatch feels very dynamic; curvaceous, even. The movement here is more horizontal, as if the colors are floating by.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-46V_oH24XCk/Tiua8dYQhPI/AAAAAAAABXc/jeFH78qn7qA/s1600/niemeyer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-46V_oH24XCk/Tiua8dYQhPI/AAAAAAAABXc/jeFH78qn7qA/s640/niemeyer.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Nouvel's is a testament to the power that one very public building can have over the popular perception of an architect's career. Well-known within the design world, Nouvel is hardly a household name. Millions of tourists visited his rufescent Serpentine Pavilion in London last summer, though, and the influence of that tiny temporary building on his public profile seems hard to deny, here at least.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pS2GVG1t6Oc/Tiua-eUVRqI/AAAAAAAABXg/IEtdEEGX8w4/s1600/nouvel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pS2GVG1t6Oc/Tiua-eUVRqI/AAAAAAAABXg/IEtdEEGX8w4/s640/nouvel.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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The only landscape architect famous enough to generate enough imagery for a decent swatch, Olmsted's looks, as one might expect, like a Monet painting. It's quite serene, no?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-26Cqrk_hrcU/TiubANoPnEI/AAAAAAAABXk/KnMBXJ7gnfs/s1600/olmsted.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-26Cqrk_hrcU/TiubANoPnEI/AAAAAAAABXk/KnMBXJ7gnfs/s640/olmsted.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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It's not perfect, but there's a definite symmetry to Palladio's swatch--no accident when you've layered more than 50 images atop each other. As thecolorof sources its photos from Flickr, they can be taken at any number of angles; the fact that this swatch bears a sort of ghostly resemblance to an elevation of one of Palladio's buildings hints at the strength of the psychological influence that his work has on the viewer. Buildings do not need to be photographed head-on, and yet this swatch suggests that such behavior <i>de rigeur </i>for visitors to Palladio's villas.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aXG0gx80DMY/TiubB72KKbI/AAAAAAAABXo/OJxeoCps1dQ/s1600/palladio.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aXG0gx80DMY/TiubB72KKbI/AAAAAAAABXo/OJxeoCps1dQ/s640/palladio.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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There is a vaguely architectural feel to Rossi's swatch; as with Palladio above, you can almost see one of the architect's buildings emerge from the blur. It feels more postmodern and asymmetrical, but there's a certain structural quality to the blocks of color set against the blue sky at the top. The angles suggest a building viewed, catty-corner, from across an intersection: a whitish tower surrounded by a low-slung, reddish-gold block.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9AwQURoQoLQ/TiubFtrRCmI/AAAAAAAABXw/kqa3aG-lFBI/s1600/rossi.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9AwQURoQoLQ/TiubFtrRCmI/AAAAAAAABXw/kqa3aG-lFBI/s640/rossi.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Sullivan's iconic, stylized decorative motif is undeniable in this terra cotta swatch; in the center is the hint of one of his flowering medallions, like you might expect to see running in a rhythmic strip of tile around an archway. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VvTx8ILDnV8/TiubHiiw8yI/AAAAAAAABX0/bvUFWGqvdcY/s1600/sullivan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VvTx8ILDnV8/TiubHiiw8yI/AAAAAAAABX0/bvUFWGqvdcY/s640/sullivan.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Van Alen's is almost <i>too</i> perfect, as if someone at thecolorof is secretly a die-hard, obsessive fan of the Chrysler Building, and stayed up late one night working on a special algorithm to make sure that the architect's swatch turned out just right. The strong Deco lines, the hint of the Chrysler's stainless steel crown to the right, and the Cloud-Room-mural-esque color scheme pack quite a visual wallop, in the blend.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iwYv0_goROo/TiubJUGipiI/AAAAAAAABX4/izaHp7Tzzu8/s1600/vanalen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iwYv0_goROo/TiubJUGipiI/AAAAAAAABX4/izaHp7Tzzu8/s640/vanalen.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Mies was known for his clean and simple blacks and whites, and yet his swatch bears more resemblance to the travertine floors of the Barcelona Pavilion than the bulk of his portfolio.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X9QulFFdmUQ/TiubLZodaOI/AAAAAAAABX8/ftrpkqRE3M8/s1600/vanderrohe.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X9QulFFdmUQ/TiubLZodaOI/AAAAAAAABX8/ftrpkqRE3M8/s640/vanderrohe.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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There's a ruggedness to Frank Lloyd Wright's swatch, and a rich, fiery tone that fits his infamously forceful personality. And, interestingly enough...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T3Qi2Dghk3w/TiubNBCa6XI/AAAAAAAABYA/5QQb-46h-Mo/s1600/wright.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T3Qi2Dghk3w/TiubNBCa6XI/AAAAAAAABYA/5QQb-46h-Mo/s640/wright.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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...it bears a striking resemblance to the swatch for Ayn Rand's fictional architect Howard Roark, reported to be based on the strong-willed Wright. Curious as to whether this was because many of the images sourced for Roark might actually be of Wright's buildings, I checked each of them individually. In fact, just one of the 56 photos used to create the Roark swatch had anything to do with Wright: a black and white interior shot of the Guggenheim.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--DAscEV48RA/TiubD3WV0oI/AAAAAAAABXs/dhXs9jlDjgk/s1600/roark.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--DAscEV48RA/TiubD3WV0oI/AAAAAAAABXs/dhXs9jlDjgk/s640/roark.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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We'll end with Minoru Yamasaki. The verticality of the World Trade Center architect's style is instantly apparent here. The cooler tone is also interesting to note, as the other two Modernists included above (Corbu and Mies) featured uncharacteristically warm palettes.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZMoEyyHjJk/TiubO6kMXCI/AAAAAAAABYE/pXDgwLtxIxU/s1600/yamasaki.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZMoEyyHjJk/TiubO6kMXCI/AAAAAAAABYE/pXDgwLtxIxU/s640/yamasaki.