Cape May

In our Cape May project, the student thought it seemed curious how the government kept replenishing the same beaches over and over in the name of aesthetics.  Now the COE and Cape May are justifying it is as a safety issue.  But the next Nor'Easter may test that like the last ones. 

Sad end of the year

Famous landscape architect, Wolfgang Oehme, has passed away.  His use of native and meadow plants may be his signature, but his career covered a lot of other ground.

Study Abroad 2012

The big trip of 2012: Rutgers in Brazil with Kate John-Alder!

Rybczynski interview

ThinkProgress recently interviewed Witold Rybczynski about the future of suburbs and cities.  As you can see from this quote, he doesn't accept unproven conventional wisdom as fact:

Q. What do you make of polls that say that large numbers of Baby Boomers and Millennials are interested in, if not moving back to the city, then at least living more “urban” lifestyles?
A. I suspect that if you took a poll of Americans you would find that most people would like to be thin. We are an obese nation. The question is, is this something people will act on?
I’m simply not sure what those polls really mean — whether they’re wishful thinking or whether they’re a significant change that people will act on.

A new designer in Hopatcong

BLDG Blog has a different spin on the recent news story from Hopatcong, NJ.

(h/t KM)

NRDC Climate Change Map

Climate Change is a hard thing to visualize. It is complex and happens over time in a way that complicates acknowledging it. But the localized weather events have started to get so much attention that the NRDC has made an interactive temporal map showing the different weather records set this year in the US.

(h/t Infrascape)

Reading Days

At Rutgers, today is considered a Reading Day, with Final Exams starting tomorrow.  What better way to celebrate Reading Days than with book reviews, like the PlaNetizen Top 10 Books of 2011?  Of the ones I haven't seen yet, I think I might be most intrigued by Matt Dellinger's Interstate 69: The Unfinished History of the Last Great American Highway.  ASLA's the DIRT has a list of top books that includes Maps.

Tsunami resource

Google has created an unbelievable resource for exploring and understanding the full scope of the Japanese tsunami: Memories for the Future.  They have already generated a massive update of StreetView images and created this interface which allows you to flip between Before and After photos.  Exploring the devastation is painful but helps you realize the full extent of the damage.

Corey Booker

Mayor Booker will be speaking about breaking through cultural barriers,
"Cultural Barriers, Communication, Cory Booker." Tonight at the College Ave Student Center MPR at 6:30 p.m.

This event is sponsored by Rutgers Shalom/Salaam (Student Jewish/Muslim Organization), Project Civility, Our Committee to Advance Our Common Purposes, and the Rutgers Bias Prevention Education and Awareness Campaign.

Food is provided and participants are asked to make a donation to RAH (Rutgers Against Hunger) at the door.

Drive more carefully

As our students prepare for finals and the long road trip home, ITO World's map of "road casualties" may make them think less about the finals and more about the trip.

Interesting quote

"The human eye is an incredibly powerful instrument, capable of discerning pattern and nuance with startling speed and efficiency.  GIS capitalizes on this most powerful of the senses to provide police personnel with a visual gateway to the databases they collect in the course of their business.  The ability of GIS to not only visualize, but to analyze immense datasets provides insights that would otherwise remain undetected." 

-Tom Casady, Chief of Police, Lincoln Police Department (NE)

From the NAPSG website

Community Gardens at Duke Farms

As the Community Gardens on Duke Farms get extra attention, our own Laura Lawson discusses the importance of these as part of the larger movement.

Live Blog: West 8's America Work

West 8's American Work

Jamie Maslyn Larson, RLA, ASLA
Principal and Partner, West 8 New York


West 8 is based in Rotterdam but has an office in New York.

They do artful interventions.  Have industrial designers on staff so they can create unusual fixtures and features with ornamentation and tactile qualities, in house.  Many projects use artificiality to draw attention to the hand of man in the landscape. 

The opening overture was an overview of the Eropean work that helped establish West 8 as a notable firm.  European examples included a the cow horizon project, storm surge barrier, Schouwburgeplein, Kröller-Müller Museum Sculpture Garden, and the Expo.02 Yverdon-les-Bains.

The interlude was a discussion of the differences between the English picturesque and the Dutch tradition.  What is our landscape DNA?

Some of the work is translating (scalegirl=mermaid)Some of the work is forcing interaction across the Atlantic

Wave Decks in Toronto Central Waterfont

Longwood Gardens
Respite and retreat
Elevated wooden bridge through the woods

Miami Beach Soundscape
Lincon Park next to Frank Gehry's New World Symphony


View Larger Map



The big American project is
Governors Island in New York Harbor
Trust for Governors Island

No permanent private residential is ever allowed on the island - mostly off the map, but very democratic
As a former military facility, it was difficult to access and was not on Google Map for a while
The ferry ride is part of the experience
ADA accessibility is a goal
Taking away lots of the parking
Instead of wooden shoes, they've designed wooden bikes for exploring the site
Smaller spaces within the parks are key, like Liggett Terrace
2400 trees will be planted in Phase I, including Hammock Grove
Even though it is flat, they wanted it to have its own form like a skyline giving it identity
The island is being givenn added topography in anticipation of sea level rise - don't want to plant ANY trees that won't make it 100 years

Phase I opens in the Fall of 2013!



View Larger Map

Here are 2 others to look at since they were not in the lecture:
Swamp Garden in Charleston SC
Tulsa Riverfront in Oklahoma

yet another 9/11 memorial in the crossfire

9/11 memorials seem to still be a regular source of controversy, so maybe it isn't a surprise that the new Mercer County 9/11 Memorial is getting some unusual attention.  It is interesting that former Rutgers basketball coach Kevin Bannon gets mentioned.

It's Crucian that you see this

Sarah Nitchman is blogging her work in St Croix. It looks like an absolutely great experience.

D.I.R.T.'s Courtyard at Bldg 92

NYC has a new D.I.R.T. project in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Being so close, I think we'll hear more about this. Especially since they welcome school groups.


