March 13, 2012 •
Week 10, Post 3 Image

Week 10, Post 3 Image

March 12, 2012 •

Lexion Post 9

Energy Modeling Forum - a structured forum for discussing important issues in energy and the environment which works through a series of ad hoc groups focusing on a particular corporate policy decision

Computational Design - a new approach and attempt to provide designers and artists with a new literacy in digital media

Allotment Gardens - or an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening.  Parcels are cultivated individually, contrary to community garden types where the entire area is tended collectively by a group of people

March 12, 2012 •

Lexicon Post 8

urban agriculture - the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around, a village, town or city

marginality - barely within a lower standard or limit of quality

deregulation - when the government reduces its role and allows industry greater freedom in how it operates


March 9, 2012 •
Week 10, Post 2 image Stagnant Movement - the loss of boundaries within a city.  The existence of a force looming overhead, unable to change or alter.  (Circa “Lord of the Rings” comes to mind).

Week 10, Post 2 image

Stagnant Movement - the loss of boundaries within a city.  The existence of a force looming overhead, unable to change or alter.  (Circa “Lord of the Rings” comes to mind).

March 6, 2012 •
Week 10 - Ecological Urbanism Complete (Posts 1, and 3) Based on Andrea Branzi’s “Weak Metropolis” an additional idea that may strengethen or resonate well with the suggestions of a New Athen’s Charter is the idea of boundless city.  Without perimeter’s or boundaries, the weak metropolis stands strong on its functional un-definition.  The air of an uncertain site of a self-reforming society becomes stronger.  How can rules or definitions define the metropolis if they don’t exist?  Simple, they don’t.  The weak metropolis is the dividing line between design and functionality.  Say goodbye to intuition, sustainability and purpose.   A final suggestion to the weak metropolis is the stagnant movement.  The lifeless green sweep through society.  A ramification for faults and contradictions that needs reformation and planning.  But, because we are in the present, this will cease to ever happen.  The lackluster qualities in our objects is a direct correlation to the lackluster quality of our cities. We cannot move towards the future, if we continue to live in our weak metropolis.     If we though choose to avoid a weak metropolis, and move towards the future, we must educate ourselves.  Education will provide society with the know how in order to rise about such a dismal future.  The weak metropolis serves no purpose in the drive or function of those that chose to use it.  By planning for the future and setting perimeters and goals, we can provide for change, and assessment along the way.  I think a successful setting for our future is a mix between the weak metropolis and urban form. A cross between the two may allow for functional definition and coexistence between living, dead, humans and animals.  It is necessary though to actively engage in such principles in order to ensure we do not become a weak metropolis of dismal existence.  

Week 10 - Ecological Urbanism Complete (Posts 1, and 3)

Based on Andrea Branzi’s “Weak Metropolis” an additional idea that may strengethen or resonate well with the suggestions of a New Athen’s Charter is the idea of boundless city.  Without perimeter’s or boundaries, the weak metropolis stands strong on its functional un-definition.  The air of an uncertain site of a self-reforming society becomes stronger.  How can rules or definitions define the metropolis if they don’t exist?  Simple, they don’t.  The weak metropolis is the dividing line between design and functionality.  Say goodbye to intuition, sustainability and purpose.  

A final suggestion to the weak metropolis is the stagnant movement.  The lifeless green sweep through society.  A ramification for faults and contradictions that needs reformation and planning.  But, because we are in the present, this will cease to ever happen.  The lackluster qualities in our objects is a direct correlation to the lackluster quality of our cities. We cannot move towards the future, if we continue to live in our weak metropolis.    

If we though choose to avoid a weak metropolis, and move towards the future, we must educate ourselves.  Education will provide society with the know how in order to rise about such a dismal future.  The weak metropolis serves no purpose in the drive or function of those that chose to use it.  By planning for the future and setting perimeters and goals, we can provide for change, and assessment along the way.  I think a successful setting for our future is a mix between the weak metropolis and urban form. A cross between the two may allow for functional definition and coexistence between living, dead, humans and animals.  It is necessary though to actively engage in such principles in order to ensure we do not become a weak metropolis of dismal existence.  

March 2, 2012 •
Week 9 - Ecological Urbanism and the Landscape “As Landscape architects, learning to design with “green” in mind is core to what we do as a profession”.   It seems though, with the introduction of ecological urbanism, that that train of thought may be shifting.  As landscape architects, we find ourselves laying down roots in society and culture, rather than technology and science.  We have begun to build public landscapes that are a mix of nature and green, which iterate natural and social systems as a form of function and belief.  The workings of the landscape and its function within the city interact with buildings and planning to offer a quality of conditions that affect human systems in both a positive and socioeconomic ways.  Ecological urbanism from the eyes of the landscape architect has a goal of achieving true balance, through socially, economically, and environmental means respectively.  

Week 9 - Ecological Urbanism and the Landscape

“As Landscape architects, learning to design with “green” in mind is core to what we do as a profession”.   It seems though, with the introduction of ecological urbanism, that that train of thought may be shifting.  As landscape architects, we find ourselves laying down roots in society and culture, rather than technology and science.  We have begun to build public landscapes that are a mix of nature and green, which iterate natural and social systems as a form of function and belief.  The workings of the landscape and its function within the city interact with buildings and planning to offer a quality of conditions that affect human systems in both a positive and socioeconomic ways.  Ecological urbanism from the eyes of the landscape architect has a goal of achieving true balance, through socially, economically, and environmental means respectively.  