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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If you're wondering why I left out so-and-so, it's probably because their swatch wasn't very interesting; thecolorof results are pretty hit or miss. I tried dozens of architects that wound up on the cutting room floor, but you're welcome to give any name a try <a href="http://thecolorof.com/">here</a>. Have fun! <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-89888102238420347452011-07-23T18:34:00.000-05:002011-07-23T18:34:02.482-05:00What Color is your City?I found <a href="http://thecolorof.com/">thecolorof.com</a> this evening (via <a href="http://curiositycounts.com/post/7272534088/the-color-of-app-uses-the-flickr-api-to-discover">Curiosity Counts)</a>, which layers recent images from Flickr sharing a common tag over each other to create swatches that resemble abstract impressionist paintings. Naturally, I spent a bit of time trying out various cities. Many wind up very similar--red/gold on the bottom, bluish on the top--which I'm guessing has something to do with the preponderance of skyline photos. But the results for some are spot-on, and even downright gorgeous. A few favorites:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2leCWOvcdQE/TitVxM0y4wI/AAAAAAAABWo/iLM1ur3z4vc/s1600/buenosaires.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2leCWOvcdQE/TitVxM0y4wI/AAAAAAAABWo/iLM1ur3z4vc/s640/buenosaires.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TZBKIu7aknE/TitVzFt5aeI/AAAAAAAABWs/KjM1lh5XPZY/s1600/cairo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TZBKIu7aknE/TitVzFt5aeI/AAAAAAAABWs/KjM1lh5XPZY/s640/cairo.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ol4T9BQmJEM/TitZhuX_VuI/AAAAAAAABW8/fsi6GAOnntc/s1600/la.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ol4T9BQmJEM/TitZhuX_VuI/AAAAAAAABW8/fsi6GAOnntc/s640/la.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BnsQ1jyJU0I/TitZjbRU8qI/AAAAAAAABXA/mpJ3ZMJP64w/s1600/mykonos.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BnsQ1jyJU0I/TitZjbRU8qI/AAAAAAAABXA/mpJ3ZMJP64w/s640/mykonos.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eeU7As28pI8/TitV2sxbjmI/AAAAAAAABW0/_cJcJ4VbbCw/s1600/newyork.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eeU7As28pI8/TitV2sxbjmI/AAAAAAAABW0/_cJcJ4VbbCw/s640/newyork.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_QmKyVkbupk/TitV4abvWuI/AAAAAAAABW4/cI2YwlhYuOk/s1600/shanghai.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_QmKyVkbupk/TitV4abvWuI/AAAAAAAABW4/cI2YwlhYuOk/s640/shanghai.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
What color is <i>your</i> city? <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-175100583173839542011-07-18T09:56:00.018-05:002011-07-18T09:56:00.310-05:00The Upside of Shrinking<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/120/281318277_c5ce9510fe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/120/281318277_c5ce9510fe.jpg" width="299" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiddharma/281318277/in/photostream/">Photo Credit</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Last month, <i>Newsweek</i> produced a list of "dying" cities in the US with "bleak" futures based solely on population loss over the past few decades. <i>For the Love of Cities</i> author Peter Kageyama made quick work of the dismantling of this rather lazy list over at <i>The Infrastructurist</i>: "As human beings," he <a href="http://www.infrastructurist.com/2011/06/13/the-surprising-life-in-america%E2%80%99s-supposedly-dying-cities/">notes</a>, astutely, "we stop 'growing' in our early 20s, yet we hardly think of a 25-year-old as dying — still, at a cellular level, they are dying in the same way that these cities are dying. Losing population is not the same as losing hope, losing purpose, or losing life."<br />
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The loss of population does not guarantee a continued slide toward obsolescence. Conversely, an influx of educated creative types does not <a href="http://burghdiaspora.blogspot.com/2011/07/pittsburgh-versus-portland.html">necessarily</a> result in an economic boom. Everyone has the potential to be creative, but not everyone is cut out to start (and successfully run) a business. The entrepreneurial spirit is something that needs to be sparked, and then cultivated. On the list of things that can serve as that spark: watching an exodus from a place that you love. In the above-linked <i>Burgh Diaspora</i> post, Jim Russell shares a story about Doug Dwyer, a former First Data employee who chose to stay in Boulder when his employer moved to Atlanta. The decision to stay required Dwyer to "think like an immigrant," and he has since founded a company, <a href="https://www.mocapay.com/mca/home.html;jsessionid=F0963FF02B3E10336C3A7FB562F99BA8">Mocapay</a>, that employs 20 people. <br />
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When it's possible for the upwardly mobile to leave, those who stay behind by choice are bound to be more invested in their cities. These passionate people are some of the greatest assets that a city can have, and the fact that there are fewer other people around inherently makes it more likely that these passionate residents will bump into each other, share ideas, and perhaps start something exciting--as long as shrinkage is managed through smart urban planning to maintain some level of density, and to preserve downtown areas as places of economic and intellectual exchange. Especially when large areas begin to empty out, it's important to think about how to encourage interaction.<br />
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In a recent promo video for the new book <i>Living in the Endless City</i>, Saskia Sassen was asked what makes a city successful. She <a href="http://www.designtaxi.com/news/35050/What-Makes-a-City-Successful/?page=1">answered</a> that "It’s their incompleteness that gifts them their longevity. A city does not become obsolete." Population loss does not equal death: it's just part of the process of rebirth. <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-43837525335710845422011-07-17T11:06:00.000-05:002011-07-17T11:06:53.803-05:00When Street Art Is More Than Street Art<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6024/5943692086_960741a5a0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6024/5943692086_960741a5a0.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kordite/5943692086/">Photo credit</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Some clever artist has <b><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2011/07/08/mysterious-protracto.html">plastered</a> a series of stylized yellow protractors (or are they bridges?) around Pittsburgh</b>, each with a (presumably) sequential number from one up into the hundreds. Apparently it's the talk of the town--so much so that, in a move truly worthy of the adjective "Keystone," the city's cops are trying to track the mastermind down so that they can charge him with a felony for property damage. In an awesome act of digital defiance, a blogger who was writing about and mapping the bridges has <a href="http://ericlidji.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/the-protractor-map-the-end-for-now/">deleted</a> the posts, refusing to allow his blog to be used by the authorities to bring down this gem of a project.<br />
