Mexico the New G-20 Chair & Other Interesting Country Specs

I'm writing a paper on Mexico City's Metrobus. I won't necessarily be able to include some of the facts I find in my study, but they are quite interesting not to share and leave them buried in the google search abyss.

One of the more interesting facts I came across is on the IMF site: "Mexico takes over as Chair of the G-20 on December 1 (Today) and will assume a major role in forming the policy agenda for the G-20 in the next 12 months." Go Mexico...Viva Mexico!

In my opinion this raises the stakes higher for the upcoming presidential election in Mexico in  July (2012). Interestingly, today (especially in the US press) there hasn't been much news about Mexico assuming this power role in world politics. Two weeks ago, the Guardian did have an article that does not support President Calderon's soon to be position. Though, Calderon does seem to be doing the most he can to get some stage time from the G20 role, there is only so much he can do to use the position to help his party, the PAN, to win the upcoming presidential election.

On a different note, the BBC doesn't take much mercy on Mexico and just puts out how they really feel on their Country Profile of Mexico. They start off with the bold heading: "Mexico is a nation where affluence, poverty, natural splendour and urban blight rub shoulders." It is hard to disagree with their statement, even though I'm sure many government officials would say that the government is trying to lessen income inequality throughout the country. However, the gap still remains and the BBC's statement holds true.

One fact that I would contest is their assessment of the country's major religion. Sure Catholicism is a derivative of Christianity, but as a Mexican-American, I still, like many in Mexico think of Mexico as a "Catholic"country not a Christian one. Just saying, small clarification.

A bigger fact and more amusing fact is one highlighted by the US State department: Mexico is 7th largest oil producer in the world and second largest supplier of oil to the US. This fact makes me laugh because earlier this year a few people asked me what is it that Mexico produces and when I said oil, they were surprised, at which point I repeated: "Yes, Mexico produces a lot of oil and the US buys a lot of it."

George on Why He lives in the Suburbs

Why do you live the suburbs?

George: Space. My Walk-in Closet.

Crime Prevention in Latin American Cities

Here is a link to my newest article on This Big City about crime prevention in Latin American Cities.

An excerpt:

"As seen in Los Angeles, the traditional crime prevention structure in cities is evolving but in a way it is also going back to olden times when community vigilance was the only thing around to prevent crime. Community participation is key because some people, criminals or not, are not always comfortable talking or collaborating with law enforcement to help prevent crime but may be more amenable to listen to a community member. Moreover, as Sandra Parra Dionicio, an advisor on security reform plans from Colombia, put it, community security is a right, and it is not just about chasing after the bad guys it is also about helping the good guys." more

Former Gang Members Changing the Discourse

This whole week the Institute of the Americas in San Diego brought together key law enforcement players from the public and non-profit sectors in Latin America for a training on Community Crime Prevention. 


Today as I sat in on panel discussion from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, law enforcement consultants and former gang members. I couldn't help be but moved and inspired by the stories of the two ex-gang members. They have changed their lives and are now helping bring a new sense of help and hope to their communities. 


It's amazing what desire for change and determination can do to help us push through hard times. It is my guess that at one point they had to make a decision to continue their lives as they were or choose life over violence. 


They changed their life around and as happy as I am for them I can't help but feel a bit spoiled since to date I have fortunately have not had to choose between life and death. I am grateful that my perspective has been enriched by hearing about their experiences and the great collaboration that is happening in Los Angeles between the police department and the community.

My Quest for a Thesis Question - Summer 2011

My quest for a thesis question for my Masters of Science in Urban Planning from Columbia University is officially in full effect.

I started reading Daniel Yergin's The Prize and learning the ins and outs of the world's obsession with Power, both typical power generation and the other kind of power that spur wars, and good old oil.

Let the Thesis Games Begin!

2011 UN Conflict, Security and Development Report Highlights

The UN provides 9 Chapters of Strategies and Best-Fit and Good Fit solutions for a multitude of conflict situations that in the end share similar adverse impacts to development and economic vitality in a given country.

