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Mar 01

A Mallrat Repents

By Yuri Artibise 28 Day Challenge, Reviews, urbanism View Comments

I have a confession to make. I was a mallrat.

I spent endless hours of my tween and teen years hanging out in and malls.  I loved movies featuring mall scenes like Can’t Buy Me Love, Weird Science and Back to the Future (all of which I saw in a mall theater). As a kid growing up in the suburbs it was the ‘cool thing’ to do. Even though my hometown had a pretty decent downtown, I viewed it as a place for ‘suits’ and tourists. Ironically, it wasn’t until a new downtown mall opened that I started exploring city life outside of it.

38308d1237576568 how do you remember phoenix stories park central mall 07 A Mallrat RepentsA few years later, I moved away to college, and discovered the joys of a small town’s main street. I then spent a few years in the urban mecca of Vancouver, and several more in the eastern city of Ottawa. I began taking city life for granted. I enjoyed hanging out at locally owned coffee shops and bars and finding unique items at local businesses. I discovered the writings of Jane Jacobs. I only stepped foot in malls on an occasional basis, usually to catch a movie at the Cineplex or to buy something of a gift registry for a wedding or baby shower. I started going to the grand old movie theaters whenever possible. I had become an urbanite.

Thus, moving to Phoenix was a culture shock. It is next to impossible to avoid malls here. Even the downtown urban infill projects that the city is lauding have more in common with a suburban mall than an urban main street. This is why a film I saw yesterday at the Phoenix Art Museum resonated with me in such a strong way.

The film was Malls R Us. It was co-presented by No Festival Required, as part of its almost monthly series of documentaries and ‘indie’ films. It was sponsored by CityCircles, a new resource for exploring the city by light rail.

Malls R Us is a provocative documentary that looks at North America’s love affair will the mall. Produced by Helene Klodawsky, the film takes us through the history of the mall from its unassuming beginnings of the mall in suburban Minneapolis in the 1950s to todays mega-projects in Dubai and India. Helene attempts to portray a balanced picture of the mall and its place in our culture and communities. Despite this attempt at neutrality, I left the theater with an even stronger revulsion for malls and the damage they represent, not only to our built form, but our social interaction as well.

Part of the reason that movie resonated so deeply with me is its portrayal of places and people I’m familiar, with. The movie opens with a panoramic shot of the Sonaran Desert, complete with saguaro cacti.  One of the main protagonists of the film is a Canadian film developer who whose wants to develop the world first ‘green’ mall on a parcel of environmentally sensitive land in the outskirts of Montreal. His search for tenants take him to Cabela’s, the outdoor megastore in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb. This closed the circle for me as a Canadian living in Phoenix.

I won’t go any deeper into what the movie reveals, because I strongly urge you to see it yourself.  But I did want to leave you something to think about. I understand that special places that malls occupy in our memories. I certainly have many happy memories myself. But like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, as we grow up, we need to stop over- romanticizing and realize that full truth behind these memories. I hear all the time what a special place malls like Park Central, Christown Spectrum and Biltmore Fashion Center have in the hearts of long time residents.

What we tend to forget though, is just as malls like Metrocenter and Scottsdale Fashion Center lead to the demise of malls like Christown Spectrum and Park Central; Park Central and Christown led to the demise of downtown Phoenix. So feel free to reminisce, but don’t mourn too much. It is only with the demise (and hopefully adaptive reuse) of such malls, that our downtown core can reach it’s potential as a vital hub for the city.

Perhaps now with the difficulties that CityNorth is having, politicians and developers will wake up and realize that the era of the North American mall is over. Too bad it is just beginning in place like Kazakhstan and India.

Related Site: Deadmalls.com

This is day 20 in my 28 Day Blogging Challenge. 8 days to go.

A Mallrat Repents

Thanks for being a regular reader of my site!

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Feb 27

Suicide Lanes Kill Communities

By Yuri Artibise 28 Day Challenge, Opinion, Phoenix, urbanism View Comments

This is the text of a letter to the editor I wrote in June 2008.  It was in response to a  Arizona Republic article on a Phoenix City Council vote about eliminating the ‘reversible’ (aka suicide) lanes on 7th Ave and 7th St. I couldn’t keep quiet after reading the typical ignorant responses on the azcentral.com website.  So I wrote the letter below.  To my surprise, it was actually published in the print edition of the Republic (although not online).