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Moving past this dramatic and still-unfolding plot to the project itself: the simplicity of this project is a total joy. Talk about augmented reality these days focuses on digital applications, and it's so easy to forget that <b>there are some very low-tech ways of re-framing the way that people experience the urban environment</b>. In this project, the instigator has used some simple plastic decals and super glue to turn the entire city of Pittsburgh--already pretty fun to wander around thanks to its undulating topography and erratic street grid--into a game platform. As you chase around looking for all of the protractors, you wind up exploring the city, leaving no nook or cranny un-scanned in your quest for detection dominance.<br />
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This Pittsburgh project highlights the fact that you don't need mad app-development skillz to augment your city. While tech allows us the opportunity to tweak the urban experience in new wasy, a bit of ingenuity and some art supplies are all you need to re-engage people with the cityscape. On that note--<b>if anyone else knows of some similarly clever interventions in other cities, please share</b>! <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-53898515598387509482011-07-16T11:42:00.004-05:002011-07-16T12:04:42.076-05:00Splashy Times Square Satellite View<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hDuMubEQ4vo/TiG_LdMqGVI/AAAAAAAABWc/KJdcINSxREE/s1600/New+TSQX.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hDuMubEQ4vo/TiG_LdMqGVI/AAAAAAAABWc/KJdcINSxREE/s1600/New+TSQX.png" /></a></div><br />
Woke up this morning to discover new Google Earth satellite imagery of Manhattan, complete with the fully-pedestrianized & mural'd Times Square. Great light too, Midtown usually looks so dark on G-Earth. Three cheers for Janette.<br />
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UPDATE: Just realized you can also get great views of a few other ped plazas. Click the thumbnails for full-sizers:<br />
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<b>Union Square</b> (with Greenmarket in full-swing!):<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lBhwAMTR3rQ/TiHCoq2OErI/AAAAAAAABWg/SqHMdyIcAew/s1600/Union+Square.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lBhwAMTR3rQ/TiHCoq2OErI/AAAAAAAABWg/SqHMdyIcAew/s200/Union+Square.png" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><b>Madison Square Park: </b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M0w64GXlHFI/TiHCv-LKJYI/AAAAAAAABWk/YoE6D7ijM6k/s1600/Madison+Square.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M0w64GXlHFI/TiHCv-LKJYI/AAAAAAAABWk/YoE6D7ijM6k/s1600/Madison+Square.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M0w64GXlHFI/TiHCv-LKJYI/AAAAAAAABWk/YoE6D7ijM6k/s200/Madison+Square.png" width="98" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><small>(Also: whoever gets rid of these #$&#% borders that magically insert themselves around images on this blog when I've tried everything I can think of to turn them off wins a prize.)</small><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-6273377539177788562011-07-06T09:42:00.000-05:002011-07-06T09:42:52.415-05:00On Stolen Towns, Cities as Brands, and Public vs. Private Visions<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2163/2186493533_35c3c3b31f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2163/2186493533_35c3c3b31f.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pbouchard/2186493533/">philipbouchard</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Revisiting a few posts that I wrote for <i>Next American City</i> a couple of years ago via more recent news items:<br />
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From<b> <a href="http://americancity.org/buzz/entry/719/">Neighborhoods as Brands</a></b> (March 2008): <i> </i><br />
<blockquote><i>Think about places in American cities that have a special cultural power. Now export them to a brownfield site one or two thousand miles away...<b>New Orleans’ French Quarter could become one of America’s most popular exports</b>. There could be one in Shanghai, one in Jakarta, one in Abu Dhabi, one in Zagreb, and another on the outskirts of Khartoum. These would not be theme parks, but fully-populated, 24-hour neighborhoods selling a lifestyle of jazz, street dancing, and easy living.</i></blockquote>More recently<i>, Der Speigel</i> <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,768754,00.html">brought us news</a> that Chinese officials have surprised residents of the Austrian town of Hallstatt by deciding to <b>copy the entire town back east, brick for brick</b>. Jokes about China's lasseiz faire attitude toward Western copyrights (particularly those of the intellectual variety) got tired years ago, but this latest news feels like a fresh pain. UNESCO is, hilariously, trying to determine the legality of this--as if they'll have any power at all to stop the copy from being built. What can be done?<br />
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In a country where they're <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-ghost-cities-2011-5">building cities faster than they can fill them</a>, it hardly seems surprising that a few would borrow heavily from existing, well-loved places, and <i>Spiegel</i> notes the existence of a scattering of Euro-themed suburbs near Shanghai. But while it's one thing to <i>choose</i> to export a place, seeing developers--from any part of the world--up and jacking a whole town should raise eyebrows. Imagine people on the other side of the world eating in a clone of your favorite restaurant, living in the bizzarro version of the apartment just above yours, listening to the kids playing handball in a counterfeit of the park outside your side window.<br />
