They're taking over!

From The Big Picture.

Burnham's plan turns 100

Daniel Burnham's Plan for Chicago is turning 100. The New Yorker explores what is means. Some people want to celebrate with a memorial, some don't like the current proposal. Others want a new plan. I'm sure there'll be more in the coming weeks and months.

Post-sprawl Las Vegas?

An interesting look at what is next for Las Vegas. To help figure it out, Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani is pushing for an inventory of the exurban ghettos. In reality there is no plan, just confusion.

The apartment vacancy rate is 16 percent, while for homes it is 4.7 percent, according to a recent Forbes report. Schwer thinks the Forbes’ apartment data is overstated, but still, with population flat or declining, it’s clear the construction industry will lie dormant for years.

But there’s a hopeful upside, as noted by Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, the Las Vegas Democrat: Without the constant banging of hammer on nail, Southern Nevada can use the silence to think about what it wants to be. “Because of the downturn, the foreclosures, yes it’s a crisis, but it’s created an opportunity for us to rethink what our city is and what it can be for everyone.”

Corridor, Core and More

The Chattooga River Conservation Plan includes a look at Core, Corridor and Restoration Area Principles. The squeeze in some 'edge effects' too. It is a good place to begin when you are looking for an example of an application of these ecological issues.

Digital Madison

Here is a little more on the Sketch-Up/Google Earth modeling of Madison, NJ.

Common Lecture: Simulate, then Make

This upcoming Wednesday 3/4 we will be honored to welcome
Richard Garber, Department of Architecture NJIT & GRO Architects NYC
Simulate, then Make

The lecture Simulate, Then Make will examine the trajectory and impact of digital tools on the architectural design process and suggest a paradigm shift from conventional design practices has occurred. Four recent projects by GRO Architects, including the re:Construction installation project and a prototype for high-performance urban infill housing will be presented to support this hypothesis.

Richard Garber is an Assistant Professor at the New Jersey School of Architecture, where he teaches design studios and directs the school's FABLAB. His work involves the use of computer simulation and computer numerically controlled (CNC) hardware in the generation of innovative design, construction and assembly solutions. In 2007 his practice, GRO Architects, won the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's re:Construction competition. The resulting work, Best Pedestrian Route, was fabricated at NJSOA's FABLAB and stood as a temporary structure at the corner of Broadway and John Street in Lower Manhattan through 2008. In February 2008, he won an AIA Merit Award for these efforts; and in May 2008 he received a NY Designs Award from the Architectural League of New York. He was also the Emerging Architect Visiting Assistant Professor at Barnard College in 2007 with Nicole Robertson. May 2009 will see the US the release of his book (Architectural Design) "Closing the Gap: Information Models in Contemporary Design Practice" published by John Wiley & Sons. Prior to coming to NJIT he was a project manager at SHoP Architects in New York, where he worked on the firm's 2000 winning PS1 entry, Dunescape; and Han Gil Sa Publishing Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. He was also a project designer at Greg Lynn FORM in Venice, CA, where he worked on the Presbyterian Church of New York. His writing and design work has been published in the New York Times, the Star Ledger, The Architect's Newspaper, Azure, Art News, Metropolis, and Architectural Record. He holds architecture degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University.

www.groarc.com

Time: 4:00-5:15 PM
Location: <http://maps.rutgers.edu/building.aspx?1079> Cook Douglass Lecture Hall 110.

March Madness

It is that time of year. The college basketball season is reaching the point where it infects people who are usually immune to sports.

To celebrate, the NY Times' A. O. Scott made a video review of Hoosiers, the greatest basketball movie ever. And that led me to read Janet Maslin's original review when it came out. It is a pretty fun way to mark the changes of the seasons, and Places and Spaces will also help host a NCAA bracket tourney, so keep your eyes open.

Ecological Urbanism

Harvard is hosting a meeting on Ecological Urbanism and it sounds fascinating. The conference is being headlined by Homi Bhabha and Rem Koolhaas. The program seems long on designers and planners and short on environmental scientists ecologists, but there are notable exceptions like Richard T. T. Forman. Solutions are going to be integrative, so they require a diverse group:

The conference will bring together design practitioners and theorists, economists, engineers, environmental scientists, politicians and public health specialists, with the goal of reaching a more robust understanding of ecological urbanism and what it might be in the future.

Like so much of the new sustainability and green design, the science has to be sound. Presumably that means finding a way to increase the scientific dialogue without losing the richness of the design solutions.

3d Sketch-up version

According to CNN you can now become an Eagle scout by using Sketch-up. More specifically, one guy in nearby Madison, NJ is training other folks so they can collectively make a digital model of their entire town to drop into Google Earth.

First exam for EnvPlan postponed

In light of the complicated and unpredictable weather coming tomorrow, I have decided to go ahead and postpone the first exam for 11:372:231 Fundamentals of Environmental Planning from Monday to Thursday (March 5). One station says nearly a foot is expected, so you should anticipate bus delays, nasty driving conditions, and good sledding.

