I'm Back!

Ha. So both of my laptops died on me, thus no posts for a very very long time. I don't really have much to say right now, except that life is unpredictable.

Anonanimal

It's been almost a month since I posted my last entry. I have a new job, and have not made the time to post about urban design. Today was Bike the Drive here in Chicago. Lakeshore Drive, a major interstate along Michigan Avenue, is closed to motor vehicles from 5:30 am to 10:30 am once a year. The result is a huge bike party in and around Grant Park. The Active Transportation Alliance, a not-for-profit with a focus on fun, active, safe transportation like walking, biking, and mass transit organized the event. I volunteered to work the membership tent. Volunteering with active trans is always gratifying and a wonderful opportunity to meet like-minded people in Chicago. As I rode my bike home today from the event, I realized that we all want more bike lanes, bike parking, trails, and a safe way for our kids to walk or bike to school. I had almost no problem convincing people to become a member of Active Trans once they understood the scope of the Active Transportation Alliance's work. Since my mind is still recovering from the start of a wonderful new job and packing to move to a new apartment next weekend, I am going to take a giant leap and relate Andrew Bird to Bike the Drive. Andrew Bird, a Chicago native and the object of my obsession, gleans inspiration for his music while riding his bike. It's a beautiful thing to see him perform and think about how these compositions are born. Please see video below for his performance of Anonanimal off his new album Noble Beast.

Bowerbird Courtship

This is the sweetest courtship display. The female looks so lovely and excited by the male's dance. I couldn't resist posting here. What does it have to do with urban design? Well, if these adorable little things find beauty in the exotic and exciting, then why do we feel okay living in bland, depressing places?...or something like that...

All the Single Ladies

Wow! My friend Jen Gamber sent me this video today. Spontaneous dancing in Piccadilly Circus, London. I love it, and I wish that I was one of these off-the-shoulder-leotard-clad dancers. More than wish...I am insanely jealous of these hot ladies. That's what I call Urban Revitalization. For anybody out there who is on the fence of joining my awesome Non-Invasive Urban Revitalization group, this is exactly the kind of thing I want to do, but instead set in an under-noticed area and not product endorsement (this is a promotion for some brand of gum). Come on! I'd look ridiculous out there alone. You know you want to dance in random places in Chicago with me! And if you're not a dancer...I'm also quite interested in public art, sports, whatever. The sky is the limit. The point is: public spaces are meant to be used for more than walkways and lunch spots -- they are stages with unlimited potential to brighten someone's day and challenge our understanding of place.

I Started a Group

I started a group that consists of creative types (dancers, musicians, urban planners, scientists, and so forth...) who would like to see Chicago's under-used spaces reinvigorated through non-invasive techniques. This group would brainstorm spaces we'd like to see re-invigorated, develop a cool intervention, and then follow through. This is not for pay, just for fun, and maybe something to put on your resume. :-)

Please read spiel below:

"There is un-tapped potential in Chicago's talent pool and its underused urban spaces.
Back in the Los Angeles drought of the 1970s, a group of teenage surfers, the Z-Boys, took skateboarding to another level by using drained swimming pools to practice moves when the waves were flat. In these pools is where aerial skateboarding was born.

McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn, NY was abandoned and unused for years until choreographer Noémie Lafrance used it for a site-specific dance piece, "Agora". This performance brought attention to the space, which was then used for film screenings and music concerts. The Borough of Brooklyn saw the potential in this space, and decided to re-make it into a public pool. Of course some people would have liked to see it remain as an arts venue, but this in an important case study that suggests that bringing attention to a space can change it."

About me: I have my Master's degree in Urban Design (Landscape Architecture) and my undergrad degree in art, and am obsessed with cities and the details of place.

If you are interested, please email me with your background, why you are interested, and if you have any questions.

M Ward

M Ward plus skyrail pulls at my heart strings. Enjoy!

Liam Finn -- Second Chance

Angus Sutherland directed the video below, for Liam Finn's "Second Chance". It's like a stereoscopic view of the past. I like posting videos with dream-like images, because we see our world through our memories and experiences, and react in the present accordingly. I think it can be devastating to return to a place we remember from our childhood to find it gone or severely altered.

