Limekiln Latitudes
On place, purpose and pretty things.Archive for Duty Honor Country
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea
as i sift through all things NPS, i have to put in a plug for the new ken burns documentary coming out in a few weeks. it’s called “the national parks: america’s best idea” and from what i hear it’s brilliant – poignant and relevant and celebratory in all the right ways. here’s what ken burns’ longtime collaborator and producer dayton duncan says about the project:
“Making this film was one of the greatest joys of my life,” said Dayton Duncan, who has visited all but one of America’s 58 national parks and who is the author of the companion book, to be published by Alfred Knopf. “Each park is unique and has its own fascinating historical story. But they are all connected by the transformative idea that they belong to each of us, providing a shared place that lives in the memory of every individual and every family that has visited them over the years. And they are connected by the notion that individual Americans, in the best possible example of democracy, worked to make sure that future generations could enjoy them.”
that last idea – that all the parks are connected by their innate publicness, and that the founding and ongoing preservation of each national park points to the truest of democratic principles – is something we’re striving to drive home in the envisioning gateway publication. i have the pleasure of working with some really fantastic NPS scholars and managers on this – ethan carr and rolf diamant, specifically – and it’s a challenge to balance this message with some of the more dire and complex realities of gateway as a landscape. on top of all this, we’re also arguing that design matters (read: nature is constructed) and that the park service needs to reconnect to the latest innovations and practices in landscape architecture and urban design/planning in order to address those complexities. quite a task, but one i’m honored to undertake.
high speed rail
i’ve been immersed in all things rail on both a personal and professional level lately. at home in reading, pennsylvania, the legacy is hard to ignore and state and federal transportation agendas will be critical to long term development and revitalization in the city. and at van alen institute, we’re in the early planning and development phases of a design competition focusing on high speed passenger rail in the U.S. — including investigations into the effects that a federal network of infrastructural improvements will have on the design of cities themselves, the role that design and architecture will ultimately play in weaving a national HSR system into existing urban contexts, and the opportunities that this system will create for innovation with respect to transit-oriented architectural typologies. needlesstosay, the announcement last week by president obama, vice president biden, and DOT secretary ray lahood was exciting… and i got to hear PA governor ed rendell speak even more passionately about it at the regional plan association’s regional assembly on friday.
the following is an overview from the federal railroad administration’s “Vision of High-Speed Rail in America” (including links to the full strategic plan, corridor maps, and a video of president obama’s announcement):
President Obama proposes to help address the nation’s transportation challenges by launching a new and efficient high-speed passenger rail network in 100-600 mile corridors that connect communities across America. The Strategic Plan outlines the President’s vision that would transform the nation’s transportation system by rebuilding existing rail infrastructure while developing a comprehensive high-speed intercity passenger rail network through a long-term commitment at both the federal and state levels. This plan draws from the successful highway and aviation development models with a 21st century solution that focuses on clean, energy-efficient rail transportation.
High-speed rail (HSR) is a family of transportation options that address longer-distance passenger transport needs in heavily populated corridors. Implementing HSR will promote economic expansion (including new manufacturing jobs), create new choices for travelers in addition to flying or driving, reduce national dependence on oil, and foster urban and rural livable communities. With the successful completion of the original phases of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) Transportation Project offering Amtrak’s 150 mph train service, known as “Acela,” between Washington, New York, and Boston, efforts have expanded beyond the NEC. A number of high-speed rail corridors are being planned by States that range from upgrades to existing rail lines to entirely new rail lines exclusively devoted to 150 to 250 mph trains.
design for social impact
Exciting times for graphic design: Jessica Helfand and Bill Drenttel received an enormous grant from Rockefeller Foundation to spawn the latest iteration of their growing empire. Building on recent years’ Bellagio conferences, the Winterhouse Institute aspires to “develop collective action and collaboration for social impact across the design industry.” Their manifesto, of sorts:
“We believe designers can make consistent, sustained and human-scaled contributions to solving large social and environmental problems, particularly to benefit poor and vulnerable people in developing countries.
There are an increasing number of examples of design-thinking — or integrative thinking — addressing these problems, whether initiated by design firms, individual designers or NGOs, yet there are only isolated examples of success. All this signals growing interest in harnessing design creativity in areas where massive public sector efforts were attempted in the past. The power of this movement, though, would be amplified significantly with success-sharing mechanisms, documentation of best practices, matching of resources to needs, and promotion of the promise of design as one avenue to innovative solutions.
Effectively, the challenge becomes how to we get the best designers working with the right NGOs towards solutions against large and critical problems? How can we get enough momentum and participation that collective action by the design community is possible and self-generating? Are there models or structures needed to create systematic engagement with the social sector?”
Rockefeller Foundation has long supported both design innovation and social change – it will be really exciting to see how, and with whom, Winterhouse pulls this together.
remade in america
another great graphic from the NYT, showing the percent of foreign born population in cities/counties across the U.S… those bubbles get me every time:
and while i’m on the subject, i have to say that one of my favorite things about living in new york city is its diversity: the egyptian cab driver ranting about bloomberg’s third term, the couple next to me at brunch speaking french, the taco truck parked on 14th and 8th until 4am every night, waiting for the elevator with a woman gabbing on her cell in korean. people who talk about urban america being populated by “over-educated liberal elite” are overlooking a huge part of the picture. i’d venture to say exposure is more of an education than any degree.
maira kalman: hallelujah!
Maira Kalman has always been a favorite, and it looks like her Principles of Uncertainty blog is transitioning into a new narrative on American democracy, called And the Pursuit of Happiness. Today’s post about the inauguration is chock full of the sage sweetness she’s known for, but this particular image and caption gives me so much joy:
(Thanks, Erin, for sending it to me today!)
public space is back.
how could i not go. i’m too exhausted from the whirlwind trip to say a lot, so for now i’ll link to popular science’s gorgeous aerial photograph of the mall yesterday morning and to christopher hawthorne’s reflection on the “mid-winter, mid-recession pilgrimage” that so many americans made this week. three friends and i made it to a sweet little spot about 100 feet in front of the washington monument – being on axis was surprisingly powerful for me, nevermind the distance – and while i wasn’t blown away by a sense of diversity or an overwhelming feeling of camaraderie with those around me (which i was admittedly anticipating), i did feel like i was plugged into something gigantic. grand. collective. truly public. hawthorne writes that “the idea of public-ness in American cities is suddenly ascendant” – the challenge now will be to keep it up.
nyt spoof
A colleague just came by the office with a hardcopy of the New York Times spoof being distributed throughout the city today. It’s pretty impressive, and has a rather elaborate online version as well. It was masterminded by a group called The Yes Men. Get your hands on one if you can – ebay’s already got them at a $39.95 minimum!
The city’s abuzz with coverage: Gawker, Laughing Squid, New York Times.
onward and upward
It’s taken me a full week to digest the success of last Tuesday’s election – not only its national and international significance, but also the personal impact it will have on my own life. Granted it’s been a busy week, too – I celebrated Obama’s election on U Street in DC, capping things off with some 3am chili cheese fries at Ben’s Chili Bowl; I soaked up the latest climate crisis statistics at a heavy-hitting Rockefeller Foundation/UPenn conference called Urban Design After the Age of Oil; and I turned 30 amidst family and dear friends (and a few hundred other people noshing at Shady Maple… a somewhat mindblowing institution).
I’ve got lots to say on all the above, so will be taking things one by one. But in the meantime I just had to document this rare mix of euphoria, relief, and motivation. As someone else has been saying quite a bit lately: “Let’s get to work.”
