Maker Park at Bushwick Inlet

It seems that each potential post-industrial park has to be debated again as if it were the first. Hence, the NYTimes coverage of the proposed Maker Park at Bushwick Inlet.

(Naturally, I don't mean that all of these parks should be slam dunks either. Each new park is its own park. It just seems like the coverage never recognizes that these are advancing a collective idea over time.)

For booklovers

Do you remember Andre Chiote's posters of Brazilian World Cup stadia? Now Chiote has developed some elegant posters of great libraries around the world. Awesome illustrations.

Geohealth Lab @ CRSSA

If you haven't seen what we are doing at the Geohealth Lab, this is a great time to check out our website. It has been updated and is getting more traffic.

Work at the intersection of health and GIS is growing quickly. UCSB hosted a meeting on the topic in December.  URISA has a GIS and Health meeting that starts in a week. And Esri hired a Chief Medical Officer last year. It is an exciting time to see what is happening in the field.Esri has also created a Zika story map worth exploring.

Sea level rise and property values

While the news story is several months old, I was struck when I read this story from Key Largo. It details how the streets of Key Largo are flooding with increasing frequency. The article includes a picture of a flooded street on what appears to be an otherwise nice day - just a high tide with a super moon will do it. But the interesting twist was this quote:

"So far we have not been seeing buyers being concerned with sea level rise, which I'm a little surprised given all the media attention it has garnered lately," said Lisa Ferringo, president of the Marathon/Lower Keys Board of Realtors.

When will shore towns see that change? How much flooding is a meaningful inconvenience? Is this a bubble about to burst or a new standard of social resilience. Seems like there should be some sociologists building predictive models on this.

Did you hear it?

NPR's Science Friday visited Duke Farms.

GIS and Health

URISA's 2016 GIS and Health Symposium

Mapping the Way to Healthy CommunitiesJune 1-3, 2016 - Washington, DC

 

Detroit's new ecology

Here is yet another interesting use for vacant sites in Detroit: Joan Nassauer is turning old basements into bioretention gardens. One report on the project suggested that it is about more than just stormwater:

"I do think these projects have the ability to inspire hope," Mobley said. "And they reinforce a message to residents: We haven't forgotten about you. You're important. You matter."

Geohealth 2016

With Summer underway, this is a great time to step back and look at larger topics. In particular, if you are interested in applications of GIS for health applications, you might start with the recently updated website for out Geohealth Lab Group at CRSSA.

Commencement Season 2016

 

 

Old photos of the LA River

Curbed LA has some amazing old photos of the LA River before it was a concrete canyon.

Most Endangered in NJ

The most endangered historic sites in New Jersey has been announced for 2016. I was particularly disappointed to hear that the Whyman House in Elizabeth made the list. It must have been a very handsome house in its time, but now it is a somewhat expensive opportunity in a city where history seems often forgotten.

Get out there!

Looking for something to do between all of the different commencement ceremonies this weekend? On Saturday you could get out and help clean up Middlesex County to make it a little better for the birds.

Roberto Burle Marx

This is going to be a great exhibit.

Carto-coloring

Finals are almost done and you are worried about how to fill your summer? Consider spending countless hours on the new cartographic coloring book, City Maps: A Coloring Book for Adults. It makes a great gift for cartographic instructors as well.

Slope Map

When was the last time you really looked at a slope map?

Happy Birthday Jane Jacobs

Today would have been the 100th birthday of Jane Jacobs.

Libby Nelson has a great piece on Vox celebrating Jacob's upbeat attitude about cities:

"Her theory of how cities worked was based on how she saw people behave, rather than how architects hoped they would behave. (She didn't mince words, either: In 1958, she called these experts "egocentric children, playing with pretty blocks and shouting "See what I made!")"

And Saskia Sassen at The Guardian summed up her work saying that:

"She understood it is the weaving of multiple strands that makes the city so much more than the sum of its residents, or its grand buildings, or its corporate economy."

 And as you can guess from the image above, Google is celebrating her with today's cartoon/image.

Noguchi viewing

If you are in the area, stop by the U-Haul facility on South Kingsbridge in St Louis on the evening of May 19th for an open viewing of the Noguchi.

Star Wars

May the 4th be with you.
To celebrate Star Wars Day, check out this great map which repurposed the London Underground cartogram as a chart map of the Star Wars universe.

10 ______ that changed America

As a Reading Day turns into a cramming night, EnvPlan students could spend a little time watching an episode or two of the 10 that Changed America

• 10 Towns that Changed America including Seaside and the Pearl District
• 10 Homes that Changed America
• 10 Buildings that Changed America
• 10 Parks that Changed America
which should be mandatory viewing for all students in landscape architecture

Save one or two for after Finals as a celebration.

The Garden of Earthly Delights

I had the privilege last summer of taking a dozen landscape architecture students to see The Garden of Earthly Delights. It was a wonderful experience and I am sad that I don't have time to do it again for another 8 years.

However! You don't need to go. An interactive documentary has been created by Pieter van Huijstee to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Hieronymus Bosch's death later this year. Even if you have visited El Prado, you should take a few minutes to bask in the glory of this wonderful painting. It still amazes me to think how old it is. Parts of it seem more like a mid-20th Century painting.

More than freebies

Is Princeton University a good neighbor?