Alas, this letter—and several others like it—did not have any effect.  Phoenix City Council deferred to the traffic engineers and north Phoenix residents and kept the suicide lanes in place for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, the problem remains.  With next week’s M7/Seventh Ave Street Fair focusing city-wide attention on this vibrant neighborhood, I thought it was a good time to dust of the letter and rekindle the debate again:

PHP48E9806492966 Suicide Lanes Kill Communities

Photo of Kurt Stickler, by Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic

The push to remove the ‘suicide lane’ is a no brainer. Traffic engineers can debate whether reverse lanes have increases accident counts, but there is no doubt that it has hurt local neighborhoods and small businesses along it’s path.

Historically, streets served as places where we stopped for conversation and children played. Today, they are now more the domain of cars than people. Even where sidewalks and streetscapes are present along high-speed streets, they feel inhospitable and out-of-place. This is especially true on 7th Ave that, with the reverse lane, can have up to four lanes traveling in one direction—hardly an environment conducive to local neighborhoods or businesses. While the City of Phoenix should be lauded for ongoing investments in the Melrose on 7th Ave streetscape, the reverse lane has undermined many of these efforts. This lane marks 7th Ave a thruway to and from other destinations rather than reinforcing surrounding areas on both sides of 7th avenue as places for residents to socialize and enjoy art, restaurants and small businesses that this neighborhood offers.

With the pending opening of the light rail, central Phoenix has already made large strides in rethinking the city’s relationship with cars and traffic. Removing the reverse lanes would be another sensible step in the City’s progression from a conventional transportation focus on the automobile to a recognition of the role of transportation in shaping places for everybody to enjoy, whether they are in cars or not.

Please let me know what you think in the comments.  If you agree with me and would like to see the reversible lanes removed, contact your City Councilor and ask that they revisit their short-sighted decision.  Be sure to cc district 4 Councilor Tom Simplot.  His district covers the ares most affected by the reversible lanes, including the Melrose Curve between Indian School and Camelback Rd.  If you happen to live in District 6 (Sal DiCiccio or District 3 (Bill Gates), where the reversible lanes are also present, your support would also be appreciated.

This is day 19 in my 28 Day Blogging Challenge. 9 days to go.


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Feb 24

CityScape: Suburbanizing Downtown Phoenix

By Yuri Artibise 28 Day Challenge, Opinion, urbanism View Comments

Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook know that I’m not a fan of CityScape. I was initially excited by the project and had high hopes that the city finally ‘got’ it.  However, as the months went by the buildings went up, my excitement turned to guarded skepticism.  This week any hopes I once had were dashed by the following three strikes:

Strike #1: Urban Form

I recently walked around the exterior of CityScape, Phoenix’s supposedly ‘exciting urban infill’ development.  During this walk my suspensions were confirmed:  Far from being an authentic urban development that takes into account the surrounding urban fabric, it would be yet another typical development.  I guess I was naive to think expect anything different from a project conceived in a Scottsdale business park and designed by an Seattle architect.

CityScape’s idea of urban form is to place a large-scale suburban pharmacy on one corner of the development and an elevator lobby on another corner. So much for encouraging an active street life or pedestrian activity downtown.

While I have no problems with the CVS Pharmacy, I do wish the proposed design took up less street frontage (perhaps placing it on the second floor?). This would free up valuable street frontage for smaller scale businesses that would attract customers and window shoppers, enhancing the urban vitality of the development.  Instead it looks like we’ll get something similar to most other CVS’s with large blank walls or faux windows, punctuated by a small entry way or two.

Strike #2: Public Space

The supposed ‘park’ to replace the publicly owned Patriots Park, is not really a park, but an outdoor arcade on private property surrounded by buildings. Worse yet, at least part of it will be above street level, further discouraging pedestrian activity.  Basically, this ‘park’ is designed for the office dwellers and patrons of the complex, NOT the citizens and residents of downtown Phoenix.  Besides, we already have several downtown park spaces that are chronically under used, why do we need another?

Strike #3: Grocery Store

On Monday, we learned that the long promised grocery store in downtown Phoenix was not actually a grocery store, but rather a high-end food boutique.  While I don’t have a problem with Oakville Grocery per se (especially if it keeps it’s, it’s promise to stock locally produced goods.), I do take issue with is the conceit that it is a ‘grocery store’ that will meet the needs of downtown residents.  There is only so much demand for handmade cheeses and gourmet sandwiches in downtown (and besides the Phoenix Public Market already offers these items and more. (On the upside, the high price products will be a boon to the City’s new food tax).