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Then again, try as they might, Starbucks' store designers can't make a London shop feel <i>that</i> different from one in Chicago. That is to say, the places that we inhabit in globalized cities are already feeling like copies of copies. If the Hallstatt story has anything to teach us perhaps it's that <b>it's better for cities to get out in front of this trend and start marketing their strongest neighborhoods to Chinese developers as blueprints</b>. Within China itself, developers are starting to market entire neighborhood types within the same cities--what <i>Ad Age Global</i> refers to as <a href="http://adage.com/article/global-news/coming-chinese-factories-cities-a-box/228086/">"Cities in a Box."</a> Better for Boston that those developers specialize in Beacon Hills instead of Bunds...assuming, of course, that Boston can be involved somehow.<br />
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All of this raises the issue of whether or not the people who inhabit a place have any inherent right to its built form. Indeed, it raises the issue of whether or not a place has a right to itself, in many ways. So I'll re-pose the question from that original <i>NAC</i> post: <i>In the glocalized world, <b>does any place belong to any one group, or does everywhere belong to everyone?</b></i><br />
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-----<br />
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Also, from<b> <a href="http://americancity.org/buzz/entry/2166/">A Vision For Detroit</a> </b>(April 2010):<br />
<blockquote><i>If there is the political will and the financial might in Detroit to privately fund a light rail line (which would take a miracle in almost any American city, much less one with Motown’s reputation), there should certainly be enough energy to create a broad, forward-thinking vision for the region to tie various initiatives together into a narrative that the whole city can rally behind. <b>Detroit has everyone’s attention; now it’s time for the city to decide what story it’s going to tell. </b></i></blockquote>Now, just over a year later, the WSJ is reporting that <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304887904576397760319014524.html">all is not well in the Motor City</a>, as the <b>Bing administration wrestles with the Kresge Foundation to determine whose job it is to plot that storyline</b>. The city says that it appreciates Kresge's cash, but can do just fine developing the vision to guide its own revitalization, thank <i>you</i>. Kresge begs to differ, with its suburb-based president Rip Rapson arguing that new ideas from outside the entrenched political system are desperately needed.<br />
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No matter which camp you fall into, it's certainly a fascinating read. With Kresge pulling out of critical projects like Detroit Works and the M1 light rail line, it may behoove Bing to acknowledge that Detroit's record, when it comes to city-led revitalization projects, leaves something to be desired; ceding a bit of control might not be the worst thing to ever happen to the city. You could call Kresge's new-found reticence fickle, or even extortive, but if the foundation doesn't believe that the city's long-term plans will allow their investments to have a lasting impact, they have every right to withhold. <br />
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That's not to say that citizens shouldn't have a say in what happens to their city, and<b> Kresge would do well to be as clear as is humanly possible about what it is they'd like to see happen</b> in order to build public support. Being a private foundation does not absolve you of responsibility to communicate with the public whose lives you'd like to improve. 2<span class="st">¢ </span>from an outsider. <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-91839523031882871402011-07-03T23:06:00.001-05:002011-07-03T23:32:11.522-05:00Thinking Before You Market Can Have Beautiful Results<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/7319/1327371/heatmap_line2_800.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eQedDTo80ek/ThE7rwDImSI/AAAAAAAABWE/mBADfA0icwI/s200/Screen+shot+2011-07-04+at+12.03.24+AM.png" width="185" /></a></div>Natalia from Polis has already <a href="http://www.thepolisblog.org/2011/07/nike-gps-nyc-visualization.html">nerded out</a> on the potential for apps to collect use-pattern data to aid urban planners as illustrated by the recent <b>Nike+ 1000 Runs </b>mapping project. Personally, though, I’m more excited about this as a social ad campaign than as an urban planning tool. It’s a pretty ingenious way of encouraging participation: it taps into Nike’s passionate base and invites their participation, using the individual pieces collected to create something new and pretty cool (and quite lovely) which, in turn, encourages more people to use the product in question. Thoughtful marketing is always fun to see, especially when it’s social (which begs the question: is it even possible to be thoughtful without being social in 2011?)<br />
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Oh, and let’s not forget the mega-bonus that it’s rooted in the pedestrian experience of the urban environment, which is always nice to see from suburb- and auto-centric Madison Ave. Round of applause. <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" /></div>Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-75741973367065482392011-06-10T08:47:00.001-05:002011-06-10T11:47:56.926-05:00WEEKEND READING: June 4-10, 2011<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J3zKw7sKZoU/TfGUggqGDkI/AAAAAAAABV8/J2ipufEwXso/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-06-09+at+11.49.51+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J3zKw7sKZoU/TfGUggqGDkI/AAAAAAAABV8/J2ipufEwXso/s400/Screen+shot+2011-06-09+at+11.49.51+PM.png" width="397" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sylvan Terrace, one of my favorite sites of "urban delight" in Manhattan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>This week was like a big traffic jam of awesome in the urban-o-sphere. No time for dithering introductions, on to the good stuff.<br />
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<a href="http://www.grist.org/article/2011-06-06-great-places-delightful-with-lasers">ITEM ONE</a>: <b>David Roberts</b> wraps up his five-part series on great places at <b>Grist</b> with a post on urban delight, taking time to note both the suburbs' relative inadequacy in this realm and Bjarke Ingels' unstoppable charge toward architectural legend.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mascontext.com/issues/10-conflict-summer-11/">ITEM TWO</a>: The tenth issue of <b>MAS Context</b> takes on the meaty subject of Conflict in urban environments.<br />
