Urban Neighbourhood

Japan’s Solar Shift

One thing that you can say about disasters is that they are rare opportunities to redo everything. A tabula rasa opportunity when it comes to rebuilding affected areas.

Japan is still recovering from the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11th and the nuclear crisis that it triggered.

The AFP is reporting that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is expected to announce Japan’s decision to continue operating nukes in order to meet the countries current power needs, but to also a mandate that would require all new homes and buildings to be outfitted with solar panels as part of the upcoming G8 Summit in France.

Of course a mandate isn’t legislation, but the construction required does present an opportunity for a solar company to step in and take advantage of the increased opportunity for demand if they can offer an efficient solar option.

Skating at the Halifax Oval

Halifax Oval timelapse 6am – 6pm. Rain/Snow closed the Oval at 3pm, but still a good showing. vollmerk

The Canada Games Oval is located on the Halifax North Common at the corner of North Park Street and Cogswell Street.

Contemporary Architecture and Christmas Deliveries.

When home designers don’t consider all factors.  Buck Brown brings a a great little cartoon about Santa’s feelings when it comes to delivering Christmas presents to contemporary homes.

Seattle’s Lighthouse Apartment in the Smith Tower

For those of you who love to look inside other peoples apartments, the New York Times takes us on a tour of one of Seattle’s most interesting and until now, mysterious apartments. Word has it that the apartment had taken on the status of an urban legend in Seattle that oscillated from occupied by crazy cat lady to home for a line of artists who have passed the key from one tenant to the next. Well the legend has passed from fiction to fact as the New York Times managed to get themselves a tour and sets the record straight.

How did a 46-year-old choreographer-turned-venture-capitalist-turned mom win a long-term lease on what may be the most extraordinary apartment in the city: the space at the top of the historic Smith Tower in Pioneer Square?

Read more: A Home in the Pyramid Atop Seattle’s Smith Tower.

See the photo Gallery Here.

Mummy Dance Party at Bryant Park

via one of our new favorite sites: Urban Prankster

Improv Everywhere is a group that we have mentioned before, and it is a driving force behind the flash-mob movement. In one of their latest variations on the flash-mob the folks at Improv Everywhere have started The Mp3 Experiments, wherein they post an Mp3 online for participants to download and listen too simultaneously.  The most recent of these was Experiment 7 that started in the retail stores surrounding Times Square and culminated with a Mummy Dance Party at Bryant Park.

Edited by Keith Haskel / music by Tyler Walker

The New New York City Taxi

In 2007 the Taxi and Limousine Commission of New York City brought together a group of stakeholders involved in the taxi industry in New York City. Including; taxi drivers, owner and passengers and the goal was simple, create a set of goals for the future of the taxi in New York City. A project that was aptly named “The Taxi of Tomorrow.” In 2009 the Taxi and Limousine commission issued a request for proposals to the automobile industry to design the next official taxi for the city. At present the primary vehicle in the city’s fleet is the Ford Crown Victoria. The Crown Victoria was officially discontinued by the Ford Motor Company this past spring (S) and this presents an opportunity for the city to change to a vehicle designed specifically for use as a Taxi, and through this change come up with a Taxi that is both iconic and more environmentally friendly.

The City of New York has already attempted to legislate that the city’s taxi fleet must be entirely electric or hybrid by 2012, but an federal judge overturned the legislation attempt after a suit by the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, which represented the owners of 29 fleets that control 3,500 yellow cabs, about a quarter of the fleet — said that the hybrid vehicles, which are more fuel-efficient, were not designed to withstand the heavy wear and tear that cabs must endure. S An interesting factoid about Taxis in New York City and in fact most of the rest of the world is that none of the 16 different vehicle models in the city’s 13,200 strong fleet were originally designed to be used as a taxi. All of the vehicles have been specially outfitted to be used as a taxi which will usually drive about 70,000 miles per year and see its back doors slammed around 21,000 times in the course of a year. S

“Although the city has long set standards for our taxis, we have never before worked with the auto industry to design a taxicab especially for  New York City — that is, until now,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission has culled three semi finalists from the competition; Karsan, Nissan, and Ford. Its a lucrative contract for whoever wins since “the TLC intends to select the best proposal and award an exclusive contract to sell and service taxicabs in New York for the next decade.” Take a look at the concept images and tell both us and the Taxi and Limousine Commission which one you prefer! What is in it for you? Well the prize is worth free cab rides for a year so you could be a winner!