Today’s violence occurs in repeated cycles

Recurring civil wars have become a dominant form of armed conflict in the world today. Every civil war that began since 2003 was a resumption of a previous civil war.

Development impacts of violence

Poverty reduction in countries affected by major violence is on average nearly a percentage point slower per year than in countries not affected by violence.

One reason for the persistence of low growth in conflict-affected countries may be the difficulty of reassuring investors, both domestic and foreign. A civil war reduces a country’s average rating on the International Country Risk Guide by about 7.7 points (on a 100-point scale); the effect is similar for criminal violence.  For the first three years after conflict subsides, countries have a rating 3.5 points below similar non-conflict countries.

When military spending increases and commensurately reduces investments in development and human capital.

Economic stresses

Low incomes reduce the opportunity cost of engaging in violence....Capturing this perspective, the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, John Garang, said, “Under these circumstances the marginal cost of rebellion in the South became very small, zero, or negative; that is, in the South it pays to rebel.”

Transformation takes time

Leaders, stakeholders, and the international community must remember that societies will go through multiple cycles of confidence-building and institutional reform before they can achieve the resilience to violence necessary for “development as usual.”

Going Forward: "Peace Infrastructure”

More effective international support to risk reduction requires (1) combined tools that link citizen security, justice, jobs, and associated services, and (2) structural investments in justice and employment capacity.

Where infrastructure is constructed in violence-affected areas, care should be taken to use labor-intensive technologies and provide for local labor to avoid tensions over the benefits. In some regions, discussions about shared economic infrastructure with joint benefits could also create an opening for later political or security discussions.

To view the full report click here

Chicago On Climate Change

“Cities adapt or they go away,” said Aaron N. Durnbaugh, deputy commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Environment.


For more info check out NYTIMES article

Hollywood Dreamin’ – Decking LA’s Highway 101

Featured in This Big City: Hollywood Dreamin’ – Decking LA’s Highway 101

2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners

Just Because I love Columbia and great writing! Here is this year's 2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners

Journalism

PUBLIC SERVICE - Los Angeles Times

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING - No Award

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING - Paige St. John of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

EXPLANATORY REPORTING - Mark Johnson, Kathleen, Gallagher, Gary Porter, Lou SaldivarAlison Sherwood of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and

LOCAL REPORTING - Frank Main, Mark Konkol and John J. Kim of the Chicago Sun-Times

NATIONAL REPORTING - Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein of ProPublica

INTERNATIONAL REPORTING - Clifford J. Levy and Ellen Barry of The New York Times

FEATURE WRITING - Amy Ellis Nutt of The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.

COMMENTARY - David Leonhardt of The New York Times

CRITICISM - Sebastian Smee of The Boston Globe

EDITORIAL WRITING - Joseph Rago of The Wall Street Journal

EDITORIAL CARTOONING - Mike Keefe of The Denver Post

BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY - Carol Guzy, Nikki Kahn and Ricky Carioti of The Washington Post

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY - Barbara Davidson of the Los Angeles Times

Letters, Drama and Music

FICTION - "A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan (Alfred A. Knopf)

DRAMA - "Clybourne Park" by Bruce Norris

HISTORY - "The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery" by Eric Foner (W. W. Norton & Company)

BIOGRAPHY - "Washington: A Life" by Ron Chernow (The Penguin Press)

POETRY - "The Best of It: New and Selected Poems" by Kay Ryan (Grove Press)

GENERAL NONFICTION - "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner)

MUSIC - "Madame White Snake’" by Zhou Long, premiered on February 26, 2010 by Opera Boston at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Energy Policies & Partnerships in the Americas

Key Points from the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas Urban Planning Initiative about President Obama's recent trip to Latin America:


As the Obama family boarded a plane bound for Brasilia, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton noted the importance of this trip in an address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.


Latin America plays a crucial role in United States energy policy. Latin America provides one-third of U.S. oil imports, and Secretary Clinton emphasized the importance of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas in transitioning to a clean-energy economy.


Mexico City has proven itself as a global leader, setting ambitious targets in its Plan Verde. Last week, the government announced a new Web-based system that will allow the city to better track its progress towards achieving the goal to cut emissions by 12 percent by 2012 (relative to 2008 levels).