What is really needed downtown is a place to pick up toilet paper, laundry detergent. I rather have seen something like Fresh and Easy or even Trader Joes come in.  However, I realize the difficulty in luring other grocers, particularly since the promised residential part of Cityscape is delayed indefinitely.  This means that the population needed to support a real grocery store just isn’t there.

As a result of these three strikes, and several others, CityScape represents yet another failed attempt to revitalize downtown. It is basically a morphing of downtown’s last two failed ‘urban infill’ attempts:  Collier Center and Arizona Center. Both these were supposed to enhance downtown’s urban fabric. Both failed miserably at this goal.

CityScapeAlex3 225x300 CityScape: Suburbanizing Downtown Phoenix

A Seattle-style tower in the dessert

The various civic ‘leaders’ who continue to push such misguided projects need to wake up. Instead of facilitating a downtown that ALL residents can enjoy, they have continued on the futile quest to keep suburbanites and tourists downtown after ball games or conventions by creating a suburban haven in the middle of the city.

These so-called leaders need to realize that what’s needed downtown isn’t foisting another new mega-project on us.  Rather, we as a broad-based community need to radically rethink how we approach development. Until that happen, Phoenix will never realize the potential of being ‘Arizona’s Urban Heart.”

Developments such as Cityscape don’t take us closer to a true downtown, rather they move us further away.  In Phoenix’s desperate attempt to attract suburban tourists downtown, the city is morphing downtown into a suburb itself.

This is day 16 in my 28 Day Blogging Challenge. 12 days to go.

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Feb 23

Urban Savoir-Faire

By Yuri Artibise 28 Day Challenge, Opinion, urbanism View Comments

I first heard of the term ‘urban savoir-faire’ in a podcast by Adam Greenfield, the same one I learned about Schelling points. Adam describes how the increasing networked world we are living in, and the near ubiquity of smart phones is coming at the cost of traditional urban aspects of serendipity, solitude and anonymity. Together these aspects form  the makings of ‘urban savoir faire.’ Such aspects are the intangibles of living in an urban environment and allows people who posses it than innate ability to know how to navigate the city with a polished refinement.

07012007779 Urban Savoir Faire

From whentechlunches.com

Before ubiquitous computing, it took years, if not decades to understand the rhythm of a city; including such things as the true (vs. published) transit schedule, or the dive bar with the great grilled cheese. But once you understood it, you gained a panache and sense of accomplishment, and felt connected to the city in a unique way.  Now, people don’t head to the light rail station until their iPhone tells them the next train in moments away, and use services like Yelp to find the great ‘hole in the wall.’ that is now packed with suburban ‘tourists.’ In other words, our increasing networked society has diminished the concept of urban obscurity and added a new level (and meaning) of transparency to the urban environment.

This in and of itself is not a bad thing.  Our lives are a little bit better, and definitely run smoother because of this shared knowledge. From a personal perspective, I would not have been able to get up to speed on the ins and outs of downtown and central Phoenix so quickly without such networked information.  However, the soul of the city is in danger of being lost in this efficiency. In this interview, Adam mentions sociologist’s Richard Sennett argument that what makes urbanity is “precisely the quality of necessary, daily, cheek-by-jowl confrontation with a panoply of the different.”  I agree. When anybody can navigate a city easily, it becomes less of an authentic experience and more, for a lack of a better word, a suburban one. Ubiquitous computing smooths the rough edges from the urban experiences and eliminates many of the intangibles that make city life unique.

The challenge is: how do we take advantage of the benefits of the networked city, while keeping the concept of urban savoir-faire alive?

This is day 15 in my 28 Day Blogging Challenge. 13 days to go.

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Feb 17

What is Placemaking?

By Yuri Artibise 28 Day Challenge, Personal Brand, Who am I?, urbanism View Comments

After asking me what a policy wonk is, the next most popular question I get is: What is aplacemaker?

Placemaking is another ‘wonkish’ term that has means different things to different people.  To give you a broad idea, here are a few definitions from a survey conducted by the Project for Public Spaces:

“Placemaking is a dynamic human function: it is an act of liberation, of staking claim, and of beautification; it is true human empowerment.”

“Placemaking is the art of creating public ‘places of the soul,’ that uplift and help us connect to each other.”

Placemaking is “making a Public Space a Living Space.”

The concept of placemaking originated in the 1960’s when urban visionaries like Jane Jacobs and William H. Whyte espoused what were then (and may still be) radical ideas about designing cities that catered to people, not just to cars and shopping centers. Jacobs and Whyte felt it was important to create and support lively neighborhoods and inviting public spaces. In particular, Jacobs advocated residents taking ownership of their streets through the now-famous idea of “eyes on the street.” Whyte focused on seemingly minor details of urban spaces (such as movable chairs, water, and food) as important to creating vibrant public spaces.

