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).”

On Discrimination & Power Relations

Insightful quote and I don't want to dilute it with too much commentary, it speaks for itself & Discrimination. I came across the quote while doing research for a project on LGBT issues and planning.

"Discrimination against a class of people is never justified; the real issue is not science or scripture, but a culture war involving those in power and those who are stigmatized." Chuck Stewart, 2003 

LA Transit Culture, Will it ever stick?

Mass Transit and LA in the same sentence always seems to garner up a sense of: "Are you serious? Nope, never going to happen." The thing is, that it is happening. Los Angelenos do ride public transit, but not enough to make positive headlines. So the question is, "If they build it, will they come?." I think the problem is that everyone is trying to solve is the basic home to work commute problem, but for travel needs go beyond the simple work and home point A to point B commute.

For some, even if the new infrastructure is in place (as it is) and makes it easy for them to get from home to work and vice versa they won't choose mass transit over their car for two reasons. One,people are obviously obsessed with their cars and the other is that life is just not that simple. People need more than just mobility options to and from work. For instance, if you have a work meeting in the middle of the day and mass transit is not an option, how will you get there? Taxis? Unlike in New York, London and Paris, in LA it is only legal to hail a cab in downtown LA (meaning the City of LA, not the County of LA which is comprised of 66 cities)...exactly, it makes you think twice about leaving the MINI at home.

I'm optimistic, once there are better options, and better interconnectivity between mass transit agencies I think mass transit will become more popular in LA and better yet a real option to go from many point As to a multitude of points Bs and Cs. Need evidence? Just look at the way Angelenos embraced the Prius (Sorry Toyota, it wasn't aesthetics). Even Beverly Hills residents traded in their European luxury toys and SUVs for the Prius. Thus my advice for Toyota: watch out, Angelenos will eventually move to greener solutions, the Prius must go greener!

BTW check out an interesting NY Times article on the state of mass transit in LA: "In Los Angeles, Big Step Ahead for Mass Transit."

"Smart from the Start," Salazar Promotes Offshore Wind Energy

This past spring I worked on a project, project managing a delegation of Spanish renewable and transportation companies with the Madrid Chamber of Commerce. The delegation got the brief tour of the renewable energy and transportation world in California visiting my hometown San Diego, my other home base Los Angeles and of course San Francisco and Sacramento. It was an action packed week meeting with commissions, agencies and potential private sector partners. More importantly everyone left very happy and with a better sense of how things work in California and made some good connections.

From this project I learned that the renewable energy sector is a lot more dynamic than I had originally thought and it spurred an interest in the renewable energy sector. This was the first time I learned about offshore wind energy, which is basically wind turbines out in the ocean, one of our delegates specialized in ocean platforms for wind turbines. Thus, I was very excited to see the NY Times article: Salazar Aims to Streamline Offshore Wind. On Tuesday, November 23, 2010 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a new program, "Smart from the Start," that will accelerate the adoption wind energy. This is great news for most in the wind energy business and a very big win for the renewable energy sector. Go Green!

The Sense of Place: New York

This is a great article on New York: My Endless New York by Tony Judy who moved on to better worlds this pass August.


My favorite part:
"New York — a city more at home in the world than in its home country ... we all have our complaints. And while there is no other city where I could imagine living, there are many places that, for different purposes, I would rather be. But this too is a very New York sentiment. Chance made me an American, but I chose to be a New Yorker. I probably always was."

Planning Wisdom

"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not even worth glancing at." Oscar Wilde

President Obama Oct. 4th Weekly Solar Power & a Clean Energy Economy Address

Greening the White House

Walking the Green Walk: Today, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, announced that in the very near future the White House residence will be installing solar panels and a solar hot water heater.

The aim is multi-purposed. On the one hand, this is clearly a step in the right green sustainable direction as the administration explicitly shows its commitment to renewable energy. Secondly, this also demonstrates that American solar technologies are "available, reliable, and ready for installation throughout the country." As a result, as Secretary Chu puts it, the nationwide deployment and implementation of clean energy technologies will help "America lead the global economy for years to come" and create more local clean energy jobs.

For more info on state, local, and utility rebates for renewable energy generation throughout the country visit the Database of State Incentives for Renewable and Efficiency website.

This is just another reason Obama still Rocks!

Pro-Life should also Mean Pro-Environment

For all of the global warming skeptics, keep the Precautionary Principle in mind the next time you decide to be anti-sustainability:

"When an activity raises threats of harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically."

Isn't ironic that most of the global warming skeptics tend to be pro-life about abortion, but not pro-life when comes to the environment.

Hmmm....just something to ponder!

3 Main Factors Of Any City's Traffic Trends

Hmm...traffic, the word reminds me of the grueling sensation that fills me when I have been stuck in traffic on the parking lot to nowhere. 

How is it that traffic happens?  Just like saying that body odor comes from the mere act of sweat production (we smell because the bacteria produced by sweat passes gas), it would be silly to say that traffic occurs simply because there are too many cars on the road. 