View Larger Map

The Art of Ecology

There are only a few days left to see the GROUND WATER: OUT OF SIGHT/SITE OUT OF MIND exhibit at the Sculpture Center in Cleveland, which includes work by Rutger's Jean Marie Hartman. If, like me, you can't make the trip then you can just enjoy some of Dr. Hartman's photography and blogging on it.

Public Farm 1

This Friday at 12:35 in Blake Hall Room 152, Dan Wood and Amale Andraos of WORK Architecture Company, NYC will be presenting their urban ag project that was built for MoMA Queen, Public Farm 1.  It's a fresh look at community-building and agriculture in the City.  All are welcome.

The cost of cool computers

2 DEC | 3PM (Reception to follow) | Lucy Stone Hall, RM B115, LC
Mapping the real informal economy: global circuits of electronic waste (e-waste) in the Millennium City of Accra, Ghana

Richard Grant Professor and Director of Urban Studies, Department of Geography and Regional Studies | University of Miami

Landscape Architecture and Ecological Restoration: Designing for the Other 99.9%

LA Fall Lecture Series presents Jason Husveth
Recipient of the 2011 Department of Landscape Architecture Alumni Award

Wednesday, 11/30 at 4:00 pm
Cook/Douglas Lecture Hall
3 College Farm Road
New Brunswick, NJ

Landscape Architecture and Ecological Restoration: Designing for the Other 99.9%

Landscape Architecture is defined by the American Society of Landscape Architects as: the science and art of design, planning, management and stewardship of the land. Landscape Architecture involves natural and built elements, cultural and scientific knowledge, and concern for resource conservation to the end that the resulting environment serves a useful and enjoyable purpose. Successful landscape architecture maximizes use of the land, adds value to a project and minimizes costs, all with minimum disruption to nature (ASLA, 2011).

The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) promotes Ecological Restoration as a means of sustaining the diversity of life on Earth and reestablishing an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture (SER, 2011).

Jason Husveth is a professional ecologist charged with the responsibility of planning, designing, and restoring diverse, complex, ecologically functioning, and sustainable natural landscapes within the Upper Midwest. While these landscapes are often used passively by and for the human population, their primary purpose is often to restore ecological structure and function for the sustained benefit of native flora and fauna. This lecture will present project examples of Mr. Husveth’s work to demonstrate the process of applying biological and ecological research to design and implement ecological restoration projects for a diverse array of native plant and animal species at various spatial scales.

Jason Husveth is Principal Ecologist and founder of Critical Connections Ecological Services, an ecological consulting firm based in the Minneapolis / St. Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota. A native of Somerset County, New Jersey, Jason earned his Bachelor of Science from the Rutgers University’s Landscape Architecture program in 1995. He received his Master of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota in 1999, where he assisted in the development of biological indicators to assess the quality of Minnesota wetlands, and investigated the relationships between watershed urbanization, stormwater runoff, and associated impacts to wetland biological communities. As a professional, Jason works at the nexus of landscape architecture and ecological/environmental sciences; always seeking to better understand the structure, function, and natural history of biological systems and the often complex relationships among their biotic and abiotic components. With this information, Jason strives to design, create, and restore complex natural systems for use by a diverse array of native plant and animal species within rural, urban, and developing landscapes of the Upper Midwest.

In addition to his professional practice, Mr. Husveth has served as board member and past President of the Minnesota Native Plant Society, is a lifetime member of the Society of Wetland Scientists, helped to establish the Midwest-Great Lakes Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), and currently serves as an appointed Manager of the Carnelian Marine St. Croix Watershed District and the Superior Hiking Trial Association.

NJ DOT job

The NJ DOT is looking to fill an entry level landscape design position.

Euclid v Ambler turns 85

Celebrating the 85th anniversary of Euclid v Ambler, Urban Land has a great post exploring the relevance of zoning in today's world.

An altered sense of perspective

"The common belief that we gain ‘historical perspective’ with increasing distance seems to me to utterly misrepresent the actual situation. What we gain is merely confidence in generalization that we would never dare to make if we had access to the real wealth of contemporary evidence."

- Otto Neugebauer

What's a good H for someone like me?

I have no idea.  But Google Scholar Citations makes it easier to find out.  They've added a feature called Google Scholar Citations that allows scholars to create their own scholar citations page that includes an H-index, which is a citation index that measures a mix of productivity and popularity in citations.  It also includes other index scores and a timeline of when they were cited.  I wouldn't want it used in my promotion evaluations, but it is fun to play around with. 

When does Coney Island get one?

Have you seen the roller coaster track for pedestrians?  The loops have a walkability problem, but I love the idea of trying to turn walking into a thrilling experience.

Cities have changed

StrangeMaps uses Cedric Price's examples of eggs as a way to illustrate how cities have changed over time.

Cool class: Environmental Law

The new and improved Environmental Law class (11:374:460) will help you gain skills for variety of careers.   Many environmental positions require background in the major environmental laws.  This class not only gives you such understanding but also teaches you to find a law, read a regulation, and write a citizen comment.

A 300 level law class will no longer be offered by any department. 

This class is being offered by Human Ecology’s new faculty member Dr. Cymie Payne, who has worked on California state climate change policy and coastal resource management in New England and California.  Her experience includes both government positions and private practice.    She specializes in international law and recently appeared in a proceeding before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on behalf of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.   

In addition, she has also taught in law schools and can provide insight into the application process and the job market.  On top of all this, she is also very down to earth and interested in teaching.  

http://www.cymiepayne.org/BioPage.html

Friday fun video

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space | Fly Over | Nasa, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Al Boeke

The NY Times has a lengthy obituary for the architect Al Boeke, which tells some of the story of Sea Ranch.  As much as we've heard about it in recent lectures, it really hits home in this piece.

LiveBlog: Reconceptualizing "Home" Through the Lens of Tent Cities."

Abby Harmon
“We're Only Borrowing Time [on this earth] Anyway...": Reconceptualizing "Home" Through the Lens of Tent Cities."

