Lecture on Water Quality and Effects

Talk by International Expert on Water Quality and Effects
<http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/news/09/03_water_quality.shtml>

The connections between access to water and gender, security, environment, and human rights will be the subject of a talk by Dr. Peter H. Gleick on Thursday, March 26 at 5:30 p.m. in the Alexander Library Scholarly Communication Center, 4th floor, College Avenue Campus. A
poster presentation and reception will precede the talk at 4:30 p.m. Dr. Gleick is the president and cofounder of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, CA. The institute monitors the quality of the world's water supply and its effect on health, climate change, industrialization, and
international relations. The talk is sponsored by the Rutgers University Libraries and the School of Arts and Sciences Office of International Programs. This event is free, although an RSVP is requested. To attend, send an email events@rci.rutgers.edu> or call 732-932-7505.
Visit the website <http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/news/09/03_water_quality.shtml>
for additional information.

Redeveloping Glassboro

In this Spring's Geomatics Lecture, John Hasse talked about some of the changes that were on their way to Glassboro. The newspapers are just now catching up with our lecture series.

Are you sure you want to bring your laptop to class?

Are you sure you want to bring your laptop to class?

Spatial distrubution of lottery winnings

John Reiser has mapped out 10 years of NJ Lottery winners to show the "luckiest" places in NJ.

A little data can go a long way to making an interesting map. Note that on the right side he has provided four different ways to view the data. But none of them may make you feel good about not winning millions.

First day of spring? Really?

It doesn't look like spring this morning, but maybe it will all change at the exact moment that the sun crosses the equator.
Happy vernal equinox!

The Fountains of Wayne question

The post in which we ask, Should we be saving cultural landscapes that are defined by kitschy stores that become emblematic of the larger community? or Is Roadside America more relevant than National Geographic?

Piscataway in the NY Times

I enjoy reading the "thinking of living in..." section in the NY Times. It often presents an outsider's view of a place that I thought I already knew. This week they took a closer look at Piscataway, NJ. I think the slideshow is the part I liked the best, since it shows the difficulty in finding a strong graphic theme to tie together this rather complex municipality.

Spring Break lists

In lieu of real blogging, I've made some Top One Lists for Spring Break. If you wanted a Top Ten list, try elsewhere. It is sort of a Book of Lists meets Larry King kind of thing.

Best Teen Vampire Movie: Lost Boys
Best Toast: Rye with butter
Best Desert: Sonoran
Best Name of Vice President You've Probably Never Heard Of: Hannibal Hamlin
Best Early Modern Artist: Wassily Kandinsky
Best State Capitol: Honolulu
Best TV Show Set in Portland OR or ME: Hello, Larry
Best Ice Sport Without Skates: Curling
Best Chili: Skyline
Best Palm Tree: Phoenix dactylifera
Best Hotdogs in NJ: Rutt's Hut
Best Chris Elliot Movie: Groundhog Day

Great NCAA graphics

Although it isn't as riveting as the NIT brackets, the NY Times has an elegant graphic that shows the big hubs of NCAA success over the history of the tournament. Because, as we Kentucky fans know, it is not about this year but the long view of NCAA history.

NCAA Tournament time

Basketball season is coming to a sweet but merciful end. And, no, there won't be an NIT contest here, don't even ask. But there is the 11th annual Friends of Dave NCAA pool in the online ESPN Tournament Challenge. Sign in, pick a bracket, and prove your mettle. All are welcome to join the group I have created called, FoD - Friends of Dave v11.

The free throws are called "free" for a reason. Photo Credit: D. Tulloch

P&S in ArchiDose

I am really quite enamored with The Daily Dose of Architecture, so I found it very flattering that they noticed Places and Spaces. Archidose is a great example of what a blog can be when the author is devoted to their material and has a great city just outside their door.

Sketch-up money

Sketch-up is now, apparently, a tool for communication about financial concepts.
(h/t NJGeo)

Spring Break sightseeing

Don't waste your Spring Break on the Internet. Get out and see some great designed or cultural or natural landscapes. But where?

If you aren't leaving New Jersey, then try out some nearby sites. You could try this short list of notable NJ landscapes which includes Pier A, Grounds for Sculpture, Van Vorst Park and the Appalachian Trail. Or you could try out our new Rutgers/NJASLA NJ LA Sites Database to explore some landscape sites - it includes NJASLA design award winners like the Smithville Floating Walkway and the Turtleback Zoo.

