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.