Yglesias makes three arguments: taller buildings with will increase tax revenue, improve livability, and reduce what he calls “job-sprawl.” In each case, he is partially correct, but also misses broader issues of urban land use and planning. Primarily, he misunderstands the qualities and causes of density, mistaking the unique and exceptional conditions that created metropolises like New York, Chicago, Tokyo, and Paris for natural growth.
In their most recent stimulus certification (PDF), the DOT of the little-but great state of Delaware expressed a little lonely sadness in a project description for their famous toll plaza in Newark:
I-95 Newark Toll Plaza (25-090-02)
Justification: This toll plaza experiences high levels of congestion due to the current plaza configuration. As approximately 55 percent of travelers through the plaza utilize E-ZPass, congestion would be drastically reduced with high-speed lanes. This plaza is a regular complaint of motorists traveling through this state, and leaves travelers with a negative impression – in many cases their only impression — of Delaware, impacting reputation, business, tourism and economic development.
I don’t know whether they were playing for some Charlie Brown sympathy, but they might give off a better impression if they got some FRA money for the Wilmington Rail Station, or even fixed their graphs. Don’t worry, we’ll come visit soon!
But what is more interesting in terms of architecture is how the playground was developed: It’s a really good example of both community involvement and responsive government. The new, complex playground is a drastic improvement over the grimy 70s play yard it replaced, but the process took nearly a decade. In 1999, the Friends of Morningside Park began surveying residents, including those with children and those that wanted children, about what they wanted. They took that information, developed a master plan to restore and improve Frederick Law Olmsted’s original design. Using this plan, the neighborhood worked with the City through long-term activism to eventually get it built.
The whole process took ten years and a lot of gentrification happened in that time, but it’s still a great reminder of what is possible if a community organizes to make their common environment a little better. I think, like any good urban space, the results speak for themselves, so do be sure to go up and see it when you’re up in New York or have a look at some of the pictures in the linked blogs.
But or the past six months, the Medvedev/Putin administration has not only been propped up the crashing currency with state reserves, but also raised pensions without raising taxes, all for the sake of national pride and presumably out of fear of broader unrest in the country, where a sizable percentage of the graying populace relies on pensions to eat. At the same time, the Central Banks is trying to avoid inflationary spending such as in the United States, Russian media are quick to point out. And it’s a fair point: rainy days are really what the reserve was made for. But Russia has crafted for its people a proud name, one that comes with a fragile ego, and any appearance of dependency causes a nationalist panic.
Like the delirious Russian economy of last year, the political image is mostly froth. There simply isn’t much behind Russia’s strength outside of oil and cash, so the administration will be looking for other ways of throwing its weight around. Just as las summer’s exercises with Venezuela signaled a sudden weakness brought about by crashing oil prices and January’s dispute with Ukraine over transmission was gambit to shake up Europe and get a little cash on the side, I think the international community can expect some bad behavior in spite of any sworn overcharges restarts in foreign policy.
And a note to today’s Tea Party protesters: If you think you’re being “punished for success,” at least you haven’t been sent to a Siberian labor camp for merely looking successful enough to be a political threat.
I’m currently slowed by life-work-sickness issues, so accept this filler material until I finish the Fort Reno planning maps and some other writing.
At some point in the recent past, the Jester of Columbia, with whom I am associated, released its new issue, themed Solutions. Stay tuned for the April issue Recession. Bauhaus cooking is included in this issue, as is a parody of peakniks, and a host of letters and lists, some of which I contributed. Highlights include: The 99 problems Jay-Z does indeed have, Jonathan Franzen’s The Solutions, as well as the introductory Editaurus.
You may also be interested in the issues of the Jester I designed, Tragedy, Light, and Competition. Technology and Liquid are missing due to what one can only presume is incompetence.
Let us remember the handing down of of the deadliest precedent in constitutional law on this, its 144th anniversary.
After a few high-profile accidents near the intersection of Connecticut and Nebraska Avenues near the north end of Tobago. Originally, the sign to urged motorists to slow and be aware of pedestrians crossing, which is certainly a good thing, except that they stuck it in the middle of the sidewalk. They later moved it after a complaint, but it didn’t get much better, especially considering its new state.
Sure, pedestrians can walk around it, but this has been sitting there for a while, but it’s still there. And it’s not working. So…
After the break, see that the city has also decided to remind pedestrians not to jaywalk, although that hasn’t nearly been as much of an issue at the site as, say, jaydriving or the lunacy known as reversible lanes.
Unless they are receiving unemployment benefits, the stimulus package is not something that will benefit most architects in any direct way. Mostly consisting of spending for non-physical programs, the ≈$94,000,000,000 that is there for infrastructure and construction is not going to any public projects that conventionally get the high-end architecture treatment. Yet if governments and agencies receive grants for utilities or other community assets and approach these structures with an eye to aesthetics, there is the potential for incredible additions to the fabric of our of towns and cities.
If the average architect wants to get design into these buildings, they’re going to have to look to practice architecture differently than they currently do. Firstly, they need to embrace building information modeling. Secondly, they need to emphasize designing details rather than looking at sophisticated conceptual schemes as justifications for form. Thirdly, architects need to look for different opportunities than what they have conventionally seen as prestige architecture projects.
Continue reading ➞ Why Design Matters for the Stimulus: Architects
View DC Area Stimulus Projects in a larger map
Seen at 15 Central Park West. If you don’t understand, then please catch up on the past 40 years of architecture. I can wait.