You could head into Philly and explore Fairmount Park and the Patrick Dougherty sculptures at Morris Arboretum or you could take a train to New York and see his masterpiece at Prospect Park.
If you are heading to Florida for some fun and sun, you might want to stop in at the classic New Urban comimunity of Seaside or Disney's newer Celebration. Or maybe you should look for McHarg's hidden touch on Sanibel Island.

Then again, you could just pick up a book.

Google blend-ins

Now, when you search locally on Google Maps, Google has started blending in answers that come from what they call the "geo-community". That means that your little KML file, you know, that you never expected anyone to look at, could now help 10,000 find that street vendor selling chaat.

Censoring Google Maps

A California legislator wants to blur out all of the schools and hospitals and churches and government buildings that you currently can see on detailed image sites like Live.com and Google Maps. He would charge them a $250,000/day fine each day that he can find a government building displayed. In an interview, he clarifies that they don't have an inalienable right to show those photos"

Q: If AB-255 (the censorship bill) does pass, why do you believe it would stand up to a court challenge?

Anderson: That's their option. They can take it to court. But since when do you have a First Amendment right to yell fire? This falls under the same category.

I don't think he understands how integrated this resource has become in day-today government operations around the country. It would be like taking away the GPS sugnal after we have all adjusted our business models and flight plans based on a heavy reliance on it.

Just imagine what our enemies could do if they could locate this top secret government facility that is otherwise so well hidden:

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Liveblog: Annette Voigt on Landscape Conservation

Annette Voigt Technische Universität München Dept. of Landscape Ecology
Nature Conversation in Germany – Problems and Perspectives

Today's talk explored questions about the meaning of nature in a place like Germany, where there remains an active dialogue about whether conservation should be favoring natural or cultural landscapes, especially since 19th century agricultural landscapes are treasured by much of the public. This process is pursued to preserve the Germany of the past:

• Heimatschutz = Homeland conservation

Ecologists are less positioned to address the meaning of nature and simply rely on concepts like wilderness and ecosystems as subjective constructs as a convenience.

As an example she described the wilderness development area at Koenigsbrucker Heide in Saxony. Her dissertation abstract is available to help you digest some of these concepts.

(I know little about these ideas, but it looks like this might be an interesting read, too)

A new vision for Agriculture

The new Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, was interviewed by NPR's Morning Edition. Shortly after his nomination by Obama Michael Pollan appeared on the same show and suggested that this appointment was good for corn but bad for real food and eaters. Well, the former governor of Illinois is already making a move for corn. But he has also staked out a clearer need to promote real food, especially for kids: “We ought to be about encouraging our kids to be just terrific consumers of food. They ought to want different colored fruits and vegetables on their plate, they ought to demand it, they ought to be encouraged to do that.”

Here at SEBS (formerly known as the College of Agriculture and Environment) his goals may seem particularly fitting. In a recent speech at the Agricultural Outlook Forum 2009, he said that one of the three goals that Obama wants from the USDA is to "make sure that we worked hard at doing the research necessary to allow, over time, agriculture to transition away from its rather significant dependence today on fossil fuels." Interesting times in Washington.

It is worth pointing out that NJ has new Secretary of Agriculture as well, Doug Fisher.
(h/t Bob Goodman)

Rehabbing the National Mall

There is lots of talk lately about rehabbing the America's front yard. Congress took a look. NPR took a look. ASLA is forming a Blue Ribbon Panel on the National Mall.

AC Solar Roof

Atlantic City is about to celebrate the completion of the "largest single-roof solar-panel array" in the US. AC has built this large solar array on the roof of their convention center and it is getting national attention. I would even anticipate a few AC/DC jokes in the local media later this week.

Foreclosure maps

Maps of economic disaster seem to be a new growth market for GIS.

Louis Kahn's drawing

Yet another good slideshow from Witold Rybczynski, this one called Back to the Drawing Board. This time he looks at some beautiful hand drawings by Louis Kahn. You can see them youself at the Arthur Ross Gallery at UPenn which has a small exhibit called Louis I. Kahn:
The Making of a Room, that continues until March 29th. I'm not sure what the exhibit is like, but Rybczynski does a ince job of emphasizing the way that Kahn uses his sketching as real tools of modernist exploration and communication.

What's interesting is that Kahn's drawing doesn't look anything like a conventional architectural rendering; it's more like a sketch of an actual place.

Since Spring Break is coming soon, it might be a nice time to slip down to Philly, see some design art, and then get some good food in University City.

Data models

Oakland's Hydrography Data model
ESRI's Federal Lands Model
ESRI's Address Data Model

Trains are awesome

Now the NY Times agrees:

At least for now, train travel remains in what the former flight attendant I met called an “age of innocence,” by which she meant that you can keep your shoes on to board. It is a relapse into a simpler time.

