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News from The Dirt
Friday, February 16, 2007, 9:52:00 AM
The New York Times reports today that more people are thinking small when it comes to building homes, especially second homes. Prefab modern-inspired homes are popping up in many places, spurred by more manufacturers moving into the market.
What could be most interesting for LAs is that as people live in smaller and smaller homes (some featured in the article are under 500 square feet), of necessity they spend more time outside. From the article:
To compensate for the lack of interior space, the couple cook, entertain and, for the most part, live outdoors. “We live in our view rather than look at it,” said Ms. Shepherd, 58, a retired youth counselor and an avid hiker.
Many prefab houses include decks, outdoor living rooms, gardens, and other landscaping to create more livable space outdoors. For more information on modern prefabs, check out Inhabitat's "Prefab Fridays. " The Dirt is particularly partial to Rocio Romero's LV House
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Thursday, February 15, 2007, 1:54:00 PM
Today's LA Times looks at the finances of Bryant Park in New York City. The park, which is completely funded by commercial sponsors and fees, represents what might be a growing trend of private financing for public spaces. Critics are concerned that the public, particularly the poor, may be one day forced out of these quasi-private spaces. Proponents say that private donations help improve the care and upkeep of parks much more than fickle public money. Read on for the Times ' take.
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007, 10:08:00 AM
A new playground in McLean, Virginia, is quickly becoming the destination in the minds of eager parents and caregivers, according to the Washington Post . Grace Fielder, ASLA , designed Clemyjontri Park to be a fun and educational space for children both with and without disabilities. The park's motto is "Where every child can play." Some of the park's accessible features include larger swing sets and other equipment, ramps and widened pathways, signs that include Braille and American Sign Language, and more.
The Post reports that the park is so popular that there are frequent traffic jams and parking problems around the playground. The Dirt wishes that more public spaces could be such "victims" of their own success!
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Thursday, February 08, 2007, 12:33:00 PM
By now you've probably heard about the new poll released this week by the American Institute of Architects and Harris Interactive, ranking " America's Favorite Architecture ." [ note: the AIA site is running verrry slow today ] The list of 150 structures includes the Golden Gate Bridge, the White House, and the former World Trade Center towers, to name a few. The Empire State Building is ranked #1.
The Dirt has some thoughts about the list (for example: three Washington, DC, memorials in the top ten? MoMA all the way down at 146?), but the Chicago Tribune 's architecture critic, Blair Kamin [note: the Tribune site requires login, but is free] does a much better job. Click to read the article, or leave your comments here on what you thought of the poll.
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News from Scotland today that all new residential buildings of 1,000 square meters, 10 units, or 0.5 hectares of land in size will have to adhere to new green building guidelines starting in May. Along with pledges to produce at least 10 percent of the building's energy needs on site and use recyclable materials, the new guidelines include the following objectives more pertinent to LAs:
- reusing existing buildings and brownfield land wherever possible
- providing good pedestrian, cycle, and public transport access
- consulting with the local community to draw up "public realm" benefits
- providing water-saving devices and adequate rainwater drainage on roofs and car parking spaces
- providing recycling bins compost facilities on site
What, no green roofs ?
[via Green Building Press ;
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Tuesday, February 06, 2007, 11:44:00 AM
As part of President Bush's proposed 2008 $2.9 trillion dollar budget, AP reports the National Park Service would receive a large increase in funding in the amount of $230 million. This would bring the total budget for the Park Service to $2.4 billion and amounts to the largest-ever annual increase for the national parks.
The stated impetus behind the increase is the upcoming Park Service's 100th birthday in 2016. The Office of Management and Budget has the budget broken down into sections online (with a nice website here ) for your reading pleasure.
Update 02/13/07 : ASLA's Government Affairs department takes a closer look at the President's budget in the latest LAND Online newsletter .]
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Monday, February 05, 2007, 4:10:00 PM
Nikita Lopoukhine, chairman of the IUCN's Commission on Protected Areas , offers three strategies for combating global warming's threats to biodiversity in last week's International Herald Tribune Opinion page.
The article, " The World Will Need Our Help When It Gets Hot ," is a call for the recovery of damaged and degraded ecosystems, protection for parks and wilderness, and the creation of connectivity between these protected areas. "Just imagine a salamander trying to move to cooler northern regions faced with crossing an autobahn," Lopoukhine writes.
Following last week's release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's report [ NYT coverage here ], The Dirt already hears its echoes reverberating through governments' and private citizens' outlook on global warming. Mr. Lopoukhine joins the chorus of possible plans and priorities moving forward.