While many of these residents reject the label of homeless, these communities often called names like: Hobo camps, Bum camps, Homeless cities. While these aren't new, cities of more than 50 residents didn't become common until the late 1990s.

Internally some have structure (like mayors or voting structures) while others remain flexible and informal. In Nickelsville, WA she heard how being appointed or elected to positions within the communities could transform the individual and their self-esteem.

Informal housing is perceived as legitimate by those dwelling in it. The very notion of homelessness is a relatively new one, since 100 years ago Americans often went long periods without a house to call a home. By the 1950s, suburbs were such idealized housing that "substandard" housing was obliterated by efforts like urban renewal.

For many cities, the common solution is to frame this as a land use issue. Destroying a tent city is not described by the cities as destroying homes. It comes back to questions about what is a home.

The harsh Illinois winter created an interest in hardened shelters or huts.  But the City didn't recognize these more humane alternatives, so it left the homeless in tents.  "Tent cities are an unacceptable standard of living" and "A home is a residence" were key challenges that Abby spoke to.

Being with a group, or a spouse made people feel more at home.  For many, the tent city is something they choose over a shelter.  One resident said that if you can sit down in comfort and exhale, it is a start.  Access seemed more important than ownership. 

Dignity Village, Portland OR is city-recognized and big enough to be in Wikipedia and clearly visible on air photos.  Tent City in Lakewood NJ has pictures on their web site but they are hidden in the trees.

Big questions: If building codes and zoning don't work, what is an appropriate standard of living?  Do regulations make things worse rather than better?  If it isn't urban blight, what is it?  If Americans support single family residences as a standard, are tent cities closer to the American dream than group shelters?

The NYTimes just published a series of maps that show that suburbanization has resulted in a pattern that dramatizes the spatial patterns of separation between rich and poor.

Harvest the Goodness of GIS

The ghosts of GIS Days past have brought back a few of the graphic reminders of the early years:

A special thanks to Caroline Phillipuk, whose GIS Day posters outlived the celebrations.

GIS Day Moment of Silence

One of the best and nicest PPGIS guys I know anywhere is Mark Bosworth from Portland Metro's GIS office. Sadly, he has gone missing and hasn't been found, despite the best efforts of local authorities and Lance Armstrong.

Our sincerest GIS Day wish is for his safe return.

Google Map mystery

Celebrate GIS Day with another Google Map mystery, what could it be? It is bigger than a 1/2 mile by a mile.


View Larger Map

There are more at Gizmodo, but I think the others are less mysterious than this.

What do you do when the map is wrong?

One of the big changes in cartography is the ease with which corrections can be made, as is now being shown in the corrections to Greenland that are being made in the Times Atlas of the World in response to the recent climate change cartocontroversy.

Tshidvizhe community mapping video

GIS does things that hand drawn maps cannot. But as GIS Day approaches, it is important to recognize that sometimes hand drawn maps accomplish things that GIS cannot. This video shows the Tshidvizhe community coming together to create a hand drawn map the places that matter to them.


Reviving our culture, Mapping our future from CTA on Vimeo.

If so, trying to find a more public park?

If so, you might want to check it on this interactive map from New York World.  It could be helpful this morning in avoiding a repeat of Zucotti Park.

The Emergent Forest of the Future

Ecology & Evolution Graduate Program Seminar

Dr. Peter Del Tredici
Senior Research Scientist
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

"Deeply Disturbed: The Emergent Forest of the Future"

Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011

4:00 p.m.
Alampi Room, Marine and Coastal Sciences
Refreshments at 3:30

Along the Raritan

We've been following news about the Raritan River all semester, and you never know what the next story will be.  But I was still surprised by seeing the Home News and Tribune report that "an inert bomb was discovered on Oct. 13 during a parking lot excavation at a distribution center for the AriZona Beverage Co. in Raritan Center." The Raritan Center are is the site of the army's old Nixon Nitration Works, so maybe it shouldn't be a as much of a surprise.  But a bomb is still a shocker, even in times of war.

Geographry Awareness Week

To celebrate Geography Awareness Week, ESRI's Education Community blog is supposed to have a special series of posts.  There is also an effort to step up political engagement.  And, of course, Wednesday is GIS Day.

Tent cities

LA Fall Lecture Series presents Abbilyn Harmon

Wednesday, 11/16 at 4:00 pm,

Cook/Douglas Lecture Hall

 

“We're Only Borrowing Time [on this earth] Anyway...": Reconceptualizing "Home" Through the Lens of Tent Cities."

Harmon presents a critical analysis of dominant American meaning(s) of ‘home’ through an eamination of ‘home’ in the context of tent cities.  Drawing on empirical research conducted with residents of a tent city in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, as well as media coverage of tent cities across the U.S., she weaves the silenced perspectives of tent city residents into a broader discussion about land, private property, ‘home’ and legitimacy.  Harmon employs an interdisciplinary approach to her study of tent cities, bringing together the fields of critical geography, urban planning, political theory and social history.  In privileging the perspectives of tent city residents, Harmon presents a trenchant critique directed by those who are most negatively impacted by the effects of dominant perspectives of ‘home.’ Workshop Title: “Making “Home” in the Void: Materialities and Realities of Homelessness.”

Abbilyn Harmon is a PhD candidate in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.  Harmon brings an activist paradigm to her work, fluidly merging her scholarship and teaching with her work in the community.  During her time as a PhD student, she has worked for the East St. Louis Action Research Project, an interdisciplinary service learning and community engagement program, where she developed an Action Research seminar focused on improving conditions of homelessness in the community.  From 2009-2010, she organized with a local tent community, using her research to assist the group in meeting their goals, while gaining a more complete understanding of the role of tent cities as a form of housing.  Harmon’s scholarship approaches landscape as a construction that is both born of, and in turn shapes social relations.  Particularly for her dissertation work, titled Determining Critical Factors in Community-Level Planning of Homeless Service Projects, Harmon attempts to understand community landscapes in terms of social accessibility—of the spaces themselves and of the planning processes that create them—and how this accessibility is impacted by normative beliefs about home and homelessness.  Her work has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with a 2010-2012 Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant. 