At its most basic, placemaking is making livable places by thinking through:

  1. The design of places
  2. The experiences that make possible, and
  3. The consequences they have in our lives.

Bases on my studying of the works of Jacobs, Whyte and others (as well as a lucky few discussions I had with Jane in person), I have adopted this manta of placemaking: “creating a sense of place and a place of sense”

Cities used to be social places designed for people.  Placemaking was the natural order of things.  Unfortunately, over the past 50 years, our cities and neighborhoods have become conduits for cars and commerce and the people who actually live in the them have been all but forgotten.

I consider myself a placemaker, because I’m passionate about returning the streets of downtown Phoenix to the residents of the Valley. I give life to this passion in many ways. I hold my own events highlighting the potential of public spaces, including Jane’s Walk Phoenix, Park(ing) Day or Urban Breakfast.  I’m a member of groups like RadiatePhx and Get Your Phx that connect me with other people to share ideas and support each other in our endeavors. I also take part in organizations that push for creating a sustainable downtown as the Downtown Voices Coalition.

My goal is to help people realize that we are all responsible for the success of the places we live. By retaking control of the public spaces and holding our own events and making our own changes, not matter how small, we can be the leading edge of systemic changes that will force the politicians and bureaucrats to take note and begin designing cities for people again.

place diagram What is Placemaking?

The Place Diagram, form the Program for Public Spaces

For more of my thinking on this topic, here is a link to a presentation on placemaking I gave to ASU’s Barrett Honor CollegeDowntown Phoenix ASU campus on August 20, 2009. And here  ‘Urban Experience’ orientation at the is the link to my Ignite Phoenix 5 presentation on ‘Urban Space’.

This is day 9 in my 28 Day Blogging Challenge. 19 days to go.

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Feb 14

I *Heart* Phoenix

By Yuri Artibise 28 Day Challenge, Places, Who am I?, urbanism View Comments

Another Valentine’s Day is upon us. While I’m not a huge fan of the Hallmark Holiday, I do appreciate the opportunity to think about my loved ones for a day. And it’s always nice to have an extra excuse to shower a little extra attention on my wife Linda.

For, me however, Valentine’s day is linked to another important event: It was three years ago today that I made the move to Phoenix, and as long as I live here, it will be a reminder of this momentous life shift. I have joked that while Linda is my wife, Phoenix is my mistress. On reflection, this isn’t really too much of a joke. When we first moved here, we wanted to give living in the US a try (I have always been am America-phile) combined with a desire to escape winter. (Believe me there is no better time to move to Phoenix than February!), and a love for the city’s mid-century architecture. While I knew that Phoenix was an auto-dominated city best known for sprawl and golf course, two things I abhor, I saw enough of a glimmer downtown Phoenix to make the gamble and move down here.

The past three years has been a whirlwind relationship. If you give Phoenix a chance, it can grab you in completely unexpected ways.  When I first moved here I was a naïve Canadian with a 9-5 job at ASU and few friends. Three years later, I am a passionate Phoenicians, without a job, but with a robust circle of friends and an engagement calendar so fat, I need a secretary to manage! While I remain frustrated by many aspects of living in what I have referred to as an ‘urban desert’ the city and people has given me the opportunity to realize my true calling. While I have always been an urbanist at heart, I had always lived in vibrant urban neighborhoods so I had never had to think of it something that requires effort. Being an urbanist in Phoenix definitely requires effort. However, like the most demanding mistress, there is something about the city that compels me to put in the effort to make the relationship work.

As many of you know, I write occasionally for the Downtown Phoenix Journal. In honor to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, the staff was asked to share 14 things we love about downtown Phoenix. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, and my third anniversary as a Phoenician, here’s a list of 14 things I ‘heart’ about downtown Phoenix:

  1. Business meetings at Lola Downtown
  2. Chatting up tourists on the Metro Light Rail
  3. Co-working at Lux Coffeebar
  4. I *Heart* PhoenixBuying unique housewarming gifts at Frances
  5. Lusting after jewelry by Heidi Abrahamson
  6. Discussing ‘infill development’ at After Hours Gallery
  7. Having breakfast for lunch at Matt’s Big Breakfast
  8. Stretching out on the grass at Roosevelt Park (3rd Ave, south of Roosevelt)
  9. Searching for ghosts at the Hotel San Carlos
  10. Winding down with a cookie and coffee at Royal at the Market
  11. Losing myself in James Turrell’s light sculpture “Mohl ip” at the Phoenix Art Museum
  12. Participating in the Critical Mass bike ride
  13. Noshing on chilquiles verdes at Gallo Blanco Café at the Clarendon Hotel
  14. Sampling the rotating tap at The Roosevelt Tavern

This is day 6 in my 28 Day Blogging Challenge. 22 more to go.

