Kayakers navigating the LA River in its entirety:
Announcement of “Being A Planning Student” Tumblr
As you may have noticed since reading my recommendation to subscribe to the “Being a Planner” Tumblr, it has not been updating regularly for a couple of weeks. Inspired, I’ve started the “Being A Planning Student” Tumblr, as linked below.
I’ll be updating it with giggle fodder every day I don’t post for The Comprehensive.
Requests and suggestions will be taken here as well as through the Tumblr page.
You CAN subscribe to this through an RSS feed as you may do with this blog.
Enjoy!
BEING A PLANNING STUDENT TUMBLR
Wordless Wednesday: Gentle Giant Pylons
I believe most everyone has seen these beauties:
A Wireless Communication Tower with a Douglas Fir Tree Facade
These make what most people want (reliable wireless connectivity) possible without the gross exterior of what most don’t want to admit is required (white and red pillars to our relatively newfound appendages).
But what if we used this cloaking technique creatively with other eyesore above-ground infrastructure needs?
5 Reasons Why You Should Subscribe to the “Being A Planner” Tumblr
Being A Planner is:
1. Relevant
There are always up-to-date issues and laws being made fun of.
2. Educational
If I don’t get a joke, I google it, learn about the topic/concept/law/theory/jargon/common misconception, read the post again, laugh. And then I repeat too many times to be proud of. Seriously- I’d know nothing about TIGER if it wasn’t for this tumblr. (PS: What a terrible logo for a federal program, huh? Click the link to see.)
3. Funny
I mean, it’s Tumblr. If you find serious stuff on Tumblr that’s not at least entertaining, you’re doing it wrong.
4. Memorable/Unique
Who else makes fun of planning in such compact, bite-sized cubes of awesome? No one. That’s who.
5. If you’re a planner or planning student: it makes you take yourself less seriously and reminds us all that nobody actually knows what they’re doing in our profession 24/7. It’s a lot of guessing, tweaking, meeting-ing, editing, googling, and telling the intern to do it for you.
BONUS:
6. Subscribe-able through an RSS feed or email: Exactly how you get these posts in your inbox!
There really is no reason not to if you’re a planning groupie, planner, or planning student.
[Updated 9/21]
Wordless Wednesday: What if Public Transit Was Beautiful?
Komsomolskaya Station in the Moscow Metro
“If we made public transit infrastructure beautiful like this, [do you] think more people would use it?”
This is what the Sustainable Cities Collective asked their Facebook fanpage a couple weeks ago on Sept. 7th, 2012, and now I am passing that question on to you.
What’s your reply?
PS:
Do you see any beggars? Any terrible musicians vying for spare change? Anybody walking without purpose whatsoever? No. Because this place is too beautiful for that. Everyone has it inside them to appreciate architecture- even in the most passing of ways.
PPS:
Classic trains are gorgeously irreplaceable.
Photo Credit: linked directly to source page.
Throwback Thursday: Why the City of Spokane, Washington is Wary of Adopting More Neighborhood LID “Storm Gardens:” A Fear of Expensive Popularity [The GRID]
Why the City of Spokane, Washington is Wary of Adopting More Neighborhood LID “Storm Gardens:” A Fear of Expensive Popularity
This article discusses the popularity of Low-Impact Development (LID) Storm Gardens (rather than Rain Gardens, as in Seattle, WA due to the nature of Spokane’s climate) in two neighborhoods in Spokane, and the troubling demand for more elsewhere in the city.
This was the fourth article I wrote for The GRID. Please make any comments on The GRID, not here! It’ll make me look good to my boss! (Click the linked title above to read the full article!)
This was originally posted on Global Site Plans‘ blog, The GRID, July 4th, 2012.
Image credit: linked directly to source.
Wordless Wednesday: Everyday Eyesore Made Beautiful
Wordless Wednesday: More Street Art!!
[Telescopes from satellite TV dishes on an apartment building in Birmingham, England. Click for larger version!]
Image credit: linked directly to source.
Throwback Thursday: Spokane, Washington’s Waste-to-Energy Plant’s New Recycling Center Design [The GRID]
Spokane, Washington’s Waste-to-Energy Plant’s New Recycling Center Design
This article was inspired by the Capital Facilities Planning course with Dr. Gregg Dohrn, a beloved planning professor of EWU. This was no longer hot news, but I was still happy to write about it nonetheless: not many mid-sized cities have such comprehensive recycling programs, let alone their own waste-to-energy plant!
This was the third article I wrote for The GRID. Please make any comments on The GRID, not here! It’ll make me look good to my boss! Thank you.
This was originally posted on Global Site Plans‘ blog, The GRID, June 20th, 2012.
Image credit: linked directly to source.
Wordless Wednesday: A Very Wordy Public Art Rant
Public art is usually something like this:
It’s an abstract sculpture, usually a low-maintenance metal like galvanized steel, and just plopped somewhere green like this marina or the center of a traffic circle. But does anyone know where this is? Does this have anything that says, “X Location,” screaming out at you? Is it in North America? Is it in Europe? Is it from a place that identifies itself with Western culture, or Eastern? How do you know? Could it possibly be a concept rendered in an advanced 3D program? Smooth metal is, after all, one of the easiest things to render… This piece is so impersonal, it isn’t memorable at all. Vancouver, BC, you have done so many rights, but this just feels weak.
Why isn’t more civic-purchased public art be specific to their community? Is it just a ‘safer’ investment to simply purchase non-specific works? Who would be mad over purchasing or commissioning something more personal to the municipality they reside in?
This is one of the wind sculptures in my hometown of Stevenson, Washington. Stevenson is in the National Scenic Area of the Columbia Gorge. This edges on my point of making public art more personal to the municipality which it resides in, but still doesn’t hit it spot on- it is, after all, still a bunch of abstract shapes pieced together cast in mostly steel. The only difference here is that all of the pieces move with the wind. Stevenson is in the heart of the Wind Surfing Capital of the World, aside from a few places in New Zealand, and we get constant winds- not gusts- of 30mph many days of the year. Note that while this sculpture has been there long enough for the large circular rusty piece near the bottom, hooligans have never sought out to break the delicate multi-colored glass pieces highlighting each branch. It’s slightly more memorable than the piece above because it has multiple coors and it actually moves constantly.
Any guesses on where this piece is? Who bought it? Why?
This is in Parc de Chaudfontaine, Belgium, a city park. This was created by Mehmet Ali Uysal for the city. It makes someone think from another angle of man’s domination over the Earth, no? Does it scream Belgium? Probably not to Americans, or anybody who hasn’t been there. It’s very unique and memorable, however, and because it’s in Belgium it hasn’t been graffitied whatsoever.
I bet that’s a pain to mow.
So, what would your city’s unique public art piece look like? Would it be a sculpture, painting, or a secret viewpoint of a bridge that only then revealed its true genius? Let myself and everyone else know in the comments below!
Photo Credit: linked directly to source page.
The Comprehensive 