I like to call myself a photographer. I took all the photography courses offered in college. I have a large format camera, several medium formats, and multiple SLRs. I shoot film: B&W, C41, slide. I even have an adapter for my large format 4×5 to
A recent article from The Verge talks about how Twitter may be more accurate than NOAA in terms of identifying flooded areas. MIT Media Lab also came up with an app that allowed crowdsourcing storm and flooding data. But that required downloading and installing the
I’ve been trying to follow several companies now that marry urban planning, data science, and software engineering. What I find super interesting about them is that I believe these new companies are also part of a new trend. There really haven’t been too much like
I have a little known dream: to be the voice of the NYC Subway system. I would settle for NJTransit. I can totally say “The next station stop is Secaucus Junction. WHEN LEAVING THE TRAIN, PLEASE WATCH THE GAP” in a soothing and informational way. Someone
A recent article outlines how Toronto is building a new flood risk management infrastructure project that will also act as green, open space. This “green infrastructure” is something I have spent a great deal of time working on. Instead of building so called “hard infrastructure”
One of my favorite books is Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet by Andrew Blum. We like to think of the Internet as this ethereal, intangible thing. But the reality is the Internet is very much tangible. Cell towers, fiber optic lines,
Wired article This article has a lot going on. Especially things I have a great interest in. First and foremost is bus network redesign. It seems it is a popular new strategy among cities, particularly Houston. Bus routes haven’t been reassessed in decades and urban forms
What counts as social infrastructure? I define it capaciously. Public institutions such as libraries, schools, playgrounds, parks, athletic fields, and swimming pools are vital parts of the social infrastructure. So too are sidewalks, courtyards, community gardens, and other green spaces that invite people into the
An opinion piece on MarketWatch talks about how Big Box development essentially leads to American municipalities becoming insolvent. In essence, the tax breaks meant to entice development away from other municipalities leads to a race to the bottom and eventually to ratables the returns of
https://youtu.be/3i5xtadHPRAOne of the things that deeply interests me is how to make our cities more beuatiful, more delightful. The city should bring a smile. I don’t mean this in a trite, sentimental way. I believe this is an unquantifiable aspect of placemaking that is all
This past weekend my best friends and I took a trip to Los Angeles. I find that maintaining friendships – especially ones where we all live in different cities – requires at least a few trips together each year. We originally wanted to go to
General Orders No. 9 is a fascinating art film that I find to be a stirring lamentation for a forgotten relationship of man and land in the State of Georgia. While the title (the order from General Lee to his soldiers to surrender) suggests an
when i was younger and my cousins visited suburban central jersey, the only thing to do was go to the mall. it still is. while my local mall has managed to survive – including by building a miniature “downtown” style shopping area adjacent to the
this is a quick post. but I think it’s really interesting. the Atlantic has a piece on “Why Hong Kongers Are Toppling Lampposts“. This is an instance of the negatives of smart cities. The poles perhaps have technology to monitor traffic and whatnot (it’s not
We have urban planning. We have urban economics. We have urban geography. We now have urban science and informatics. But what is regional science?Let’s look at some history. The Regional Science Association was founded in 1954, though the field began earlier. While in the beginning,
I declare that I research and practice urban policy, urban planning, and urban science. In other words, I am an urban policy analyst, an urban planner, and an urban scientist. This is rather clear: I look at the policy making of city governments, I facilitate
i used to live in omaha. it was part of my job when i worked at the corps of engineers. at first, i was kinda disappointed that i was going to be living there instead of a cool city like portland, or or los angeles.
I love flying and airports. one of my most favorites things is walking through a terminal, looking at each gate, and seeing all the different destinations. it’s exciting, seeing all those possibilities. airports are such a great example of the the built environment of infrastructure
seanandrewchen Trains as symbolsI love trains. Not just as a wonderful technology, but also what they represent and how they are represented in our culture and minds. In one sense, I see trains as a technology that connects us. But in another sense, that connection
It has become that time of eveningwhen people sit on their porches,…and watching the street…People go by; things go by.A horse, drawing a buggy,breaking his hollow iron music on the asphalt:a loud auto: a quiet auto:people in pairs, not in a hurry,…A streetcar raising into