The Year in Ideas
Really, is there anything better than Sunday brunch complete with Bloody Mary’s with Absolut Peppar and The New York Times Magazine? Is there a better issue than the annual Year in Ideas? I love it. I thought I’d share some of the ones I found interesting. I’d also like to hear which ones you liked.
1) Creative Shrinkage The example, as you may have seen in Metropolis earlier this year, is Youngstown Ohio. Youngstown’s population boomed at 170,000 back when the Rust Belt was in full industrial swing, and after a long decine in industry and population, it is now trying to transform itself to a prosperous town of 80,000. It is a very interesting model and I want to see how it all shakes out. The idea that it could "become a culturally rich bedroom community serving Cleveland and Pittsburgh, both of which are 70 miles away" seems a bit irresponsible and unrealistic to me unless some sort of effective and efficient public transportation is put in place.
2) Big Urbanism It’s back! I alluded to this a few weeks back with the example of the Denver Art Museum Complex. What I hope we have all learned from urban renewal in the past is to consider the fabric and scale of the context of such projects. My city, Atlanta, is infilling with large projects all over the place, and I have to say, so far, I like what I see. The development of and around the old Mead Plant in Inman Park was carefully planned with neighborhood needs and aesthetics thoughtfully considered. Atlantic Station is a thriving new part of town, but why a MARTA station was not installed there I will NEVER understand.
3) The E. Coli Wipe Just because I really missed spinach once I was told I could not have it. Plus, I’d really like to avoid picking up E. Coli.
4) Energy Harvesting Floors All I can say to this one is WHOA! This is a plan to harness the energy of our footsteps. According to the article, each step we take generates about 8 watts of energy. A London architecture firm called The Facility would like to collect that energy via hydraulic generators placed in high volume traffic area floors that will convert step vibrations into electricity. Like I said, WHOA!
5) The Humane Flophouse I think perhaps the rebranding needs to make sure the word "flophouse" isn’t used anymore, but other than that, it sounds like a great idea.
6) Reverse Graffiti Paul Curtis refers to his art as "clean tagging" or "grime writing." Basically, he "refaces" (i.e. uses an industrial scrub on) existing graffiti by erasing parts so that the bits that remain form something else.
7)Sailing an Oil Tanker . In a nutshell, this idea involves some really big kites that will help pull a tanker along, thus saving on fuel costs. This one I’d really like to witness. It’s a big idea that sounds too overwhelming to pull off to me, but I’d really like to see it happen.
Speed Reducing Art A circular mural painted in the middle of a busy intersection in Cambridge MA has slowed cars down about 5 miles per hour. The theory behind this was stated by a member of the Cambridge Arts Council: "There’s something in the road, so there’s a moment of confusion and you slow down. Then you see it’s flat, and you drive over it."
So there were 92 other interesting ideas. The one I really did not dig so much was "Spit Art." Anyway, I could add a few more but the crossword is driving me insane. I am stumped on two answers on the crossword. 54-across "runners at the corners, say, in baseball" and 59 across, "bluish gray." Did anyone figure those out? If so, please tell me!
March 4th, 2007 at 6:25 am
Just thought I’d chime in with a hearty Yeah about the brunch and the New York Times magazine!
Add a big cushioned chair by a window streaming sunshine, and you can’t get much better than that!