Look At That Tree: Korean Stewartia

Check out the bark pattern on that Korean Stewartia tree (Stewartia koreana). Mottled.

High Line: pffft.

In an op-ed article in Saturday's New York Times, Witold Rybczynski attempted to douse the enthusiasm that has surrounded New York's High Line Park for the past few years with a bunch of sour grapes wrapped up in a wet blanket. His critique is not leveled directly at the High Line, rather he scoffs at the idea that the park can serve as a model for "landscape urbanism." Not only does Rybczynski feel the High Line is not a transferable template for projects in other cities, he goes so far as to lump the concept of an elevated park in with other failures of urban planning: skyways, downtown shopping malls, and, of course, the monorail:



Despite bordering on being mean spirited, Rybczynski raises some valid points: The High Line is built on a unique stretch of raised track that weaves between architecture that is significant in its own right, i.e. the IAC building designed by Frank Gehry, and it is located in a neighborhood already full of history and attractions-specifically art galleries, which draw the sort of crowd that might get worked up over new trends in urbanism. Where else in America, Rybczynski asks, will we find the resources and the conditions that have made the High Line such a success? And what about that $150 million price tag?

While he's right that projects like the Sixth Street Embankment in Jersey City are unlikely to draw visitors from across the globe-probably not even from across the Hudson-Rybczynski's cynicism seems a bit premature. The High Line's focus on quality materials, high-end design and "relentlessly hip" marketing is of course part of its appeal, but it is also a part of its context. Surrounded by contemporary art galleries and expensive high-rise apartment buildings in Chelsea, the High Line needed to fit in, or it would have failed. While it is a somewhat perverse case of "urban revitalization" since it would be hard to argue that Chelsea really needed that kind of investment compared to other areas, the cost-44 million dollars of which came from private contributions-is a reflection of the neighborhood's character.

So, to make this template work in other settings where private and municipal money might not be so readily available, let the projects' purposes fit their context. Create elevated parks that serve the needs of their neighborhoods while reflecting their character. Most likely this will mean forgoing some of the High Line's extravagances, like the wine porch (?) and Renzo Piano restaurant that will be unveiled with the opening of the High Line's second section. Besides deflating the bloated budget of the project, eliminating these sorts of expensive features will likely bring projects more in line with the tastes of communities that aren't part of lower Manhattan. Surely, we can find some of those elsewhere in America.

Relentlessly hip? Nooo... The video below is from the same Parks Department that also produced this.

Look at that Tree

Dracaena Cinnabari, aka "Dragon's Blood Tree." From the Indian island Socotra.

For Consideration: The Charter of the New Urbanism

"Charter of the New Urbanism," from the Congress for the New Urbanism:

The Congress for the New Urbanism views disinvestment in central cities, the spread of placeless sprawl, increasing separation by race and income, environmental deterioration, loss of agricultural lands and wilderness, and the erosion of society’s built heritage as one interrelated community-building challenge.

We stand for the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, the conservation of natural environments, and the preservation of our built legacy.

We advocate the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the following principles: neighborhoods should be diverse in use and population; communities should be designed for the pedestrian and transit as well as the car; cities and towns should be shaped by physically defined and universally accessible public spaces and community institutions; urban places should be framed by architecture and landscape design that celebrate local history, climate, ecology, and building practice.

We recognize that physical solutions by themselves will not solve social and economic problems, but neither can economic vitality, community stability, and environmental health be sustained without a coherent and supportive physical framework.

We represent a broad-based citizenry, composed of public and private sector leaders, community activists, and multidisciplinary professionals. We are committed to reestablishing the relationship between the art of building and the making of community, through citizen-based participatory planning and design.

We dedicate ourselves to reclaiming our homes, blocks, streets, parks, neighborhoods, districts, towns, cities, regions, and environment.

Sketchbook: Hands, pinecone, spoon

Sketchbook: Mallard, wall-o-rocks, sailboat

Big Words

I got my copy of Ecological Urbanism in the mail yesterday. It's...bigger...than I thought it'd be. In an attempt not to reveal myself as the intellectual lightweight that I am, I sat down and read the introductory essay, Why Ecological Urbanism? Why Now? by Mohsen Mostafavi. Although I'm no fan of being asked to wrap my head around academic babble like "the ecosophic problematic," the book does a good job of seducing you into reading the entire essays by sprinkling it with full page color photos (lightweight) and quotes from Felini movies:

"The city is so vast and we have so much to say to each other." -Nights of Cabiria


The essay and the book provide advocacy and critical thought on how urban planners and landscape architects can best respond to the new demand to make human spaces fit into the realities of the environment and ecology that they are situated in. Mostafavi introduces some of the new thinking on urban centers put forward by Andrea Branzi. I especially liked the idea that cities, like agricultural territories, can have the features of being "reversible, evolving, and provisory."

It seems the main purpose of the book–and the events, exhibits and conferences accompanying it–is to address the fact that design practices, historically and as they are followed now, are not intended-and therefore not yet able–to address the true scale of the ecological problems caused by and affecting large urban developments. Ecological Urbanism is presented as a "set of sensibilities and practices" to guide relevant professions and fields in coping with the new scale and demands of cities located within and dependent on ecological forces.