In a recent New Yorker article (Aug. 2, 2010, Gessen) on Moscow traffic situation, Kiichiro Hatoyama, a traffic expert from Japan, says that there are 3 main factors for a city's traffic.

1. Driver behavior. Moscow observation: "Russian drivers lack foresight."
2. The traffic system itself, the organization of the roads. Moscow observation: There is a "lack of left-turn possibilities" in Moscow. 
3. The social system, which is always reflected in the roads. Moscow observation: "It's a feudal structure," Hatoyama  said referring to the privileges given to Russia's elite in the traffic system. Gessen asked if there was "any other place that has that?[...] different rules for different drivers?"...Hatoyama answered with a single word: China.

New York City Land Use News

The Charter Review Commission is looking at ways to improve New York City's Uniform Land Review Process (ULURP).

ULURP allows local communities and elected representatives/officials to have a voice in the City's major land use development decisions.

So Cal Participate - The Great Outdoors Initiative: Nationwide Public Hearings

We all love the great outdoors, and here is our opportunity to have the federal government agencies hear our ideas.

On July 8, 2010 from 3pm - 7pm there will be a Public Listening Session in SoCal at Occidental College's Thorne Hall on the America's Great Outdoors Initiative and give our opinions on how to build a 21st century conservation and recreation agenda for America's great outdoors public domain. Register by July 1st by sending an email to sun.nelly@epa.gov with your name, name of the organization, telephone and email address.

The Great Outdoors initiative was established by President Obama in April 2010. The departments of the Interior and Agriculture, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality are leading the efforts of the initiative.

Columbia Expansion Plan Updates

Wow, it is so exciting to follow the development of this project...My work at Columbia's Facilities Department helped me to find my passion for urban planning.

I know this is a controversial project...but the controversy is what sparks my interest!

In news today, the New York Times reports that the New York State Supreme Court upholds Columbia's campus expansion plan.

Link to article: Court Upholds Columbia Campus Expansion Plan
Link to my Facebook: Comments

Professional Community Opposition Consultants

By any means necessary, private sector rivals secretly finance 'community-like' opposition to Walmart development plans/neighborhood expansion. See the Wallstreet Journal Article

Meet your friendly neighborhood 'community-like' opposition consultants, they even have an iPhone App: The Saint Consulting Group.

The Market Likes BP's New Fund & Dividend Suspension

...Or so it seems from the fact that BP's stock opened at $29.90 and closed at $31.85, up $1.95 and both the Dow Jones (10.409.46, up 4.69 points) and the NASDAQ (2,305.93, up 0.05 points) markets closed higher after BP execs met with President Obama and announced they would suspend dividends and set a fund for oil spill claims.

Next American City ~ City Parks

Public-Private Partnerships to improve and sustain our Parks:

Next American City » Buzz » Issue 27 Preview: The High Cost of Free Parks


The New York City: Public-Private Partnership Snapshot:

• The Central Park Conservancy was founded in 1980, it raises 85% of the parks $27MM annual operating budget
• According to the NYC Parks Department, half of the city's 1,800 parks and playgrounds now depend on some type of private group for maintenance
• In 2008 the Madison Square Park Conservancy raised more than $3.1 MM from donations, corporate-sponsored events and Shake Shack proceeds & held cash and securities of almost $8MM; employed 28 maintenance staffers, guards, & administrators

I have mixed feelings about the benefits of the public-private partnerships in New York City Parks, on the one hand I have enjoyed many wonderful moments in the public-private partnership parks of NYC, and now after reading this article I can't help but wonder at the expense of whom.

Ascot Hills Park in Los Angeles, CA

Today construction of Phase II of Ascot Hills Park commenced and brings the residents of LA's Eastside, especially those of the El Sereno neighborhood, one step closer to having park space closer to home.

The City of Los Angeles District 14th's decision to purchase and protect land on Elephant Hill and the Northeast Hillside Ordinance, will protect and ensure the hillside from overdevelopment.

The $3.3 million Phase II will stretch over 53 acres and will include:

• Outdoor Amphitheatre
• New Hiking Trails
• Stream Restoration
• New Native Paintings (I'm assuming local artists will be involved)
• Irrigation
• Fire Safety Improvements
• Additional Parking

Information vs. News

Paulo Coelho's social commentary on news and information in his novel, The Winner Stands Alone: "The public prefers news to information."

Infrastructure Needed to Promote Green Car Markets

The deteriorating the state of our planet's ecosystem has made most of us evaluate our impact on the earth's rate of pollution. There is a general consensus that we MUST go green to reduce and maybe even one day counteract our negative effects on the earth's ecosystem.

The big question has always been related to cost, "how do we entice people to make the switch to green building, green cars, water rationing, and other green solutions?"

But what would happen if everyone does make an immediate change, can today's infrastructure really support these new eco-friendly ways? Unfortunately, the answer for many countries is NO.

