I have been meaning to add TrackBack to this blog for awhile, and using the automatic installation at Haloscan, commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.
I am bummed, though, that your comments, O Loyal Reader, keep on getting wiped out as I relentlessly upgrade my systems. If you'd like to post your comments again, I would be grateful, because I am still eager to get more comments, feedback and complaints. Hopefully adding TrackBack will help with this in the long run.
For the unwashed, uninitiated masses -- including myself -- Wikipedia has a good article defining TrackBack.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Friday, May 20, 2005
Climate Change Impacts on Specific Cities
Via the always excellent Worldchanging.com, the good find of a link to a Columbia website that predicts the local effects of climate change specifically on New York City, including:
In the bibliography of the Columbia website, there are three other websites listed predicting the local effects of climate change on Miami, Boston, and London.
Technorati tags: cities, urban, global warming, environment
The Regional Impacts category is split into five sections: projected changes; major consequences; coastal impacts; transportation effects; and economic impacts. Each section is filled with charts and graphs, laying out the sobering details about what the New York metropolitan region can expect to face over the next century. Special attention is paid to the effects of flooding, unsurprising given the rising sea level projections (potentially over 11 inches by 2020).
In the bibliography of the Columbia website, there are three other websites listed predicting the local effects of climate change on Miami, Boston, and London.
Technorati tags: cities, urban, global warming, environment
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Architectural Entertainments
Just because it is too good to be true, Donald Trump offers his vision for the World Trade Center site here. The best line in this article, far and away, is that "Trump mentioned that he will draw attention to the proposal during this week's live airing of 'The Apprentice'."
Also, don't be like me -- I missed Frank Gehry's appearance on the Simpsons! An excellent account via Veritas et Venustas here.
Also, don't be like me -- I missed Frank Gehry's appearance on the Simpsons! An excellent account via Veritas et Venustas here.
Urban Explorations
One of my high-priority tasks is to add photos to this blog, to "liven it" up a bit. Now that it's nice outside, I need to get out and take some pictures! Another way that I have been meaning to make my musings more relevant to cities is to write about specific places and issues, though being one person, it is going to be hard to cover a city in any depth, in the way that other websites manage to.
Of course, being a blog not concerned with competition, I can just refer you to those more comprehensive blogs and websites about cities. I've mentioned Gothamist before, and I always like the tone and range of interests there. That site has branched out to other cities, such as Bostonist, Londonist, LAist, though I find the new additions less compelling -- either the sites and stories are less interesting, or maybe I just care less about those cities.
There is a wide range of sites interested in urban issues, if only because those issues range so widely. There is Gridskipper, the urban travel guide that tries a little too hard to be sexy, to the real estate blogs like Triple Mint and Curbed, which probably just are sexy for most people, if only because real estate is what most people in New York fantasize about and fetishize (they need to get out more, too).
For urban planning, there are the broad standard portals, like Cyburbia and Planetizen, which could certainly benefit from an infusion of sexiness. I like better the voices of Atlanta Larry and City Comforts, which always manage to sound ruminative, thoughtful, and still interesting. I also find those blogs less compulsive about "dominating" the discourse or addressing everything: they're just two people with sharp eyes and pens.
There are a lot of blogs about architecture, which I try to avoid for the same reasons why I avoid architecture magazines, they tend to trade in gossip, hagiography, architecture porn, and advertisements for building materials. Metropolis Magazine is good, though it used to be better written, back when they were in tabloid format. If you want to go to the dark side, there is Gutter, a newly founded offshoot of Curbed, which by offering "ill-mannered commentary on the architectural arts," seems prepared not to be taken seriously. One of the better blogs about cities written by an architect is Veritas et Venustas -- his writing is more thoughtful than snobby, which is what I usually associate with classical architecture and the bow-tie crowd.