Welcome to the Banana Republic of America

I don’t often write about income equality and politics in this blog, even though my inital degree was in Political Science I prefer to stick to Urban issues that are a little more lite and friendly then things like economic inequality and the division of wealth, these topics tend to be divisive and are often better left to the many political blogs out there. Today however, a news article came across my desk today that made me rethink my decision to ignore these topics given that the economic vitality of our cities is directly tied in with income distribution and the ability of  a cities citizens to spend money. If the stratification between income classes is too far apart then, and the majority of a city’s residents don’t have access to capital, then the social order tends to break down.

Anyway the information I am talking about comes by way of an opinion piece in the New York Times Titled A Hedge Fund Republic,

It turns out that in the United States in United States the income equality between different classes of citizens is worse then in most so called banana republics. It turns out that the US is on par with, if not worse than Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana. While this is a pretty strong statement  its the statistics behind the statement hat make a more compelling argument.

Let’s compare the United States in Argentina and consult the statistics, in the 1940s the top 1% of Argentina controlled 20% of the country’s net income versus the United States where the top 1% controlled only about 10% of the national income.  Most of the wealth was concentrated in a small percentage of the population and this would later assist Juan Peron in his populist rise to power in 1946.

Now fast forward those statistics to today or rather 2007 ( the most recent years to which the data is available).  In Argentina the top 1% has reduced its share of the pie down to 15% of net income whereas in the United States the top 1% has now gained control of approximately 34% of America’s private net worth. To further illustrate the disparity of wealth one only needs to expand the statistics from the top 1 percent to the top 10% and you end up with a situation where 10% of America owns 71% of Americans’ total net worth. Leaving with 90% of the country with only 29% of net worth.

The times article goes on to further discuss why the supporters of the republican party who fall in that 90% are absolutely insane for letting the party convince them that it is necessary for health of the American economy to keep the bush cuts going, but I will let the New York Times finish that story as they do a much better job.  Read the rest at the New York Times

The Yuppie Door Mat

Adding to our collection of things you can buy to support the urban economy or just generally satisfy your socioeconomic irony, we bring you this delightful doormat available over at The Onion from their home decor series. Its available over at the onion for the low low price of 35$ USD

gen·tri·fi·ca·tion

[jen-truh-fi-key-shuhn] dictionary.com

–noun

1.

the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.

2.

an instance of gentrifying; the condition of being gentrified.

Art, Activism, and the Brazillian Favela

In Rio a pair of Dutch artists and a paint company have triggered a change in the urban landscape of Rio. The artists had an idea to change the living environment of the Favela as a means to try and change how residents and the city at large related with the slum. After the success of the first couple of projects the Coral paint company got on board and now the slum is becoming known for something other then its drug trade.

A favela is the generally used term for a shanty town in Brazil. The name ‘favela’ comes from a tree commonly found on the side of hills in sub-tropical regions named the favela tree. As favelas are also often found on the sides of hills, the slang term ‘favela’ was formed. In the late 18th century, the first settlements were called bairros africanos (African neighborhoods), and they were the place where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for work lived. Over the years, many freed black slaves moved in. However, before the first settlement called “favela” came into being, poor blacks were pushed away from downtown into the far suburbs. Most modern favelas appeared in the 1970s, due to rural exodus, when many people left rural areas of Brazil and moved to cities.

From Wiki.

Learn more at the organization’s website. FP Favela Painting.

Princess Hijab

Princess Hijab has become one of Paris’s most controversial and hard to identify street artists. She is Paris’s answer to British guerrilla graffiti artist Banksy, though in many ways she is more controversial. Princess Hijab chooses to focus on one major issue in the French capital and it’s a hot potato; immigration and the Niqab. In case you haven’ been paying attention to the news coming out of France lately the Hijab, Niqab, and Burqa have become hot button issues in the resolutely secular republic and have ignited a firestorm over immigration, women’s rights, islamophobia and civil liberties. Last month the government approved the so called “burqa ban” which means that starting in the new year women will be banned from wearing any full-face Muslim veils in public, not just in government offices but anywhere outside of their own homes. The government argues that the ban it its way of protecting women’s rights and making it impossible for Muslim women to be forced by men to cover their faces.