With some cash, Amtrak could add modern amenities like Wi-Fi and still preserve that slower pace that makes train travel a salve for our modern psyche, the perpetual motion lulling the rider to stillness, like a rocking cradle, and that hushing sound: choo-k-choo-k-choo-k-choo-k-choo-k.

Trains are fun if you have the time.

The Green Energy Education Act

ASLA has posted an interesting legislative action item:

Congressman Mike McCaul (TX) has re-introduced legislation aimed at preparing the next wave of design and construction professionals to improve the energy efficiency and productivity of our nation's buildings.

H.R. 957, The Green Energy Education Act, would require the Department of Energy (DOE) to partner with the National Science Foundation to award grants to university programs related to the design and construction of high performance buildings. The legislation specifically states that in awarding grants, DOE should give priority to university programs in design, architecture, landscape architecture, and city, regional, or urban planning. The legislation would improve the ability of engineers, architects, landscape architects, and planners to cooperate on the incorporation of advanced energy technologies during the design and construction of buildings.

During the last Congress, ASLA worked with Congressman McCaul to include "landscape architecture" in a similar bill that unanimously passed the House of Representatives. After learning how landscape architectural techniques, including sustainable site planning and development, contribute to the high performance of buildings, Congressman McCaul offered an amendment to include landscape architecture in the bill. Fortunately, the version recently introduced by Congressman McCaul does include language regarding landscape architects.

The legislation has been referred to the House Committee on Science and Technology.

I'll even try to add a widget for tracking this.

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)

Looking around NYC

Last week, WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show had a guest that works as a location scout for films. But he has also created a blog that highlights interesting things he sees as he combs the city. WNYC includes a slideshow of a few of their favorite funds from his blog.

For design students, I think it is really important to learn how to explore a city or landscape and find things hidden in plain sight. This is at the heart of John Stilgoe's Outside Lies Magic. It is also at the heart of the Manhattan hikes.

Stimulating fast trains

The NY Times reports on the part of the stimulus package that will be contributing towards building a series of high-speed train linkages around the country. I love taking the Acela to DC even though it only goes a little faster than the cars on the Turnpike:

The Acela is the United States’ fastest train. But because the tracks it runs on are curvy, and are shared with many other trains, it is only able to reach its top speed of 150 m.p.h. on about 35 miles of track in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Its average speed is 84 m.p.h. between New York and Washington. Still, Amtrak has captured 62 percent of the combined air and rail market between New York and Washington, company officials said

While it is disappointing to see what passes for high-speed here, it is nice to see step forward. In Spain we were able to get to Madrid in about 4 hours, which saves at least 2 hours over driving. And, at 30 minutes, the high-speed link between Madrid and Toledo is a tourist's dream and has served the many businesses there quite well. Plus, these trains look cool.

No one reads the interpretive material anymore

Found this old photo while searching for something else this morning. Consider it a full substitute for real news or information.

The Spring 2009 Landscape Industry Lecture

The Spring 2009 Landscape Industry Lecture

Wednesday, February 25th

4pm in the Cook-Douglass Lecture Hall 110 

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

Dr. Richard Hurley
Adjunct Professor in Turfgrass Management

Dr. Hurley is an an internationally recognized specialist in the area of turfgrass breeding and golf course management. He will be looking at a cutting-edge use of turfgrass in the urban reuse of a severely degrade site. Prior to the lecture you should look at the web site http://www.bayonnegolfclub.com and take thehelicopter tour of the facility.

National Parks jobs

Geomatics students and alums who are found of National Parks might be particularly interested in the National Parks Service's Geoscientists-in-the-Parks program. This program helps connect GIS volunteers with special projects.  It could be a fun summer project or a great chance to use your weekends to explore one of America's great landscapes.

ASLA on Climate Change

About a year ago (2/15) the ASLA made a public statement on climate change that affirmed their desire to work towards solutions.

"Based on the scientific findings and evidence about the causes and impacts of climate change, the American Society of Landscape Architects recognizes that global climate change presents a serious threat to humans and our environments."

"If steps are not taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that by the year 2100 the Earth’s surface temperature could increase by 4°C, resulting in devastating effects on the planet. However, there are various land-use policies and best practices that can reduce GHG emissions to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the planet and its inhabitants. Through sustainable site planning, innovative stormwater management practices, and the development of smart growth communities, landscape architects can serve society in a multifaceted strategy to contend with global climate change."

Liveblog: On global grounds: Urban change and globalization

On global grounds: Urban change and globalization
Dr. Julia Nevárez
Sociology and Anthropology Department at Kean University

Based, in part, on the book On Global Grounds.