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Monday, February 05, 2007, 9:11:00 AM Today's Washington Post reports that the District is creating, for the first time, a master pedestrian plan. Over the next ten months the Department of Transportation will consider pedestrian safety, street lighting, and tree planting in an effort to encourage more people to walk to work. According to the article, 12 percent of D.C. workers walk to work, 33 percent ride Metro trains or buses, 2 percent bike, and 38 percent drive. The Dirt applauds DC's move to improve the quality of life of the city's streets and public spaces, and impudently suggests it check the ASLA Firm Finder for some expert local help.
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Thursday, February 01, 2007, 8:58:00 AM The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports today on the rehabilitation work on Frederick Law Olmsted's Linear Park outside downtown Atlanta. The park, a narrow two-mile ribbon composed of six distinct areas, has been under the auspices of the Olmsted Linear Park Alliance since 1997. Spencer Tunnell, ASLA , is coordinating the restoration of the final section of the park, Deepdene. Improvements include repairing damage caused by water runoff, burying utility lines, and removing invasive plants. A new walking promenade is also to be built, along with more accessible trails. The park is scheduled to be completely rehabilitated by late 2008.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 4:42:00 PM The Dirt has mentioned architect and suburban agent provocateur Fritz Haeg's Edible Estates before in passing , but it's worth your time to visit Archinect today and read Haeg's extensive interview conducted by fellow landscape architect Amy Seek. Haeg's Edible Estates hopes to bring back the Victory Gardens of World Wars I and II by turning average suburban lawns into working gardens to feed whole families and neighborhoods.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 3:22:00 PM Bill Thompson, FASLA, the editor of Landscape Architecture magazine, asks the basic question "What do landscape architects read?" in next month's Land Matters column. You can get a sneak preview by visiting the latest LAND Online here . "...[D]oes a professional aversion to reading (and its corollary, writing) have anything to do with the absence of a national, ongoing dialogue on significant landscape issues?" Thompson asks.
If you have an opinion on the subject, or want to list your favorite professional reading material, feel free to leave a comment here on The Dirt, or email Thompson at bthompson@asla.org . Any comments will be considered for publication in Landscape Architecture .
Under threat of demotion and possibly legal action, The Dirt has learned, bitterly, that we cannot demand that you list this blog as your most useful professional reading matter. Darn it.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 2:26:00 PM Deep in search engine Google's development labs is a new product that may help to spur more use of mass transit systems. The Google Transit Trip Planner works in the same way as the ubiquitous Google Maps; input your starting address, your ending address, and click, and walking directions to bus stops and subways stations will appear along with detailed information on which bus or route to take to reach your destination. The system also takes into account the time of day for scheduling and allows for advanced trip planning.
The system is still in beta (not that the term means much to Google!) with nine cities in seven states available, including places like Pittsburgh, Duluth, and Honolulu. It's unknown whether the more complex transit systems of New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle will be coming to Google, but knowing how Larry Page and Sergey Brin want to catalogue all the world's information, surely many more cities' transit systems can't be far behind.
Update 02/05/07: In the comments Dirt reader K. Notman points us to MBTA Boston's T system website that has its own trip planner, powered by (wait for it)...Google Maps! The GOOG is everywhere, people.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 8:57:00 AM The AP reports today that Paris has chosen an outdoor advertising firm, JCDecaux , to operate a free bicycle service in the city. The service will provide "thousands" of bikes to city residents and visitors in an effort to decrease car-based pollution. Amsterdam (" The Bike Capital of Europe ") has a similar program but its success may be based on that city's compact size. How will Parisian planners get bicyclists from the suburbs into the heart of the city? Will there be fights over more bike lanes? Will there be other traffic-calming measures taken to increase bicyclists' safety? Does anyone else want to go to Paris on a fact-finding mission to find out?
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Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 1:24:00 PM Allow me to introduce...myself. I'm Drew Saunders , the new Dirt blogger here at ASLA. I've been a big fan of The Dirt since launch and am especially scared excited to be filling former Dirters Dave Connell and Paul Burkhardt's shoes.
My RSS reader is chock-full of sustainability, construction, green design, landscape architecture, and news sites, and I hope to bring you all some of the best information out there on the issues today. There seems to be a lot of buzz (dare I say " tipping point "?) on the web and in the industry about the pressing need for careful stewardship of our cultural and natural environments. And here we are right in the middle of it. Isn't it nice to be needed?
I'd love to hear from you--please email stories you see online or in print, comment on The Dirt, send rants and raves, and we'll get this conversation started.
--Drew
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