Most of all, I like the truly weird and wonderful sites devoted to "what the hell?" in cities. I am very fond of the urban exploration webring, "focussing on the art of urban exploration: touring storm drains, abandoned buildings, rooftops, transit tunnels, college steam tunnels and other off-limits locations". A good place to start is Infiltration, which describes itself as "the zine about places you're not supposed to go to." Other places to see where people shouldn't be going are Urbanized, Industrial New York, and Drains of My City, "a frequently-updated website whose focus includes drains, buildings, tunnels, bridges, and any other place I can get into."
Now, you can either read more, get out more, or else crawl down a drainpipe (with friends of course).
Technorati tags: cities and urban
Of course, being a blog not concerned with competition, I can just refer you to those more comprehensive blogs and websites about cities. I've mentioned Gothamist before, and I always like the tone and range of interests there. That site has branched out to other cities, such as Bostonist, Londonist, LAist, though I find the new additions less compelling -- either the sites and stories are less interesting, or maybe I just care less about those cities.
There is a wide range of sites interested in urban issues, if only because those issues range so widely. There is Gridskipper, the urban travel guide that tries a little too hard to be sexy, to the real estate blogs like Triple Mint and Curbed, which probably just are sexy for most people, if only because real estate is what most people in New York fantasize about and fetishize (they need to get out more, too).
For urban planning, there are the broad standard portals, like Cyburbia and Planetizen, which could certainly benefit from an infusion of sexiness. I like better the voices of Atlanta Larry and City Comforts, which always manage to sound ruminative, thoughtful, and still interesting. I also find those blogs less compulsive about "dominating" the discourse or addressing everything: they're just two people with sharp eyes and pens.
There are a lot of blogs about architecture, which I try to avoid for the same reasons why I avoid architecture magazines, they tend to trade in gossip, hagiography, architecture porn, and advertisements for building materials. Metropolis Magazine is good, though it used to be better written, back when they were in tabloid format. If you want to go to the dark side, there is Gutter, a newly founded offshoot of Curbed, which by offering "ill-mannered commentary on the architectural arts," seems prepared not to be taken seriously. One of the better blogs about cities written by an architect is Veritas et Venustas -- his writing is more thoughtful than snobby, which is what I usually associate with classical architecture and the bow-tie crowd.
Most of all, I like the truly weird and wonderful sites devoted to "what the hell?" in cities. I am very fond of the urban exploration webring, "focussing on the art of urban exploration: touring storm drains, abandoned buildings, rooftops, transit tunnels, college steam tunnels and other off-limits locations". A good place to start is Infiltration, which describes itself as "the zine about places you're not supposed to go to." Other places to see where people shouldn't be going are Urbanized, Industrial New York, and Drains of My City, "a frequently-updated website whose focus includes drains, buildings, tunnels, bridges, and any other place I can get into."
Now, you can either read more, get out more, or else crawl down a drainpipe (with friends of course).
Technorati tags: cities and urban
Green Guide's Top Ten Green Cities in the U.S.
Via folks at Greenbiz.com, a reference to the Green Guide, which has just put together a list of the top 10 green cities in the U.S. It's a nice list with a clear rationale:
Technorati tags: cities, environment, urban
We [The Green Guide] sought out good water- and air-quality, efficient use of resources, renewable energy leadership, accessible and reliable public transportation, and green building practices. We also looked for parks and greenbelts and access to locally-grown fresh food through farmers' markets and community supported agriculture groups. Finally, we included affordability in our green criteria, since the health benefits, public parks, and other amenities of living in a greener city need to be available to more than just the wealthy.Cheers for college towns (3 out of ten), the underrated Midwest (2 out of ten), and the Pacific Northwest (2 out of ten). Jeers for the Northeast and South -- no cities, though Boston and Athens, GA are runners-up (and college towns, too). Only one big city makes the list (Chicago). It's too bad that American cities don't compete in anything except sports and crime statistics!
Technorati tags: cities, environment, urban
Technorati Tags: cities, environment, urban
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