Tag Archives: USA

by | 18/03/2013 · 14:00

Pick of the Day: Emanuel Urban Farm Network – Mayor Launches New Agriculture Plan To Transform Vacant Lots – The Huffington Post

First lady Michelle Obama, center and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, shaking hands, visit Iron Street Urban Farm, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

First lady Michelle Obama, center and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, shaking hands, visit Iron Street Urban Farm, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

‘Under a recently-announced new agriculture plan, vacant lots on Chicago’s South Side could be transformed into thriving — and profitable — urban farms in just three years. [...]

In a statement, Emanuel said the farm lots will help “stabilize” the surrounding communities and help relieve food desert-related issues. “Farmers for Chicago will give local residents a chance to not only learn how to grow food in their communities, but also build their own food enterprise.” ‘

Read the whole story on the Huffington Post: Emanuel Urban Farm Network: Mayor Launches New Agriculture Plan To Transform Vacant Lots.

You can download the Mayor’s press release here: http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/mayor/Press%20Room/Press%20Releases/2013/March/3.15.13UrbanFarmers.pdf

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by | 07/12/2011 · 18:04

Creative Cities International — The Vitality Index (VI)

by Brendan Colgan

Last summer Creative Cities International (CCI) launched a new cultural impact study in the U.S.  entitled the Vitality Index (VI) [click here for the report]. The study aims to model the “human experience of the city at its heart.” In practice, it is a ranking and assessment which applies the same level of rigor to qualitative factors as it does quantitative ones. It brings to life a city’s human strengths as it respects its complexities: a vibrant downtown, an engaged populace, educational opportunity, economic sustainability, good transport, diversity of population and opportunity, and a citizenry that embraces its history and culture. I was fortunate enough to be able to interview Linda Lees, director of CCI, about their recent study: Continue reading →

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by | 06/10/2011 · 10:26

The American Grid

Aerial View of Farmland in Arizona

by Brendan Colgan

The order and arrangement of the grid serves as a manufactured replacement for the natural landscape.  It allows humans and artificial landmarks to dominate natural landmarks. The meandering course of rivers, the jagged lines of cliffs, and the limitless expanse of the prairie are replaced by the predictable, yet artificial, logic of lines in a grid. The grid fosters expansionism and territorialism. In this way, the grid’s infinitely repeatable patterns are ever-expanding, yet the spaces and places enclosed within the grid become known and quantifiable–parceled for consumption. A grid divides the urban landscape into discrete city blocks, it divides farmland into what is mine and what is yours, it encloses a finite realm of human possession while providing a framework for regulated expansion into a boundless frontier. And for these reasons, the grid is aptly suited towards the unique American conceptions of expansion and consumption. Continue reading →

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by | 23/09/2011 · 11:30

M&Ms in Wisconsin – Part II: Milwaukee

By Renard Teipelke

Only four mayors in 60 years – three of them socialists (sic!). Considering Milwaukee’s 20th century history, the preconditions are really exciting for a US-American city. The Sewer Socialist movement emerged from Milwaukee and included famous figures like Victor L. Berger (see here for more information). With 600,000 citizens, Milwaukee is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin. In the last article I wrote about Wisconsin’s capital city Madison – also an ‘alternative’ city but with a completely different outset. Milwaukee, as part of the Rust Belt, experienced the well-known decline of heavy-industry cities at the Great Lakes. When I told my American friends that I was going to visit Milwaukee, they all ask me why on earth I would want to go to this ‘city in decline.’ Continue reading →

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by | 22/09/2011 · 11:30

M&Ms in Wisconsin – Part I: Madison

By Renard Teipelke

The picture of the United States in the media often tends to be limited to the coastal areas versus the ‘crazy’ heartland. There are many states that are probably more important than the Mid-Western state of Wisconsin – situated at Lake Michigan near the Canadian border. Anyhow, I will show by the example of two cities, Madison and Milwaukee, that there are actually relevant things to say about the state and that both cities, despite their very different features, share something other cities are missing: a distinct original character. Continue reading →

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by | 05/09/2011 · 17:06

High Line New York City: When Green Becomes Gold

Southern End of High Line Park in Lower Manhattan

By Caspar Lundsgaard-Hansen

The High Line is a linear public park in New York City. It was built on a section of a former elevated railroad line in in lower Manhattan and not only boasts stunning architecture and a rich plant life but also cultural attractions. But probably you have already heard about it, which is why I think it might be one of the most successful urban projects in recent years. But this is certainly not the only reason… Continue reading →

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by | 15/06/2011 · 09:24

Pismo Beach: Niche Existence due to Otherness

Pismo Beach © Renard Teipelke

By Renard Teipelke

Along the Pacific Coast, California offers hundreds of beautiful beaches. Names (or places) such as Santa Cruz, Malibu, or Coronado Island are world famous not only because they are marketed well but are actually nice, sunny, and fantastic locations for a day at the beach. So what role can much smaller, less famous beaches and their adjacent towns in California possibly play in the presence of these ‘big players?’ It comes with no surprise that the demand for beaches seems to be clearly large enough so that these less famous locations are not relegated to a negligible niche existence. But demand also refers to a certain quality of supply: How do these places attract ‘enough’ guests in order to benefit from tourist revenues which they are often seeking in the absence of other relevant fee- or tax-paying industries?

Let us take an 85-mile-ride from Santa Barbara up the coast to the town of Pismo Beach. Continue reading →

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by | 18/03/2011 · 17:52

When nation branding turns into serious ugly propaganda

Gen David Petraeus | Photograph: Cliff Owen/AP

Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media | Technology | guardian.co.uk

“The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

The discovery that the US military is developing false online personalities – known to users of social media as “sock puppets” – could also encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same. Continue reading →

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