Fire up this grill

What better way to celebrate Memorial Day than with the World BBQ.

Is 3D printing good for landscape architecture?

Does quick literal production help us create? Or are we better off using our imagination? Is this somehow different than larger models?

New things to see at NYBG

The New York Botanical Gardens has filled the Haupt Conservatory with "a modest reproduction" of what the original gardens at the Alhambra might have been like, according to the NY Times.  And, as ArtDaily points out, the museum at the NYBG has an accompanying display.  If you go, you should remember to check out Darrel Morrison's new designs for the areas around the Old Snuff Mill.

Reading suggestions from NJCF

In her weekly column, The State We're In, NJCF's Executive Director Michelle Byers offers some great suggestions for summer reading.  The column offers more than just a list, but it also links readers with a virtual book club so you stay engaged.

Creative bike maps win award

Simon Parker has created a creative set of bike maps for London that look like the belong on the wall next to a map of the underground. The maps were one of the winning entries in the GeoVation competition.  They aren't just cool looking maps, they are representative of a small trend I am seeing of producing many more bike maps as a serious activity,

DVR Alert!

Tonight at 9pm NJN viewers will get to see the story of Atlantic Crossing.

The connection between health and design

The Home News and Tribune talks to St Peter's Hospital's architect about how design is being used to help the patients.

Flood map

ESRI has created a dynamic map of flooding impacts along the Lower Mississippi River.  I am afraid that pretty soon you will have to zoom in on Louisiana to see the points clearly.

Congrats to Class of 2011

Congratulations to all of our new grads.  The new tradition is still settling in.  Just because the ceremonies are over doesn't mean you can't keep reading Places and Spaces.

Battle over the D&R is ramping up

Should the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission remain an independent state agency or become part of the NJ DEP?  It looks like the answer to that question won't be answered without a fight. 

NEW JERSEY COLLEGIATE CAREER DAY

48th semi-annual NEW JERSEY COLLEGIATE CAREER DAY - ALL STUDENTS

Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 9:30 - 3:30, RSC & Brower Commons. 

Over 130 employers with full-time jobs and internships!

Open to the public - bring your friends.

Check our website for parking instructions.

Details, resume submittal, and a list of employers at

http://careerservices.rutgers.edu beginning May 1.

Look for the link at the top of the page. 

Email njccd@echo.rutgers.edu with questions.

Note to readers:  Unlike job fairs, career days can be useful for more than just job seekers, because they give you a chance to find out what the different fields are like and what employers would like to eventually see on your resume.  While there probably won't be any boutique LA firms, there may be a few massive corporations or agencies, like the EPA, whose hiring practices will teach you a lot even as a sophomore.  BTW, Geomatics students might want to check out the UPS Information Services group as well as the FBI.

Before you leave campus

Check out the Honeycomb at Blake...

I can't wait to see it in person.

Atchafalaya and Bonnet Carre

NOLA.com is providing some great coverage of the potential flooding headed towards Louisiana.  To keep the river from spilling over the levees in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the Corps is throwing open the floodgates to release as much water as possible down both the Atchafalaya and the Bonnet Carre.  They hope to use the wetlands to absorb the impact.  Anyway, check the photos and videos and keep checking back.  And, in the meantime, read the essay on the Atchafalaya control structure in John McPhee's Control of Nature.

Explore the Meadowlands

MERI (The Meadowlands Education and Research Institute) has created a great set of online maps. Ii'd be a good way to explore the Meadowlands if you've never been.

Slope maps

Here is a basic slope map.
I had never seen a slope map quite like this one of some ski slopes.
Since a slope map doesn't show much by itself, here is a way to combine it with something else.

New urbanism revisted

As you wrap yup the semester, you might fin an interesting difference between the official look of new urbanism at CNU.org and Witold Rybczynski's critical look at Celebration after 10 years.

Plant Stewardship Index Class

Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Using the Plant Stewardship Index

Leslie Sauer Founding Partner, Andropogon Associates, Ltd.

Friday May 20 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Fee: $125 (includes lunch)

Restoring and managing degraded natural areas is of growing importance to sustaining our environment. This workshop focuses on using the Plant Stewardship Index (PSI) Program as a working tool for documenting and guiding our management efforts. This method is scientifically-based and comparable over time. Using the PSI webpage and illustrated with case studies, workshop topics include baseline monitoring, management monitoring, choosing appropriate species for restoration, evaluating exclosures, trail siting and planting monitoring.

PSI is also useful for municipal and agency applications such as evaluating land exchanges, protocols for mitigation and easement maintenance. Special attention will be given to contracting opportunities for management applications. Leslie has been instrumental in developing the Plant Stewardship Index Program at Bowmans Hill Wildflower Preserve.

This course carries 5.5 CEU’s for ISA arborists.

To register online: www.business-services.upenn.edu/arboretum/ed_arboriculture.shtml

or call the Morris Arboretum at 215-247-5777 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            215-247-5777      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, ext. 125 or 156

Visit us on the web: www.morrisarboretum.org

Mapping the Buffalo Commons

Planning Studio Presentation: Mapping the Buffalo Commons
Tuesday, May 10
3:30 p.m., Room 369

There will be an informal presentation by this semester's Buffalo Commons graduate planning studio, Mapping the Buffalo Commons, on Tuesday, May10, in Room 369 at 3:30 PM. All are welcome to attend!

Azalea Garden at NYBG

The new Azalea Garden is opening at the New york Botanic Garden and is getting warm reviews.

Summer Internship

With only a week until the deadline, students interested in an Our Earth internship should get it in gear.

Cinco de Mayo

Celebrate Cinco de mayo by looking over a few ASLA award winning projects in Mexico. 

Grupo De Diseño Urbano SC highlight an part what might be the oldest park in the Americas with their design of the Fountain Promenade at Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Mexico. They also designed a great residential landscape at the Malinalco House. DIRT tried to revision part of the Mexico City basin.

Brownfields

In the final minutes of the final lecture, I mentioned brownfields as a trendy topic in environmental planning.  Here are a few extra resources on that:

• The NJ DEP FAQ on Brownfields
• The EPA Brownfields program 
• Dr. Wolfram Hoefer had his students redesign the old Hackensack Waterworks
• Rutgers' National Center for Brownfields and Neighborhood Redevelopment
• Or look at my photos of the Duisburg Nord Landscape Park

Couple pushes for vast nature preserve in the midwest

I can't post every story that is published about the Poppers, but this seemed like a nice local piece from Iowa.

SCOTUS cases

While we talked about a number of takings cases in class, we didn't have a reading to supplement those lectures.  To help I've rushed to slap together some links, although I can't claim to have read them all.  Which also means that I cannot vouch for their quality or usefulness other than in the most indirect ways.

From Wikipedia/SOTUSWiki:

• Euclid v. Ambler
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolan_v._City_of_Tigard
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central_Transportation_Co._v._New_York_City
• Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Commission
• Nollan v. CCC
  
• Stop the Beach Renourishment Vs. Florida DEP
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London

Cornell Law School has pulled up some of the SCOTUS texts:

• Penn Central - http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0438_0104_ZS.html
• Dolan - http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/93-518.ZD.html
• Nollan - http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0483_0825_ZS.html
• Kelo - http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-108.ZO.html

The APA's policy blog delves a little deeper into state responses to Kelo.

Trees to watch

From The Onion.  And, no, this will not be on the exam.