Archive for January, 2007
It felt like we walked from one car-infested development to another in Brooklyn all day Saturday, so it was a pleasure to run into this experiment started last summer. Willoughby between Adam and Pearl Street in downtown Brooklyn is closed to cars and has been transformed into a mini public square with some moveable seating, some non-moveable seating, big planers and randomly (or strategically?) places trash cans. The purpose is to test the feasibility of closing it permanently to cars.
It was a cold and gray day, so no one was out on the metal furniture.
But a few people took advantage of the furniture to stop and adjust their bags…or maybe look for some spare change.
Though the square was mighty empty, there is an ancillary benefit to setting up people-oriented amenities within it, even in the middle of winter. It is a little island of brightness in the middle of many many streets and lanes of cars, buses and trucks. We looked lost all along our walk from Borough Hall to Adams Street, and it was in front of this friendly place that a woman stopped us to ask us if we needed directions. Lovely!
January 29th, 2007
Hello This Place Is…readers! I’m excited to join Alexa and Seth in spreading the word about spaces…for people. (Thank you!)
I come from Bird to the North, where I have been blogging about how places are made. I believe that anyone can know when a certain place feels great and they can tell when a space is better than another; it’s time that we trust our intuition and senses!
Just so you know, a few things I love:
People-watching, of course! preferably with a well-worn seat or a just-right leaning table
Kindly offered directions when I am lost
Sharing sleds in Central Park after a big snowstorm
Curb-sitting with a coffee
Eating my way through a neighborhood by sampling all its street food
Public markets! Almost any kind
Enough about me, on to places!
–Shin-pei
January 29th, 2007
Like Turn Here (amateur videos documenting places), Placeblogger is about celebrating the unique experiences that characterize places. By juxtaposing all of the blogs about a particular place, a real-time, real-life, word-of-mouth portrait of that place is created that could potentially capture a place in a way that major newspapers or travel guides can’t.
“Placeblogs are about something broader than news alone. They’re about the lived experience of a place. That experience may be news, or it may simply be about that part of our lives that isn’t news but creates the texture of our daily lives: our commute, where we eat, conversations with our neighbors, the irritations and delights of living in a particular place among particular people.”
Naturally, my first impulse was to look up cities in which I’ve lived. Although right now most of the places are major metro areas, I was surprised to see at least one entry for a town near my hometown, Kittanning, PA. I don’t know how many blogs would actually be devoted to writing about a small town like Kittanning, however.
But another way to explore places via blogs, perhaps, would be to look up shared locations on Social Networking sites like Xanga. Although Xanga recommends that you only identify yourself with the larger Metro area, Seth managed to get a pretty decent metro going for Fredericktown, Ohio, the 2300-person town where he grew up… http://metros.xanga.com/metros/metro.aspx?id=7551
LINK: http://www.placeblogger.com/faq
January 18th, 2007
Designing places that will work for ALL people…
“Universal design is a relatively new concept that seeks to go beyond those codes to make the built environment usable by all people without the need for adaptation. This might include kitchen islands with adjustable-height countertops, front-loading washers and dryers, roll-in showers, and no-step entrances, eliminating the need for ramps.
But the important point, according to universal design advocates, is that it looks and feels like a normal apartment building. Rather than relying on designs that can segregate people according to their disability (impaired vision versus low mobility, for example), the intent of universal design is to create products and environments usable by as many people as possible, including people with no disabilities at all.”
LINK: From the New York Times (read it before it’s archived!)
January 12th, 2007