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<a href="http://maisonneuve.org/pressroom/article/2010/sep/23/attack-pixels/">ITEM THREE</a>: Speaking of conflict, <b>Maisonneuve</b> looks at the violence in many video games and wonders whether urban AR gaming might make for more dangerous cities (thanks to an Anonymous commenter for sharing this link on Wednesday's <a href="http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/wheres-discussion-on-urban-ar-gaming.html">post</a>!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1758410/simcity-creator-grand-theft-auto-and-sims-have-same-keys-to-entertainment">ITEM FOUR</a>: Meanwhile, SimCity creator <b>Will Wright</b> shares his insights about the relationship between playing and learning, and how about people actually engage with video games (nutshell: the violence a'int so bad, folks).<br />
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<a href="http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2011/06/05/about-the-city-and-the-city-by-china-mieville/">ITEM FIVE</a>: <b>Nicolas Nova</b> suggests a design studio for locative media that would be centered on visualizing the bizarrely partitioned city at the heart of China Miéville's novel <i>The City and The City</i>. Now <i>that</i>, I've gotta see.<br />
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<a href="http://www.springwise.com/life_hacks/nexttrain/">ITEM SIX</a>: <b>Springwise</b> writes of an innovative new app that crowdsources geodata to predict when the next train or bus will arrive. (WANT)<br />
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<a href="http://urbanomnibus.net/2011/06/growth-by-design/">ITEM SEVEN</a>: <b>Urban Omnibus</b> interviews <b>David Giles</b>, lead author of the <b>Center for an Urban Future's</b> new <a href="http://www.nycfuture.org/content/articles/article_view.cfm?article_id=1286&article_type=0">report</a> on the prominence and related power of the design sector in New York City.<br />
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Enjoy the reading, and stay cool this weekend! <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-53422597919159883162011-06-09T20:01:00.003-05:002011-06-09T20:05:27.480-05:00Treasure Island, Approved & Revisited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S8x7BK3Kld8/TfFsafPm05I/AAAAAAAABV4/zCRN90lgPm8/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-06-09+at+8.56.36+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S8x7BK3Kld8/TfFsafPm05I/AAAAAAAABV4/zCRN90lgPm8/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-06-09+at+8.56.36+PM.png" /></a></div>Just read this evening that SOM's <a href="http://www.som.com/content.cfm/bending_the_grid">plan</a> for the <b>game-changing redevelopment of the bay's manmade Treasure Island has been <a href="http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/06/san-francisco-again-becoming-city-knows-how">approved</a></b>. I interviewed the lead architect, Craig Hartman, about the project two years ago, and thought it might be fun to repost. Here it is, parts <a href="http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/craig-hartman-interview-part-i.html"><b>One</b></a> and <a href="http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/craig-hartman-interview-part-ii.html"><b>Two</b></a>. <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-69008513535483382382011-06-09T06:43:00.001-05:002011-06-09T06:48:06.207-05:00This Just In: Far Rockaway Ironically Proves Itself to be Dull and Humorless<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A4J1JLJjOvk/TfCulmSEArI/AAAAAAAABV0/CRZknjZSNQs/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-06-09+at+7.28.40+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A4J1JLJjOvk/TfCulmSEArI/AAAAAAAABV0/CRZknjZSNQs/s320/Screen+shot+2011-06-09+at+7.28.40+AM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/06/09/2011-06-09_mcdonalds_we_bungled_it_with_rockaway_ads_big_macs_attack_is_derailed.html">NY Daily News</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>I try to keep Where fairly upbeat, but <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/06/09/2011-06-09_mcdonalds_we_bungled_it_with_rockaway_ads_big_macs_attack_is_derailed.html">this one's</a> got me too annoyed not to write about: apparently <b>Far Rockaway's city councilman, James Sanders, threw such a spectacular snit fit about a McDonald's subway ad that he got the corp. to pull the campaign</b>, which could not have been cheap. About the ad, Sanders whinnied (with stereotype-reinforcingly tone-deaf politician 'humor') that "clowning around at the expense of a community is not funny," and went so far as to demand an apology (which, sadly, he also got).<br />
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Here's the kicker:<b> the ad does not actually poke fun at Far Rockaway at all</b>. It features an image of a McDo's iced coffee being held up, cheers-style, by a disembodied hand, and reads "To not falling asleep and ending up in Far Rockaway. (Unless of course you live there)." Even in issuing their apology, the company rep explained what anyone with two brain cells to rub together could plainly see: "Our intention was to add humor to the situation of falling asleep on the subway, missing a local home stop and waking up at the end of the line." Because Far Rockaway? Is waaaay at the end of the line, in case you're not familiar. The punchline here is the hour-long ride back home, not the condition of the neighborhood that the last stop happens to be in.<br />
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In fact, the only disrespect I see here toward Far Rockaway is from this Councilman Sanders yahoo, whose own insecurity about his district is pretty blatant. If the person representing my district thought that their job was to run around looking so hard for opportunities to defend the 'nabe from people calling it boring that they'd go so far as to pull slights out of thin air, you can bet your ass I'd be on the phone letting them know that I'd much prefer they be looking for money to <i>fund</i> the subway rather than worrying about the ads inside the trains--much less getting them yanked! "What's your position on the recent fare hike, Councilman? What about reduced service? Oh, no, sorry -- you go ahead and finish your rant about that ad for coffee, first." Give me a freaking break. <br />
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The sad thing is, <b>this guy's grandstanding cost all of the city's subway riders a clever ad that dealt with a shared <i>urban</i> experience</b> (the fear of falling asleep and waking up at the end of the line). Even in a city like New York, one often encounters ads that reference the (imagined) national shared experience: back yards, apple pie, and cul-de-sacs. While I'm no great fan of McDonald's, I do appreciate it when major corporations tailor their ads to acknowledge the fact that, yes, we are in fact in a city. If we have to be bombarded with advertisements, at the very least they should reference a shared experience that we actually share.<br />
