Aging Modernism

Great project up today on Archinect:

These large scale infrastructural experiments did not allow for inconsistencies that would erode the power of the plan. Although in many cases the plans still exist, over time smaller scale changes have begun to compete with their authority.

We just had a discussion last night on modernist city planning, and inflexibility was the key weakness addressed. It's great seeing how human activity over the past few decades slowly reshapes the hard form of the modernist city.

via Nick Sowers

The streets, squares, and monuments of the central city are the places where - at least in the traditional European view, and despite their partial exclusion of many groups (e.g., women, slaves, foreigners) - history is made. This has prompted twentieth century totalitarian regimes [...] to co-opt these traditional city spaces in their attempts to rewrite history. [...] The intermittent democratic re-liberalization of public urban spaces demonstrates their ongoing symbolic value to the citizenry, especially in an age of "placeless" global media. These urban spaces still symbolize the city's promise of freedom from oppression.

- David Grahame Shane, Recombinant Urbanism

 My classes have lately held discussions on the built environment's influence on social and economic change. This section from my urban design reading stood out in my mind as commentators and journalists mapped out the spaces of Egypt's cities. 

Today's New York Times addresses this issue here. 

 

 

Koudlam - See you all

New York Winter

Taken from my office window last week. Prepping for zero degree weather today.

Standard Hierarchy of Census Geographic Entities

it's our first week of class, getting excited about Applied Demography