Go see a Congressman

Representative Rush Holt, the only scientist in Congress, will be speaking
to our next-generation scientists.

7-8 pm Nov 21 Cook Campus Center MPR

Trees down at area gardens

Area arboreta have been impacted by the recent storms.  Even Rutgers Gardens.

Graphic: The benefits of gardening

Source by Loch Ness Water Gardens

Grad Progam Open House

Join us at our MLA Open House to Explore the Possibilities of Advanced Graduate Education!

RU Students talk about the LA Summer Program Germany

Wednesday, 11/9at 4:00 pm,
Cook/Douglas Lecture Hall
3 College Farm Road
New Brunswick, NJ

RU Students talk about the LA Summer Program Germany

This past summer undergraduate and graduate landscape architecture students from Rutgers as well as graduate students from Chatham University Pittsburgh, PA went to Germany.

We explored a country where the cultural interpretation of nature and landscape has supported the creation of a strong environmental movement, fostering innovative solutions in Landscape Architecture, Architecture and Urban Planning. We studied such solutions and their cultural context. Our discussions were also related to planning and design challenges we face in the US. Visiting Berlin, the Ruhr area and the Munich region we learned that Germany is more than Autobahn and Oktoberfest. A special highlight was the design workshop in landscape architecture in cooperation with our partner school Technische Universität München.

They would like to share our experiences with you and hope that you might enjoy some of the images as they enjoyed the trip.

National Park Passports

We were just talking in studio about environmental and historic education, an area in which the National Park Service has some expertise.  One of the programs the used to get people to settle into a park and take it seriously is the Junior Ranger program.  To get their badge, junior rangers often have to complete a series of activities, attend a ranger-led talk/hike, answer questions, etc.  For some families, it forces them to see and experience parts of the parks they wouldn't have otherwise.

The other is the National Parks Passports program, which let's you stamp your passport booklet at each park you visit.   This program gets visitors to go to more parks, and more obscure parks.  Some passport junkies have posted their stories and and nearly complete collections of passport stamps.Maybe these don't translate well to our local parks.  But what is the equivalent?  What would get people more engaged here?

Touch the water

A report on river access points on the Banks of the Old Raritan shows lots of opportunities, but they are well hidden and sometimes not easy to use.

British Architects and High-tech

Once again Witold Rybczynski has posted a slide show that teaches you a lot with minimal words and images.

Should Princeton merge?

Will Princeton Borough and Princeton Township finally set aside their few remaining differences and become one?  Voters will decide (yet again)on Tuesday.  The Star-Ledger offers a preview that reminds us of some past efforts:

Consolidation can’t move forward unless a majority of voters in both the township and the borough say yes. Residents of the township, which wraps around the borough like a doughnut, approved a merger by a three-to-one margin in 1996, but it died when 55 percent of borough residents voted no. The measure was also rejected in 1953 and 1979.

But the article also includes a list of all 22 of New Jersey's doughnut towns.

Job in Newark

If parks and community design are you thing, you might want to check out this job in Newark with the Trust for Public Lands.

Cool class: Art and the City

If you need an elective, you might want to check out Art and the City (762:496:03) which works to give students an understanding of the ways in which art is used in civic design.  It is being taught at Bloustein and is recruiting students from Mason Gross.  It also includes a guided Mural Arts Tour of West Philadelphia.

Tim Marshall follow-up

Rather than a live blog, I simply offer a list of links related to the places we heard about today in lecture.  Most are official link, since it was really about organizations not images:

• Millennium Park
• Madison Square Park Conservancy
• The Friends of the Highline
• Discovery Green, Houston
• Main Street Garden Park, Dallas
• Bryant Park
• Central Park Conservancy
• Yerba Buena Gardens
• Olympic Park
• Myriad Botanic Gardens
• Point State Park
• The Trust for Governor's Island

EDA's land use images

After talking about some municipal patterns of land use in EDA yesterday, I wanted to share a few of the lists:

• NJ's 10 densest municipalities
• The NE Corridor
• Animation
• All counties

Cool class: Blogging and Podcasting for the Environment

Not many classes have a YouTube video to advertise their work. Here is one that does.


ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION CLINIC:
BLOGGING AND PODCASTING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 11:374:493
9:15-12:15 Thursdays. Blake 131.

Want to make videos? Enhance your resume?

The goal of the environmental communication clinic is to give students problem-solving skills and hands-on experience to help them in the job market.


Working in groups, students in the Spring 2012 class will develop audio and video podcasts to promote environmentally responsible behavior on campus. To do so, students will first determine their communication goals (Increase recycling at RU football games? Reduce bottled water use in the student centers? Reduce carbon footprint of the dorms? Or? Next, they will identify appropriate target audiences (dorm residents, SEBs faculty, football fans, etc.) After conducting research and developing concepts for narratives, students will learn how to use equipment and begin production.

Land Use notes from EDA

Some random notes from today's EDA lecture:

• New Jersey's Multiple Municipal Madness 
• Teterboro has 18 residents, Pine Valley has 20
• The award-winning map of the Stony Brook Watershed 
• CRSSA's landscape change program 
• How to Lie With Maps by Monmonier

Hope you enjoyed it.

Does Good Design Alone Guarantee a Project’s Success?

LA Fall Lecture Series presents Timothy Marshall



Wednesday, 12/2 at 4:00 pm

Cook/Douglas Lecture Hall

3 College Farm Road

New Brunswick, NJ


Does Good Design Alone Guarantee a Project’s Success?

We are all too familiar with well-designed projects that have not been able to withstand the test of time, due to the lack of proper maintenance the site received after it was constructed. Worn path edges, broken benches/curbs, perennial plantings that are now annual or shrub beds, or worse, mulch beds, fountains and lighting that no longer operates, other visual clutter are just some of the changes made to a site over time due a inadequate maintenance or unanticipated use patterns.