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Feb 12

Friday 5: My favorite articles from the past week

By Yuri Artibise 28 Day Challenge, Friday 5, urbanism View Comments

After a bit of deliberation, I decided to include my Friday 5 posts that I use to highlight some of the most interesting articles and posts I’ve read over the past week as part of the 28 Day Challenge.  I deliberated because it really isn’t creating ‘new material’.  I finally decided think that the act of whittling down the 1000+ articles I read each week to five is in and of itself an art, and I hope that the brief commentary provides some insight into why I selected the articles, and in turn a better understanding of where I’m coming from in my other posts.  (If you want more, you can follow my shared items on Google Reader.)

  • OPVAerial3 sm Friday 5: My favorite articles from the past week

    False Creek, and Downtown Vancouver

    A Tale of Two Cities: The Vancouver you see, and the one you don’t: if you follow the Winter Olympics at all, you’ll be hearing a lot about Vancouver over the next two weeks.  Alas, much of it will be facile sound bites targeted at would be tourists.  This article goes beneath these cliché’s to take a deeper look, Here’s hoping that it will give you a deeper appreciation of the city I once called home (and that will always have a special place in my heart).

  • Racking up Support: Following last weeks Critical Mass bike ride through the streets of central Phoenix, I‘ve been pondering how we can promote cycling as a valid form of transportation in the city.  After all we are flat, have casual ‘dress codes’ and have the perfect climate for cycling (at least 9 months out of the year; even in the summer bikes provide ‘built-in air-conditioning). This article looks at an often overlooked way to help increase cycling in a city.
  • The Olympics and the City: Another Vancouver Olympic related article—hey, it’s not every day you ‘hometown’ plays host to the world! This one looks at how Vancouver met the many challenges of hosting the Olympics and how it used the opportunities as a lab for cutting-edge urban policy.

This is day 4 in my 28 Day Blogging Challenge. 24 more to go.

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Feb 10

‘Schelling’ the City

By Yuri Artibise 28 Day Challenge, urbanism View Comments

The other day I asked a simple question on Twitter and Facebook:

“If someone told you to meet then in Downtown Phoenix and gave no further details, where would you go?

I based this question on a presentation by Adam Greenfield at dConstruct09 in September entitled Elements Of A Networked Urbanism. During this presentation he asked a similar question of New York City, where the correct answer traditionally has been the clock in Grand Central. This what is referring to as a ‘focal’ or Schelling point. Named after Professor Thomas Schelling, the 2005 Nobel Prize recipient, a Schelling point is “that which gives a group of like-minded individuals their common purpose.” Groups with strong Schelling points are able to “coordinate their actions with minimal communication.”

3572441144 01a6ebd88e ‘Schelling’ the City

Image from mistdog on Flickr

Mr. Greenfield calls such places points are ‘nodes of unconscious coordination” that people in cities around the word have historically used to make sense of urban place. Most urban places have one. In Tokyo it’s the statue of the dog in Hachiko Square. In London it is under the clock in Waterloo Station. According to Adam, most cities have Schelling points, because, without effective communication between people (i.e., cell phones), meeting places ultimately converge on a couple of high visibility—and usually iconic—destinations.

There is nothing inherent about Grand Central Station that makes a particularly desirable meeting place. In fact its crowded and often hectic nature may actually be a detriment; it may likely be easier to meet someone at a quiet bar, or the public library reading room. Nevertheless, the popular notoriety of Grand Central Station as a meeting place raises its prominence and makes it a natural “focal point.”