Biking Like a Grown-Up

Satorialist-Style Bike Fashion (New York Times)
I spend a lot of time thinking about bikes and clothes and clothes on bikes and the different postures we assume while riding our bikes. I have a hybrid (part road bike part mountain bike) that my family so generously pitched in to buy for me for completing my undergraduate degree. It's great, because the large wheels are suitable for city riding, and the frame/wide tires allow me to go off-road if I need to. The hybrid has never been a fashionable bike, because it's not great at one thing, it just has the potential to do everything at a mediocre level. This bike has always worked for me, first of all, because I think about how sweet my family is to have pooled their money together to buy it for me. Secondly, I don't care if I look cool on my bike. My concern, though, is that I now live in Chicago. Chicago, unlike other cities I have called home (Virginia Beach, Philadelphia, Tucson) doesn't have nearby trails that I would need the mountain bike part for -- and my back starts to hurt from being hunched over all the time. As you may have guessed already -- I want a Dutch bike. I want to sit upright; I don't want to worry about getting chain grease on my clothes; I want to wear a skirt without having to either tie it in a knot so it doesn't get caught in the chain, or have to wear pants underneath because I'm hunched over. I like to ride slowly through the city. There are too many chances to hit the door of a parked vehicle or to hit a pedestrian, so I take my time. The extreme hunched position of road bikes and track bikes (fixed gear) give the impression that the rider is a predatory cat, a puma. They balance on their wheels at stop lights, ready to pounce. These bikes are great for getting around the city quickly, and this is why bike messengers ride them. But people look so classy and relaxed on a Dutch bike. They are made for utility, not speed, and we are encouraged to wear our regular clothes on them (remember just jumping on your bike as a kid, without the spandex or special shoes?). The New York Times published an article about Dutch bikes (my friend Ben Raines alerted me to this), as the new status symbol of the recession. Seriously -- add up the cost of car insurance, parking, repairs, and gas, and the $1,500 price tag of a Dutch utility bike looks very appealing.

William Forsythe

William Forsythe, along with Merce Cunningham and Noemie Lafrance, is one of the people who initiated my interest in the relationship between site-specific work and the built environment. A native New Yorker, he is currently the resident choreographer of the Frankfurt Ballet. The amazing thing is that his dancing style is not classical ballet -- it is deconstructed ballet. For instance, he will start with a movement, like a plié, and rearrange it so that the move is still considered ballet, but is refreshed and reworked. It's like taking pancake batter and pouring it into a waffle iron -- it's still the same food, it just looks and feels different. He is known for his dance notation technique and for using architectural elements, like a table in his pieces. I recently visited his website and saw that he has a piece at Ohio State University. I was prepared to find a way there, to see a legendary performance, but the piece is actually an interactive web project, Synchronous Objects. Check it out.

Happy Cycling

Some Philly cyclists/filmmakers made a video to the Boards of Canada tune, "Happy Cycling". It's nostalgic for me, because it's one of my favorite rides in Philly -- a real destination in itself. The Ben Franklin Bridge connects historic Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey. As you may remember from history class, this is where Washington crossed the Delaware River. As of four years ago, when I lived in Philadelphia, Camden was not a safe place for a woman out biking alone. Why? Because it has been ranked "America's Most Dangerous City" more than once. As tough as I think I am, I always rode to the end of the bridge and then turned right back around, just before I got to the Riverfront State Prison. Nothing says Welcome to New Jersey quite like a prison. Sometimes I would ride into Camden with a group of fellow cyclists. Even then, there wasn't much to see in Camden, unfortunately. The City of Camden thinks the way to revitalize itself is with "its four main attractions, the USS New Jersey; the Susquehanna Bank Center; Campbell's Field; and the Adventure Aquarium", rather than creating amenities that Camden residents can afford. According to census data from 2000, the median income for Camden residents was $9,815.

Lonely Lonely

Wow. I just found a video that Charles Bae made for Feist's Lonely, Lonely. It depicts my biggest fear: being trapped in suburbia.

Chicago: Style Destination?

