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Showing posts from December, 2006

Until 2007

This photo-collage was created by mav, our Wishing Quilt organizer. The spirit of the day captured in the photographs is symbolic of the season - friendship, wishes, memory making, and sharing. Wishing you a Happy New Year and success in your endeavors - both individual and collective. For more on the Wishing Quilt , read The quilt, a neighborhood metaphor .

Theoretical origin of "local ecology," part 2 : case example

In the fall of 2004 I wrote a prospectus outlining the idea of "local ecology." You can read part 1 : theory here . Part 2 is presented below. The methodology and conclusions will follow. My concern...is with a planning typology that will address how people view and relate to the urban environment. The typology I propose is based on spatial properties but differs significantly from physical models like new urbanism. In new urbanism, there is an over-reliance on design to dictate behaviour. The theory of new urbanism holds that the “right” physical environment will erase social inequalities. In a counter to the new urbanism argument, Fainstein (2003) stated that the production of the "right" environment appeals to a certain "community" that is not inclusive; this community does not achieve true social dynamism. Civic engagement and social networks cannot be fully achieved through a pre-arrangement of space. Relationships are forged through interac

Livable (traffic-calmed) streets

The bike-through (Derby and Mabel) The concept of "livable streets" was developed by Donald Appleyard between the 1960s and his death in 1982. Although his seminal study was conducted in San Francisco, the City of Berkeley has incorporated Appleyard's findings in the design and provision of traffic calming infrastructure. Having lived most recently in Boston where neighborhood traffic is calmed by the nature of the city's "cow path" street network, the presence of Olmstedian parkways and boulevards, and the ubiquitous one-way street, I was intrigued by the novel infrastructure present in Berkeley's neighborhoods, beyond the usual one-way street, cul-de-sac, and speed bump. I set about to photograph all the neighborhood traffic calming devices, including diverters. These are the designs I have found thus far. (If you know of a type that is not shown here, please send the location in an email.) The rotary (Ellsworth and Russell) The straight

Another list : neighborhood history projects

Hayes Street, Hayes Valley, San Francisco Here are a few neighborhood (and city) history projects I like. Invincible Cities , a Camden, NJ and Richmond, CA photographic project by Camilo Jose Vergara Museum of Chinese in America based in NYC Officer's Row at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Shrinking Cities like Detroit The Living New Deal Project based in California

The theoretical origin of "local ecology"

In the fall of 2004 I wrote a prospectus outlining the idea of "local ecology." I will present it here in four parts : theory, case example, methodology, and conclusion.   Theory The intersection of ecological and social systems in cities is the framework that I use to shape my thinking about the restoration of local greenspaces. Restoration, as I define it, is laying claim to a space and transforming the social and ecological cultures that exist within and around that space. In other words, cooperative place-making can be effective in establishing healthy relationships within communities; residents working together towards a common goal are more than a mechanism for developing community feeling (Francis 1984). It is a chance to involve people with the land: to form persistent bonds through daily interaction in a local space. It is an opportunity to reinstitute the idea of making a “claim,” of becoming a steward. In general, urban greenspaces are narrowly defined

The quilt, a neighborhood metaphor

I am a member of the Wishing Quilt collective. We recently met for the second time - some to finish their first squares, others to begin their second. The goal is to make six quilts. To our first gathering, we each brought remnant fabrics, whole garments, and wishes. Several of the women had experience making quilts. Most of us had sewn before. One woman brought several books for inspiration. As a group we decided that each woman would stitch a 2' x 2' square and at the end of the day we would "pin them up." l: my 1st square (first iteration) r: mav's 1st square (ibid.) My square is inspired by Carl Hall's paintings of the Pacific Northwest and a summer trip to the Central Coast of California. A year ago, three other quilters and I enrolled in a course on the neighborhood landscape. The quilting practice reminds me of the neighborhood idea. Like a neighborhood, a quilt is the product of individual and collective action. Yes, a quilt can be made b

Revisiting The Neighborhood Unit

Lewis Mumford (1954) described the neighborhood as a natural phenomenon. He cited the development of New York neighborhoods like Chelsea and Greenwich Village despite "the undifferentiated rectangular plan of Manhattan, a plan contrived as if for the purpose of preventing neighborhoods from coming into existence." Like Suzanne Keller (1968), he argued that one's neighbor is someone who lives nearby. (Both Mumford and Keller emphasized the variety and intensity of relationships between neighbors as a significant element in defining the neighborhood - Mumford's "neighborliness" and Keller's "neighboring" or "neighbor role.") Mumford contrasted the naturalness of the neighborhood with the planned neighborhood unit : a unit that would now exist, not merely on a spontaneous or instinctual basis, but through the deliberate decentralisation of institutions that had, in their over-centralisation, ceased to serve efficiently the city as a whol