What went wrong? Is it just a case of inadequate maintenance? Is it the design? Is it unanticipated use? Is it lack of proper management? Is it all of the above?

Maintenance and operations are, in fact, important “design considerations” and should be viewed and analyzed along with other professional input during design. The recent and dramatic improvements to Central Park have shown the importance of protecting the capital investment through understanding and planning for maintenance. Of course along with good design and improved maintenance comes more use. Central Park has seen its visitor numbers increase from an estimated 6 million annual visitors in 1985 to close to 30 million today. Not all of that use has been anticipated or planned for.

This presentation will look at a number of recently completed and designed projects where ETM ASSOCIATES, has worked closely with the design team during the design process to identify maintenance and operational issues and how those design modifications and ultimately, use has contributed to successful public space projects.

Project examples will include Central Park, the High Line, Houston’s Discovery Green, the proposed Olympic Park in London, Baltimore’s Mt Vernon Square and Pack Square in Asheville, NC.



E. Timothy Marshall, ASLA, principal of ETM ASSOCIATES, LLC , has been providing
professional public space design and management solutions, strategies and developmental guidance since 1984.

ETM Associates, LLC was formed in 1997 and specialized in Public Space Design and Management. The firm is concerned with all aspects of public space and sees design, implementation and ongoing management as a continuum of related professional activities. The firm presently employees a staff of five.

Timothy Marshall, principal and owner of ETM, has been involved with public space issues for more 25 years. Mr. Marshall was formerly the Deputy Administrator and Vice President for the Central Park Conservancy. As former Deputy Administrator and Vice President for New York City’s Central Park Conservancy, he was involved in the development of The Central Park Restoration and Management Plan, and was directly responsible for its on-going implementation as well as the day-to-day management of Central Park, one of the world’s most important public spaces.

Since forming ETM ASSOCIATES, LLC, he has served as the driving force behind an impressive list of significant national and international public space projects. Successful public spaces are achieved with forethought and planning. We have experience with a wide-range of projects and project scales. In addition to being physically attractive, parks need to be designed to suit the neighborhoods they serve. Parks that thrive and provide balance to the community are those that rise above the commonplace in the quality of design, facilities, maintenance and programs.

Free movie tonight

FARMAGEDDON showing for free at Rutgers University

WHEN: Friday, October 28, 2011, 7:00 pm Movie

Following the screening, meet the film producer Kristin Canty, and participate in a panel discussion on food choice.

Americans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why.

For clips from Farmageddon, visit: http://vimeo.com/smallfarmproject/videos

WHERE: Voorhees Hall #105, Rutgers University

Sponsored by Cook Campus Dean, College Ave Campus Dean, Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, and the Office of Undergraduate Education

FREE

Robert Moses bio pic

If Oliver Stone make HBO's Robert Moses movie, who will he cast in the lead?
h/t Kevin B

Obama on Innovation

I've been working on some writing about innovation and rediscovered my copy of the transcript from this year's State of the Union, which included a substantial section on innovation.  Since I never blogged it earlier, I'll throw in some now, with an emphasis on a couple passages that the GIS community might find more interesting.  First he reminded us of how American innovation can be:

The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn't know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do — what America does better than anyone else — is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We're the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn't just change our lives. It is how we make our living.

He then slipped into a free-enterprise innovation discussion that included a bit of geospatial: "That's what planted the seeds for the Internet. That's what helped make possible things like computer chips and GPS."

Finally, he made it part of a challenge to the country's future.  For GIScientists and technicians interested in the policy implications, this section gives some idea of where his administration is pointing us:

Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would beat them to the moon. The science wasn't even there yet. NASA didn't exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.

This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the Space Race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. We'll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology — (applause) — an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people.

 Whether Democrat or Republican, the comments of a President's speeches often guide the actions of agencies and policymakers.  It is interesting to look to see how much is being said in DC today that reflects this speech given in January.  But without a budget (which is usually a major policy tool) it is hard to figure out who is winning the policy priority tug-of-war.

A very cool web app called History Pin has popped up that tries to get some serious crowdsourcing going for linking old photos with Google Maps and even Streetview.  Check out the short video.



A few years back one of our our alums at Azavea helped made an interface like this for Philly with an unbelievable number of photos that they mapped at Philly History.
It is a shame that the two aren't merged, but maybe that will happen down the road.

h/t Chris P

Looking back on the Highlands Act

The Star-Ledger takes a look at the Highlands asking whether, after a few years in place, it is more regulatory burden or boon to water quality and the environment.

Common Lecture: Stephen Sears

Stephen Sears, University of Illinois
Points of Departure: The Potential of Vertical Workshops

Really a matter of applied problem and critique - that is our baseline

We begin with tools, but it is not the sophistication of the tool but the sophistication of the process
We bring natural impulses, intuition and balance between abstract and concrete foci
The student's design process can have an infinite number of permutations
The faculty member helps direct it through critques

Urban Transect of the Rio Atoyac, Pueblo, Mexico
Students discovered different aspects of the city embodied in different sites along the the river
How do we make this legible?
Clues included the purposeful habitation of public space

Digital media and the hypernarrative landscape
Imaging - Imagining
Looking at multiple moments at once gives us a distorted image of reality
When we create our images of the planned design, we can capture process in a static image
Like a Muybridge photo

The Round Barns | SITE
Built in 1907, at the same time as Ebeneezer Howard's Garden Cities of To-Morrow
On the Illinois campus
The barns were a reflection of the university's role as a forward thinking institution - an advanced technology helping farmers grow more cows without more help
In a land-rich setting where it is hard to manufacture program for a project



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That place by the The Thing
like the Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor
A time-based media studio
Students were all given a video camera and supplemented with phones, software, etc.
Investigated a site in Chicago

The course concluded with a 90 minute screening.

 Great takeaway:
 Even core studios are vertical, since everyone comes with a different level of experience and different sets of skills

Cool trail solutions

What works in trail and greenway design?  Just check the cool trail solutions from the National Trails Training Partnership.Whether it is something typical or specific, they've got photos from around the country.