Imagine my surprise and delight to see today, in the nytimes.com style section, that Chicago is, in fact, a fashionable city. The article, "IN CHICAGO, WHERE A NEWFOUND VITALITY IS FUELING A BOOMLET IN STYLE AND DESIGN, THE FUTURE IS NOW. BY GIOIA DILIBERTO" explains that Michelle Obama gave us the reputation of "stylish yet sensible girl-next-door". I'll take that. The images that accompany the article, by Raymond Meier, are of an angular blonde woman in geometric, architecture-inspired ensembles, posing on, against, and adjacent to Chicago icons like the el, Lake Michigan, and the Franklin-Orleans Bridge. I think this is an invitation to be inspired by our architecture and to get out and experience the gorgeous urbanscape.

David Byrne

David Byrne, captured by photographer Karen Kuehn

My new favorite blog, Bakfiets en Meer, lists that David Byrne not only has a blog (who doesn't these days, really?), but he is a bike activist! I spent many days singing Talking Heads lyrics to "Nothing But Flowers":

Once there were parking lots
Now it's a peaceful oasis
You got it, you got it
This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
You got it, you got it

...or lyrics to "Don't Worry about the Government"

It's over there, it's over there
My building has every convenience
It's gonna make life easy for me
It's gonna be easy to get things done
I will relax along with my loved ones

Loved ones, loved ones visit the building
Take the highway, park and come up and see me
I'll be working, working but if you come visit
I'll put down what I'm doing, my friends are important

I adore his deliciously sarcastic commentary about contemporary life. His blog sounds like something a friend would have written. It's straightforward, honest, and concerned about, well everything. I think that anyone who rides a bicycle or walks in dense urban areas has a heightened sensual awareness with which it is near impossible to ignore the goings-on: the beautiful, ugly, and everything in between.

David Byrne has been a fashion inspiration to me: I attribute my life-long obsessions blazers to him and long, one day, to have a Big Suit.

Check out his blog: it is definitely worth a read.

Mark Borthwick

Photographer Mark Borthwick's trademark saturated colors emphasize the raw, un-airbrushed subjects. To me, his photos look like memories, when the sun is in your face, and you can only partially see what's going on around you, but can totally feel the energy. Click here for an interview with him on um...Fecal Face.

Bakfiets and Nature

What could be better than bakfiets full of adorable kids and bags of groceries from the farmer's market? Possibly bakfiets filled with "nature". Leave it to the Dutch to integrate cycling with land issues and celebrities. Read the story on the blog: Bakfiets en Meer.

Kraftwerk: Tour de France

Another fine piece of work from Kraftwerk...with bikes AND Paris!

Bicycle Vids Posted by Streetsblog

Wowsers! Streetsblog posts a whole slew of videos with bicycles in them. Enjoy!

Kraftwerk: Trans Europe Express

An oldie, but goodie, how can you not love a song and video all about a train? Somebody needs to make a video and song about Greyhound or Amtrak...maybe add to their sex appeal a bit? We all need a sexy bus/sexy train to make Obama's transportation plan really work.

The Knife

I love the video for "Heartbeats" by Swedish duo, the Knife. It starts off with vintage footage of kids skateboarding down a steep, paved road, probably in California. Fantastically inventive use of existing infrastructure for a new function.

Jose Gonzalez covered the original song, and Sony used this version for a commercial that is similar to the Knife's version: both incorporate slopes and activities that rely on gravity. Just a reminder that although the majority of paved roads were built for the automobile, they belong to us, the public, and there are endless creative possibilities for invention.

Bowerbirds: In Our Talons

The following video, "In Our Talons" by North Carolinian rockers, the Bowerbirds, isn't nessarily a commentary on urban living, but it does inspire awareness of the impact of our lifestyle, and is just so beautiful that I couldn't resist adding it to the blog.

Jean Mohr

Oiseau noir et graffitis by Jean Mohr

Art, in its many forms, can be a useful tool to explore and understand the landscape. Landscape architects and artists have, throughout history, explored their world in inventive and creative ways. Such exercises produce a connection to the space that cannot be analyzed by science. These approaches attempt to read the landscape as personal experience, and sometimes as a litmus test of society.