As we reflect on global perspectives, we see post-modern critiques of the failings of modernization, as expressed in Bruno Latour's We Have Never Been Modern.

there is no there left

New relationships emerge in the intersections of digital and built worlds. At this intersection are technologies like digital tracking of individual movements. Modernizations' homogenizing effects (see: McDonald's and Starbucks) are further complicated by development issues.

Gentrification

Parks, sidewalks and advertising often go upscale before the housing does. Urban changes are leading to changing patterns of social relations. Urban people can be defined by their relationships outside the city (or lack thereof) as much as by those relationships within the city. Rapid gentrification came to Barcelona as part of the 1992 Olympics - but can the temporary modern change last?

There are political effects of globalization as well. We need to know what globalization is about. And we need to take a global perspective to solve the larger problems. For instance, as someone complains about losing their job here due to outsourcing, we need to think about the need for that job elsewhere (India, Mexico?). I don't think she means that we simply favor the outsourced job, but that we can't address the problem if we don't understand the larger context.

Q: Where is there an example of a just city?
A: Reykjavik, Iceland or Curitiba, Brazil where the transit system progressively improves justice
But both still favor some forms of segregation as a means of addressing social relationships
Brasilia was a dream for a perfect city, but they didn't include the workers in that dream

(As usual, I apologize for the sloppy misrepresentations, but hope the links help you track back to 1 or 2 interesting points)

GeoVisualization links

Election "maps"
Strange Maps
NYC Subway "Map"
Map links

Chicago plan

This year is the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham's Plan for Chicago and the locals are trying to make the most of it.

World Trade Trees

The trees for the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site are ready for their 60 mile trip to lower Manhattan.  This short video shows you how.

Aldo Leopold Quote

“Hemispheric solidarity is new among statesmen, but not among the feathered navies of the sky.”

--Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Oops

An historic taven inn on Rt. 27 in Franklin has been accidentally torn down.

Lecture: On global grounds: Urban change and globalization

Dr. Julia Nevárez
Sociology and Anthropology Department at Kean University

On global grounds: Urban change and globalization

Urban development in contemporary cities is lead by globalization’s priorities. Patterns in the way cities develop show similarities and differences among locales. This presentation will explore some of the main conceptual and applied components of urban change as they help better understand contemporary urban form. Some of the specific changes produced by globalization in contemporary cities and human settlements are: gentrification, competition among cities to attract capital, changing patterns in the networks of social relations, juxtaposed modernism and postmodernism in developing cities, the crisis of public space, spectacular events as machines of urban growth, and postcolonial landscapes inserted in the competitive logic of capital, among others. Converging at different levels of development, cities face a constant impact of global forces that make incisions in the materiality of local environments. Conceptualized by some as in flux, the relationship between the local and the global might not be accurately described with the dichotomy global/local. Likewise, there is a political effect to the changes globalization has incited. Researchers interested in the urban condition will find in this presentation and the book in which it is based -- “On Global Grounds: Urban change and
Globalization”edited by Julia Nevárez and Gabriel Moser -- insights into how urban areas develop, how they are planned, designed, and represented within globalization.

Dr. Julia Nevárez obtained her Ph.D. in Environmental Psychology, currently Assistant Professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Kean University, New Jersey and Past-Chair of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). Her interdisciplinary approach an research interests focus on urban issues, globalization, urban development, public space and techno culture.

Time: 4:00-5:15 PM

Location: <http://maps.rutgers.edu/building.aspx?1079> Cook Douglass Lecture Hall 110.

GIS into Google Earth

after john Hasse's stimulating presentation last week, some students have asked how to convert their ArcGIS data into layers that can be easily viewed in Google Earth. Their are at least two ways these days. One is to download some simple programming tools like this SHP2KML program at SourceForge. The other is that ArcGIS 9.3 now has conversion tools that will do much of the hard work for you. Fortunately, since we covered it in Intermediate last week, you can just look at that lab for instructions (About 2/3 of the way through).

Stamp Out Carbon Emissions at Rutgers

Contest to Stamp Out Carbon Emissions at Rutgers 

The Rutgers Energy Institute will offer four awards ($2,500 for first place, $1,500 for second place, $1,000 for third place, and a $1,000 for the Video category) to students or teams who develop the best plans to reduce student energy consumption and promote eco-friendly practices throughout the New Brunswick Campus.

For more information, visit the official contest website.

