Andrea Cochran lecture

The Margeret Cekada Memorial Lecture is going to be on April 16th. The official poster, designed by Ben Heller, is shown above (click for full size version).

Duke Gardens closing

Duke Gardens, one of the best kept secrets in Central New Jersey, is closing May 25th for a major overhaul. While much of Doris Duke's old estate has been kept fairly private, the public has been allowed small glimpses of the property in their visits to the botanic collection and conservatory. This is part of a vision for the entire property that will increase access, improve visitor conditions and shift more emphasis to environmental awareness and education.

Boundary Waters

Although I only mentioned it briefly in class, the Boundary Waters has been on my mind. For those less familiar here are a few sites from the National Geographic Society, Minnesota Public Radio, TrueColorEarth, and local outfitters. The official site is pretty much just for people ready to get a permit.

View Larger Map

The Highlands Plan's A'Coming

The debate over the future of the Highlands looks like it will have a major milestone (or millstone) this summer. The Highlands Council has announced that they'll finally vote on the Preservation Plan in July. That will give both sides plenty of time to knock away at the plan and mobilize forces, maybe even hold rallies. During the public comment period, Bill Wolfe described it as a Potemkin Plan. I expect this to be an exciting (albeit uncomfortable) time for the Highlands. The Star-Ledger reports that people are even divided on why it has taken so long to hold a vote on this:

Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club, said the delays were largely the council's fault. He says the group erred in not hiring an outside consultant at the start. He noted the council was on its third executive director, and had experienced considerable turnover in personnel.

"It's been a soap opera," he said. "That's what the delay's all about."

Naturally the Councill sees it otherwise.

But Swan noted that the average municipality takes two years to write a master plan, and the Highlands Council is dealing with 88 municipalities. Collecting all the necessary data took a great deal of time, and added the council opted to go through two rounds of public comment because they were committed to a "very public process."

"A lot of people have always said it's most important to get it right," she said.

Outdoor Art

As temperatures start warming up, we start thinking about getting outdoors. Outdoor art is one of my favorite things to photograph, so we'll start off the weekend with some of my outdoor art photos.
(By request, I am adding a list of locations, top to bottom: Laumeier Sculpture Garden, St Louis; Storm King Art Center; Joan Miro Center, Barcelona; Sol i Ombra, Parc del Nord, Barcelona; Spiral of Trees, Parc del Nord, Barcelona; Tanner Fountain, Cambridge, MA; Noguchi Center, Long Island City, NY; Subirachs' Adam and Eve, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona; Parc Diagonal Mar, Barcelona; Earth Spiral, Meadowlands, NJ; The Barcelona Pavillion, Barcelona)

Spring migration

Dave L says the birds are coming!

Tropical Hibiscus

A few tips for moving those tropical hibiscus out side this spring. Spring is here!

GPS will help save fuel

Treehugger looks at how the next generation of GPS will save gas.

Slate's Stupidest Bike Lane

Slate has a fun video looking at what they say is the stupidest bike lane. But they welcome suggestions anyone who can find worse.

A special last minute meeting

On April 10th, Somerset County is holding a special public meeting looking at potential greenway land in Bridgewater, Raritan, and Somerville. While it is a far cry from a municipal planning board meeting, it is such an interesting opportunity that I would consider it for Assignment 1. BUT, you need to write me before you do it.

The 2008 Lewis Mumford Lecture on Urbanism

One of the special things about being at Rutgers, when compared with many of our peer institutions, is the incredible number of intellectual opportunities we have in the region. Princeton, New York and Philly are all a short train ride away. Authors, movie screenings and art exhibits outnumber the free hours we have in the academic year. And there is no way that this blog can keep up with all of the relavent opportunities for our students. But here is another one worth mentioning:

This year's Lewis Mumford Lecture on Urbanism will be given by the well known geography professor, David Harvey. The talk will be on Thursday April 3rd at at 6pm in the Great Hall an CCNY.

Professor Harvey’s lecture, titled “The Right to the City,” will examine who
gets to exercise this precious right and how. Under capitalism, there has been a
long-standing conflict between a view of cities as centers for profit making and
capital accumulation and another that sees them as utopian spaces of human
interaction.

While the former has prevailed, Professor Harvey will ask
how the right to the city can be restored to the people. Such questions need to
be addressed by all who seek a more humane and ecologically sensitive urbanism
for the 21st Century, he contends.

Defend your design!

Design students find juries to be a tough situation, after weeks (or at least a night or two) of pouring yourself into your work you have to get up and defend it. But, as evidenced in today's news, it is important training for the real world of design.

The architects of Xanadu have been called into public meeting to defend the appearance of the newest eyesore on the Turnpike. It has changed some since the early concept drawings were presented. But seriously, how ugly can be? They haven't even started the ferris wheel yet...

To get permission to build this on an area where wetlands had to filled, the Meadowlands had to create or restore some other wetlands. It is part of an idea sometimes called mitigation banking. But to build something that ugly, should they have to create or restore something that looks good somewhere else?