When "Green" first started hitting mainstream channels, the resistance against Green always seemed to be the high costs associated to going green. But now that the private and public markets have found a good counter argument and solution to the cost allegations through a combination of full life-span analyses, and government rebate and/or financing incentives Green is no longer perceived as cost prohibitive.

As a result, we are starting to get a better idea of why we can't all just switch immediately to Green solutions: Infrastructure compatibility and availability.

Case and Point: The Electric Car

Raymond Tsang, from Bain & Co., "Price is not the only reason that keeps people from adopting [electric vehicles] today. The infrastructure and the drive range are some of the critical issues for people to think about."

The world or any country for that matter can not switch over to electric cars because there is simply not enough public recharge stations to support the demand, and countries, cities or states can not fully promote such a change until such infrastructure is in place to support a decent percentage of the expected demand.

For more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65124Y20100602

Architectural Digest Editor-in-Chief to Retire

Paige Rense Noland, Architectural Digest editor-in-chief for the past 40 years will retire, but will now be the editor emeritus. AD has yet to name a successor, but they will certainly have big shoes to fill.

Read more: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/paige-rense-noland-to-retire-from-architectural-digest/?src=busln

Mobile Communication...Have We Regressed?

Remember when cell phones were affordable? And when we weren't all addicted to smartphones: iPhone and blackberries?

We are definitely regressing back to when cell phones first came out and were not affordable to most, but now we are all so use to them, that it doesn't matter that we spend at least +$100 on our cell phone bills each month...AT&T is the first to start doing this because they have a monopoly on the iPhone and know that we will continue to pay.

AT&T's move is just the beginning, I am willing to bet money on the fact that Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint will not be far behind to make their own data-plan adjustments, it is basic economics.

Our only salvation may be that Apple fights for the consumer. In this scenario, AT&T seems like the only money hungry villain but I'm sure Apple was aware of these expected changes before the press release came out...which is to say that if this is happening in the US, other smartphone users will also soon face similar data-plan adjustments around the globe.

Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/att-adds-iphone-tethering-kills-unlimited-data-for-ipad-smartphones/#ixzz0pibMaUNz

New Trends in Urban Land Uses

According to ULI creating new green spaces out of old gray concrete spaces is the New Black in old industrial cities like Cleveland, Cincinnati and Detroit; and metropolitan areas like Dallas and Los Angeles.

This new trend is transforming urban cityscapes from gray-to-green by reviving older city neighborhoods with green open spaces that create new destination points for locals and tourists frequent, congregate and experience.

A Note to Consider About Conservation

ULI Senior Resident Fellow Ed McMahon's take on conservation and preservation efforts: “Like any planning effort, conservation development is not a panacea. It requires trade-offs and it is not appropriate in every setting or every site.”

Stay tuned for his upcoming book: Conservation Communities: Creating Value with Nature, Open Space, and Agriculture.

Fashion For The People & By The People

What is Polyvore?

Polyvore = Poly + Vore

Poly = a fabric or garment made of polyester.

Vore = a combining form meaning "one that eats" what is specified by the initial element: carnivore.

Therefore, Polyvore = one that eats polyester, or in more poetic terms one that loves passion.

Polyvore has become the newest buzz in the fashion world and it has nothing to do with designers or fashion magazines, but it does have everything to do access and creativity.

So where did Polyvore come from? Just like it's another Yahoo and Google word creation, it is also a descendant of Yahoo and Google. However, it is more of an adored bastard child than a legitimate bloodline descendant as it was never a Yahoo or Google creation, nor did either ever have any financial interests in Polyvore; but its founders did in fact once work for Yahoo (Pasha Sadri, Guangwei Yuan, and Jianing Hu) and it's new CEO (Sukhinder Singh Cassidy) was previously the president of Google's Asia-Pacific and Latin-American operations.

I like the concept behind Polyvore and can't wait to start playing dress-up and creating "Sets"...and will of course share!

For a more details on Polyvore check out the Alexandra Jacobs', New Yorker Article: Fashion Democracy

Great Blog on Community Benefits Agreements

Check out this great blog by Amy Lavine staff attorney at the Government Law Center of Albany Law School: http://communitybenefits.blogspot.com

The old Bowery vs. new Bowery

Just an observation: I really like how Bowery has changed in the last year and half...it is a bit more chic than the rest of the east village...what I dont like is that it almost verges on waspy.

The Brooklyn...Hype

Brooklyn's image makeover goal...the cult-like movement behind the renaissance of Brooklyn has changed the borough from being" a place people come from to a place people come to." (The New Yorker, issue 3/8/10)

San Diego picking and choosing on Yes

Ten years in the making, the large-scale development proposal for the 2,327 acre property in Escondido's Merriam Mountains was rejected yesterday by San Diego's Board of Supervisors. The pivotal vote by supervisor Ron Roberts did not favor the development mainly because San Diego is still working on updating its general plan, determining how the county will meet recently passed state legislation that limits carbon emissions and because the project did not have enough public transit options.

