28 April 2014

Andy Warhol on an Amiga

What better way to start your week than by watching Andy Warhol use an Amiga to make a computer portrait of Debbie Harry... This will not be on the test.

NJ DEP Map Contest 2014

NJ's latest Map Contest has come and gone and Rutgers, once again , was well represented among the winners, which are posted online. It is hard for me to ever identify all of the former Rutgers students that particpate, like Chuck Colvard with his detailed mapping of Paterson. But I can clearly identify current student Eden Buenaventura, whose coastal resiliency map (below) brought home 3 awards including the 4th Annual Gail Carter Science Award. Outstanding!


A special congratulations goes to the high school students from the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science in Ocean County. They went toe-to-toe with the professionals and came out great. Who knows, maybe they'll re-enter the competition in a few years as Geomatics students from Rutgers. Great job.

24 April 2014

Planning books as a resource

The semester is almost over but you still want to learn more about planning? Today's resource is books.

Even though it is a blog, PlaNetizen is a great place to learn about planning books. They frequently post reviews of new books, like this review of the GPS history book, You Are Here: From the Compass to GPS, the History and Future of How We Find Ourselves. Or you can check out their larger lists like the Top Ten planning books of 2013 or the 100 best books on city-making. Just remember, reading can be addictive, so try to use an internship or site visits to break up your sessions.

Old tech in NYC

You don't need a balloon, they can do this with computers now.


23 April 2014

More SCOTUS news

While our only required reading on the Supreme Court cases is the Sunday Magazine story on the Florida case, you may want to peek at old news coverage of the case like this NY Times article. Plus, New Jersey has had its own version of this conflict with a recent case that made it to the New Jersey Supreme Court.


Finally, a few years ago I made a list of links to detailed information about most of the major takings cases.

22 April 2014

Happy Earth Day


(Photo locations: Cannon Beach, OR; Cook Campus, NJ; Monterey Peninsula; Tuckerton, NJ; Little San Bernardino Mountains, CA?; Bedminster, NJ; Mt. St. Helens, WA; Monmouth Battlefield, NJ; Bedminster and Bedminster)

16 April 2014

Class reading

In 2010, the NY Times' Sunday magazine ran a piece by Andrew Rice called a Stake in the Sand.  It is a closer look at the Supreme Court case that was named, STOP THE BEACH RENOURISHMENT, INC. v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ET AL

We will be re-reading this NY Times magazine article for class.  


But you might also enjoy this old photo and news clip from Pruned blog.

Common Lecture: Sungkyung Lee

Rutgers University Landscape Architecture Common Lecture
April 16, 2014 from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Cook/Douglass Lecture Hall, Room 110, Cook Campus  (click for Rutgers Map)   
Sungkyung Lee, an assistant professor in the University of Georgia, College of Environment and Design, enjoys service-learning projects where students work on landscape design with community partners in need of resources and support. Her area of research is social sustainability in the built environment, place-oriented urban design, restorative benefits of nature, and healing garden design.

15 April 2014

The GIS&T Body of Knowledge

With efforts underway to update the Body of Knowledge for GIS&T, the original is now online as a downloadable PDF.  Take a look and think about what you would like to see changed. More remote sensing and aerial imagery? Add VGI? What else?


10 April 2014

Yet another eminent domain story

In Bridgeport, CT, the struggling community used eminent domain to create a property that could be developed as a large shopping center. " Bridgeport says it will build more than 1,000 new housing units and more commercial space, yet it started condemning businesses and 270 houses a generation ago, in the 1990s. All it has to show for it so far is a Bass Pro." Read Stephen Smiths' ‘We Razed 270 Houses and All We Got Was This Lousy Boat Shop.’ This is becoming a recurring theme in American development that has both ethical and political overtones.


The best of planning blogging?

PlaNetizen just posted its 5 most popular postings of the last three months. It represents some really good ideas.

09 April 2014

Just trying to tell the story

Regular readers of Places and Spaces will already know that we ran a series of studios last fall investigating different issues in the clean up and rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy. Together we called the studios, Rebuilding for Resiliency: New Jersey Shore, and were fortunate to have a great videographer following along throughout the process.

From the very beginning of the semester until the final presentations, Will Atwater trailed all four classes on multiple trips to the Jersey Shore and captured the explorations and discoveries along the way. In a pretty amazing job of editing, he distilled all of that video down to six short, elegant summaries of the process. Of course, as a good videographer, you never see Atwater, but you can see his diligent work throughout.

For students in Fundamentals, consider how this is part of Steiner's Chapter 8  where he talks about the importance of creating an informed and energized public. These student plans won't get built. But a public watching the videos and thinking about 5-year and 20-year plans for these areas might respond differently to the next round of public hearings whether they are held by towns or FEMA or NJ Future.

07 April 2014

Praxis studio in the news

Can landscape architecture really impacts people's lives? Frank Gallagher's spring studio was featured in the Star-Ledger because of that potential impact. The studio is exploring redevelopment alternatives at a former landfill in Somerville. But, as one of the students is aware, the impact could be good or bad:


“The people who live in the town are the ones who have to live with it,” Johnsen said. “What we’re supposed to be considering is…the health and safety of the public. So it’s not just about us and our big ideas.”

06 April 2014

Marlboro Master Plan Re-examination

The Township of Marlboro has their Master Plan Re-exam document posted online so you can look through it to see the sorts of issues that they considered. It includes issues from education to circulation, economic/commercial to utilities. It is fairly specific, listing specific owners impacted by some of the specific potential changes.

02 April 2014

The Power of Mapping

Mapping (and all things geospatial) are becoming so central to modern life that it is commonplace now for outlets like Atlantic Monthly to post features like John Tierney's The Power of Mapping which is linked to James and Deborah Fallowes' American Futures series, which is powered by Esri maps.

Good maps are everywhere. So are bad maps. But geospatial is getting integrated into everything we do.