Clipmarks | akarra's 'cities' clips

Redesigning Public Spaces

Wed, 07 May 2008 21:18:03 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: A blogger talks about the goals of planning, past and present.

Todays ever disconnected life style may very well be a result of a disconnected environment. As we built more and larger highways, people could live further and further apart. The very impetus of public life was no longer there, proximity of important buildings and the people that used them. Suburban life segregated use of land and split up the important buildings. Also, as cities emptied out, many of the buildings and reasons that would have attracted people there were also "emptied" out to the fringes of development as they were opened up by highways and a shifting population. If the public life so sought after today is so good, why was it so readily and willingly abandoned?

Tags: planning, development, politics, urban studies, cities

Democrats and Liberalism Today

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 13:34:06 GMT

clipped by: akarra

Clip Source: irate-nation.com

I mean, seriously. If I were a Leftist, I’d have to be mad at the way things are going. Then again, I’d be a Lefty with an agenda: I’d want greater youth involvement in voting and initiatives to educate and work with them; I’d want more money spent on the cities and an auditing system for local police and local elections at the federal level. I’d be aiming to turn this place into a welfare state, but I’d do it by deficit spending and lowering taxes, and hope that the long term returns could fund whatever project I had in mind.

Now I’m not a Lefty, but I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out that the Democrats in Congress and running for President have no agenda besides “war is bad, if you hate war, vote for us.” And that’s the positive part of their spiel.

Tags: democrats, liberals, left, politics

On Philadelphia

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:56:03 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: A blogger grapples with why the city is so compelling - pics of his walk through it are on his site.

Clip Source: orderdisorder.blogspot.com

A friend of mine asked me why I love the city so much, especially Philadelphia. I realize that what many of you out there know it as "Filthadelphia" but I still love the city, and Philadelphia none the less. The city is very dynamic place, for that matter is it a place. Our suburbs are not places in that they do not draw people to them for the sake of seeing them. I have yet to have someone call me and say "let's go to Cherry Hill, I haven't been there in a while." If they did I would get them help. A city offers us something, whether that be a museum, market, or store, that a suburb cannot. Philadelphia in particular offers all of the above and so much more; sculptures, fountains, architecture, history, murals, and of course people. Jane Jacobs talked about the 'eyes on the street', that with many people on the street they are inherently safer and more civilized.

Tags: blog, philadelphia, cities, pictures

Housing Policy and Racism

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 22:42:14 GMT

clipped by: akarra

Clip Source: orderdisorder.blogspot.com

The move to a more suburban environment began well before the 1950’s, back in the mid-twenties, and would have continued unabated if not for WWII. The cities were considered “blighted to the very core” and so deemed unlivable. The depression brought about the creation of the FHA to help secure housing loans in the nation. To help guarantee loans, and set standards for the real-estate industry, the FHA created a coding system to determine if an area could be loaned to. This system ranged from Blue, the best, to Red, the worst. Blue neighborhoods were all upper class and white, thus the phrase “blue blood,” while red neighborhoods were all African American. Red neighborhoods could not receive FHA loans, and as a result of this policy many other lending agencies followed suite. Since most of the cities were becoming “redder” less money saw its way there. The money was being channeled to the suburbs.

Tags: racism, planning, cities, housing, politics