Unlike the position that The San Diego Union Tribune seems to take in it's headline story that San Diego is anti-development I don't believe that the verdict of yesterday's Board Meeting is necessarily an indication that San Diego is anti-development, but rather that San Diego does not want it's North County to turn into another South Orange County.

Planning Options...for Me

The big decision maker: Eye Contact.

"Planning" my itinerary for my Northeast Grad School Open House Tour (Philly, The City, Ithaca)...plane, train, car, subway and maybe even a cab... & lot's of green tea

The thick line between Developed & Undeveloped countries

Philanthropic Infrastructure...it encourages giving through tax and fiscal benefits and ultimately leads to more continuous giving.

Las Vegas - What is an American City?

In the current book that I am reading, Poker Face, by Katy Lederer I found a very real everyday feeling about American cities, there is something so raw and un-PC about it that I felt compelled to share...

The book was given to me as a Christmas present in 2003 by one of my roommates at the time, and until recently I had been reluctant to read it or give it away... and a month ago while I was packing and getting ready to move out of my place in LA, it was finally time for me to start reading the book. It's a great bildungsroman novel, one of my favorite genre's. It has been a very pleasant surprise with some interesting observations on life and the road to self-discovery.

The commentary that I felt so compelled to share was one on American culture and a take on one of America's most famous cities that many countries try to imitate, ironic considering the roots of Las Vegas. Though Las Vegas is not as "cheap" as it might have been in the 1990s (the time that Katy first encountered Las Vegas), I couldn't help but nod in agreement with the raw truth behind Katy's take on Sin City...."Las Vegas: the most American of American cities - bright and cheap and all dolled up, like a drag queen - a city of hope!"

Community Planning Lit

My friend Armando, a political science guru who loves urban planning on the side recommended this book to me...I am searching the annals of Amazon.com for it...I think it will be a good guide for my current pilgrimage...New York for Sale, Community Planning Confronts Global Real Estate by Tom Angotti - MIT Press

Architecture & Urban Planning Pilgrimage

I'm planning my first architecture & urban planning pilgrimage for the spring and summer of 2010.

First stop, my hometown: San Diego, CA.

Next on the itinerary is the place where I fell in Love...with urban planning: New York

Other cities on the list: London, Paris, Granada, Hong Kong, Munich...more to come (even small cities will be explored)!

For Calatrava Architecture is...

Lots of fun facts in this New Yorker, Sep. 2008...I feel like a kid in a candy store, wanting to taste (read & share) everything...

Santiago Calatrava, one of the great Starchitects of our time on architecture: "You can penetrate architecture, you can enter into it...This room is part of ourselves in this moment. I think it is important to build for people, and to deliver this message of hope: through good construction and a certain sense of progression, a better understanding of each other can be achieved. All those things, in modesty, are what I have tried to convey."

Calatrava on building in marginal, industrial districts: "When you work in those places, you have to do very strong gestures. If you make a shy building, no one will go there."

Shoe History Facts

Still going through the New Yorker's and I came across an article on women's obsession with shoes by Patricia Marx. Never heard of such a thing...LOL...so I thought I would see what it had to say, the facts fascinated me the most.

1. "Freud believed that for many men, shoes represent female genitalia."

2. "High heels weren't always a girl thing. In the 1500s, the riding shoes of French noblemen [had] raised heels so that their feet stayed put in the stirrups."

3. "Short King Louis XiV wore shoes with 6-inch red-painted heels (often embellished with scenes of military victories) and decreed that only members of his court could wear similar ones."

Patricia Marx, "Sole Sisters," The New Yorker, September 2008

Must go: BMW Welt in Munich

Must add the BMW Welt in Munich designed by Wolf D. Prix to my Architecture and Urban Planning Pilgrimage itinerary. It's a cyclone- shape that looks a lot like a wave...I can't wait!

Diane von Furstenbrg & American Express Circa 2008

I'm going through my old New Yorker's that I know it hard to admit, I feel a bit guilty...it's bad, but that's a whole other story...point is that I loved the idea of the American Express card "follow your own style" advertising campaign.

In one of the September 2008 issues I saw an ad that was highlighting fashion icon, Diane von Furstenberg, apparently she likes hiking and she didn't always feel comfortable with her curly hair (now she does...yay), but my favorite fun facts that she points out in the American Express fill-in-the-blank questionnaire are, and I quote: "Fashionably late is being on time" and "Sexy is liking who you are" (both Diane von Furstenberg).

Building Fun Fact

In the U.S. it is against the law to smoke in any public building.