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But fear not, New York: Councilman Sanders will make sure that that doesn't happen. <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-26240467508398825662011-06-07T20:59:00.002-05:002011-06-07T21:28:11.237-05:00Where's the Discussion on Urban AR Gaming?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/wii-u-tab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/wii-u-tab.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1758134/nintendo-schools-crashes-the-tablet-world-with-a-game-changing-entrance">Fast Company</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Especially interesting in light of Monday's <a href="http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/on-video-games-urbanism-and-future-of.html">post</a>: Fast Company <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1758134/nintendo-schools-crashes-the-tablet-world-with-a-game-changing-entrance">reports</a> today on Nintendo's new Wii U controller, proclaiming that "<b>living room entertainment just got one step closer to having a true three-dimensional virtual environment.</b>" It seems implicit in this statement that the author believes video games to be the provenance of the virtual world; that to have an immersive game environment, one needs to be completely transported by interacting with a screen, rather than the screen modifying the true, four-dimensional environment that the player already exists in.<br />
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I've long found it perplexing that, while there is plenty of discussion and debate about video games, and plenty of hype around augmented reality, I very, very rarely come across any account (written, spoken, or otherwise) about augmented reality games that are simply layered over the world that we inhabit. Often, when I do, they're presented in broad strokes, as a far-off possibility: "we'll deal with that when we get there." <br />
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There have been a few notable exceptions (see: Cory Doctorow's <a href="http://craphound.com/littlebrother/">Little Brother</a>, Dan Hill's <a href="http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2008/02/the-street-as-p.html">The Street As Platform</a>) but on the whole, there doesn't seem to be much discourse around this subject and its enormous potential to change the way that we interact with our cities. Perhaps the technology just really seems too far off to people, though I've personally seen at least one AR application that could easily be retrofitted for geo-locative video games tomorrow in action. Or perhaps I just haven't looked hard enough; if that's the case, <b>and you know of some great resources for reading about/discussing AR gaming (especially in urban environments), please share!</b> <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-72632916294031226012011-06-06T09:08:00.001-05:002011-06-06T20:26:13.376-05:00On Video Games, Urbanism, and the Future of Creativity<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bHxDsfO7uj0/Tew0Gf1RoDI/AAAAAAAABVw/ZXoYSwqd19Y/s1600/Fourside.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bHxDsfO7uj0/Tew0Gf1RoDI/AAAAAAAABVw/ZXoYSwqd19Y/s400/Fourside.png" width="397" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FoursideMap.png">Wikimedia Commons</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Last summer, Newsweek <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html">reported</a> that researchers had identified an unnerving trend: <b>American childrens' scores on creativity tests (a la the Torrance Test) were, for the first time since they started being administered in the late 1950s, starting to drop</b>. The article's authors, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, identified two likely factors in creating this downward turn, one being the increasing standardization of school curricula and the lack of deliberate creativity development in classrooms. Calling for a revival of such development, Bronson and Merryman wrote:<br />
<blockquote><i>What’s common about successful programs is they alternate maximum divergent thinking with bouts of intense convergent thinking, through several stages. Real improvement doesn’t happen in a weekend workshop. But when applied to the everyday process of work or school, brain function improves.</i></blockquote>I was struck the other day by a distinct echo of this statement in a <a href="http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2011/03/27/video-games-that-recently-caught-my-attention/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NicolasNova+%28Pasta%26Vinegar%29">post</a> by <a href="http://www.liftlab.com/about">LiftLAB</a> collaborator Nicolas Nova about recent video games with which he'd been impressed. Writing about the game Superbrothers, Nova explains:<br />
<blockquote><i>This combination of players’ interactions with “sound, music & audiovisual style” underpinned by a basic narrative and very low-key dialogues made me tick. More specifically, I am impressed by the rhythm of the game, which is sometimes super slow/contemplative and sometimes very quick/nervous in combat.</i></blockquote>Bronson and Merryman's second major cause of the creativity slump in American kids was the increase in time spent plopped in front of the TV playing video games, but Nova's description of the rhythm and structure of Superbrothers highlights an interesting alternative: <b>video games are uniquely positioned to serve as vehicles for creativity development. </b>Players engage in a video games with long-format storylines over extended periods of time. Many games have immersive environments that are fun to explore outside of plot-focused action (I'm thinking, here, of classic games from my youth like Chrono Trigger and Earthbound, though there are no doubt newer examples). This means that players alternate between different modes of thinking: slower, self-paced exploration (divergent) and goal-oriented tasks (convergent).<br />
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The digital worlds in which video games take place also require the suspension of disbelief, and we have all been pretty well-trained to oblige. Real people don't double in size when eating mushrooms, but while playing Super Mario Bros., few question that occurrence. In the aforementioned Earthbound, players battle everything from zombies and sea monsters to a possessed circus tent and Dali's clock (<a href="http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_EarthBound_enemies">no joke</a>). When we're in gameplay mode, none of this seems out of the ordinary. We are ready to except non-traditional ways of thinking and, I'd argue, are primed to develop our own.<br />
