Hecker and Decker are on the move – to Rochester, NY. Here’s a look at our new neighborhood.
Rochester at 20,000 feet.
Stay tuned for further developments as we settle in to a new home place.
Read Full Post »
Since we began posting here at A Town Square, in November of 2007, it has always been with an eye to using the blog as a research and development platform for a book, or something like a book. Who knows – maybe an HBO mini-series.
The book, with a working title of The Next City: Shaping [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in The next city, The next city: energy, The next city: food, The next city: mobility, The next city: urbanism, The next city: water, tagged GDP, Growth, The next city, urbanism on June 26, 2009 | 4 Comments »
I’ll make this short. I am very cranky this afternoon, and I admit it. The lead from the AP wire, a few minutes ago: “Consumers are saving more than they’re spending, and that has investors worried.” What?!?!
Okay, so what, really, is the point of our economy? A rising GDP is the whole game? After a long [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in The next city, The next city: energy, The next city: food, The next city: infrastructure, Urban design, tagged City block, infrastructure, Oregon, Salem, The next city, urbanism on June 16, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I have speculated here repeatedly about taking a single existing urban block off the grids. I have come to believe that the scale of a single city block may be the most affordable, and rational, way to retool existing urban neighborhood infrastructures: power, heat, water, gardens, all in the alley. And now it turns out that I am way, [...]
Read Full Post »
We went for a stroll this morning, in lovely Capitol Hill. And to my complete delight, we discovered a wonderful surprise just blocks from our house. Take a look.
Yes, folks, those are rails for the DC streetcar. They are sitting quietly on a prepared bed, next to a slab that will extend the width of the sidewalk [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in The next city, The next city: energy, The next city: food, The next city: mobility, The next city: urbanism, The next city: water, tagged cities, energy, food, mobility, scale, urbanism, water on June 9, 2009 | 4 Comments »
The largest city on earth – Tokyo. Image by Altus.
I have often found myself reflecting here on matters of scale – of blocks and streets, of cities and neighborhoods. Recently I have found myself thinking about the relationship between the really, really big, and the fairly tiny. Let me explain.
We lead our daily lives in familiar, [...]
Read Full Post »
In April (April 12th, to be exact) I wrote a piece that explored how to find a way to disconnect from all the infrastructure grids in a context of existing urban (and historic) rowhouses. I concluded that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for a single rowhouse to wiggle free of all the connections: sewer, water, [...]
Read Full Post »
Photo by Toby Melville, REUTERS.
Heard on the streets of the city this afternoon, a gaggle of folks walking in the opposite direction, very much engaged in their conversation. One of the guys says, “Once we get through this….” He meant this economic recession or meltdown or whatever you call it. Which got me to thinking.
I have [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in The next city, The next city: food, The next city: urbanism, Urban design, tagged Dutch cities, Ruisdael, The next city, Urban design, urbanism, van der Hayden on May 5, 2009 | 11 Comments »
Amsterdam, painted by Jan Micker in 1652, 350 years before Google Earth.
Lately I have been provoked to reflect on the shapes and forms of urbanism past and future, about the nature of compact and dense urban places, and about what makes the next city, or any city, literally sustainable. Let me explain.
This last weekend we had a chance to [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in The next city on April 26, 2009 | 6 Comments »
What a week. Never have we heard so many say so much (and so little) about greenness. We conclude that our consumer culture has been pretty nearly completely greenwashed.
On TV we observe a young couple selecting a 4,000 square foot suburban house (with garage space for multiple vehicles) that has “so many green features.” Energy [...]
Read Full Post »