Dose of Bobo LIt

Books to add to my leisurely reading list after I get through my New Yorkers and Wired magazines, and the other books in my book cases that I have yet to read: Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn - both by Henry Miller, and My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village (complete and uncensored…the uninhibited diary of America’s greatest Bohemian) – Maxwell Bodenheim

Where is the Neighborhood Going?...From $800 to $3500 a month

Ahh, my old neighboorhood: the East Village. I remember walking through the familiar grunge of Ave A, Thompkin's Square Park to get to my place between Ave C and D. The Avenue A side of the park has always been the brightest. The lights would eliminate my fears of walking home after sunset. That's the beauty of the New York lights and constant activity, it makes you feel safer.

I was never a regular at Ray's Candy Store but did stop in a few times and hope that he doesn't have to close shop in the next few months. The irony is that the store's own success is essentially what raised Ray's rents from $800 a month to $3500 a month.

In recent years New York has lost some of its character to rising rent costs, landlords have perhaps gotten a bit greedy wanting to attract more national chains that pay higher premiums for locations that local businesses like Ray's Candy Store helped make into the cash-cow that they are today.

It's been 3.5 years since I lived in the East Village, but I still think of it as home...but is my sense of home slowly becoming a memory...is it still the village I love (and that loves me)?

Green building...hybrid solutions

Going green is the newest business fad, there are many long-term incentives to build green and cities and states are developing more real-time incentives everyday.

However, habits don't change overnight even with an abundance of incentives. With the emergence of the Prius and other hybrids the automobile industry has started to mass-produce green solutions. The market is responding and though it may seem that everyone is embracing hybrids especially when you consider places like LA and San Francisco, the actual market-share still has a long way to go.

This morning, CNN reported that if we assume that in 2020 (10 years from now) hybrids make-up 30% of the market-share of automobiles in the U.S. it would only put a minor 1% (or 202,000 barrels a day) dent into the overall U.S. oil demand. True we have to start somewhere, and we have, but we have to continue doing more than just good faith efforts or following a fad.

Of course it is also true that it is going to take more than just altering our car purchases to get our world to a less oil dependent place. Infrastructure is of course the next big ticket item that is under scrutiny to implement more sustainable solutions. However, we need to move at a faster pace, if 30% of the buildings and other infrastructure projects in 2020 were green projects the 1% dent could also be joined by a bigger dent.

Everyone has heard the green lingo, now we just need to build more green projects.

Learning about Development in Your City

Progressively informed citizens know about the development agencies shaping their cities…do you know yours?

Here are some of the development agencies overseeing diverse redevelopment efforts that have sparked my interests:

• Los Angeles, CRA/LA: www.crala.org
• New York, EDC: www.nycedc.com
• London, London Development Agency: www.lda.gov.uk
• San Diego, Redevelopment Agency: www.sandiego.gov/redevelopment-agency
• Mexico City, SEDUVI: www.seduvi.df.gob.mx/seduvi

These agencies tend to hold public meetings to discuss upcoming projects among “decision makers” and hear-out community residents. Unfortunately not all of the agencies do a great job of announcing public hearings. Check their websites regularly, most rely heavily on using their webpage as the their best PR tool and scapegoat for transparency.

The Planner's Triangle

Urban planning is a comprehensive approach to land use and its aim is to improve the built and social environments in cities. With each project urban planners, as Professor Scott Campbell from the University of Michigan appropriatly puts it, must alleviate the tension that is generated from environmental protection, economic development and social equity, or as he calls it "Planner's Triangle" before a project can move forward.

Alive and kicking: Eminent Domain

Eminent domain lurks into the 21st century with today's ruling from New York's highest court "that the state can seize private property" for Bruce Ratner's, Atlantic Yards, 22-acre development. Bruce Ratner didn't just win a major battle for his Atlantic Yards project, his win will give new hope to developers when financing becomes available. This ruling is a huge 22-acre reminder that eminent domain is alive and well and that it is a still a reality.

Eminent domain will always be the big elephant in the room. People talk about it, they throw it around to make sure it isn't truly needed, but with all of the negative press around eminent domain, how is it that it still happens? And, for how long will it be allowed to remain an option? If it does remain an option, how can government bodies properly manage it? Unfortunately, it's not a simple answer, it really depends on who you ask and the particulars of a given project.

More info: Ruling Lets Atlantic Yards Seize Land, New York Times

I'm prepping...to Plan

I'm finally going to do it...I'm finally going to apply to grad school for a Master's in Planning.

There are variations of the actual M.A. varies from institution to institution put for my goals these are the ones that have captured my interest:

• Master's in City Planning
• Master's in Environmental Design
• Master's in Urban Planning
• Master's in City and Regional Planning

I'm excited, I'm on the edge...but I'm still super excited. The next two months are going to be very intense, but I am taking everyday day by day.

Culture Demographics 101

The demographic company, Claritas today uses 66 lifestyle definitions to define the U.S. population—this 65% more definitions than the number it used in the 1970s.