RU EP&D at the NJ Garden and Flower Show

This year's NJ Garden and Flower Show is nearly over and once again our students have brought home an impressive set of awards:

• 2nd Place in Low Maintenance/High Success
• 3rd Place in Best Use of Structural Elements
• 2nd Place in Most Creative
• 1st Place in Most Creative Water Feature
• 3rd Place in Best Interpretation of Theme
• 2nd Place in Most Educational

Congrats!

Here is a special guest photo from Ian...

Spring is here!

Well, almost. Pitchers and catchers report today.

Rutgers Gardens Sustainable Building Design Competition

RUTGERS GARDENS SUSTAINABLE BUILDING DESIGN COMPETITION  

The Rutgers Energy Institute will offer an award of $750 to the team of students who design the best environmentally  sustainable visitor's center at the Rutgers Gardens. 

Teams of enrolled undergraduate students in the specified discipline area on the New Brunswick Campus are eligible. Students are encouraged to consult with faculty advisers in various departments to help form teams and develop designs.

For more information, visit the official competition website.

Fake StreetViews

When you get tired of surfing through Google StreetView, you might enjoy these fake StreetView photos.

3 Landscapes: John Hasse

Central Park
Fairmount Park
Parc Guell


For background, go here: http://hahawall.rutgers.edu/tulloch/Candidates.html

Live Blog: Potential for LEED-ND to Curb Sprawl in NJ

Exploring the Potential for LEED-ND to Curb Sprawl in New Jersey
The Spring 2009 Environmental Geomatics Lecture
John Hasse, PhD
Rowan University

Part I: Patterns of Land Development in NJ

How do you know sprawl when you see it?
One person's sprawl is another person's American Dream.
Most densely populated state
Still increasing population, but the rate is slowing down a little
Does that mean that development is slowing down?
Using Google Earth, Dr. Hasse illustrated land use change patterns and showed that new development in a 16 year period was equal to the total land area of Bergen, Hudson, Passaic and Essex Counties combined.

He projects that in August 2008 we crossed the line where forest was the largest land use in NJ, to where Urban is now the largest!

The basic numbers on loss of forests and wetlands and gains in development are on the CRSSA Landscape Change web page.



He encouraged students to go to the NJ State Atlas website to get some other ways to look at the landscapes of New Jersey.


Part II: Can LEED-ND help with NJ Sprawl?

LEED-ND is the USGNC's new LEED measure for Neighborhood Development. While LEED has been around for buildings (like the Comcast building in Philly - the world's tallest green building) it is pretty new for developments. It includes firm requirements, like not building on wetlands, and some things you can do to get points, like affordable rental housing. It also requires at least 7 houses per acre and rewards transit, energy efficient buildings.

Dr. Hasse used Rowan Boulevard in Glassboro as a case study. This is a redevelopment of a deteriorating town center driven by the school, meant to help the town. Technically it would be ineligible because of an existing stream. But he proceeded to explore some other measures. The site avoided T&E species habitat, had more than 55% of front doors within a walking distance of a bus stop, connected to a bike path, and had dwelling units close to schools.

New novel about FLW

Monday's Leonard Lopate show included an interview with the author of a new novel about Frank Lloyd Wright. T. C. Boyle's The Women explores Wright's life by looking at him through the eyes of 4 women who loved him. Wright's personal life was almost always a mess, but it was in part due to how he tried to live as creatively as he designed. like his design work, it may have also reflected an inability to unerstand the perspectives of others around him.

Making the most of Places and Spaces

With the new semester well underway, people are starting to get a little more serious about using this blog as a resource. So, this seemed like a good time to rehash an old posting offering a few quick thoughts about how to take advantage of the Places and Spaces blog:

• Archival materials - I use the blog as a place to drop materials that are meant to be useful resources for quite some time. Plus, after last year's soils lecture I probably posted something that might still be helpful this year. To help you find them, there is a search bar in the upper left corner and I also tag some long-term Resource of the Day type materials as Resources.
• Places and Spaces Map - One of the more unusual features of the blog is that I try to map some of the places I write about. You will sometimes see a note at the end of a post that actually labels it as (Mapped) which is one way that I let you know it is mapped. But, if you hop straight into the map you'll often find links back to the blog posts, so that it is like a two-way street.
• Lecture reports - For many of our guest lectures I am essentially live blogging the presentations. It isn't meant as lecture notes, but random thoughts that may or may not accurately reflect on what was said. I often seek out online graphics that I wanted to study more than I could during the lecture, or additional reference materials on the topic. Many of them (but not all) are tagged Common Lecture, which is the RU LA Department's weekly lecture. Recent examples include: Tom Woltz, Mason White, and Richard Alomar.
• 3 Landscapes - both a silly parlor game and a serious list to consider. We ask many of our guests this simple question: please name your 3 favorite examples of landscape architecture that you have ever visited. They get posted individually, mapped, and eventually added to a composite list.
• Options - Environmental Planning and Design is a major that is comprised of 4 distinct Options or degree paths: Landscape Architecture, Landscape Industry, Environmental Planning and Environmental Geomatics. Many posts are tagged with one of the 4 labels so that students can quickly seek out posts of interest to their specific Option.
• Class lectures and test hints - Both for my classes (like JrStudio, IntGeo, EnvPlan, AdvGeo) and the classes with which I interact (like EnvGeo and EDA) I like to drop links, news, follow-up, notes, and test hints on the blog so that students can use this as a meaningful supplement to the class materials.

