If you ever walked along a historic railroad and looked around, you might notice artifacts from an earlier time: abandoned telegraph poles, mechanical signals, and perhaps a watering station if you were lucky. Looking out further you see clusters of settlements, industries, and businesses that located next to the strategic iron highway. A walk along the railroad is an opportunity to perceive and understand our economic and social history through the built form. Some artifacts speak to our current setting: abandoned siding tracks, litter, and backwater houses.
Naomi Adiv, a doctoral student from U.C. Davis, is comprehensively documenting elements and their perceived meanings along the 170 mile Capitol Corridor from San Jose to Oakland, Sacramento, and Auburn, California for her dissertation. Reading just a little bit of her blog has resonated with my fascination of the railroad and formation on the landscape.
photo by compujeramey
March 6th, 2008
I just read about an interesting measure that’s been approved by the Norwich City Council to set parking fees based on the length of cars. The measure incentivizes generally more fuel efficient and less space-consuming cars:
While I think it seems like a great idea, I can’t help but think about the people who feel they don’t really have any other choice. As street parkers in a high demand area, there are lots of times we wish we had a SmartCar so we could fit it in the non-spaces… but we can’t just run out and buy a new car. The tiniest cars are way out of our price range right now. (Of course the constant nagging would probably factor into our decision when we do need a new car.) But even more without a choice are, as people against the measure cited, families with children for whom cramming everyone into a Mini isn’t possible.
Reading about teachers’ struggle to find parking at a San Francisco school made me think as well:
“Every recess - and sometimes in the middle of class - teachers at San Francisco’s Buena Vista Elementary School dash outside to move their cars before a parking ticket appears on their windshield. Up to six times a day, they forgo a chat with a student, a sip of coffee or a trip to the bathroom to play musical cars among the one-hour spots around the school.”
Planners generally say, “Driving is not a right. Just take transit.” But “teachers said that such options are often impossible or inconvenient with bags full of lesson plans, books, students’ homework and art supplies.”
It’s easy for young, mobile, urbanites to look down on those who commute an hour to work from the suburbs or drive a minivan. But understanding the forces that drive people to do so — financial, practical, social — is the key to providing realistic options for everyone.
February 1st, 2008
Dan Harrelson gives a personal account about how the suburbs are a good place to live (here). He cites proximity to family, nature, and a friendly community as relative advantages to city life. I think there is much to be learned about what sorts of communities are desirable to live in. In other parts of the country, the advantages of living in the suburbs or the countryside go without saying (some of the reasons quoted above). In the Bay Area, it’s interesting to hear of these advantages in an environment in which we are barraged with the message of how it is better to live in the city. In the city areas are espoused for their close-knit, distinct neighborhoods anchored by locally-owned, eclectic shops. Of course we also constantly hear about it is more environmentally sustainable to live in the city because of public transportation and less personal consumption. But if we are to invite the masses to consider living in the cities again, more work is to be done on fostering stronger community bonds and creating quiet recreational areas.
January 13th, 2008