In addition, Green Futures recently reported that the Dominican Republic, with a goal to draw 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, will open three new wind farms in 2011. 


“The Future Climate for Development,” a report from Forum for the Future, the organization that produces Green Futures, highlights the tremendous opportunities that climate-resilient development provides in Latin America.


The U.S.-Chile Energy Business Council, a partnership with a mission to develop clean energy infrastructure, improve energy infrastructure resiliency, and incorporate renewable, efficient energy in industry, transportation, and construction. A priority of this partnership will be to prepare energy infrastructure for the impacts of natural disasters. 


For the complete story click here.

Zoning As We Use It Today In NYC

"Zoning has also become a sophisticated public-policy tool, helping to preserve iconic structures...supporting retail corridors...protecting topography...and opening up access to the waterfront across the city." 

Vin Cipolla 

President of The Municipal Art Society of New York

Over the past 50 years, since 1961 since New York City's second zoning resolution the City and zoning has changed a lot. More than 900 pages have been added, including 41 residential zoning districts, 85 commercial districts and 43 special districts. 

Check out Vin Cipolla's article in Crain's: "Revamp rezoning for city's new age"

Roma on my mind...

back on the Manhattan grid...missing my strolls down the organic urban maze of Roma...

A Look Back at Urban Renewal

A theory of Urbanism?...Urban Renewal

Some food for thought on the legacy of the federal urban renewal program that by virtue of providing money to cities influenced development patterns of the time between 1949 and 1974 (this date is debatable, but I'm going with it, b/c Robert Caro used it and Bob Beauregard seem to overlap on it and I trust their judgement). 

From Robert Beauregard's When America Became Suburban: 

"Cities used urban renewal to eliminate obsolete buildings, create large-scale real-estate projects with critical mass to keep existing businesses from leaving and attracting new businesses into the downtown." (2006)

"Urban renewal and public housing were linked." The slums targeted by the public housing program were often adjacent to the main commercial districts, and their condemnation and demolition were central to the vision of the renewed downtown. Multiple mid-to-high-rise buildings set amid lawns and playgrounds replaced slums." (2006)

Renzo Piano on Sustainability & the New York Times Building

In an interview with Architectural Record in 2008 Renzo Piano comments on the inspirational nature of sustainability: 

“Constantly present in my mind when designing the New York Times Building was that today's architecture should be inspired by what is happening with the climatic crisis. In the way the last [20th] century opened with an interest in rationalism and the modern movement, I like the idea that this century is opening up with a discovery that the earth is fragile and the environment is vulnerable. Fragility, breathing with the earth and the environment, is part of a new culture. I thought the Times Building should have the qualities of lightness, vibrancy, transparency, and immateriality."

NYC Zoning Trivia

The original 1916 New York City Zoning Resolution was amended 2,500 times between 1916 and 1961, when the 2nd (and current) New York City Zoning Resolution was finally passed (efforts had started in the late 1930s).

APA 2011 National Conference in Boston

I have officially registered for my first Urban Planning conference this April in Boston!!!

NYC Zoning Handbook: 2011 Edition

Words of wisdom from the new New York City Zoning Handbook 2011 Edition:

"New York City is recognized for its iconic landmarks, but it is also at the forefront of continual reinvention and architectural exploration...Cities never stand still, nor should zoning."

Bashing the Presidential Politicos, Does It Come With the Territory?

Have we reached that point...Has it officially become fashionable to bash President Obama? The funny thing is that about 99% (this is my guesstimate) of the people who bash him, would still be star-struck and delighted to meet him. Is that hypocritical?

Ponder the Trade-Offs of Streamlining the Solar Panel Installation Codes

Solar panel installation code streamlining sounds like a great idea, but as with many other standard code implementation campaigns standardization may not truly mean standardization in its pure sense not simply because one city may want to be the exception but because different cities have different needs and knowledge of solar. 

