Link Round-Up

I am on spring break in Seattle, and thoughts will be forthcoming, so in lieu of a real post, here are some interesting links to things I have been meaning to write on:

LA Weekly article on Stephen Box, a bike advocate who is running for the LA city council.

A proposal for a simplified urbanist zoning code.

A New York Times piece on NIMBYism in supposedly progressive places to development like bike lanes and BRT.

Finally, a look at the true financial costs of sprawl by new urbanist architect Steve Mouzon.

Madmen Supports Highspeed Rail

Meanwhile, Ohio's Governor is trying to redirect funding from a Cincinnati street car that is projected to spur $1.5 billion in new investment in the downtown. You can read about it on Streetsblog here.

An Open Letter to Metro Detroit

Being new to Michigan, I am not in any way an expert on the state. I have only been to Detroit once. When I did go, I was impressed by how nice so many of the buildings would have been if they were not neglected or abandoned. I was expecting falling down, rotting buildings and trailer parks, but I could have seen myself happily living most of the townhouses or apartment buildings that we passed if they had not looked like they were in a ghost town.

That is all to give context to a letter written by Andrew Basil, a lawyer with a firm that has offices in Troy and Ann Arbor. Several things he said really struck a chord with my experiences since moving to Michigan. In particular, he says,

“There’s a simple reason why many people don’t want to live here: it’s an unpleasant place because most of it is visually unattractive and because it is lacking in quality living options other than tract suburbia. Some might call this poor 'quality of life'. A better term might be poor 'quality of place.'”

I have to commend Grand Rapids for having some areas where this is definitely not true, but there is a complacency with what Jane Jacobs calls the “Great Blight of Dullness.” Basil has excellent photos showing this type of space in Michigan, though the pictures could have been taken anywhere there is car-centric development.

The letter is well worth reading in its entirety, because he both shows businesses' interest in building people-centered spaces and counters the argument that you need a robust economy to build good urban spaces. Rather, you need good urban spaces to build lasting prosperity.

Handmade Computerization

I read an article in the New York Times earlier today on bespoke clothing shops in Vienna. One thing that one of the interviewees said made me look at computerization in a different way. George Gaugusch said "I think customization is an idea that’s becoming modern again — not to have 10 suits done cheaply, but to have two or three that are made for you." I had not looked at it this way before, but we are used to being able to set up anything on a computer exactly how we want it. We change backgrounds, ringtones, and browser themes. The whole idea of multiple user accounts on a computer points to this, though that did not last because everyone wanted their own machine.

Before the industrial revolution, everything was handmade, so by definition it was custom but expensive. The industrial age emphasized making things that worked for everyone and were cheap. Perhaps the internet revolution will combine the best of each to achieve cheap customized quality things.

Perhaps the bespoke shops of the near future will combine the meticulous attention to fit that characterizes them now while using computers and machines to achieve even higher quality. Or we may continue to drown in mass-produced junk - who knows.

Great Hipster Bike Video

Bike Humor

There is a new miniseries that just started on IFC, Portlandia. It is a spoof of Portland, so it obviously mocks cyclists. You can watch a great clip here.

Thoughts on Flying

As I write this I am sitting in the Minneapolis airport. I had not flown through here before, and I am impressed. During my flight here, on a small regional jet that was almost completely empty, I kept feeling like I could be living out the decline from Atlas Shrugged. The airport had been almost deserted, and all the flights on the board were regional. It was well maintained, but seemed to be on the fringes. A lost corner of our infrastructure.

I admit that these impressions are probably from reading Atlas Shrugged. The section of the book I was reading was describing the winding down of the American economy, specifically the drop off in traffic on the railroads. This made me look at an empty plane and broken coffee maker differently than I normally would have.

When I got off the plane and started walking through Minneapolis, which is bright, crowded – at least for nine at night – and filled with great shops, I felt like I had just woken up from a bad dream into an invigorating morning. That was completely melodramatic, but I hope you get my point.

I have always found airports exciting. The bustle of people who need to be places, the efficiency, real or attempted, of the employees trying to get people to these places, and above all the sense of freedom that seeing all the different places one could go gives me a thrill. I admit that there can be frustrations, but that is part of the adventure for me. To have everything you need with you – I only fly carry-on – is for me the greatest sense of freedom. Being able to wake up in one city, or continent, go to a place of bustle and speed, and then join the flow of a new city like nothing ever happened, is one of my joys in life.

I realize that the picture of air travel I just painted is very different from the one commonly expressed. Frustrated passengers, long lines, and cancelled flights seems to be the narrative that is more frequently told. I agree that this happens, and I have been in those situations, but I think that is less common than it is made out to be.

I feel that since I have been talking of freedom to travel, I would be remiss if I did not say why I do not have the same feelings for the car, which is often described in the same way that I have been describing air travel. Cars, for me, a more like a prison. When you do a road trip, you have to confine yourself into a small, uncomfortable cage for hours on end. Further more, you have to leave civilization, in order to get anywhere. This fact can be an argument for the car, but I'll address that later. I feel like time stands still on a road trip, in a bad way. The hours spent sitting feel like hours irretrievably wasted. On a plane, I get a certain vitality from the interaction with human beings, but in a car you are cutting yourself off from contact.

The ability of cars to take you out from civilization is their one redeeming value. On this current trip, I am flying to Denver, but I will then continue by car up into the mountains. If my destination was Denver, I would really rather not deal with cars at all, but since they are a means of getting to nature, I don't mind as much.

The Third & The Seventh

The Third & Seventh is an amazing video by Alex Roman, I had not watched it for a few years, but the imagery and feeling stayed with me. It  beautifully explores the wonder and longing that architecture and design can inspire in us. In a way it plays like a modernist's dream, but I think that it transcends that one aesthetic sensibility and strikes something much deeper. It is twelve and a half minutes long, but is is well worth your time, as is waiting for the high definition to load. You can find it here.

Velorbis

I just discovered this great bicycle company in Denmark. Their bikes are gorgeous and really present a cycling aesthetic you do not see in the USA very often. 

The New Year

As we start the new year, there are a few noteworthy articles that are worth taking a look at. Transport Michigan has a great article outlining a transportation manifesto for Michigan. Christianity Today takes an interesting look at the theological implications of string theory, and Thomas Friedman wrote a farewell essay that perfectly captures the challenges and opportunities we can expect in the coming years.