March 2, 2012 •
Week 9 - Are we sustainable? As we are planning and building our new cities, we begin to intervene with our older cities.  Here we must focus on lifestyle, scale, design and technology.  Not every city can be a “Science City”.  A perfect example of what a planned, designed, and measured city looks like with numbers on CO2 emissions, transportation locations and educational environments all wrapped up in a bright red bow.  We must be careful and considerate of sustainability and lifestyle and how that can affect existing infrastructure.   Yes, we are sustainable.  How sustainable? Not very, but we’re getting there.  We are learning every step of the way, how to better ourselves and our future.  That bright red bow is tempting to unwrap, but we’re not there yet.  Almost.  Our adaptability as landscape architects is what will drive us past that red bow.  The urban landscape that us humans share forms an identity and lifestyle that we can only hope to further develop for the future. (Ecological Urbanism, pg. 520-524)

Week 9 - Are we sustainable?

As we are planning and building our new cities, we begin to intervene with our older cities.  Here we must focus on lifestyle, scale, design and technology.  Not every city can be a “Science City”.  A perfect example of what a planned, designed, and measured city looks like with numbers on CO2 emissions, transportation locations and educational environments all wrapped up in a bright red bow.  We must be careful and considerate of sustainability and lifestyle and how that can affect existing infrastructure.  

Yes, we are sustainable.  How sustainable? Not very, but we’re getting there.  We are learning every step of the way, how to better ourselves and our future.  That bright red bow is tempting to unwrap, but we’re not there yet.  Almost.  Our adaptability as landscape architects is what will drive us past that red bow.  The urban landscape that us humans share forms an identity and lifestyle that we can only hope to further develop for the future. (Ecological Urbanism, pg. 520-524)

March 1, 2012 •
Week 9 - Sustainable what? Does it matter? Is it really intrinsic? As ASLA states - have we really been “Green since 1899”? The rhetoric of green is upon us, yet our habits are slower to change, as are gains in environmental insight beyond the sound bite.  Reducing our carbon footprint is an important goal for the future.  Though, it may be harder to come by than we think.  Natural human instincts lead us to believe the huge metropolis cities are still to blame in wasteful waste.  Yet, our hot showers continue to linger on quietly in the suburbs, away from a time of conservation and restraint.  The movement towards a more acceptable urban infrastructure is upon us.  It is our challenge though to integrate fragments of nature in a not so fragmented way, so they do not appear artificially placed within our urban fabric.   This urban infrastructure will not only become a new urban condition, but rather a new way of life.  (Ecological Urbanism, pg. 515-520)

Week 9 - Sustainable what? Does it matter? Is it really intrinsic? As ASLA states - have we really been “Green since 1899”?

The rhetoric of green is upon us, yet our habits are slower to change, as are gains in environmental insight beyond the sound bite.  Reducing our carbon footprint is an important goal for the future.  Though, it may be harder to come by than we think.  Natural human instincts lead us to believe the huge metropolis cities are still to blame in wasteful waste.  Yet, our hot showers continue to linger on quietly in the suburbs, away from a time of conservation and restraint.  The movement towards a more acceptable urban infrastructure is upon us.  It is our challenge though to integrate fragments of nature in a not so fragmented way, so they do not appear artificially placed within our urban fabric.   This urban infrastructure will not only become a new urban condition, but rather a new way of life.  (Ecological Urbanism, pg. 515-520)

February 27, 2012 •

Lexicon Post 8

Brownfields - real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

Ecojustice - (Ecological Urbanism, pg.18) a national charitable organization dedicated to the defending the right to a healthy environment.  

Green Design - (Ecological Urbanism, pg. 233, 544) otherwise known as sustainable design.  The philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of economic, social and ecological sustainability. 

February 26, 2012 •

Sojourn Trip 2 - USC and Expo Park

At the beginning of the quarter I visited USC and Expo Park as part of a case study for our design studio.  I had never been to the USC campus and had only run through portions of Expo Park for a NIKE 10k a few years back.  Luckily, I had done research about the campus and southern area of Los Angeles prior to my visit.  I was very impressed to see how USC acts as its own city within a larger community.  Within the campus radius there are security guards on each street corner.  As soon as you get past Martin Luther King Boulevard, the scene dramatically changes.  Transitioning from tons of young people walking and riding bikes to a mix of middle aged people who are not as wealthy, living in an almost run down area.  It is unfortunate to see such a dramatic change, and obvious hierarchy between people, but that’s what happens when you a put a premier private school within such a melting pots of neighborhoods. Looking at USC’s master plan, their goal is to further expand their reach, specifically through student housing.  They are also in the prospects of buying the Coliseum.  Currently, Expo Park is vastly underused despite its high cultural value.  Plans to improve the park are underway, but I think it will be up to designers to uplift the wasted landscapes.  A design challenger of USC and Los Angeles will be to bridge the gap between the too cultural institutions as to encourage community utilization and appreciation.