Walking Berlin by Fantastic Nroway

Fantastic Norway recently implemented a project called Walking Berlin where they dressed up as a building and walked around. Dezeen has the pictures (which is good, because my description is a bit weak).

Weekend catch-up

There was plenty of news in this weekend's papers. Much I was happy to overlook or forget in the spirit of the holiday, but here were a few of varying interest:

• Newark has to give back the money for Military Park
• ASLA's The Dirt is tracking the Climate Change Bill
• Cumberland County is moving forward with its county open space plan
• Should Fairfax be a City or County and what should it be like?
• The NYTimes has reviewed the Mannahatta museum exhibit with a slideshow
• New Orleans tops the list of fastest growing cities along with Round Rock, TX (an Austin suburb that wasn't even in the Top 25 last year) complete with slideshow

Fall Studio: Sea Level Rise

When you think of Cape May, you probably think of old Victorians and great beaches, not a community at risk. This fall in studio, we will be changing our perspective a bit.

While I am still unprepared to reveal all of the final details, I wanted to share the basic outline of our fall studio project for Intermediate Landscape Architecture I (11:550:331). The entire semester will be spent exploring design interventions and implications of sea level rise and global warming in Cape May County, New Jersey with funding assistance form the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The project will be building on the results of the Spring 2009 Advanced Environmental Geomatics class. CRSSA has already created some great research on the Vulnerability of New Jersey's Coastal Habitats to Sea Level Rise that will give you a sense for both the seriousness of the threat and the diversity of issues wrapped up in this seemingly simple problem. SEBS researchers and Rutgers alums are all looking into the problem.

Cape May County has become the high profile location of an ecological decline that is represented in the falling populations of the interconnected populations of red knots and horseshoe crabs. This got some national attention when PBS aired an entire episode looking at the problem, but has been the focus of research here at Rutgers and at the NJ DEP for some time. It is also a great spot for ecotourism, which would presumably decline quickly as the natural landscapes are degraded.

One of the clear challenges would be to start building an infrastructure now that will better support the future residents of Cape May County. What would high performance infrastructure guidelines tell us about where we should be looking? We aren't the first people to explore these topics, so we need to learn from past studies if we are going to accomplish something new.

The certain threat and the uncertain details make sea level rise, and the larger patterns of climate change, an interesting problem for designers. In the San Francisco Bay Area, concerns about sea level rise (as shown in their local paper) led to the Rising Tides Competition this summer. Hopefully we'll get to see some results this fall before we are too far along in our project. I strongly encourage our students to look back at the IFLA 2008 Student Competition, which gives some great ideas about both the imaginative and serious aspects of this as a design issue.

You should also take a little time to peruse both popular portrayals and serious discussions of climate change and sea level rise. Keep an eye on regular news accounts about the science. How are going to communicate the complexity of the issue? How are we, as a class and a team, going to resolve uncertainties? Do we need to educate the public or are they fairly aware? We'll be sifting through countless agency reports, like the recent EPA report on Adaptation Planning for the National Estuary Program, and trying to organize the things we learn from them. We are also going to start paying attention to more and more mundane things like maps of sidewalks. Keep your eyes (and browser) open for these and keep careful records of what you see.

If you can get out and explore, it would be great. But if you can only get to Trenton, that would work too. The New Jersey State Museum in Trenton also has an exhibit called Rising Tide: Climate Change & Sea Level Rise in New Jersey.

But take some time to get to know Cape May County. Think about the landmarks and people. What is it known for? What is it like for tourists? But what is it like for year-round residents?

Finally, Places and Spaces will now be an active focused source with at least 3 tags for this project: cape may, JrStudio, sea level rise. Use them to keep up.

Data.gov

The federal government has started posting its datasets on engines at Data.Gov and the raw data catalog includes shapefiles, KML/KMZs, and maps (is it really over 100,000?). But it also has a separate Geodata Catalog that may be of greater interest to our readers. But it isn't done yet. And now the challenge is to make something out of it.

