Another benefit of walking

It improves your memory.

Historic or just delicious?

Is this burger stand a great place to eat or an irreplaceable historic element that requires preservation?  Los Angeles debates.



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News from the shore

As a potentially significant storm season looms, it may not be a good sign that competition for beach replenishment work is down.  Meanwhile, the Cape May Herald reports that Avalon has just reopened it beach after an emergency replenishment.

Getting hot out there

NASA's Picture of the Day on Friday showed how hot May was. (h/t MapRoom)

Barnegat Bay

This story about BArnegat Bay just makes you want to go kayaking, huh?

Keep busy, save Bambi

The Dirt links readers to their chance to design wildlife crossings.

Yeats quote

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

William Butler Yeats

St Croix thoughts

As our seniors prepare to study the island, I thought I would share some initial thoughts. 

It struck me as an island of contrasts between the real and natural St Croix/s and the built.

It seems easy enough to say, "Oh, we don't need to preserve that little piece, no one would develop it anyway." That is probably what someone thought about Protestant Cay, a tiny little island which sits a few yards off the shore of Christiansted.  Seems too small to develop...

They built the touristy stuff so close to the water that the boardwalk had to go out beyond the shore.

Some National Parks take a seemingly insignificant historic site, an obscure fort, or an old iron furnace, and they build massive monuments and markers.  At Salt River Bay they take one of the more significant historic sites in the country, the only place in the US where Christopher Columbus landed (although he stayed onboard), and they have gone for a more subtle approach.

At least the cars stay several feet back from the beach. And there is a sign to tell you it isn't just any old beach.

Site and purpose together are the arbiters

"Best use depends on how we value uses.  Site and purpose together are the arbiters of the plan, and not either one alone."

Kevin Lynch

Site Planning

Google Earth update

Google Earth has a new version out,

National Design Award

James Corner and Field Operations have won the Cooper-Hewitt's National Design Award.

Suburbia Transformed video

The opening reception at the James Rose Center's Suburbia Transformed exhibition has been captured in a video by Marshall Katzman at RidgewoodPatch. Interviews include our own Dean Cardasis and former Speaker Series participant Matt Urbanski of MVV.

Breaking: SCOTUS sides with Florida

The Supreme Court handed down  a decision today in STOP THE BEACH RENOURISHMENT, INC. v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ET AL. found that the state could renourish its beaches.  We'll try to follow up tomorrow.

Bill Mitchell

Digital city pioneer Bill Mitchell has passed away.

Pubic data in DC

I don't know why people in DC would think that the public data that their tax dollars paid for would be public.  Apparently, the mass transit folks in the District didn't think it was either. Until recently.  Now WMATA is releasing their bus route data hoping that new apps generate new revenue.

Keeping up with St Croix

A pretty basic essential to learning a new place is to read the local papers.  The Internet makes this especially easy.  Two papers stand out to me as great resources for learning about St Croix.  Both are available on line and write about the study site.

The St. Croix Source

• A Salt River Bay visit
• Jennifer Jackson's Solar-powered lights at UVI
• NPS and Hamilton

Virgin Islands Daily News

• Demolition
• Christiansted
• Columns by Olasee Davis
• Death of a turtle

Even the NY Times covers St Croix sometimes.

Hiking NYC

The problem with my occasional hike of Manhattan is that it leads to the suggestion that I should lead other hikes.  But I don't need to! Jack Eichenbaum is already leading so many great hikes that there is no need for further repitition.  You can learn about Jack's hikes at his new GeoNYC website.

Greenable Woodbridge Museum of the Future

Saturday was the grand opening of the Greenable Woodbridge Museum of the Future.  Naturally, this is at the largest community-focused building in town, the Woodbridge Mall.  It will be open all summer.

Interactive Map of Sports Conferences

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a great interactive map of sports conferences over time.

How big is the spill?

http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/ will help you figure it out based on your own landscape.

View from Above

Daily Dose of Architecture has a short piece on Paintings for Satellites.

Rutgers in St Croix

Rebecca Jordan got a nice mention in the St Croix papers the other day.  Things are heating up at Salt River Bay.

Forest Hills Gardens

How do you write an article about Forest Hills Gardens' winding streets and without mentioning Olmsted until the last paragraph?  The Times shows you how.

Google maps problems

If you are going to do something heinous and illegal and plan on getting caught, don't use StreetView.  And, are their walking directions worth suing over?

Romantic Gardens: Nature, Art and Landscape Design

The Morgan Library has what sounds like an outstanding exhibit called, "Romantic Gardens: Nature, Art and Landscape Design." The NY Times describes it as a "captivating, if geographically unbalanced, show" that "traces the Romantic movement from its first flowerings on English estates to American Transcendentalism in full bloom."  With works from artists like Alexander Pope and F. L. Olmsted, it could be the top show for landscape architects this summer. (Student admission is only $8, but admission is free on Fridays from 7 - 9 p.m.)

Can Facebook save the DInky?

The NYTimes reports that New Jerseyans are organizing on Facebook to save Princeton's historic Dinky.  This kid can't bear to look at a future without it.

Swiss Tree Museum

The Swiss Tree Museum hasn't even opened yet and is already getting awards. The NY Times describes Enzo Enea's project as a "meticulously curated outdoor display," but I am not sure that captures this modern design experience.

Fracking river problem

American Rivers has named the Upper Delaware the most endangered river in the US because of a practice called fracking.  The petroleum industry says it is safe.  They also named 9 other rivers as endangered, but they aren't as close to here and lack the timely link with the Gulf - sorry Chetco River!  No oil, no #1.

Invasive invasion

Will bamboo take over Pequannock's parks?

In Memoriam

We are saddened to write of the death of Charlie Kontos.  Charlie Kontos was a Ph.D. student in Ecology and Evolution who was one of the most energetic and well liked.  He was very popular with the students as a teaching assistant in both our Watershed Management and Land Measurement and Mapping classes.  Over the last two years became an important and memorable presence at CRSSA and in the Environmental Planning and Design classes.  This is a tragic shock for all who knew him

Rather than posting a photo of him, I've posted a photo by him.  One of his great passions was the posting of motion-activated cameras in the woods.  He made a great splash with his photos proving the presence of fishers in New Jersey and deserved plenty of media attention for it.  He also established a site about these relatively unknown New Jersey residents.

Feel free to post remembrances in the comments section.

Big cities in China

I stumbled onto this fascinating blog/site called Chinfographics that explores different graphics highlighting issues about China.  It has some great examples of interesting graphics that convey lots of information.  The one that got me there in the first place was called The Long Tail – 60 Chinese Cities with a Population of Over 1 Million that was featured on Scocca. It will be interesting to see where they go next.