Measuring factors include:

• Ethnicity
• Age
• Wealth
• Urbanization
• Housing Styles
• Family Structures
  
  

Chanel Margarita Fun Fact

It has nothing and everything to do with Fashion:

Our beloved Coco Chanel introduced the famed Chanel No.5 on the 5th of the 5th Month of the year. Cinco de Mayo - May 5th

Morningside Heights - Design Identity

Morningside Heights is comprised of various institutions such as Columbia University, St. Luke's Hospital, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Barnard College, Teacher's College, the Union Theological Seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary, Riverside Church. Each competing for a distinct identity within a neighborhood of other prominent institutions turned to architectural design to cement their unique institutional identity.

"...each institution sought a distinctive architectural design that would aid in establishing its unique identity..."

"...the neighborhood has many distinguished complexes, each characterized by the individuality of its design."

Excerpt from Andrew Dolkart's Morningside Heights, a History of its Architecture & Development.

Qu'est-ce Design...?

What is Design? Is it an art form? Or what?

There are definitely some varying debates about design. They are obviously not as pressing as middle east politics but are big picture questions that deserve some time.

I see design as an art form, not just because of my research and social interests but because of its aesthetic qualities. Today as I read one of Artinfo's weekly industry updates Jennifer Northrop's, director of communications and marketing at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, comment intrigued me as she was quoted stating that design intrigues the public "because design isn't art." And according to her, design isn't art because “Design is the most accessible form of visual culture — we touch it. We use it everyday. It’s based on solving a particular problem.” Her perspective is based on design's functional qualities and it ignores designs aesthetic qualities.

One thing is for sure, design is definitely the most unappreciated art form, we take it for granted.

Graduate School Survey Shopping

For the past 3 years I have been seriously contemplating graduate school programs, and at first I was intent on finding a program that would both incorporate a bit of my architecture and fashion interests, I soon found out this was going to be harder than it sounded.

Three years later after lots of research, soul searching, and job opportunity detours I have narrowed down the list and have decided that either a PhD in urban planning or a PhD in American studies will give me the tools, expertise and exposure to help me to test my design theories hypotheses and analyze related cultural and business trends.

The Fashion Industry - Stimulus Plan

We all love Michelle Obama for so many reasons...we certainly love her fashion sense, and plus she looks great in everything as we all wish we could.

Nowadays everyone seems to be getting a stimulus plan for one thing or another, but what about the Fashion industry, well the Fashion industry's newest top patron is not forgetting about who butters her clothes...check-out "The First Lady Effect" in today's Women's Wear Daily

My Love and Paris

I love Paris, I keep trying to find the time to learn French so that I can justify moving there. Really I don't need a justification (it just sounds nicer to say), I just need a project or to become independently wealthy so that I can partake in the joie de vivre of the City of Lights.

I love the idea of Paris simply because I feel that it could make me a better person.

It is a city that cannot be captured at a glance, it takes hold of your every sense and its energy removes the red complacent tape replenishing your soul with tranquil ambitiion.

Boyle Heights and Gentrification: A Tale of Two Possibilities ~ An Editorial

Photographer: Daniel Aguilera

We must hold real estate developers accountable for responsible development. I present a strategy for Boyle Heights in Los Angeles, CA in my first published editoral in the debut issue of the Brooklyn and Boyle newspaper: Boyle Heights and Gentrification: A Tale of Two Possibilities.

Originally titled: Boyle Heights is Not for Sale

As I walk the streets of Boyle Heights, I see our people, I feel our energy of a neighborhood in motion. You can't help but sense the vitality of a community embracing itself in rediscovery. Despite the tumultuous Real Estate market, property prices have increased in value but they have not priced us out or pushed us out. We are still here. We are reviving, rejuvenating and taking back our neighborhood and showing the rest of LA the beauty of Boyle Heights.

I see families walking together hand in hand at night and get a tingly feeling of gusto as I see the newly wed couple: the father with his young wife and their infant crossing the street at 10pm, where else in LA do you see that? Only today in Boyle Heights.

Photographer: Daniel Aguilera
I also see new construction activity, shiny new storefronts, and the newly revamped state of the art hospital, White Memorial. I'm not a native to LA, but I have heard the horror stories of the old hospital, before one of our own, Oscar de La Hoya, decided to give back to his community, because it also needs to be about giving back to the community. Oscar helped make the hospital into an institution that could actually service our community.

The best part about the change that is going on here is that there is only a tinge of the dreaded baggage that gentrification tends to pack. New businesses are coming to the community and improvements to existing businesses are also being made. Property values were on the rise before the whole housing market crashed, but the people who have grown with the community and which the community has been their lifeblood are not being pushed out in the way that gentrification has impacted other communities in growth and in need of renewal and improvements. The new middle class people who are coming to the neighborhood are for the most part people who had grown up in the neighborhood and had left and that are now returning on their own accord.