Why did you put that tree there?

The Hairpin explores that question, but don't expect answers.

Mapping NJ's future development

There is plenty of news and opinion coverage of the changing landscape of planning in NJ.  NJ Spotlight has an article on both the scrapping of the State Plan map (maps are so 1600s?) and trying to integrate more business and financial planning into the state smart growth plan.  Reactions?  The Home News and Tribune says that PlanSmart NJ is OK with the plan while NJ Today quotes Jeff Tittel as saying that this plan will just empower those who make sprawl.  And while it is hard to find other blogs that have studied it and given a full response, you can always count on plenty of opinion from Bill Wolfe.

Lecture Announcement: Stephen Sears

LA Fall Lecture Series presents Stephen Sears


Wednesday, 10/26 at 4:00 pm

Cook/Douglas Lecture Hall

3 College Farm Road

New Brunswick, NJ


Points of Departure


When students at multiple levels collaborate in a topical studio it is virtually necessary to invent new ways of thinking and working. This talk focuses on the potential of the vertical workshop model to catalyze fundamentally unique studio experiences.

The premises and outcomes from several workshops will be presented: Urban Transect of the Rio Atoyac; Digital Media and the Hypernarrative Landscape | RE-IMAGinING [xxxsitexxx]; and That Place by the Thing…



Stephen Sears is an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, teaching studios ranging from foundation site design to advanced-level urban design; and seminars about theory, practice, media and culture.

Sears maintains an agenda of practice that includes design for marginal and contested urban territories, techniques in new media, and studies of the vernacular-cultural midwestern region. His initiatives have led to creative works about Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, Buenos Aries, Puebla and Rome, and for numerous Midwestern agrarian territories. His recently edited volume, Round Barns Projected, features student design proposals for a historic experimental dairy complex.

He holds a BS in Landscape Architecture from Purdue University and a Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design, with distinction, from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (2000); and a Fellow of the Institute for Urban Design (2009).

Microlawns

When a lawn is too small for a rotary push mower, it might be a microlawn.

Private parks for the public?

New York has some high profile public spaces that are really private.  NYC's Paley Park, shown above, is a classic example of a privately-owned public space.  WNYC points out that the OWS crowd is occupying another such park, Zucotti Park.  As such they had on both a reporter and a Harvard Professor, you can pick the one you trust more.  Previously, former Rutgers Instructor Kristine Miller wrote a book on the subject.
h/t puk

Small projects aren't always minor

Our own Rich Bartolone gets a nice mention in the Home News today for a school's courtyard design that might impact the next generation of designers.

Hutcheson Memorial Forest Tour

Hutcheson Memorial Forest Tour
Sunday, October 23rd at 2:00 p.m.

Tour Leader: Dr. Jim Quinn
(Plant Ecologist)

"A Wild Plant Walk Amongst the Colors of Fall"

The Hutcheson Memorial Forest (HMF) is a unique area consisting of one of the last uncut forests in the Mid-Atlantic States, along with the surrounding lands devoted to protection of the old forest and research into ecological interactions necessary to understand the forest. The tract is administered and protected by Rutgers University.

It is apparently the only uncut upland forest in the Piedmont of New Jersey, and appears on the National Park Service Register of Natural Landmarks.

Tours leave from the entrance of the woods on Amwell Road (Rt. 514) in Somerset. From New Brunswick, follow Hamilton Street west past JFK Blvd, Cedar Grove Lane and Elizabeth St. HMF is on the left past Gardener’s Nook Nursery. The driveway is located just past the guardrail over the brook.

The trail may be muddy in places so come prepared.

The tour through the woods and fields takes between one and two hours.

Tours are free and reservations are not required for these guided tours.** Groups of more than ten persons may not attend the guided tours. Such groups are invited to arrange special tours.

For more information and a complete tour schedule visit: http://rci.rutgers.edu/~hmforest/
**HMF is not open to the public on a daily basis.

Campus entertainment

Twitter provides an entertaining new way to see how many people noticed that today's Targum was the fake Mugrat edition.

Internship opportunity in PA

Internship opportunity

Langan Engineering & Environmental Services is now offering GIS  intern and co-op opportunities in our Doylestown, PA Office.  Langan has immediate openings and are looking for qualified candidates for the winter, spring and summer 2012 semesters.  If you know of any students that would be interested in an opportunity, please have them contact Brett using the information provided in the signature below.

Brett Milburn, GISP
Corporate Data Solutions Manager                
Direct: 215.491.6555
Mobile: 215.605.0066

Langan Engineering & Environmental Services
Phone: 215.491.6500   Fax: 215.491.6501
2700 Kelly Road, Suite 200
Warrington, PA 18976
www.langan.com

GIS Day at Burlington County College in Mount Laurel , NJ

GIS Day at Burlington County College in Mount Laurel , NJ

Wednesday, November 9th 9-4:30

The event is FREE (including Breakfast and Lunch)

Registration is requested but walk-ins will be accepted.

Register at www.co.burlington.nj.us\dit


This event should have something for everyone; from beach dune maintenance and environmental remediation to using GIS for election campaign management and how ArcGIS Online is being applied locally, plus interactive GPS and GIS workshops.

9-12 Speakers

12-1 Lunch

1-2:15 GPS Activity

2:30-4:30 GIS Lab


Be a part of GIS Day! --

*** Display your map in the map gallery! ***

In addition to the speakers and workshops, a map gallery will be on display all day. All entries will be accepted from beginner to advanced.

It's easy to enter - Just send your map to Merrilee Torres either as hardcopy (to the mailing address below) or as a PDF or JPEG (to the email address below).

Please include your name, organization and a brief abstract about your map (optional).

This is a chance to show your work - Maps that show how GIS or GPS was used to answer a question, make a decision or make someone's work easier are especially of interest!

Please send your map by the morning of Tuesday, November 8th or bring it with you on the 9th.