Plus on from a more realistic and historical point, the “all politics are local” mantra of the U.S. and the historical autonomy given to cities dating back to the founding days of the nation leads me to believe that even if the federal government chooses to implement basic solar installation standards, some cities will still have additional permitting forms. For some more progressive cities, which in the case of Solar tend to be located in California, the national negotiated and consensus “standards” will be basic at best, and thus they may still choose to implement their own requirements. However, isn’t the permitting process just part of the cost of doing business in the construction industry?

As the New York Times article, “Solar Firms Frustrated by Permits” by Tom Zeller Jr.  reports: a recent report released today by SunRun, one of the nation’s largest solar leasing companies (& endorsed by numerous solar service and installation firms) “urges the Obama administration to do more to encourage local officials to adopt the codes and procedures outlined by the solar ABC’s — including the creation of a prize program similar to the Race to the Top Fund, a $4.35 billion program created as part of the 2009 stimulus package to encourage and reward states for efforts to reform education.” Though this suggestion sounds like a stimulating recommendation with lots of potential, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Solar panels are only one component of the solar industry that by the way is loosing market power because of solar power technology innovation and not the permitting process. In the same vein, the solar industry is just one component (and solution) on the renewable energy spectrum. The bigger concern and probably the reason why a doing a similar program to the Race to the Top Fund for solar panel installation is controversial is such a narrowly focused program may be exclusionary and discourage innovation in other renewable energy sources that may be more cost-effective and greener.

Grad School Reflections: Starchitecture, the New Beauty and the Beast

Like a fool in love, before my International Placemaking course I viewed starchitecture and monumental development behind rose-colored glasses. I was especially enamored with Calatrava-like bridges, more so than with Hong Kong and Dubai global city mega-project fabrications.  I was smitten by the economic development benefits and the brilliant ingenuity and engineering behind jaw-dropping design. As a result, I neglected to see the lurching dark side where the quest for starchitecture leaves the poor in the shadows.

I found Miriana Fix’s article, “Bridge to Speculation,” very interesting. For me it highlighted the power of agency showing that it matters who tells the story. Her article also made me think about what is really going on with Sao Paolo’s planners. Is Sao Paolo simply not planning for low-income people who live in the favela’s because it is full of bad planners who could care less about the public’s welfare and only favor the rich?  Is it that planners are pushing projects based on political agendas that they have no means of influencing even if they disagree with the direction? Or is it a little bit of both? I would like to think that Sao Paolo is not full of bad planners, but even this is very arbitrary, my notion of bad might be very different from someone else’s notion of bad.

What puzzles me the most is how governments can completely ignore certain undesirable populations within their jurisdictions, as if ignoring them will make them go away. Continuing to ignore the poor and further marginalizing a subset of a country’s population is not an appropriate method to diminish poverty and it can also be argues that it negatively affects the middle and upper class. Governments are very vain. They want to be able to show-off spectacular cityscapes and at the same time pretend that the poverty that hovers over them will disappear with the trickle down effects of city beautification projects like the cable-stayed bridge over the Pinheiros River in Sao Paolo. Unfortunately, this is seldom the case in the real world.

I am also deeply puzzled by the issue of what planners should do when larger political agendas are in direct contradiction to their ideologies and pareto optimal solutions. To be fair, this problem is not unique to Sao Paolo it appears in cities over and over in many different forms. Throwing in the towel is not an option. Like entrepreneurs, planners need to be idealistic, innovative and believe that we can make a difference in the constant uphill battle between social equity and market inequality.

This course offered a robust survey of the different elements and politics planners have to deal with around the world. Every week it made me think about who planners plan for? And why some people are ignored in the planning process. I think this course could better prepare planners for international and national practice by including more material about the planning infrastructure and framework in place in different countries. Exposure to the rules of the game and will help us better understand why certain projects and policies happen.

Grad School Reflections: Segregation A La Carte in Latin America

As I read both Clara Irazabal’s “A Planned City Comes of Age: Rethinking Ciudad Guayana Today,” and Nora Libertun de Duren’s “Planning A la Carte” I couldn’t help but think: “Is this a planning success or a planning failure? Was it the plan that failed or was it the system that caused the plan to fail?”