Certeau Quote

What the map cuts up, the story cuts across.

Michel de Certeau
The Practice of Everyday Life (1980)

San Francisco Open Space

I really like apps that mix LA and geomatics. The San Francisco Chronicle has created an interactive map of a variety of semi-public open spaces in the heart of the city. It is attached to an article looking at long standing city development policies that have resulted in publicly-accessible , privately-owned open spaces throughout the city. But, many of these have remained less well known, like the 15th floor "sun garden" at 343 Sansome. Why do you need the geomatics to help out with the LA?

With better marketing and public attention, the visibility of the spaces could improve. A downtown map highlighting the hideaways could be available on the Web and through brochures - an idea touted by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, a local public policy think tank.

Last Call: MAC URISA 2008

[as advertised]
The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of URISA’s 14th Regional GIS Conference
Geography • Industry • Society
April 7-9, 2008
Burlington County College
Enterprise Center
Mount Laurel, NJ
Have you registered for the MAC URISA conference yet? Take advantage of top-quality education and professional development opportunities without having to travel across the country!
Five preconference workshops:
Introduction to GIS
Introduction to GPS
GIS Program Management (URISA Certified)
3D Geospatial Best Practices (URISA Certified)
Quality Management and Intro to Issue Tracking (URISA Certified)
Two keynote speakers:
Dr. David A. Robinson is chairman of the Department of Geography at Rutgers University, and also serves as New Jersey’s State Climatologist. (2007 Nobel Peace Prize Winner)
John Landis is the Crossways Professor of City and Regional Planning for the University of Pennsylvania.
Dozens of presenters in sessions ranging from “County GIS Applications” to “GIS Jeopardy”.
A Poster and Map Hall, an Interactive Expo and a Vendor Hall along with an Exhibit Hall Networking Event make MAC URISA’s 14th Regional GIS Conference a not-to-be-missed event.
View the complete conference program online: http://www.macurisa.org/
Don’t delay. Pre-register by this Friday, March 28 via the online registration form.
See you at MAC URISA 2008!

Wan Soo Im's bathroom maps

The City Room blog featured the interactive bathroom map of New York City by Wan Soo Im. Apparently they don't have to follow the Times style guide on the blogs, because they called him Dr. Im instead of Mr. Im. I am guessing they found out about his web mapping through our recent post here on Places and Spaces. But their blog gets comments like this:

The best part about Wansoo Im’s map is that it’s a community participatory map, allowing the community to add locations by just clicking on the “Add a Restroom” button on the site. Accessible by wireless technology, it’s a high tech way to meet a very basic human need!

Atlantic Yards

Lots has been written over the last few days covering Ratner's changing plans for the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn. The NYTimes broke a story which others analyzed, looking at the downsizing of Ratner's massive proposed 22-tower development and commerncail/entertainment complex. The Times highlighted the uncertainty:

Adding to the uncertainty surrounding Atlantic Yards is the ascension of a new governor. Gov. David A. Paterson, who took office on Monday, called for a statewide moratorium in 2005 on the use of eminent domain, which is needed to clear the site of about 20 property owners. Mr. Paterson was a state senator when he made the proposal; his office said it is reviewing the matter.

Ratner got a lot of concessions and was given permission to pursue dramatic ideas based on his promises like neighborhood improvements and low income housing.

Given the current environment, some critics worry that Mr. Ratner will negotiate for deeper subsidies, reduce the amount of low- and moderate-income housing included or eventually sell off portions of the site to other developers who could use their own, less expensive designs.

Other papers took this announcement of downsizing and saw this as a vindication of Ratner's long-time critics. But what is a bar owner or shopkeeper supposed to do while they wait to find out if their property will be condemned for this? Do they sit there with the sword of Damacles hanging over their head? Do they give in and sell the property at a bargain basement price? The Gothamist digs in to the situation a little more:

Let's forecast the future here. With construction targets - which underlie the use of eminent domain to acquire parts of the site - now being delayed, at the discretion of the developer, how long until other fundamental metrics, like, say, all those neighborhood benefits and all that affordable housing get tossed to the wayside under the weight of economic imperatives?

Where's your news?

The new GeoSearch News tool at MetaCarta lets you see where the latest news is happening.

Cheap mansions available

If you thought that the McMansion foreclosures sounded unlikely, you might want to read about the very large Kansas City homes that are being sold at steep discounts through foreclosure auctions.

Smoggy days in the National Parks

The Times has an editorial today on smog and other forms of poor air quality that are impacting the Nation's parks. It is a shame that this has to be handled as a politicized issue, because the damage is so evident:

The net result is that one in three national parks suffers from one or another form of air pollution, including immensely popular destinations like Yosemite in California, Great Smoky Mountain, straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina border, and Gettysburg.

When the smog at the Grand Canyon is mentioned in the tourist guides, we've reached a pretty sad point in saving these common treasures for future generations. Next thing you know, they'll be killing off the wildlife.