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<b>The good news for cities is that video games are increasingly being played on smaller and smaller screens.</b> More recently, we've seen games that have begun to <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1744777/america-2049-a-star-studded-facebook-thats-all-over-the-place">incorporate</a> real-world <a href="http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2011/05/guest-post-lessons-learned-designing.html">geography</a>, with episodic content that is tied to the exploration of actual places, as well as current events. Smartphones and handheld game consoles that make the original Gameboy look as technologically advanced a platform as a pencil and paper are increasingly ubiquitous, and they can be used to change the way that we see the world around us. The myriad public places that make up a neighborhood--parks, squares, streets, shops, libraries--could easily become 'levels' with various tasks assigned to them.<br />
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Using a Nintendo DS or a Droid phone, we could walk on a street we'd been down a thousand times and be prompted by a game to stop for the very first to look around and explore our surroundings. Designer Michael Wolff <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/03/28/michael-wolff-creativity-visual-life/">describes</a> the creative process as requiring three muscles that must be exercised regularly: <i>curiosity</i> and <i>appreciation</i>, which together enable <i>imagination</i>. Video games already exercise the first two of these muscles; locating games within the context of a world that we recognize and understand allows them to encourage imagination that could actually improve the places in which those games are set.<br />
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As video games become tied to physical places (which has the added benefit, by the way, of getting players off the couch) the complexity of dense urban environments offers a distinct advantage: <b>New York's Union Square or Shanghai's Bund are the Xbox 360s to the suburbs' Atari</b>. <a href="http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2011/05/augmented-reality-manifesto-of-the-zagreb-augmented-reality-kolectiv/">According</a> to one collective in Zagreb, "Augmented Reality promises to transform all points on the map into unlimited spaces that can be exploited for self-expression by anyone." In today's socially-oriented mashup culture, the rise of games that enable players not only to explore, but to impact their environment and share their interventions, as well as build on the creativity of players who came before them, seems inevitable.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2011/05/augmented-reality-manifesto-of-the-zagreb-augmented-reality-kolectiv/">Charles Landry</a> wrote that “A creative city is a place where people feel they can fulfill themselves, there are opportunities. Things get done.” Video games offer plenty of opportunities to get things done and obtain a sense of fulfillment; location-based games that are designed to develop players' creative faculties present an opportunity to create a truly symbiotic relationship, developing inventive populations while simultaneously enriching the gaming experience. Leisure is important in any urban environment--and there's no reason that it can't be used to build a city up. <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-67492775253461776912011-06-05T20:18:00.003-05:002011-06-05T20:21:00.469-05:00Mindrelic's Manhattan: The Urban Timelapse Video to End All Urban Timelapse Videos<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="478" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/24492485?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="850"></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/24492485">Mindrelic - Manhattan in motion</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/mindrelic">Mindrelic</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</span><br />
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I've gotten kind of bored with urban timelapse videos since they've become A Thing, but this is head and shoulders above the rest. Really epic stuff. (Thanks Alex!) <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-54847447806396049122011-06-03T10:40:00.000-05:002011-06-03T10:40:12.204-05:00WEEKEND READING: May 28-June 3, 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hf4aJvSXN70/TehSik_fcSI/AAAAAAAABVo/pvUHY4Cdc_E/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2011-06-02%2Bat%2B11.08.19%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hf4aJvSXN70/TehSik_fcSI/AAAAAAAABVo/pvUHY4Cdc_E/s640/Screen%2Bshot%2B2011-06-02%2Bat%2B11.08.19%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
That's a Wordle of the top ten words from the 50 items that were in my starred folder on Google Reader when I started putting together this post. The order is totally random...and vaguely poetic, no? In other news: how is it time for Weekend Reading again?? Where did this week go? Anyway...<br />
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<a href="http://www.urbandesignweek.org/">ITEM ONE</a>: Over at the IfUD, we've launched the By the City / For the City design competition, inviting designers, artists, and architects around the world to respond to one (or more!) of the 500+ ideas New Yorkers shared for improving their city. Check out the site at the former link, then <a href="http://ifud.submishmash.com/Submit/5458/Account">register here</a>!<br />
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<a href="http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/the-future-is-now-20110529-1fatb.html">ITEM TWO</a>: Loved Marcus Westbury's article on crowdfunding in The Age. In fact, love everything I've read by this guy. Renew Newcastle is truly amazing. (via @<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/unsungsongs">unsungsongs</a>)<br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanophile.com/2011/06/02/the-taxi-as-public-transportation-by-drew-austin/">ITEM THREE</a>: The Urbanophile features a guest post by Where alum Drew Austin on digitally-tracked taxi cabs as "spandrels," providing data that, as a happy accident, can improve the flow of our cities.<br />
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<a href="http://urbanscale.org/2011/06/01/week-22-undoing-ar/">ITEM FOUR</a>: Urbanscale takes an eye-opening swipe at Augmented Reality (and makes promises about some very exciting-sounding upcoming posts). Especially salient point: at least for the foreseeable future, AR actually <i>diminishes</i> the urban environment rather than...well, <i>augmenting</i> it by providing incorrect, incomplete, and commercially-skewed versions of the city.<br />