I know that we have visitors from all around the planet. But since the blog is kept more as resource for our current students that anyone else, I apologize if some of the features seem a little parochial. I entertain any suggestions for changes (easy changes) that make a difference.

USGS maps to cost more

No sooner do I tell the students how cheap the maps are, then the USGS goes and raises the prices on their maps. Well, they'll still be a good deal. But not outrageously good.

Free Movie on Tuesday

The Reel Africa 2008-2009 Film Festival at Rutgers is delighted to present:

DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE (Austria/Belgium/Tanzania et al; 2004) Directed
by Hubert Sauper in English, Swahili and Russian
This documentary tracks the profound impact of the Nile perch fishing industry in Lake Victoria (mapped). The voracious fish have wiped out local species; while the prized fillets are flown out to European
supermarkets, Tanzanians experiences famine. What do the planes that transport the fish to Europe bring in to the African continent?

International Critics Award, Sydney Film Festival; Best Documentary, European Film Awards; Audience Award, Mexico City Contemporary Film Festival; Best First Work, César Awards, France; Audience Award, Entrevues Film Festival; Vienna Film Award, Viennale; Europa Cinemas Label Award, Venice Film Festival; European Jury Award, Angers European First Film Festival;Nominee, Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature

Presented by RICK SCHROEDER, Department of Geography
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 at 7 P.M. in the Graduate Student Lounge, CAC

For a copy of the DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE flyer:
http://ruafrica.rutgers.edu/events/media/0809_media/darwins.pdf

For a copy of the full Reel Africa Film Festival line up:
http://ruafrica.rutgers.edu/events/media/0809_media/reel_africa.pdf
For more festival information: http://www.cinemastudies.rutgers.edu

Sponsors: Center for African Studies; Cinema Studies Program; International Programs; Transliteratures Program; Institute for Research on Women; Department of French; Department of Spanish and Portuguese; Graduate Student Association; Honors Program

Looking for work

With the down economy, we know an increasing number of out of work professionals. Peter Bregman at the Harvard Business Review has posted a nice blog entry with some nice tips about job searches. He says that you should spend less time reading ads and working on resumes and more time meeting people:

Spend all your hunting time with people: at lunch, on the phone, going for walks. Finding a job or new clients is all about human relationships.

Because:

It's highly unlikely, with all the people who are looking, that someone will hire someone they don't already know (or someone they know doesn't already know).

I am not yet fully convinced by the technology, but we have created a RU LA group on LinkedIn that may help you build a network more quickly. But, be careful. As the HBR note points out, it isn't about shallow networks, but building real relationships. And the harder you work at finding a job, the harder it can get to find one.

ArcGIS trees

ESRI's Mapping Center has an interesting and creative post about symbolizing trees.

National Red Day

In honor of National Red Day we looked at how Red is doing in Google Trends.

Recovering from DC

I had a very long day in DC yesterday, with my train being delayed 2+ hours going down and 2+ hours coming back. Tiring stuff.

Most of the day was spent with the UCGIS in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress.

But on the way to the train I stopped for 15 minutes to see Foster + Partners new Kogod Courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery. It was great.

On the floor of the courtyard is this "fountain" which just has water sheeting across the granite. The drains on are the left side of the photo. (Mapped)While there I saw their newest addition, the iconic but controversial portrait of Obama by Shepard Fairey.

A map to keep you up at night

If you are tired, maybe you are just in the wrong place.

Mural Farm

After our recent Philly field trip, I suspect that some of our readers have a new fondness for the City of Brotherly Love. On their next exploration of the city, they may want to tap into the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program's new application called Mural Farm. They developed a photographic database of over 650 murals around Philadlphia and geolocated them, then put them on a searchable interactive map interface. Philly.com gives a quick overview. It runs on Avencia's Sajara and was built with help from Penn's CML.