Plans for the most part start off with good intentions, the problem is that good intentions of what “ought to be” are subjective, and they are in the eye of the beholder. Another other problem is that plan as you may, a plan is simply not enough to produce or ensure what “ought to be.” Ciudad Guayana and the gated communities of Buenos Aires give us two examples of how planned cities and communities are not what they were meant to be.

In the case of Ciudad Guayana I think the system caused the plan to fail. And by the system I mean the political culture and political will pushing the project forward. Irazabal discusses how the economically-based idea of development resulted in a “somewhat inhuman quality: scattered, large buildings in vast areas, the social classes clearly separated with the poor marginalized outside the planned areas.” I find it ironic how the recently elected national democratic government of Venezuela invited planners from MIT and Harvard and put their best people on the team to plan a city that did not include the poor and created a spatially awkward landscape of scattered buildings. Did they think that poverty would somehow disappear or fix itself over night?

The excessive fiscal avarice and myopic planning vision of the municipalities in the Buenos Aires metropolitan region are the main reasons that I think the gated communities of Buenos Aires are a planning failure. While the municipal flexibility to rezone land uses for development projects spurred the development of gated communities, the municipalities should have been more exigent and required developers to pay higher development fees so that municipalities could put in place distributional programs for the un-gated poor. In the end, as seen in the picture above, gated communities have created more class segregation and distributional disparities within Buenos Aires than the good that came from the increased local income from tax-payers and permits, job creation, and infrastructure development provided by developers in exchange for project approval. Evidence of these distributional disparities can be seen in this video news story: http://www.france24.com/en/20100814-report-argentina-buenos-aires-gated-communities-barbed-wire-violence linking the public safety issues in Buenos Aires today to the segregation of the ‘haves’ and ‘haves nots’ exacerbated by gated communities.

Poverty is an extremely complex issue that planners need to plan for unlike the case of Ciudad Guayana. Similarly, planners need to think of more comprehensive plans and consider long-term effects and not just worry about how to increase revenue and or put in place piece-mail infrastructure like the case in the suburban gated communities of Buenos Aires.

Grad School Reflections: No Metro Cards & Taxi Wars

I really enjoyed both of the assigned New York Times articles as they detailed the jarring tribulations of one of the most crowned planning solutions of our times: bus transit rapid systems. In fact, each article made me chuckle a bit. As each article retold very vivid scenarios of why planners should not and cannot operate in a vacuum in any circumstance they were also great reminders of the reality of the implementation process and the ultimate test of any project: the people.

It is quite alarming to read about the taxi wars in the greater Johannesburg metropolitan area against the newly established bus system, but it is hard to merely discount them as illicit acts of rage. In a way, the acts are understandable, because even though the BRT system solution has many positive qualities for the general good of society and it aims to promote greater social equity, in this case it also has at least one negative quality: displacement. Its existence will displace the current small business operators that own the minibus taxis that provide transportation for over 14 million South Africans. The minibus taxis owners are understandably enraged because to them this new bus system is equivalent to a new Wal-Mart store that provides exactly what they do at a much lower price that they cannot compete with.

In New York City the problem with the newly implemented BRT system along Second and First Avenue manifest itself in a slightly different way: the transition process. The transition and integration of the new system is simply not logical to customers, New Yorkers cannot understand why they cannot pay with the customary Metrocard – and I quite frankly can’t either. Especially since the New York BRT system hardly incorporates any of the other BRT characteristics such as the elevated passenger loading zone and much more exclusive lanes that have distinguished the BRT’s performance from regular bus service performance. Thus, the critiques around the new system are dominated by the dissatisfaction with the general lack of foresight in the mechanics of how riders can use the new system. From the article we get that this small detail may be enough to dissuade customers from using this great new system and may make the difference in the ultimate success of the BRT in New York City.

The scenarios presented in both New York Times articles are clear reminders that citizens still have the last word in the success of any planning idea, even if it is meant to be benevolently inclusive. The people will apply basic tests to demonstrate if it is in fact inclusive or not.  The evidence from Soweto and Johannesburg, and the streets of New York highlight different ways in which citizens may exercise their ability to make or break a planning solution as heralded as the bus transit rapid system.