Photographer, Jean Mohr, uses photography as a means to understanding the unknown. His first priority is adventure. If he happens to see something interesting, he will take its photograph. Mohr’s photographs are more documentation of and reason for adventure than a preconceived idea to simply capture.

After contemplating the verge of his own existence after a serious operation, he became interested in the edge of common experience and/or geographical location. Armed with a camera, he records underexplored places and spaces that range
from ordinary to extraordinary. This series is entitled "At the Edge of the World". Poetic and political, his work deserves a thorough look. His web site is a fantastic place to start.

Deep Listening

Musician Pauline Oliveros developed a technique called "deep listening", which focuses on sound locally and globally, the presence of sound, and silence. She is inspired by the work of John Cage, including his piece "4′33″, in which the musician stand on stage with his or her instrument, silent for four minutes and thirty-three seconds to promote awareness of the ambient sounds in a space. This technique promotes awareness of being in a space. What do the sounds around us say about the place we are in? How can this awareness improve our public places? A man discusses his own perception of "deep listening" below. I also posted a video of Pauline Oliveros herself.

Street Fashion Blogs

Supermodel Agyness Deyn poses for London Cycle Chic.

The Sartorialist street fashion blog by Scott Schuman, which mainly focuses on NYC, Milan, and Paris has spawned a series of blogs around the world that feature people wearing their own clothes and looking fabulous. This new trend is exciting, because it focuses on style, rather than branding, and signals a renewed appreciation for the art of fashion. Perhaps car culture has made it too easy to throw on a pair of sweats and sneakers and leave the house; the make, model, and color of one's vehicle expressed one's identity and style. However, walking, biking, or riding mass transit are public activities in which one may run into anyone, and clothing/accessories are key. Below, I list some street fashion blogs for your pleasure. Rest assured that there are many many more than what I have listed, and that some of these blogs have links to other sartorialist-inspired sites. I am sad to see that the Chicago Sartorialist is just a few shots of Chicagoans, and lots of commentary on designers and fashion shows, not people wearing their own clothes.

Copenhagen Cycle Chic
Cycle Chic NY
Japanese Streets
London Cycle Chic
Style Scout
Stil in Berlin
Easy Fashion

Man Man

Philadelphia band, Man Man, makes beautiful music on the existing urban elements of Paris. Their music inspires some neighborhood kids on rollerblades to join in on the fun. Gorgeous!

Los Angeles

The video below is an entry in a competion for Laura Veirs' song "Don't Lose Yourself". I posted it, because it shows two young people running down the empty sidewalk in LA, which is just so very poetic.

Andrew Bird

Another perspective of Paris, quite different than "Come Into My World", Andrew Bird performs "Spare-Ohs" through the streets of Montmartre, Paris. From the opening scene, Bird is in an apartment with a huge, open, side-hinged window; we immediately know that he is in Europe, and the grey sky gives us more reason to believe that he is in Paris. The slim alleys and cobblestone provide an interesting medium from which his voice and the guitar resonate. In one section, Bird walks behind a car and his voice temporarily becomes muffled. The neighborhood, Montmartre has a dream-like quality that is easy to translate into film. "Amelie" was filmed in Montmartre, as was "Breathless". By the reactions of passers-by, singing in the streets of Montmartre is nothing particularly unusual. There is something to be said for an urban space that provides mystery and surprise, with twists and turns. You never know what you'll find around the next corner.

Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry captures Paris beautifully in this Kylie Minogue video for "Come Into My World", showing all types of transportation (cars, bikes, pedestrians, wheelchairs, scooters) moving together in harmony: an urbanist's dream come true. If art truly does reflect life, then this video is a fun-house mirror of what I hope Chicago will look like when more of us take the step to embrace active transportation.

Noemie Lafrance

Brooklyn-Based Quebecoise choreographer Noemie Lafrance uses existing landscapes, indoors and out, to stage her dance performances. Her creative use of space encourages one to see an otherwise everyday place with fresh eyes. It can be argued that her performance "Agora", which took place in the formerly abandoned McCarren Pool in Brooklyn was responsible for the revitalization of this historic landmark. Below I attached the video for Feist's "My Moon, My Man", choreographed by Lafrance, in one take by filmmaker Patrick Daughters.



My Moon, My Man