Erosion can be fast

 The Grand Canyon might make you think that erosion happens slowly, but this video of gully erosion shows that it can happen fast too.

FloodCam

Sea Isle City has installed a live cam to help the general public observe coastal flooding on neighborhood streets. While a coastal storm can cause flooding, keep an eye on the tide charts for sunny day flooding.

First egg of the new year

The Duke Farms bald eagles have laid the first egg of the year. You can watch live: 

But sometimes they watch back

In Jackson Heights

As a parallel to the Monrovia pieces, here are some Jackson Heights bits.

I think this is one of the shopping centers that is discussed in the movie:

Peter Bradshaw's review of the film for The Guardian talks about some of the grassroots discussions about redevelopment of the neighborhood. After talking up the diversity of the neighborhood, he describes the tension:

But all this is under threat. Jackson Heights' very identity could be slipping away. Rather like west London, it is being on the point of being gentrified and yuppified to within an inch of its life. Now that Manhattan and Brooklyn are costly and fashionable, the white-collar commuting classes are zeroing in on Jackson Heights, attracted by the charming community spirit that the modest locals have built up over decades - and pricing them out. Local businesses are also being threatened by a scheme called the Business Improvement District or BID which forces business owners to pay an additional tax to support the surrounding infrastructure. Poorer businesses below a certain threshold theoretically need not pay – but they find themselves under pressure to sell up by the bigger corporations moving in and the freeholders are putting their rents up.

The concerns about gentrification and the development of the BID were enough to stop it, eventually.

The NY Mag guide to the neighborhood. The NY Times diversity map of the City.

Manohla Dargis' review of In Jackson Heights talks about how it captures a complex place, "Each person and storefront sign carries a story, opens another world, from “Articulos Católicos” to “Himalayan Driving School” and “Whole Baby Goat.”"

Monrovia, Indiana

Aside from the Wikipedia entry, here are some other materials on the cinematic little town:

A second entrance to Homestead, a neighborhood of new homes

The public library on Street View does not yet seem to have the benches (as of July 2018).

The Town Council still has some familiar faces.

When the film was released, NPR said on Monrovia, Indiana that "Monrovia, Indiana lopes along pleasingly, if a bit too casually, with nothing more dramatic than Homestead resident complaining about the fire hydrants that serve a strictly ornamental purpose in his neighborhood." In November 2020 there was a fire in Homestead which made the hydrants seem pretty important.

The Census lists it as only 1504 people, with the average home value of $77,000. But the home home for sale on Zillow is listed at $299,484.

Sandy River Flood

In class, we talked briefly about a great video by Alexandra Erickson that makes the dangerous flooding of the Sandy River look more beautiful than threatening.

Here is a map of the Sandy River near its confluence with the Zigzag River.

 

And, they say it will happen again.

Aldo Leopold and Green Fire

Green Fire is an award-winning documentary about Aldo Leopold and his work promoting stewardship.

Sandy River Flood

From class yesterday, scary scenes with good music ("La Femme D'argent" by Air).
Here is a map showing the river's location.

Caught Mapping

PlaNetizen had a great Friday Eye Candy on hand-drawn maps that included this classic film, Caught Mapping. It presents a fairly auto-centric view of mapping, but is a fun step back in time.

 

Reading a hydrograph

For students interested in refreshing their memories on the way that hydrographs work, this video should help out.



Could you read a hydrograph if it showed up on the exam? What does this have to do with Environmental Planning?

Cuyahoga River fire

One of the more famous environmental planning disasters in American history centers around the polluting of Cleveland's Cuyahoga River. It is amazing to look back and see how bad things were for the river when it caught fire in 1969. The website, The Pop History Dig, has posted a recollection of that tumultuous time.

How much better is it today? Now the Cuyahoga Valley is a National Park!

Barcelona Pavillion

I am a huge fan of the Barcelona Pavilion, one of Mies van der Rohe's greatest designs. I got hooked on it as a sophomore and have visited it repeatedly. One of the really fun ways I have shared that is taking students there, a true thrill for me.

But I mention it today because I just discovered a great video about the Pavilion. Made by the Arts & Culture Bureau, the video brings this seemingly simple structure to life. Here at the end of a stressful semester, it is a relaxing way to spend 30 minutes:

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.

Parks on TV

On April 10 PBS stations around the US are airing a special called 10 Parks that Changed America. Watch the preview here.

Staten Island resiliency changes

NY1 reports that since Superstorm Sandy, New York CIty's Build it Back program has elevated 25 homes in Staten Island above the floodplain. But these elevated homes change the feeling of the neighborhood fairly dramatically. 

NY1 writes that "the problem is, while some are raising their homes so they can get cheaper flood insurance, others are choosing not to." But there is also the simpler problem that it changes the street into an unintended canyon that the designs don't address. We are going to see more of this near our shores, especially in urban neighborhoods, with designers starting to propose some interest solutions.

The Rutgers LA Housing Studio taught by Kate Higgins took a look at how resiliency-driven design decisions could change a neighborhood at the shore. Check out the video. 

Flood Video

From class today, scary scenes with good music ("La Femme D'argent" by Air).

National Parks

Today is the last day in the Byrne Seminar on National Parks and Parklands. The conversation will include a very brief discussion about International National Parks. One of the places that will get mentioned is Virunga National Park in the Congo. Virunga is the subject of a recent documentary available on Netflix that is powerful and important but also highlights how different their national parks are from ours. We contrasted it with the recent Ken Burns series on PBS about the U.S. National Parks: America's Best Idea. 

The links above are to YouTube-hosted previews for each. Compare and contrast.

Motion sensitive site furnishings

Technology is beginning to make radical changes to the urban experience. Imagine how street crossings might change when computer-driven vehicles are the majority. And now, in Israel, we can stop imagining what an urban space might be like when the site furnishings respond to visitors' presence.


 
Warde from HQ Architects on Vimeo.

Make gorgeous maps

Why let the GIS software have all the fun? These 4 videos show you how to make absolutely gorgeous maps the hard way.

Ways of designing

How many different ways of designing are there? Carl Steinitz gives us a good start with the ones he details in this 35 minute geodesign video.