Call it nostalgia or simple economic sense the neighborhood kids are coming back to the neighborhood now that they are all grown up. Boyle Heights is nourishing itself, to ensure that the kids and grand kids of the abuelitos today will continue to want to come back to the neighborhood, and spend their money in the neighborhood. If you want a nice dinner there are places to go now, the amenities are here, there are choices now, there is no need to have to deal with traffic to have a glass of wine when Eastside Love is just right around the corner.

We are undergoing a renaissance and the Boyle Heights renaissance is inclusive, the community is holding change accountable. Gentrification should be about discovery not about greed and displacement, and our rejuvenation is about discovery and making our community better. Sure there will be sour deals, but you as a community member need to speak up if you suspect and see injustice otherwise you are just part of the problem. If we are not going to fight for our neighborhood who will? We know what we most need, so let's make it happen, don't let the evil part of gentrification seep through our streets. We have kept this community alive for so long don't let big money come and taunt us with perceived goods—Question and Verify. Remember the examples our abuelitos and abuelitas have already set, it is not just about us today, it's about our survival, it's about our success, it's about our future, it’s about the future of the neighborhood.

This is our neighborhood, this is our home. We can not become sell outs, we can not let our neighborhood sell out. Gentrification will take the best of our neighborhood if we let it. Lord lead us not into temptation: let us hold our politicians accountable; let us hold businesses accountable; let us hold institutions accountable; let us hold ourselves accountable. Let there be a transformation but let us not lose our essence.

21st Century Celebrities

Need we say more...Me and the Boys:

Evan Handler, from Sex In The City










Stan Chambers from KTLA







Google Search them!

Skirts ... Complementing the Goods

Why the skirt? And why do women still wear it and men don't?

My theory: It really boils down to the fact that the circular cut of a skirt, just like it was in the 1700s and early 1900s, has always emphasized and complemented the curvaceous body of a woman. And men, whether gay or straight, don't have an interest in wearing something that has such an innate feminine quality.

The Delphos Gown Circa 1907

Quite possibly the first patented fashion gown, Mariano Fortuny patented the world's Delphos gown from his office at the Palazzo d' Orfei in Venice.

The Delphos gown is a direct descendant of the classical Greek chiton. It was made in fine silks, dyed in effervescent colors, hand-pleated and it falls in a sleek column line from the shoulder to the heel.

Truly a classic modern design, 100 years later, the Delphos gown is still in fashion! 

Death To Cookie Cutter Creativity

Natural flowing curves use to be rare in buildings.  Once upon a time only the masters would attempt to conquer this inherent feat. However it seems as though more architects are attempting to add more curvature, it seems to be the new fad, but then again most new architecture seems to mimic each other, why? 

I can't help but ask myself where has all the creativity gone? Is the Architecture industry also suffering from the notorious copycat epidemic that's attacking the fashion industry? Or are architects putting creativity to side for the sake of getting design approval and collect their piece of the pie?

You want examples, just look around, everything is starting to look the same. This needs to stop. Our cities are not monolithic, there are different factors and each city has different needs and there is no reason why laziness should be condoned in creativity. Sure there is something to be said about street scape context and continuity. In these rough economic times when construction activity and real estate transactions are low it would behoove developers and architects to keep in mind that customers are not made out of stone either. I can appreciate competition and the effectiveness of the market to generate better products as a result. Unfortunately,  in most of the recent cases the quality in urban and rural development is at best mediocre with big arrows pointing to the big sign that reads: COPYCAT.

Under Construction the New LA Police Headquarters…

"Bad Boys, Bad Boys whatcha gonna do when they come for you?" What are you going to do when you have to go to the new police headquarters currently under construction in downtown Los Angeles, because it is a despicably hideous structure? It is an absolute disgrace not just financially because of the incompetent and thieving construction managers and contractors they have hired, but also aesthetically.

I was driving by the site last week and noticed the glass facade, which is the only part that really merits any architectural grace. But as I took the whole structure in, I noticed that it is just simply gross.

My intent is not to offend, but certain things just don't make sense to me. For instance, how can any respectable architect design something like this? The contrast of the glass facade with the light peachy stone facade is awkward and clearly not the best choice.  The mistake here is obvious, the stone's use and color encroaches on the refined beauty of the pattern.

Or even worse how can a client planning committee approve something with these characteristics? What kind of taste does the Mayor and his team have? What about the police commissioner, how does he feel about this atrocious building?

Personally, I am ashamed that my tax dollars have to go towards something like this. Buildings cost a lot of money and for the cost of this project they could have done something much nicer, they should seek real professional help, they should hire me as their aesthetics consultant and I know more citizens will be happy with how government spends everyones well-earned tax dollars.

Home is Where ME Makes It

How do we know it's home? 

How do we feel at home? 

How does it feel to be home?

It's about comfort, you just know when it's right. The beauty is that home can really be anywhere, it doesn't have to be in a constructed structure, the structure just makes it a house or an apartment, not a home. After all haven't you ever wondered why the words "house" and "home" exist? A house is an architectural structure created by a construction team. A home is created by a person or a set of persons putting their things and feelings into their space, it is their creation. A house can be empty or full but a Home is always full.  