This makes Princess Hijab’s particular bent of graffiti art all the more subversive in the French capital as her signature is painting the veil onto fashion advertisements. It isn’t just the advertisements that feature women who are being niqabed. Princess Hijab also gives the veil to men as well. The first graffiti veil to appear was a niqab painted onto a poster for an album cover of one of France’s most famous female rappers, Diam. In an interesting turn of events said rapper has actually turned to Islam and is now wearing the veil herself.

The Identity of Princess Hijab remains a mystery and while she did recently grant an interview to the Guardian, the report was inconclusive about her identity.
At the moment Princess Hijab is only hitting about four or five advertisements per year that tend to last only about 45 minutes before being ripped down by Paris Metro officials but each of her interventions is carefully photographed and most of them circulate online. Whether you agree with the “burqa ban” or not Princes Hijab is certainly trying to make you think about it.

READ MORE:

The Sydney Morning Herald.

The Guardian

Neighbourhood News Roundup: Nov 3 2010

Editors Note:

Recently we made an executive decision here at Urban Neighborhood to revamp the way that we deliver news about what is going on in cities around the world, as you can see from previous Neighborhood News installments we used to provide  the first couple paragraphs of the article in full with a picture and then hyperlink you over to the actual article at its source.  This was all well and good but ultimately a rather labor intensive process for content that was essentially a redirect to other news sites that were not providing any incentive. In order to make it easier to do the round up and therefore be more consistent with our installments we are switching over to a method more commonly found on entertainment websites and some of our favorite architecture blogs. So without further adieu here is your news round up for the week.

Hong Kong has decided to shell out some major bucks in order to build the worlds largest cultural district, the West Kowloon Cultural District is a publicly funded project with a price tag of 2.8 billion to be… well approximate… the intention is pretty simple, its plans on using the development to become Asia’s World City.

Since Dubai isn’t paying the the architectural big bucks any more architects like Rem Koolhaas are looking East and Rem has decided to jump on the aforementioned West Kowloon Cultural District gravy train to pay the bills. Rem has a proposal that is ether cultural appropriation or paying tribute to China’s Village history, depending on how you look at it.

The city of Chicago is about to loose out to New York once more, until now it might not have been the biggest city in America but it has had the country’s biggest building for decades, in a couple years One World Trade center is going to take that title away. There was hope that the title transfer would be short lived with the plans for The Spire, then the firm behind it filed for bankruptcy. At least they still have Oprah.

In Green News India has come up with a novel idea to use children to power its parks and playgrounds, now that we have your attention its isn’t as nefarious as you think, the city of Chandigarh wants to use kinetic energy from playground equiptment and solar power to light up its green spaces.

Skyrise Greenery, a website dedicated to green roofs and green spaces integrated into the built form presents its winners for the Skyrise Greenery Awards 2010.

Most tourist bureau’s concentrated on happy and fun but the Cambodian government has decided to take another route and concentrate on its dark history to pull the tourists in. The Atlantic writes about how the Cambodian government plans to develop Anlong Veng a sun-baked, mine-riddled frontier town into a theme park devoted to the Khmer Rouge. A regime that was responsible for murdering almost every in Cambodia who would be between the ages of 25 to 50 if they were still alive today, just in case yo have no knowledge of world history.

Over in Russia Ivan Marchenko discusses the poor state of architecture and the multitudes of unforgettable places that make up the capital and wonders if the sketches presented by designers for the central city are just tomorrows slums being proposed today.

Mason White presents an essay on ‘The Productive Surface’ for all you academics that discusses the shape of our environment and asks questions like “What does architecture and landscape already produce — intentionally or otherwise? And how is that component managed by design?”

For the cartographers and map lovers among us Think Big has a collection of strange maps that range from proposals  fill in the east river to create a Greater New York, to a composite map of European stereotypes.

The Waffle Shop: Delicious Public Participation.

How about some public participation with that waffle?

The Waffle shop is a neighbourhood restaurant with an interactive component organized by Jon Rubin an artist and professor at Carnegie Mellon University.  Inspired by the Seinfeld episode where Kramer rescues a Merv Griffen set from the garbage and sets it up in his living room, the waffle shop has a seventies style talk show  stage set up in the back of the restaurant.  The idea is that the waffles will lure people inside for food and get to participate in public storytelling. Its an experimental art project and forum for community engagement masquerading as a cafe .

