The Theory of Substitution

  
Last week, we attended a lunch meeting to hear Prof. Stephen Fuller report on the region’s current and future economy. Steve is a Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University, and Director of their Center for Regional Analysis. We try and tune in to Steve’s prognostications every year – he is kind of [...]

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Other Lost Cities Found

Photo by Richard Nickel 
I have had the great pleasure in the last few days of reviewing the manuscript for a soon to be published book by an old Chicago friend, and former client. He’s the writer Ed Zotti, and his book, “The Barn House: Confessions of an Urban Rehabber” comes out in September, published by New [...]

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A Quiet Sunday Morning

This morning we read a review in the Post of a new collection of short stories by one of our favorite authors, Steven Millhauser. The collection is entitled “Dangerous Laughter,” and we will immediately look for it on the shelves of our Northeast Library.
The reviewer, Jeff Turrentine, quotes from a short story in the book [...]

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Unclad Sovereign, Part II

Proposed International Terminal, Wellington, New Zealand 
This is a real proposed building. I did not make this up, I did not find it in The Onion, and it seems to really be headed toward construction. When I discovered it this afternoon, I started laughing – this is so horrific and abysmal that it’s comedic. But when [...]

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Full Circle

Library of Congress photo 
Sometimes there are moments when layers of city stories reconverge, or loop back on one another. I got to thinking about this when I was daydreaming about the streetcar that used to run on our street, with a stop just steps from our front porch. So I took a moment to snoop [...]

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Stories in Cities

I am paraphrasing something I read years ago: the best cities are those that can support the richest variety of narratives and memories. I suppose this is a kind of tony way of saying: “There are 8 million stories in the naked city…”
Perhaps the best example of this is Italo Calvino’s wonderful little book, “Invisible Cities,” [...]

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A Saturday Stroll on Capitol Hill

Walking in the city this beautiful Saturday, Amy and I wandered over to Eastern Market, which is just beyond our 1/2 mile radius, but a lovely walk nonetheless. The historic market, which burned last spring, is being restored at a good pace, and the temporary market, open since last August across the street, is booming.

Since [...]

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Out for a Stroll in the City

Our dear friend Phil Bess was in town yesterday evening from Notre Dame in South Bend, making a talk about what makes great cities, and communities, and urban design. It was a terrific talk, as usual, but some of the images he showed got me thinking. For a very long time, city makers and urban [...]

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Revising the City

When we pay less attention to cars in the city, we have more room to make nicer places to live and work. How about a revision like this:

The way it works is simple. A 100′ deep lot for housing (rowhouse, townhouse, apartment building), a 28′ wide walkway with lots of plantings and shade, then a terrace for the shops and [...]

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Lifesavers

   
A Century of Progress, Chicago, 1933. The motto of the Fair: “Science Finds, Industry Builds, Man Conforms.”
My brother Doug commented to me today that the fact that sustainability is becoming a marketing strategy and a ‘brand name’ has him worried. Here’s what I say: more than worry. What is required is a shift in [...]

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