Always on the move

“A restless temper seems . . . one of the distinctive traits of this people”

- Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy in America

ISS Photos

The Big Picture has some great new photos from the International Space Station.

Bellevue Park

The latest issue of View included a story on Warren Manning's 1909 design for Harrisburg's Bellevue Park as well as a plethora of other projects in this often overlooked city. Aside from the article in View, http://www.bellevuepark.org/, has an image of the plan and old photos (below) that are useful in understanding the place. (mapped)

Simple

Be as simple as possible,
But not more so.

- Albert Einstein
as quoted by Carl Steinitz at UCGIS 2009

Everyone loves a good map

It turns out that Ken McCown isn't the only one using Flickr...



Now the White House Official Photostream is on flickr too.

Handel in the news

When we reported on Steven Handel's ASLA awards weeks and weeks ago, it turns out that we had the scoop on the Home News and Tribune which finally reported it this month: Bridgewater ecologist's work honored and Bridgewater Ecologist wins award for work in California. Clearly the new media wins again ;)

Portland Parks job

Since a couple of our alums had recently mentioned an interest in West Coast work, I thought this was worth sharing:

PARKS PROJECT MANAGER (SENIOR OR PRINCIPAL REGIONAL PLANNER)
Metro Sustainability Center, Portland, Oregon
Closes: July 16, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Recruitment number: SC-0356/0357-June09

We are seeking an exceptional professional to join our team of landscape architects and planners. Within our division, we work on a variety of projects, from site-specific nature park master planning and development, to regional trail planning and implementation, to strategic planning for the agency. Our park planning work revolves around the relationship of people to nature, and how that relationship informs regional planning for population growth, and the associated development of transportation systems and town centers. In addition to collaborating with land use planning, we are leaders in the development of an outstanding, interconnected regional system of trails, parks and natural areas.

Salary range:
Senior level $61,293.85 - $82,002.89 annually
Principal level $64,313.92 - $86,086.13 annually

The Parks Project Manager performs complex regional planning and intergovernmental relations activities including research and analysis. The person in this position will develop, organize and coordinate design, planning and construction projects and will frequently serve as project leader.

This position requires a seasoned project manager with a great deal of independent thought, creativity, and good judgment. Some experience in working with natural resource systems and scientists is a distinct advantage.

The ideal candidate will:
• Be comfortable working on a variety of project types, working collaboratively with other staff, elected officials both within and outside this agency, and the general public.
• Have professional training and experience in planning and landscape architecture.
• Have relevant work experience in parks, trails, and natural areas.

Minimum Requirements:

Senior level:
A Bachelor's degree in urban planning, landscape architecture, or related field and three years experience in land use planning, landscape architecture, project management or public policy development; or any combination of experience and education which provides the applicant with the desired knowledge, skills and ability required to perform the job.

Principal level:
A Bachelor's degree in urban planning, landscape architecture, or related field and five years experience in land use planning, landscape architecture, project management or public policy development; or any combination of experience and education which provides the applicant with the desired knowledge, skills and ability required to perform the job.

For a complete job description and application instructions, go to:
http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=30709

Portland has some great planning and some great parks. I bet they get a lot of applicants for this.

4 Corners

I hope that this doesn't screw up your summer vacation too much, but it turns out that the Four Corners is in the wrong spot.

StreetView Virtual Tour - Places I haven't been

On our trips to Spain, we never managed to get down to Seville. So today's virtual tour starts there but then wanders off unpredictably. This is the last (planned) entry in our virtual StreetView tours.


Giralda Tower - a great landmark

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Plaza Nueva - Seville has some notable public spaces

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Torre del Oro

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Plaza de Espana

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Puente de la Barqueta Bridge

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Calatrava's El Alamillo Bridge Bridge

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And in Valencia you could see Calatrava's City of Arts and Science

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And I still long to visit these linear parks

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And as long as we are looking at Calatrava bridges I haven't see, how about his Trinity Bridge in Mancester

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And once we get to Mancester I would walk over to see Exchange Square

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