DeBoer prize presentations

Rather than live blogging today's lecture, I am linking to a few related websites for readers who want to explore the places.

• Beijing
  
• Beijing Forest Park
• Beijing ring roads
  
• Nanzen-ji
  
• Ryoan-ju
  
• Daisen-in
  
• Nijo-jo Castle
  
• Tofuku-ji
  
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden
  

Start working on those applications for the 2009 DeBoer Travel Prize - the forms are outside Blake 113.

Let them track you

How is this not creepy?

Flower bulbs

The Plant Biology Seminar Series is pleased to announce:

Flower bulbs

William Miller , Ph.D.
Department of Horticulture
Cornell University

Friday, February 6, 2009
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Foran Hall, Room 138A, 59 Dudley Road, New Brunswick

Professor Miller's research focuses on floriculture and ornamental crop physiology, especially carbohydrate metabolism, partitioning, and utilization of stored reserves in flower bulbs. He also conducts near-market research on flower bulbs and perennials, including uses for both forcing, dry sales, and landscape use. Examples of such work include cultivar trials, use of growth regulators, and post-harvest physiology and handling practices.

Summer Internship in Chicago

Hitchcock Design Group has announced their summer internship program. The deadline is on February 20th, so you need to hurry up a little already.

Google Ocean

Until now, Google Earth let you explore the land but had no real content for the oceans, even though they cover 70% of the planet's surface. Now they have added more rocust ocean content by teaming up with the National Geographic Society, reports the Telegraph.

ASLA on Capitol Hill

ASLA reports on a notable legislative issue:

Senator Maria Cantwell (WA) introduced the Clean Energy Stimulus and Investment Assurance Act of 2009 (S.320), legislation geared toward creating high-wage green-collar jobs and revitalizing the economy through clean energy investments. ASLA worked with Senator Cantwell's office to ensure that a section of the bill was dedicated to green roof tax incentives.

Section 506 of the bill gives a 30% tax credit for qualified green roof property expenditures on residential and commercial buildings. The language puts the cap at $5000 on residential buildings, and no cap for commercial buildings. The bill outlines specific, ASLA-recommended
language, defining 'qualified green roofs' to mean any green roof at least 50 percent of which is a vegetated green roof system. The credit applies to any retrofit or new construction green roof.

In addition to the substantial input ASLA received from its expert green roof practitioner members, ASLA also received technical support from the non-profit organization Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. The legislation was referred to the Senate Finance Committee.

Free topo maps

The Rutgers USGS Topo Quad Map Depot has moved to the elibrary.rutgers.edu server over in geography. It is a great free resource that I have explored previously.

The Spring 2009 Lecture Series

The Spring 2009 Lecture Series looks great. We are already off to a great start, with 2 provocative lectures, and now we have an impressive poster too.

Lecture: From Middle to Upper Class Sprawl

The Human Ecology Department Presents
From Middle to Upper Class Sprawl: Land Use Controls, Changing Patterns of Suburbanization, and Smart Growth in NJ

Dr. Thomas Rudel, Professor
Departments of Human Ecology & Sociology
Date: Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
Time: 12:35 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Location: Blake Hall, Room 131, Cook Campus
(http://maps.rutgers.edu/directions.aspx?id=36)

Tom Rudel conducts research on land use change. He has researched the driving forces behind tropical deforestation both through case studies in the Ecuadorian Amazon and through quantitative analyses at the global scale. The latter set of studies has included work on 'the forest transition'. He has also done research on the forces that have driven suburban sprawl, primarily through field studies in the northeastern United States. Currently, he is working through the implications of these processes for global warming and writing a book about how environmentally friendly behaviors in localities can in some instances have global scale effects.

The Living Landscape

The Living Landscape by Frederick Steiner is now available at the Cook-Douglass Co-op.

Water expert to speak at Alexander Library

The spillover from environmental issues into other areas is becoming much more widely recognized, as you can see with this announcment of a relatively high-profile talk on campus.

The connections between access to water, gender, security, environment and human rights will be the subject of a talk by Dr. Peter H. Gleick on Thursday March 26^th in the Rutgers University Libraries.

Dr. Gleick is the president and co-founder of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, CA. The institute monitors the quality of the world's water supply and its effect on health, climate change, industrialization, and international relations. The work of the Pacific Institute has been cited by government officials and/or community activists in South Africa, India, the United Nations Global Compact, and the State of California.

Dr. Gleick's talk is supported by a grant from the School of Arts and Sciences International Programs office and is part of the office's year long series of events to mark the 60^th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

The talk will be held in the Scholarly Communication Center, on the 4^th floor of Alexander Library in New Brunswick, starting at 6:00 pm.