All maps submitted for GIS Day will also be included in the Burlington County Map Gallery and Contest the following week (see attachments for details).

Some weekend reading

The Grand Map.

Great Public Spaces from APA

The APA has released their list of great public spaces for 2011 and it includes an impressive variety of public spaces from unknown urban and grand landmarks to natural places and preserved historic sites.

When art and obesity meet

One urban artist has been fighting obesity without permission.

Cheap energy = sprawl?

One of the smart growth measures used in New Jersey places the burden of new infrastructure on the new developments that need it.  If a new neighborhood needs an expensive extension off of the power grid, either the new neighbors should pay for it or maybe the neighborhood shouldn't get built.  But a change in policy might shift the burden of infrastructure for McMansions to the people who are already living in less inefficient ways.  Is this about finding appropriate policies for BPU or part of an ongoing fight against government efforts to shape the NJ landscape?

MLK Memorial

Dilemma

The Homes News and Tribune had as its top story the other day, a difficult environmental dilemma.  A protected meadow area in Franklin, the Negri-Nepote Grassland Preserve, has been overtaken by the Canada thistle an invasive species.  And, since the the thistle is spreading very quickly and impacting nearby farmland, many in the community want to see it sprayed with an herbicide that will minimize the weed for some time.

But wait! It turns out that the thistle have been great for bees.  And everyone knows that the diminished population of these pollinators has been an important issue.  So maybe we should wait an talk about this trade-off for a while.

Once there is a frost, the herbicide is not effective.  So if they are going to use it, they have to decide now.  Maybe.

Or could they go organic?

It would all be easier if invasives weren't brought in to begin with.  And maybe that is the lesson for future efforts.

More bikes

In addition to those DC bikes (posted this morning), I am reposting these photos of a Nice Ride bike station in downtown Minneapolis.  Admittedly DC has rough winters (remember Snowmegeddon?), but biking in a place where the football team has to play indoors seems like an occasional leisure activity than a serious form of transportation.  But the Twin Cities turn out to have plenty of 4 season bicycle commuters.  Think you could do it?

Guest Lecture in Fundamentals of Environemtnal Geomatics

One of the things we talked about was the UCGIS GIS&T Body of knowledge.  Most importantly, here is the list of 330 topic worth knowing about the field.

I also spoke briefly about the importance of open data sharing.  You can find a more complete explanation of my findings from that study at the URISA Journal (free).

We talked about the early days of GIS. Here is one of the people we talked about:



Links to different organizations and agencies mentioned in the lecture include:

• GSDI
• NJ OGIS
• FGDC
• The National Map
• URISA
• UCGIS
• Geospatial One Stop

Bikes in the nation's capitol

Like many other cities, Washington DC now has a pretty comprehensive bike rental system.  If you pop up the 2nd photo you can clearly see the map of bike stations across the city.

Check out this massive glass shed of bikes at Union Station. They look like they have enough bikes for every tourist in the District.

And the result, that I found exciting, was an increased number of bikes at the monuments and attractions.

Streetscapes in design competitions

In class we've been talking about how design competitions bring out some of the wilder solutions.  But the winning entries in "Designing the 21st Century Street" seemed to emphasize how realistic solutions that already exist (in some form) can be applied in a careful and coordinated manner to transform an existing street in New York City into something that is safer and more livable.  A common theme was making the city streets work for as many users as possible, often resorting to different kinds of traffic calming devices to make the streets safer.

For example, while Rogers Marvel Architects used some of the same elements as other entrants (bike lane in the middle, better pedestrian connections, reaching out beyond the street, etc.) their Streets for Everyone! design employed paving patterns in ways that emphasized their design concept.  "Shared Space" lives up to its name by altering the boundaries between sidewalks, bike lanes and car lanes to make the entire street space feel shared by all users.
If you want something wilder, you might have to look to Di Magazine's competition for a Beijing streetscape.  You can only get a tiny peek at the results of the Sunset Junction Competition.  And I don't see the entries, but you can check out the results of the Syracuse Connective Corridor process that began with a competition.

Who needs winners?  If we can look past streetscapes, the Rising Waters competition posted ALL of their entrants online.  So you can see the realistic, the visionary, the colorful and the wacky.

If all else fails, you should at least look over the ASLA Student Design Awards.

Avoiding Powerpoint comas

LifeHacker posted a guide to making presentations that suck less.  Edward Tufte's Congnitive Style of Powerpoint might be the best overall guide. If you want ongoing commentary, Presentation Zen offers some greate examples of ways to improve your visual aids.  And, watching Ted Talks is never a bad way to get some ideas.

A peanut park

New York City has a new park inspired by peanuts.  (Not Peanuts)

Jens Eschrich on Frankfurt Oder

LA Fall Lecture Series presents Jens Eschrich

Wednesday, 10/5 at 4:00 pm

Cook/Douglas Lecture Hall

3 College Farm Road

New Brunswick, NJ

Frankfurt Oder—Reconstruction of a City

The city of Frankfurt (Oder) was founded in the 13th century. During World War II, the historical centre was destroyed with the conquest by the Soviet Army. In the socialist society of the 1949 founded “German Democratic Republic”, the city was supposed to be developed as an industrial centre and a “Socialist City”. The city centre itself was totally restructured, only the main churches, the city hall and very few historical buildings of normal lodgement survived. Towards the end of the GDR in 1989, the city was one of the centres GDR of chip-technology with a population of about 88,000.

After 1989 and the reunifications of the two German states, the city had to find a new role in a changed society. Losing about 1.000 to 1.500 inhabitants every year, today the population down to 60,000 people, but it is projected that the shrinking process will continue.

The presentation provides an impression of the historical city as well as the socialist city. Three examples of reconstruction are presented: A church, the marketplace and a park. They illustrate a changed paradigm aspects of city development and reconstruction in the new political system and the transformed society after 1990.

Jens Eschrich, holds a degree  Art History, History and Sociology from the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg. Since 1990, his work as an art historian focused different aspects of conservation of monuments in Berlin and Brandenburg. In 2000 he joined the Historic Preservation Office of the City of Frankfurt (Oder).