Please note: I will NOT cancel Monday's class unless Rutgers officially closes. Check here for official campus status. We will go ahead with Lecture 4/Chapter 4, which will be on the Second Exam.

Here is what the NWS says to expect:

Get ready.

Hydrographs

Since our book didn't go into much of a discussion of flash floding, I went into it a little more in class. One of the resources I used was a hydrograph. If you didn't get it the first time, you might check out this link from the BBC.

Desert View Tri-Villages area

A peek at a landscape (described in The Living Landscape, Chapter 3) that'll look different than ours.


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Seminar: Machinic ecologies: rethinking urban nature

The Geography Colloquium Series is pleased to present:
"Machinic ecologies: rethinking urban nature."

Bruce Braun
Department of Geography
Institute for Global Studies
University of Minnesota

Friday March 6
2:00 pm
B267 Lucy Stone Hall

Refreshments will be served and reception will follow.

Federal money for College Ave redesign

The Home News and Tribune reports, Congress approved a new $410 billion spending bill this week that included $950,000 for the redesign of College Avenue.

Free museums in NYC

Maybe next time you take that trip into the City, you could squeeze in a free musuem. GridSkipper has developed a map of 7 museums that are either free or have special opportunities for free admission. And they left off the great, free Museum at the Hispanic Society.

Changing Times Square

The NY Times reports that Mayor Bloomberg wants to clean up Times Square. No, he isn't pushing out undesirable businesses or fighting against litter there. Mayor Bloomberg wants to get rid of the traffic, at least on the Broadway side. The Times found a New Jerseyan wh didn't like the idea:

“I like the happy hubbub,” said Melissa Gasparis, of Upper Saddle River, N.J., who was strolling through Times Square on Thursday. She said she was afraid the mayor’s plan would make the place less vibrant, because the sidewalks would be less crowded and the streets more free-flowing.

“I like to drive through Times Square,” Ms. Gasparis said. “It cheers me up. It’s big, bright and fun.”

Clearly chaos is a positive attribute in Times Square. But is it enough to preserve the traffic on just one side? If it lessens the "frenzy," is the added safety and move away from cars still worth it?

RotD: Part I

1. EnvPlan class website
2. Ian McHarg and Design With Nature
3. Phil Lewis
4. USGS Topographic Quad Sheets
5. County Soils Survey
6. Video - No RotD
7. Geographic Exploration Systems (aka Virtual Globes)
8. Planning Weblogs, like PlaNetizen
9. TRI Data and RTKnet.org
10. NRIs and ERIs

Liveblog: Bayonne Golf Club

Dr. Richard Hurley

The Bayonne Golf Club (New Jersey): A Case Study for Building a World-Class Golf Course on a Land Fill in New Jersey.

The talk focused on an interesting site on the Hudson that is built on fill dreged from the Hudson and on an old municipal landfill.  The Bayonne Golf Club was developed, designed and constructed by Eric Bergstol.  As often happens, the project has a lengthy history on paper, and this one also has a lengthy history in the reclamation of the site.  

 1996 - negotiations for ownership

 2004 - shaping

 2005 - seeding

 2006 - open

 2008 - clubhouse opens

This project had to address countless legal and policy issues, which required a large team ranging from attorneys to plants folks (like Stephen Kristoff) to wetlands experts (like Princeton Hydro) to landscape architects (like Margie Ruddick). Even when the site passed health standards, conditions (like Ph) were still insufficient for the growing conditions that Hurley sought. 3.5 million cubic yards of topsoil had to be brought in to cap the site. 80,000 yards of sand were brought in for fairways and tees. Kristoff brought in over 50,000 plants, many of which needed to be salt tolerant.

Right now Live.com has before and after photos available in its birds-eye views.

More funding for Green Job Training Partnership Program

Green job training in NJ has gotten some new funding. According to BusinessWire:

New Jersey Resources (NJR) today announced the formation of the Conserve to Preserve Foundation and presented its first grant of $300,000 to the state’s Green Job Training Partnership Program.

That could sure help some folks transition from old economy jobs into new economy opportunities. It is interesting to see that the Conserve to Preserve Foundation appears to be a charitable wing of one of the local gas companies.

HIstoric preservation video

Historic preservation can be hard. When I taught in Barcelona, I was consistently impressed with how well the Spaniards had done in holding together 2000 year old Roman ruins and how great the 500 year old churches and plazas looked. (It is worth noting that the banks in Spain are obligated to engaged in community outreach, and their work on everything from Gaudi's buildings to art exhibits makes a huge difference)

There has also been a movement to preserve more modern buildings and plazas, but with less public recognition of their importance or the difficulties involved. As a great example, Cincinnati's Union Terminal has a video of damage to this beautiful, historic art deco building. You can clearly see that, although it isn't as old as the Segovia aqueduct or Mt. Vernon, it is going to be an enormous task to save one America's top 50 buildings. (h/t Metafilter)