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<a href="http://www.airoots.org/2011/06/cheap-stories/">ITEM FIVE</a>: Matias and Rahul re-post an article that casts a wary eye toward the flavor of the week in silver bullet slum saviors, the $300 House, over at Airoots.<br />
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<a href="http://popupcity.net/2011/05/cities-as-big-playgrounds/">ITEM SIX</a>: The Pop-Up City catalogs some great urban games. Apparently there is one called "Farmville for Real," which is especially interesting given this <br />
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<a 2011="" 31="" editorial="" href="http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2011/05/25/recent-columns-debuking-videogame-trends/%3Epost%3C/a%3E%20by%20Nicolas%20Nova%20on%20the%20un-social%20nature%20of%20social%20games%20like%20Zynga%27s%20flagship%20gardening%20sim.%3Cbr%20/%3E%0A%3Cbr%20/%3E%0A%3Ca%20href=" http:="" may="" new-scientist-your-digital-legacy="" rhizome.org="">ITEM SEVEN</a>: Rhizome points us to <i>New Scientist's</i> May issue on digital archiving and legacy. Your expiration date is now: infinity.<br />
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It was my birthday on Wednesday. Drink an extra one for me this weekend. I won't know that you did it, but I'll appreciate it nonetheless. <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-446510581886910212011-05-27T09:34:00.001-05:002011-05-27T09:37:37.710-05:00WEEKEND READING: May 21-27, 2011<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/474474953_a3d5c7da3f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="500" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/474474953_a3d5c7da3f.jpg" width="333" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7504140@N04/474474953/">saracino</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Heading into a much-needed long weekend. Memorial Day means extra reading time!<br />
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<a href="http://popupcity.net/2011/05/repudo-digital-easter-eggs-in-physical-space">ITEM ONE</a>: Anyone who's familiar with the unique joy of finding an easter egg in a video game will love this week's leader--check out Repudo, a new app that turns the city into one giant easter egg hunt.<br />
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<a href="http://curiositycounts.com/post/5807576192/ingenious-pedestrian-guidance-system-for-crowded">ITEM TWO</a>: Humans are just so darned clever.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2011/05/augmented-reality-space-liberation-manifesto/">ITEM THREE</a>: The Space Liberation Manifesto is a call to arms for anyone who wants to see digital public space protected from the kind of every-flat-surface-gets-a-sign mentality that has turned public space in the physical city into one long commercial break. (via @<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/bruces">bruces</a>)<br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/arts/design/cronocaos-by-rem-koolhaas-at-the-new-museum.html">ITEM FOUR</a>: Nicolai reviews Rem's Cronocaos show, which is on the Bowery until next Sunday. Choice quote: "In the realm of preservation, as in so much else, we seem to have become a world terrified of too much direct contact with reality."<br />
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<a href="http://places.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=26888">ITEM FIVE</a>: Michael Maltzan actually makes Los Angeles sound palatable in an essay excerpted from his new book <i>No More Play </i>over at Design Observer. (The <span class="photocaption">Iwan Baan pics don't hurt.)</span><br />
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<a href="http://beta.broadcastr.com/share?audioId=251001-10001">ITEM SIX</a>: Caleb Smith, aka the man who walked every street in Manhattan, shares one of the most meaningful (and under the radar) historical sites for him on the island he knows so well.<br />
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Weekend Reading is very multi-media this week, I'm just realizing. So enjoy the reading...and watching, and listening! Back next week with more urban-y goodness. <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" />Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6389181255786430083.post-18576696010289630342011-05-25T14:20:00.000-05:002011-05-25T14:20:28.344-05:00Cartographic Diversion: An Illustration of DensityWith 166 people per square mile, Honduras is in the middle of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_population_density">pack</a> as far as national population densities are concerned. But what would it look like if you packed every single Honduran into one city? As it turns out, it might look a lot like New York: both contain approximately 8.2 million people. Below are images of the administrative borders of the five largest cities in the US mapped onto the nations that most closely mirror their populations, all at the same scale. No big point to be made...just an interesting distraction for a Wednesday afternoon. Enjoy... <img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6TZuUAFfoI/TdBChRBJXaI/AAAAAAAABUM/I3rK5k6ow8Q/s1600/endicon.jpg" /><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">New York City: 8,175,133 -/- Honduras: 8,249,574</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fsDFg1Pv6io/TdnX41tlmkI/AAAAAAAABVY/xJY-677dYFs/s1600/nyduras.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fsDFg1Pv6io/TdnX41tlmkI/AAAAAAAABVY/xJY-677dYFs/s1600/nyduras.png" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Los Angeles: 3,833,995 -/- Congo: 3,686,000<br />
Philadelphia: 1,526,006 -/- Gabon: 1,475,000</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCwMeaA4R0w/TdnXmVlX0EI/AAAAAAAABVM/pO-nVG-mF4M/s1600/aphricla.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCwMeaA4R0w/TdnXmVlX0EI/AAAAAAAABVM/pO-nVG-mF4M/s1600/aphricla.png" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Chicago: 2,695,598 -/- Oman: 2,845,000</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oaX1GZXRNcM/TdnXuPgp9oI/AAAAAAAABVQ/JUu7hRtVD9s/s1600/chicagoman.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oaX1GZXRNcM/TdnXuPgp9oI/AAAAAAAABVQ/JUu7hRtVD9s/s1600/chicagoman.png" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Houston: 2,099,451 -/- Lesotho: 2,067,000</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JEeLZN8vLbU/TdnX0KMJ9qI/AAAAAAAABVU/kogGNJr_VXo/s1600/lesothouston.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JEeLZN8vLbU/TdnX0KMJ9qI/AAAAAAAABVU/kogGNJr_VXo/s1600/lesothouston.png" /></a></div>Brendan Crainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00528698033763911972noreply@blogger.com0