In December Dr. Gleick spoke with National Public Radio's The Takeaway show about "What President-elect Obama needs to know about water." To hear Dr. Gleick's comments, visit: http://www.thetakeaway.org/stories/2008/dec/22/page-americas-briefing-book-water/.

Live Blog: Tom Woltz on Desiging the Frame

“Designing the Frame: landscape architecture as a tool in the ecological conservation, education & sustainable architecture.”
Thomas Woltz, ASLA
Nelson Byrd Woltz

Holly Nelson described him as "Practicing what he preaches"
Interesting to visit a program situated amidst other professions like ecologists and plant scientists. Here are some projects that he spoke about:

• The Dell - Stormwater management project at UVA

An aesthetic solution as well as a functional solution.

• UVA School of Commerce
• The Charles Luck Stone Center
• St Louis' Mall
  

He refocused on bringing out natural beauty on a series of farm projects. One was called Tupelo Farm. It was recently described in the New York Times:

At Tupelo Farm, an estate near Charlottesville, Mr. Woltz drew on the region’s geology, agricultural traditions and plants — both native and imported — in designing the garden, a project that he has been working on since 2000. Locally quarried fieldstone walls retain the heat of the springtime sun and establish curving terraces for a peach orchard, a gesture at Albemarle County’s history as one of the state’s largest producer of peaches in the 19th century. Nearby, on a smooth flagstone terrace, a group of half-buried boulders has the same geological composition and similarly mounded shapes as the Blue Ridge Mountains that loom over the farmland.

While each farm is different, one of them was intended as a life-long design project, evolving slowly over time. The ethics of water quality management, native grasses, and green design have been so successful that 6 neighbors have also hired the firm to expand their efforts to 2,000 acres.

He also showed us a Charlottesville Urban Farm which helped turn open land in the city into a more productive and more community-oriented landscape.

Finally we looked at Nick's Head Station in New Zealand. It was a controversial site, with many locals initially opposing its purchase by an outsider. Not only is it the place that Cooke first saw, but it is also the place that the Maori first saw (and they found the fossilized remains of a Moa here). However, their designs for conservation of this significant site have helped. Their They have planted 250,000 trees so far, but aren't done yet. But the tree planting is only part of the design process. They've begun actively attracting rare birds with both habitat and recorded calls. But they worked to design the naturalized forms on the site in a way that reveals the human hand. Even areas of crops are formed in more structured ways than you might expect elsewhere. He closed with a few thoughts about the cultural connectivity that is becoming with the site too.


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Mark your calendars

March 7 - 13th Annual NJ Land Conservation Rally - New Brunswick Hyatt
April 19-22 - GITA in Tampa
May 21-22 - Digital Landscape Architecture 2009
May 27 – May 31 - EDRA’s 40th Annual Meeting, Kansas City Hyatt
July 13-17 - ESRI User Conference
September 18-22 - ASLA in Chicago
September 29-October 2 - URISA in Anaheim

Fighting over a rock

Kentucky and Ohio are fighting over a rock that someone pulled out of the Ohio River, NPR reports. Kentucky says it was already registered antiquity. Steve Shaffer says he offered it to them before giving it to Portsmouth, OH. After the legal system sorts it out, the rock's rich cultural heritage will pivot on this new story as much as the possibility that Native Americans etched on it. It is a lot like that time when NY and NJ fought over a rundown little island on their border and now people visit to see this interstate (national, even) park.

SoCal sprawl reducing equestrians

Is urban sprawl really a threat to Southern California's horses?

Western forest mortality increases

This past week a study was published in Science that reported an increase in tree deaths in American forests. The Washington Post reports some details:

The report, led by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), found that the increase in tree deaths has included trees in a variety of forests, elevations and sizes. Species have included pine, fir, hemlock and other coniferous trees. In addition, the rate of new tree growth has not changed, according to the report in the Jan. 23 issue of Science.

At the same time, they reported, Nature had two papers reporting on impacts of climate change:

Seasons now arrive two days earlier than they used to, one study from scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University concluded. Not only have average worldwide temperatures been rising for the last 50 years, according to the report, but the hottest day of the year has shifted to almost two days earlier.

So will it simply mean that the forest ecology is modestly compromised? Or will it lead to an increase in forest fires? Or will it lead to a significant loss of wildlife species? It will be interesting to watch as evidence mounts.

Maybe you could go to a seminar on a related topic:

Dr. Daniel Bunker, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Thursday, January 29, 2009
“Global change, community composition, and ecosystem functioning.”
4:00 p.m., Alampi Room, Marine and Coastal Sciences