I spent the past week in Boston and noticed that most streets – whether in Boston, Brookline, or Cambridge (the three municipalities I spent time in) – were either relatively tree-less or had undersized trees. While there are many streets that have some trees, and while there are some neighborhoods that approach leafy-ness, I’ll go […]
The title of my post is semi-serious, semi-ironic. I’m ambivalent about gentrification: if it means unslumming, I figure it’s good; if it means homogenization toward a single class (typically privileged) at the expense of economic diversity, it’s probably not-so-good, right? When I write “Gentrification 2.0,” I’m saying that I’m not sure how this particular example […]
Vornado Realty Trust destroyed Boston’s key downtown area. Damage done (courtesy of Vornado), are innovative repair options even possible?
Matt Jones’s presentation, “People are walking architecture,” offers much food for thought: on architecture and ubiquitous computing, Debord and Jobs, Saarinen and Shirky, and finally Jane Jacobs.
Got controversy? Density and building height are sure to push city dwellers’ buttons, particularly if the culture to date favored sprawl and single-family homes.
A blog post from the Lincoln Institute, The reinvented city about its recent conference, includes several terrific links. First off: Andres Duany is on a tear against NIMBYs, and suggests making decisions via “juries.” There’s lots to like in that proposal. From the links provided by the Lincoln Institute’s article, a couple of choice extracts […]
I live in a ridiculously lush part of the world, and I’m not talking about the Canadian propensity to drink alcoholic beverages. In Victoria BC, on southern Vancouver Island, it’s green year ’round. By February, people are mowing their lawns. By mid-summer, the climate turns nearly Mediterranean (after a winter and long spring of cool, […]
The way to make sure absolutely that all you ever get is utter crap change is to resist development at every turn: that’s almost guaranteed to deliver nasty surprises.
Gordon Price deconstructed “Motordom” during a recent presentation. One question especially continues to resonate, both in relation to sustainable transportation planning and to Victoria’s Johnson Street Bridge.
Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
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