Policies for the Next City, Part 2

From the New Yorker, 01/14/08
One of our readers commented on a post from last week, “Some Policies for the Next City,” acknowledging our get-rid-of-the-cars suggestions as “delightfully draconian.” We take this as a high compliment – as the data on our threatened world become clearer and clearer, as gas prices and food costs soar, as our [...]

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Smaller Footprints in the Next City

Lately I have been enjoying trying out all of the carbon footprint calculators on the web. There are a lot – my favorite is at www.carbonfootprint.com (makes sense, yes?). It’s a way to get a check-up, and perhaps find a few ideas to help us all tread more lightly. As you fill in the blanks, recall [...]

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Memorial Day Weekend in Washington, 2008

In the midst of a cool and damp spring, (we are grateful, after last year’s drought) came yesterday – a perfectly gorgeous day this Memorial Day weekend. And so we gardened, and then hopped on our bicycles to see what was going on in our city.
First we went down to the Mall and stood for [...]

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The Memory of Distant Cities

The Rossio, Lisbon
This morning we are in the studio, writing and catching up before we venture out into our city on a gorgeous spring day. We chat back and forth, and I tell Amy that where I would like to be today is Lisbon, strolling the city and sitting in a cafe near the Rossio. [...]

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Some Policies for the Next City

Carol Stream, Illinois. Photo by Alex MacLean.
Happily, a long time Chicago friend joined us here for dinner last night. We sat on the porch to watch and listen to the city, fired up the grille, and enjoyed catching up – it was a treat.
We were surprised and pleased to hear that he has been reading what [...]

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The Next City?

A square in Gijon, Spain – dense, with a terrific mixture of uses, and even, yes, bike rentals. (Carbon footprint in Spain: 7.72 tons per capita, 2004)
I just cannot resist picking at some low-hanging fruit. In yesterday’s New York Times, staff writer Paul Krugman wrote an op-ed piece he filed in Berlin, while traveling in Germany. (Carbon footprint in [...]

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A Baltimore Visit

  

South Washington Place, looking north to the Washington Monument
We hopped on the MARC train the other morning, and journeyed from Capitol Hill to Penn Station in downtown Baltimore. Destination: Mount Vernon Place, home to the 180 foot tall Robert Mills designed Washington Monument, the Peabody Library, and the Walters Art Museum, where we attended a terrific exhibition called [...]

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