August 3rd, 2006
The first and most obvious thing about cities is that they are like organisms,
sucking in resources and emitting wastes.
A good friend and fellow urban planner gave me a book titled Green Urbanism – Learning from European Cities by UVA professor Timothy Beatley.
In the first chapter, Beatley explains that sustainable design is a higher priority in European cities than in American cities. As a result, their cities are leaner and more efficient. American cities, on the other hand, are bloated and sluggish.
After reading this, I get an image in my head of personified cities. Imagine a skinny man with muscular calves. He is wearing running shorts and sweat is glistening off his brow. His name is Dublin. Next to him sits an obese girl who has no neck but three chins. A cloud of smog hovers above her head and flies orbit her belly. Her name is Los Angeles.
There is the notion that Europeans, in general, are healthier than Americans. Is this because their cities encourage, and oftentimes require more exercise? Likewise, is America’s pattern of expansive suburbs the culprit of our high obesity rates? Or is it the other way around? Does our culture and our lifestyle, characterized by consumerism and indolence, determine the geography of our urban areas?
Regardless of the cause, American cities need to go on a diet.
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August 2nd, 2006
a river of steel
flows like steady molasses
morning’s rush hour
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August 1st, 2006
but in the meantime I’ve got it hard
second floor living without a yard
Later this month, Eric and I will finally be homeowners! We are buying a two bedroom condo less than five miles from either of our jobs. I am tremendously excited about moving in, but I can’t help criticizing the condominium development.
High-density developments like Bristol Village are a Good Idea, but are poorly implemented in suburban environments. We are still forced to drive to work, to the grocery store, to anywhere. Even if we wanted to walk, there are no sidewalks.
When we were first looking at the condominiums, I did notice a sidewalk descending a hill behind one of the buildings. I queried the realtor about it, hoping the path connected to the next neighborhood. Imagine my disappointment when she informed us that the sidewalk ends about halfway behind the building and was never finished because the management did not want to pay liability insurance for a bike path.
Unlike distinctive neighborhoods in the city (and even some well-planned subdivisions in the county), our neighborhood has absolutely no character. The buildings are identical and individuality is explicitly prohibited (no hot pink curtains or Hello Kitty porch lights for me).
It’s almost like the architect tried to design the buildings so that they looked unique. The units alternate from blue to brown, some louvers are squares and some are circles, and seemingly random units have two mulled windows in the bedroom instead of two separate windows. Is this supposed to fool us into thinking the buildings weren’t all built at the same time?
In the city, neighborhoods have subtle characteristics that reflect the population. In Richmond’s historic Fan District, for example, it’s almost like the residents are dressing up their homes for a Victorian costume ball. In the suburbs, houses are more like uniformed soldiers. Subdivisions are strictly governed by the covenants and bylaws that are determined by the developer or a board of directors. Sure, these protect our properties values – they are for our own good! But they suppress any chance for a neighborhood to be authentic.
Ah, authenticity. In a class I took on globalization last year, a classmate studied authenticity and focused on Celebration, FL. She initially suspected life in Celebration, governed by corporate decisions and driven by Walt Disney’s dream, would feel manufactured and dismal. On the contrary, most residents adored their lifestyle there and this in itself made their experiences authentic. So does inauthentic design really matter? Does my initial disgust at Bristol Village mean that my life there will be unfulfilling? Not at all. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this!
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