Career field of the future

Jack Dangermond writes about the job market, pointing out that spatial isn't just special but it is also going to be in high demand:

I think that the real growth opportunity is in the area of spatial thinking. As people in all types of positions become more familiar with the value of geography, they begin to ask more intelligent questions about the world, and they begin to make more informed decisions. The coming opportunities for spatial thinkers will be even greater than those we are seeing for geospatial technology professionals.

So do you want a job or not?

Designing infographics: sports edition

Information communication guru Edward Tufte has posted a interesting discussion by Ric Werme about creating communicative sports graphics. But it could could just as easily apply to changing demographics or stormwater runoff, etc.

Entomology Seminar

Friday, October 7, 2011
Dr. Steven Handel, Honorary ASLA
Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources
Rutgers University

"Constraints on restoring insect populations to new urban habitats."

Blake Hall - Room 152
Seminar Begins at 11:00am

Using GPS to ease traffic

MIT's Technology Review reports on a new strategy by Beijing to use GPS to combat traffic.

Live Blog: Wansoo Im

2011 Environmental Geomatics  Lecture

Wansoo Im, Vertices, Inc.
PPGIS: Promoting Community Engagement

Lots of projects:

Using GIS for persons with disability in Korea
   with custom app for iPhone and Android

A middle school worked with Vertices to create their own map of deer sightings and accidents.

In Nashville they created a portal for crime and health issues.

Here in NJ he worked with CRSSA to create a stormwater mapping tool.
Their mapping application for rivers, IM Rivers, is used by organizations around the country working to improve the environment.
Their work on the Lower Columbia River help galvanize volunteer efforts.

Closer to home, members of the West Windsor community have used his tools to map walkability
In Woodbridge students contributed to a walkability audit

Current students might also want to check out other projects like:
His Mappler app was used to map Healthy Food Options in New Brunswick.
An interactive map of photos from along the Delaware and Raritan Canal
The Franklin Township SOCIO project mapped Safe Routes to School
In Garfield students mapped Healthy Assets and Walkability
New Brunswick students mapped bike racks and train stations

Save The Raritan River  (Look for our group photo!)



Current students might be particularly interested in the D&R Canal

Meetings that no one cares about

There are plenty of small public meetings that go by with few or no members of the public in attendance.  But, in Georgia, a "big" public meeting was set up to present a proposed regional transportation plan before holding a vote on a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)to pay for it, and no one came.  The local paper got some fun quotes and great photos of the display that went unseen.

Wansoo Im on PPGIS: Promoting Community Engagement

Fall 2011 Environmental Geomatics Lecture

Dr. Wansoo Im, Vertices, Inc.
Public Participatory GIS: Promoting Community Engagement
Wednesday, September 28 at 4pm
Cook-Douglass Lecture Hall Room 110

Recent innovation of information technology with interoperability has enabled community organizations to utilize GIS technology with few obstacles.  A brief overview of GIS technology and cases studies of community mapping will be presented to show how PPGIS can encourage community participation in environmental and health issues.

Dr. Wansoo Im is the founder of VERTICES, LLC, a geospatial information services company providing innovative and interactive map-based solutions.  In addition to VERTICES, he is an assistant professor at the department of Family and Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College.  He is an adjunct faculty at Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.    He specializes in developing decision support systems using a public participatory approach and interactive web-based geographical information systems. Dr. Im received his Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his Ph.D. from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Since 1991, Dr. Im has taught GIS courses for various schools including the Department of Urban Studies and Community Health at Rutgers University, and the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering/Institute for Transportation Studies at New Jersey Institute of Technology.  Dr. Im is most proud of his web portal, http://www.imrivers.org, which is currently being used by multiple environmental organizations across the United States.  His work on community participatory internet mapping was featured in The New Yorker magazine in 2006 and The New York Times in 2008

Twitter hot spots

Check out this incredible live heat map of Twitter use.  Early in the morning here, you can see New York starting to wake up while Tukey and Indonesia are already on fire.  I'm not so sure about those little water droplets.

A different kind of food environment

While mapping the food environment is a challenge, gawking at it may be easier.

What a great lawn!

This should make a great stop on the fall field trip's guided tour.

Lecture: Construction as Catalyst

Construction as Catalyst: Building Value through Hands-on Participation 

Andrew Fox, North Carolina State

Wednesday, 9/21 at 4:00 pm,

Cook/Douglas Lecture Hall;

3 College Farm Road

New Brunswick, NJ

How are individuals and organizations that are unfamiliar with the technicalities of design, construction, and maintenance processes supposed to truly understand and value the holistic systems required to both develop and maintain sustainable sites? An inclusive, participatory approach to the design-construction cycle offers one solution. A community-based, hands-on approach helps synthesize beneficial relationships and promote innovation that exceed standard solutions by integrating creative, technical, financial, and managerial aspects into a framework of engagement and education. The strategic partnerships fostered through this site development model produce economical, innovative, and engaging public landscapes because their integrated assemblies nurture cooperation and collaboration, embrace localized environmental processes, and celebrate the deep connections between our social and physical environs. This lecture will describe an integrated design methodology that fuses practice, policy, place, and participation to achieve environmentally responsive and socially responsible solutions in the public realm. Examples from past, present, and future projects will be presented, and conclude with a discussion of how these principles are currently guiding the development and delivery of a Design/Build Initiative at North Carolina State University.

Andrew Fox, ASLA is a registered landscape architect and Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at North Carolina State University. Fox specializes in the design of public landscapes with a strategic focus on low impact development (LID) practices and stakeholder engagement. His experience includes projects that range in scope from citywide transportation and urban design initiatives, to public parks and school sites, to landscape architectural education. During his career, Andrew’s work has been recognized by numerous professional organizations and agencies, including the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), American Institute of Architects (AIA), Council of Educational Facilities Planners International (CEFPI), United States Green Building Council (USGBC), North Carolina State University and the City of Raleigh.