There is a dedicated host sitting at a desk, sometimes a student and sometimes a community member with a mission is to engage that cafe’s clientèle in impromptu conversations about pretty much anything. The conversations run the gambit from Cotton Candy, roofies, and how Tupac is like gravity. The ‘talk show’ is streamed live on the Internet, and the best episodes are archived on the Waffle shop website.

“The shop is a public lab that brings together people from all walks of life to engage in dialogue, experimentation and the co-production of culture.” S

The purpose behind shop is to be a classroom for students from Carnegie Mellon, a business, a TV production studio, and a social catalyst. “Our customers are our funders, audience, and participants as we film during open hours, inviting interested patrons to express their unique opinions and personalities.” S

The restaurant also operates a ‘conflict kitchen’ takeout window that sells street food exclusively from countries that the United States is in conflict with. The take out window features a different country and dish every four months. To enliven the experience the store front changes every four months as well.

The packaging features background information on the represented country with facts about its people and misconceptions about their representation in mainstream media.

Kubideh Kitchen is an Iranian take-out restaurant that serves kubideh in freshly baked barbari bread with onion, mint, and basil. Developed in collaboration with members of the Pittsburgh Iranian community, the sandwich is packaged in a custom-designed wrapper that includes interviews with Iranians both in Pittsburgh and Iran on subjects ranging from Iranian food and poetry to the current political turmoil.

Through food, wrappers, programming, and daily interactions with customers, Conflict Kitchen creates an ongoing platform for first-person discussion of international culture and politics. In addition, the project introduces a rotating venue for culinary and cultural diversity in Pittsburgh, as future iterations will focus on Afghanistan, North Korea, and Venezuela.

The Waffle Shop and Conflict Kitchen can be found at:

124 South Highland Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

A Panorama of Paris

I love looking at cities, I study street pattern and pour over satellite images, walk down the sidewalk with my head craned up towards the sky because I want to look at everything. Any new look I can get at a place and I`ll spend some time to looking at everything.  Tonight thanks to the wonders of Stumbleupon I came across this birds eye, or rather tower top 360 degree 360 panoramic view of the city of lights  from the Eiffel Tower.  In case you were n`t aware the Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in Paris, and the most-visited paid monument in the world.

The Circling  shot has views  of Le Palais de Chaillot, the Mussee du Qaui Branly, Avenue de Saxe, Tour Montparnasse and much more.  The joy of Gilles Vidal`s photography is that its a never ending panorama, so you can put it on and just watch the city turn below. 

So if you would like to enjoy a panoramic spin above Paris then you have found the right place to click.

Shot by gilles vidal photographe.

Your Placemat or Mine?

For the person who can’t stop planning the neighborhood and looking at houses even while they are eating, finally there is a set of placemats that keep the fun going even during dinner time. They come in two sets of four and you can build your own UK city block by lining them up in a row or argue with your friends over who gets the downtown loft and who gets the suburban terrace. The Placemats are made by UK firm people will always need plates.

Gary, Indiana: Unbroken spirit amid the ruins of the 20th Centry

A look back at the effectiveness of federal stimulus past and present by the BBC. Gary In was a town that received federal stimulus money after the great depression and once again when the Obama administration announced its stimulus package after the recent economic collapse. The movie takes a look at how effective stimulus can be, and the politics behind its delivery.

Watch this video over at the BBC.

To put this in context you have to know that Gary, home to what is still US Steel Corp’s biggest plant, is suffering from one of the most advanced cases of urban blight in the developed world. Its city centre is near-deserted by day. The texture of the urban landscape is cracked stone, grass, crumbled brick and buddleia.

Gary is one third poor, 84% African American, and has seen its population halve over the past three decades. If crime, as the official figures suggest, has recently dropped off then – say the critics – that is because population flight from the city is bigger than the census figures show.

Gary in the end got $266m of stimulus money and has, according to the federal “recipient reported data” created a grand total of 327 jobs. That’s $800,000 per job.

I went back determined to find out how the stimulus dollars had been spent; to get beyond the ideology and recriminations and see why President Barack Obama’s stimulus has failed to turn the country around.

The striking thing is that they are all structurally dangerous and yet totally accessible. I did not have to cross a single piece of wire, tape or fencing to get in, nor did I encounter a security guard or dog patrol. The city seems to have given up even securing these ruins.