Grad School Reflections: Public Parks, The Key to Livable Communities Book Talk

At the AIA Book Talk at the Center for Architecture in NYC on November 30, 2010, Professor Alex Garvin from Yale discusses his book, Public Parks, The Key to Livable Communities. The book focuses on the important role that public parks play in the daily lives of citizens. To Garvin public parks come in many forms, are constantly changing and are usually manmade. He sites the conventional Central Park and Prospect Park Olmstead models, the greened boulevards in Paris and in San Antonio’s Riverwalk and in traffic islands, beaches as great models, but stresses that there is not a one-size fits all model. He argues that there are six key roles that parks play in urban society: (1) enhancing personal well-being and public health, (2) incubating a civil society, (3) sustaining a livable environment, (4) providing a public realm framework for private development, (5) evolving interaction between people and nature and park stewardship. Parks train citizens to coexist without conflict, lower crime rates, and prevent stormwater run-off pollution. Lastly, for Garvin proper park maintenance is just as important as a convenient location and good design.

Grad School Reflections: Who's at the Haiti Reconstruction Planning Table?

What happened in Haiti, or perhaps a better question is “what will happen in Haiti after the January 12^th earthquake,” especially in terms of planning.

It is evident that each speaker at the panel on Monday, November 1, 2010 at Columbia University, Before Design, Rebuilding Haiti after the Earthquake, has a unique connection to Haiti that has influenced their ideas of how the reconstruction of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince and its peripheries should materialize. For better or worse, each speaker also represents a player (it may not be them per se but certainly someone that will exemplify similar ideologies) that will help determine the reconstruction plan and the ultimate rebuilding process in Haiti. Marc-Andre Franche, represents the passionate civil service diplomat; while Charles Marks is the unassuming condescending foreigner (and architect) ready to build, help and protect the ignorant locals from the predators of capitalism; on the other hand, Jesse Keenan embodies, the land tenure equity advocate disguised as an attorney; and Dowoti Desir personifies the educated Haitian Diaspora that will help ensure cultural sensibility remains acute in the reconstruction efforts. To craft the appropriate reconstruction plan these players will also need to be joined by two other main players: the Haitian government and the Haitian locals from all social strata.

Ninety seconds and a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook Haiti on January 12, 2010 crumbling a significant portion of its capital’s city centre down to bits and rubble. Certainly, it was not just 90 seconds of shaking that implicated such a catastrophic effect on the Caribbean nation, but rather the problem in Haiti came from deeper roots than just the earth’s tectonic shakedown. As Marc-Andre Franche suggests, the deeper roots of the problem  are found in the fallacy of the Haitian government’s short-sighted planning efforts and its belief that short term and long term planning could start at the same time. However, to me it seems that Franche is too generous in his assessment, and that in fact only short term and piece-mail planning happened in Haiti. Congruently, the severity of the impact on the built environment suggests that real long term planning was continually de-prioritized and indefinitely pushed out to a never present future that finally arrived on January 12, 2010. Today, the earthquake is regarded as both a natural and manmade disaster, with the human component taking more of the blame because of the lack of regulation and planning foresight from the Haitian government.

For me, the biggest lesson learned from the panel was the underlining cultural components that are and will continue to be present in Haiti’s reconstruction process. Who really are the people at the table that will plan the new pillars of Haiti, and are their morals in the right place? Sure, the four speakers agree that Haitians should rebuild Haiti, but what does this mean? Do they mean: Haitian planners, Haitian architects, Haitian money, Haitian workers, or Haitian construction companies? If we take the panel to represent some of the ideology creating the Haitian reconstruction plan, as I have, then equity, cultural sensibility and quality infrastructure seem to be paramount. However, I am left wondering if the earthquake’s present memory is enough to motivate Haiti’s government to move towards more equitable planning, or will it continue to procure more socially stratified infrastructure; my hope is that it will seize the opportunity to “build back better (Marc-Andre Franche).”