Category: Cities

I’m stating the obvious, I know, but having lived in Hamburg for a year and then returning to Manhattan, especially midtown, reminds me of the energy that propelled my career when I was younger: the masses of people crammed into giant buildings, filling the wide sidewalks, filling every space available.

It’s not necessarily a good thing. Hamburg is a balance between the advantages of modern life and the needs of humans: many more green spaces, almost no very tall buildings, an emphasis on quality rather than efficiency.

There was an explosion in midtown Manhattan yesterday, about 4 blocks from where I was working…

The New York Times reported today that New Yorkers were “unnerved” which was certainly the case on the street when it happened. With the constant reminders of terrorism the government scares the shit out of everyone (and gains support for the war in Iraq?) instead of reminding us how incredibly resilient we are when needed.

In City Planet, Stewart Brand describes the current massive migration to the world’s cities and the reality of squatter cities. The piece changed the way I understand cities and how the world population is evolving. Here’s some quotes…

The growth of cities has led to demographic trends exactly the opposite of what many experts have predicted… Demographically, the next 50 years may be the most wrenching in human history. Massive numbers of people are making massive changes. Having just experienced the first doubling of world population in a single lifetime (from 3.3 billion in 1962 to 6.5 billion now), we now are discovering it is the last doubling… Just as the population exploded upward exponentially when the birthrate was above 2.1, it accelerates downward exponentially when it’s below 2.1. Compound interest cuts both ways. Fewer children make fewer children.

Continue reading City Planet

My business partner Jim just returned from doing a presentation in Turkey. Notable comment: “Istanbul looks more like San Jose than Constantinople.”

“Just as it was important that Broadway not remain in the dark after Sept. 11, it’s important that we start thinking about the future despite all the very depressing news around us.” — Bill Hines, managing partner of a New Orleans law firm, on plans to revive parts of that city quickly.

New Orleans was founded in 1718, specifically in the Autumn. The following Spring and Summer the French settlers realized their high ground was not high enough to avoid flooding, and so the building of levees began. That building — eventually assumed by the Army Corp of Engineers — has continued ever since. Some say it “set off an environmental chain reaction that helped destroy the natural barrier protecting New Orleans from catastrophic storms.”

In the emotion surrounding the World Trade Center planning, we suffered a failure of imagination. The symbolic importance of the location made new architecture a political time bomb.

Without the emotional weight of terrorism, the planning in New Orleans doesn’t have to be this way. Imaginations already bear the fruit of honest thinking: Make It an Island, Raise the Ground, Restore the Marsh, and Build Diversity. These are the kind of bold ideas we need if billions are to be spent rebuilding New Orleans, but they need to balance with the human needs and emotions of the people who live and work there.

And if we really use our imaginations, we will realize that not rebuilding is also a viable option.

My heart breaks when I see newbie tourists in Manhattan. The young woman the other day carrying armloads of luggage in the rain politely asking the cab driver if he drives to Queens. Here’s two tips to avoid the worst:

• Taxis must drive you anywhere in the five boroughs of New York City, period. The trick is to get in the taxi, close the door, and then tell them where you’re going. Don’t get out until you are at your destination. If they give you grief because they don’t want to drive to a particular neighborhood, threaten to write down their name and license number and report them. Pretend you’re on Law and Order, it’s fun.
• If you have anything in the trunk, upon arrival get out leaving the door open, remove your items from trunk, then close the door. This avoids the taxi accidentally speeding off with your stuff.

Bonus tip: on the subway, if you don’t get a seat, you’re gonna wanna hold on to the hand rail, really.

Despite having found a wonderful community of like minds in New York, I’m always envious of the vibrant new media scene in San Francisco. Last night I crashed a post-seminar drinkfest held by Adaptive Path and finally, randomly, met (in person) Veen, Berry, Steenson, and Blood, among other fine folks. Hopefully Merlin will post his pics. Rebecca commented that I’m younger and more attractive than she imagined, which leads me to think my blog persona is a grumpy crank.

I left the tapas and sangria early to fly home, away from the sun, descending through the clouds into the rain soaked, cursing, cold, Jamaica Bay.