As an ‘incurable urbanist’ I was taken by this concept, and wondered if any place in Phoenix could be considered a legitimate Schelling point, hence the question I posted. Here are the responses:

  • Civic Space Park
  • Lux Coffee
  • Phoenix Art Museum
  • Chase Field
  • US Airways Center
  • Central and Adams, by the ‘crazy preacher’
  • Central and Washington (point ‘zero’ in the street numbering grid)
  • 4th and McKinley
  • Phoenix Public Market and have a glass of wine till they found me! (My personal favorite)
  • Phoenix City Hall
  • Cibo
  • Carly’s
  • Fair Trade Café/Central and Roosevelt
  • Revolver Records
  • Lost Leaf
3992203564 af07c9f8b8 ‘Schelling’ the City

Civic Space Park

While Civic Space Park was the most popular answer, due largely you the controversial and highly visible ‘floating jellyfish sculpture, the numerous responses reflects the fact that Phoenix is an auto dominated, sprawling city, that has long neglected it’s downtown. As a result the city doesn’t have traditional gathering points like in cities established before the automobile.

What I found most interesting, however, is that several people responded that they simply would go anywhere without more information. While, in part, this reflects the lack of a vibrant urban core on another level, the response highlights the rise of ‘ubiquitous computing’ promoted by the prevalence of ‘smart phones.’ This was the point of Greenburg’s entire presentation: that when everybody (and everything is networked, you no longer need unconscious co-ordination. Rather you can simply post on Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, BrightKite, etc that I’m and the Corner of Washington and 7th St, or I’m at Lux Coffeebar, or Gangplank, or Rula Bula, and this functions as a ‘flocking’ or ‘shoaling’ point: a place where people converge.

This not only has impacts for how people interact with each other, but also with their cities and neighborhoods. Social activity is increasingly less about specific times and places and more about converging at locations where have announced their presence or have expressed as their destination. As a result, what we’ve long understood as the nature of community as a loose connection of people within a neighborhood or interest group is morphing to a much more conscious social network.

This is not the first time I’ve mused about this topic (see my Ignite Phoenix 5 presentation on Slideshare or YouTube), nor will it be the last. I’m still not 100% sure of the final outcomes of this shift, but I feel that it will be huge. Stay tuned for further updates as my research and thinking progresses. In the meantime, please let me know what you think in the comment section.

This is day 2 in my 28 Day Blogging Challenge. 26 more to go.

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Jan 14

Jane Jacobs, Gentrifier?

By Yuri Artibise urbanism View Comments

From: Jane’s Walk Phoenix Please check it out for more information on Jane Jacobs and for details of Jane’s Walk 2010 taking place on May 1 & 2, 2010.

*     *      *

I came across this post on Planetizen. It provides an interesting perspective and touched on an issue that I’ve long wrestled with: authenticity, preservation and organic development. From the article: “just what does authenticity mean, and who is really allowed to claim it?”

Jane Jacobs, Gentrifier?
Posted by: Tim Halbur
11 January 2010 – 9:00am

Prof. Sharon Zukin argues that Jacobs had “a gentrifier’s appreciation of urban authenticity” in her new book, Naked City.

Zukin tackles the issue of gentrification and the people who lay claim to the authenticity of neighborhoods, particularly in New York. She finds no easy answers, but does believe in the quest to preserve authenticity.

In the New York Post: “In the end, New York City development revolves around who successfully claims ownership of a neighborhood. Conflict arises when ‘groups representing the opposing visions claim the same space,’ Zukin says, especially in ‘the conflict over authentic representations of neighborhoods like Red Hook, between old working-class homeowners, public housing project tenants, and gentrifiers.’”

Full Story: Naked City

Source: New York Post, January 10, 2010

suburban city 300x300 Jane Jacobs, Gentrifier?
From my other blog, Jane’s Walk Phoenix

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Jan 13

GOOD.is on Jane Jacobs—’Reading a City’

By Yuri Artibise urbanism View Comments

From GOOD.is, The Slow Issue. Originally posted by Alissa Walker on January 13, 2010 at 7:00 am PST.  Cross-posted on Jane’s Walk Phoenix.

Reading a City

018 reading arch 1 GOOD.is on Jane Jacobs—’Reading a City’

How the built environment instructs us on how to move through it


Greene Street Jane Jacobs wrote about the “ballet” of the street when describing the rhythm of her Greenwich Village neighborhood, which she viewed as a choreographed exchange between resident and sidewalk, and shopkeeper and stoop. Not too far away, Greene Street in New York’s SoHo neighborhood pulses with the same syncopated footsteps and echoes of Jacobs’s legacy. She prevented this entire neighborhood from becoming the Lower Manhattan Expressway—now cars shudder down the street, forced into submission by century-old cobblestones. The former cast-iron warehouses have been fashioned into frilly storefronts for the well-heeled (and often high-heeled) who stop, gape up at their pillared facades; pause; peer into the jewel-like windows; and are rewarded with detail…

More here

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