Soundmark

Architects, designers, planners and all those associated professions often describe the "image" of the cities, neighborhoods, and regions. The overwhelmingly visual nature of place-based discussion crowds out other sensory experiences. The architectural demands for aesthetic appeal would seem to leave no room for acoustic experiences. Nevertheless, the fields of sound design and acoustic ecology exist on the outer edges of urbanism and architecture.

Aside from the science and technology surrounding opera halls and recording studios little is understood about how sounds interact with physical spaces. A few intrepid recorders have put their soundscape samples online. The largest collection of natural sounds (mostly animals) is Cornell's Macaulay Library. (I can't get this to work on my work computer, but perhaps you can!) SoundTransit provides a way to listen to a trip around the world. Dozens of other websites also provide recordings (scroll to soundwalks and soundmarks)

At least one architect embraces the role of sound. "Using lasers, heart monitors and other technological gadgets, Christopher Janney explores the nature of creativity and the origin of the soul." (Listen to the article at NPR, ~5 min.) Adding sound-features to buildings could have significant benefits for the blind, too. The technology to process visual images into patterns of sound are already available. It would certainly be an interesting treat if the design and planning community could get out of its visual-cortex and mold spaces around different methods of sensation.

Florida

Seeing as I am traveling to Florida next week I thought I ought to devote a post the Sunshine State.

Although we're not going as far as Miami, this ocean-hugging metropolis deserves some mention. Miami is one of the largest cities in the US, it is also one of a select few that boast 4-pro sports teams. While my generation associates the city (and its beaches) with bronzed and waxed MTV eye candy, the city has a fascinating history outside this stereotype. Significant settlement and development didn't start until the end of the Third Seminole War and the construction of a train line into south Florida.

The Florida Land Boom changed all of that. Real estate development took off in the Miami area around the 1920s. This led to the largest collection of Art Deco architecture anywhere in the world and a huge influx in population. Americans looking for a tropical destination found out about Miami and its warm climate. The realtors forgot to mention the hurricanes, however, and after a series of nasty storms and the onset of the Great Depression, the Florida Land Boom ended. The legacy of this boom lives on, however. Fisher Island, a private resort inaccessible by car, is named after a prominent developer of the era. It is one of the wealthiest and most exclusive places in the country.

St. Augustine is generally considered one of the oldest settlements in North America. It is also home to one of the first black markets created by US policy. Sir Gregor MacGregor seized the tiny Amelia Island and created a micronation. The island where MacGregor intended to evade the Embargo Act and import slaves is just outside of St. Augustine. His 'Green Cross of Florida' flew over the island for the summer of 1817.

The Spanish colonial area of Florida is prosaically known as the "First Coast," a name meant to distinguish this coastal region of the state to tourists. Likewise the "Space Coast" is the home of the Kennedy Space Center (area code 3-2-1) and the Miami are is the "Gold Coast." Then there are the others, the ones that seem different but don't seem to distinguish themselves quite so well. The "Sun Coast" seems to describe the beaches from Tampa Bay to the Everglades, the "Emerald Coast" occupies a scenic piece of the panhandle, and the "Treasure Coast" fills in a rural gap on the Atlantic side. Finally, there is the "Nature Coast," which apparently is the least desirable (and swampiest) piece of ocean-front real estate.

Florida has the distinction of having two cities owned by the same corporation. Disney owns and operates the cities of Lake Buena Vista (pop. 16) and Bay Lake (pop. 23).

Ildefons Cerdà

He's the Barcelona planner who made grid-pattern streets functional and desirable. Formerly a civil engineer in Madrid, he came to Barcelona to help with the Eixample district. With the taste of Madrid's congstion and disease fresh in his memory he designed a street pattern that would relieve urban stresses.

Ildefons Cerdà was mentioned in a Gaurdian article, "Reach for the Skies." The piece is about the artists and architects of this Catalan city such as Gaudi, Dali, Domenech i Montaner, and Puig i Cadafalch.

Float On - Float Off

MV Blue Marlin & Thunder Horse

Dockwise Heavy Transport Shipping can build a sweet boat. Technically they're known as Heavy Lift Semi Submersable Vehicles. They are the boats that haul oil-drilling platforms and damaged naval vessels.

Their most significant client is the oil & gas industry. Imagine what else could be done with this monumental technology. It seems as though a ship like this could move whole cities over vast distances. A few of them could create artificial islands and instant runways.

Los Algodones

Pleasant weather, sandy beaches, and exotic attractions are generally associated with tourism. Most Americans never associate medical care as a factor in their vacation planning. But that's changing - with rising health care costs more and more Americans are seeking treatment and surgery outside the US. The phenomenon is known as Medical Tourism.

Some claim that those seeking health care abroad should be called Medical Refugees. Middle-class, uninsured Americans who cannot afford the price of health care simply must seek lower-cost options; these are increasingly found in places like India, Singapore, Hungary, Thailand, and Columbia.

Last night on Nightline a clinic in Los Algodones, Mexico was featured. The border town is a Medical Tourism hot spot featuring pharmaceuticals, dentists' offices and opticians at unbelievable prices. Dr. Jose Diaz Barboza runs a different kind of operation. He uses stem cells to treat all sorts of ailments. These stem cells usually come from sheep or horses, but he does admit to using some human stem cells on serious cases.

In terms of economic development this is a huge waste for the US. Our failure to address the enormous cost of health care has resulted in a very under-served population. Without insurance coverage or a reliable governmental program, people must consider this option. Given enough time (or increased financial pressures) perhaps medical facilities in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean will rival US counterparts.

Sze Tsung Leong

via Metafilter, the photography of Sze Tsung Leong. His pictures document the urban areas of East Asia and the loss of historic buildings.

Hong Kong, China

Chongqing, China

Shanghai, China

Shrinking Cities

A friend of mine from the Urban Planning program passed along a hot tip - namely the Shrinking Cities exhibition in Detroit. Cranbrook Art Museum and MOCAD are hosting the event. Here is how they describe it,

Cranbrook Art Museum will host part one of the exhibition entitled Shrinking Cities: International Research, which examines the phenomenon of urban decline in the four focus cities: Detroit, Halle/Leipzig (Germany), Manchester/Liverpool (Britain), and Ivanovo (Russia). These cities are explored and represented in diverse forms of documentation by artists, architects, researchers and others. Themes include a worldwide study of urban depopulation, the change of urban landscapes, everyday practices and political conflicts under the conditions of decline.

MOCAD will host part two of the exhibition entitled Shrinking Cities: Interventions, which presents strategies for change and action. It is divided into five areas: Negotiating Inequality, Self-Governance, Creating Images, Organizing Retreat, and Occupying Space. The artists see the four depopulated cities in question as offering opportunity, a blank slate or canvas for developing news ways of living and working.

Read more about this exhibition or the whole shrinkingcities project online.