I've been in transition, traveling from place to place and I'm still at home most of the time. I look at stuff, clothes, books, make-up and other essentials and they all make me feel at home. My clothes especially make me feel at home, and what I wear can influence my mood and behavior. What can I say, it's hard not to wander at Home.

Plans for 2008...More than Just Architectural Delights...they are the new IT Places

The New York Times 53 Places to visit in 2008 List ....Wow...so many places. How will I decide? I would love to visit all, but I'm going to aim to at least cover 1/4 of the places, not including the obvious that I will trek to by default.

So here's the list:

1. Laos

2. Lisbon

3. Tunisia

4. Mauritius

5. Mid-Beach, Miami

6. South Beach, Miami

7. Maldives

8. Death Valley

9. Courchevel, France

10. Libya

11. Hvar, Croatia

12. Puerto Vallarta

13. Sylt, Germany

14. Prague

15. Quito

16. Liverpool

17. Munich

18. Iran

19. Tuscany

20. Anguilla

21. Bogota

22. Playa Blanca, Panama

23. Alexandria

24. Mazatlan

25. St. Lucia

26. Oslo

27. Buenos Aires

28. Rimini, Italy

29. Malawi

30. Roatan, Honduras

31. Mozambique

32. Kuwait City

33. Verbier, Swiss Alps

34. Lombok

35. Northwest Passage

36. Easter Island

37. Virgin Gorda

38. Namibia

39. San Francisco

40. Detroit

41. Itacare, Brazil

42. Kilimanjaro

43. Algeria

44. San Diego

45. Malaga

46. Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

47. London

48. Vietnam

49. Essaouira, Morocco

50. Las Vegas

51. Barossa Valley, Australia

52. Tokaj, Hungary

53. New York City

Style Directions

Thou shalt follow the following fortune cookie advice:

"Be yourself, and you will always be in fashion"

Town Architecture, Part 1 The Case of Mexico

I'm getting ready for a journey down to my mother's homeland, Mexico, in the next 2 weeks. I have not been deep down in Mexico in almost 10 years and the excitement is churning up my insides with more excitement. Since my last visit I have become an architecture and culture aficionada, and I'm sure that my eye will wander and wonder with enchantment at all of the structures and ways in which people move through life.

In doing my usual research before trecking aimlessly through Mexico City, Toluca and S.L.P, I realized thatI do not know much about Mexican architects or architecture. I'm familar with Aztec, Mayan and Enrique Norten architecture, but apart from that I'm clueless, but I know that this trip will help to rectify this knowledge gap.

There is no doubt of the influence from Spanish architectural tradition in Mexican architecture. And of course I am also sure that population, political and economic growth has dictated the installations of formal and informal buildings, but who were these cities and towns built by? In the case of Mexico, have new buildings in small towns been more a result of proactive formal planning or of reactive informal planning? My assuption is the latter, but my certainty is ambivalent, I need more information.

Halloween Fashion...2007

Let's play the "Do You Know" game:

• Do you know that Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain?
• Do you know that the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints (because all Saints Day is on Nov. 1st), and, until 1970, it was also a day of fasting?

Don't feel so bad I really didn't even know until I decided to Wikipedia-It a few seconds ago.

I have always associated Halloween with trick or treating, parades, parties, scary stuff and costumes.

• Do you know why we wear costumes...because ancient Gaels wore costumes and masks to the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits to placate them.

Picking a costume and putting it together really leads up to all the festivities. Most Halloween costumes for women tend to have one theme in common: sex. It doesn't matter if you're nurse, witch, Dorothy, etc., whenever someone asks someone like me what they plan to be, the answer 9.9 times out of 10 will always be: "A Sexy _____" if not you will get those looks, the "she's a weird girl" look. Is this how we blend with evil spirits?

Personally I don't always mind it, I just wonder if my costume really changes much from year to year. It makes things easier for me and I am not forced to buy those awful polyester outfits that cost and arm and a leg for cheap versions of items that I can find in my closet. Plus I feel that any great Halloween outfit really comes together with the accessories.

So do you know what you're going to be Halloween this year?

Oh Condé...Why Don't You Care?

Oh Condé, why don't you tell me more?

I'm constantly disappointed by the coverage of Fashion Weeks around the world. The news sources only care about the pictures and the show itself, but what about the reason that collections were even created?

Fashion Designers want to be taken more seriously as artists but how will that be if the treads of inspiration are not shared?

The picture coverage is phenomenal but most of the articles do not reveal anything beyond the make-up behind the image. Personally I don't care much about what so and so is eating or not. Plus people don't need to get ideas to eat Kleenex to feel full, we already have enough fuzzy girls running around thinking fuzzy bones are sexy. Yet these details make the cut along with trashy celebrity gossip, while more important details are overlooked, but then again who cares about civilization or the environment for that matter.