flynn050

"There is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism". Walter Benjamin Police is beating up Catalans who vote for independence, America wants to build a wall, Putin sees Ukraine as part of Russia, Syria is mired in chaos, Kurds remain without a country, and the European Union is shaken by Brexit; these are all manifestations of how problematic the various definitions of nation states are and yet, there is so much renewed fixation on this brittle construct that some feel reminded of the festering crisis before WW I, over a century ago. In a world of instant communication, unprecedented awareness of global  issues such as climate change, and gigantic global migrations this state of affairs is shocking. walled city of Carcassonne, France Meanwhile cities absorb most of the population growth around the world, take on the global migrations and engage in worldwide exchange. “The Syrian crisis was a turning point in so many ways. Not just becau...

The mad dash of cities across the nation to please a rich corporate suitor is as educational as it is obscene. The latter because public agencies from the state level all the way down to city departments are shamelessly offering tax dollars to one of the top value corporations owned by the richest man on earth  and the company unashamedly asking for them. Almost any major US city imagines itself as ideal for HQ2 Educational because the spectacle shows how completely the powers have reversed. It used to be that economic development agencies wrote the specs for sites they wanted to offer for private development. Now it is the private corporation that writes the specs. It used to be that cities looked to private developers to pay part of the cost of new development through impact fees and adequate public facility ordinances. Now a powerful corporation not only expects top notch infrastructure transit but tax credits and benefits on top. It is educational to witness how ready our repr...

This week's steady trickle of news about the Nobel Prize winners is soothing the soul amidst the barrage of disasters which can debilitate the most resilient mind. This year's Nobel crop with its many American awardees is good for the wounded soul of the country as well.Tuesday the prize for physics was announced. The recipients, Dr. Weiss, 85, Dr. Thorne, 77, and Dr. Barish, 81, were the architects and leaders of LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, the instrument that detected the gravitational waves, and a sister organization the LIGO Scientific Collaboration of more than a thousand scientists who analyzed the data.  Expecting the Nobel Prize in physics to go to the detection of gravitational waves last year, I wrote "Once in a while one has to lift the gaze from the alleys and streets and set the eyes higher for a bigger view. Why not as big as the entire universe?".   But it took another year before the coveted Nobel in physics went to t...

“When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?”  ―  Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters  ― Seeing major cities and communities being battered by two hurricanes in as many months with a third in the offing, two earthquakes shake one of the world's largest metro areas in the same time frame and Los Angeles battle a major wildfire can make the future look like a threat, for sure. This article argues for defining future as a promise, instead. People don't like to imagine terrible possibilities and usually avoid it until calamity stares from every TV screen. Then humans tend to take refuge in actionism and after that avoid thinking much about the future altogether. Pragmatic humanitarian action, collecting clothes, bottled water and teddy bears or even volunteering in person. Taking individual responsibility and action instead of solely relying on institutions or government is a laudable very American instinct of coming together in the face of adversity. H...

In the eyes of some urban planners the automobile was a deadly force on the urban environment for a long time. Figuratively in terms of shaping cities but also literally in terms of high urban pedestrian and bicycle fatality rates. While the premeditated destruction of urban spaces for freeways and parking has never risen to the level of criminal offense, vehicular manslaughter is a law on the books of most States and countries when it comes to gross driver negligence. Another and newer threat is the vehicle as an instrument of terror. For some time vehicles have been used to break through safety perimeters and hide bombs to destroy targeted buildings. But the vehicle as a bomb in itself,  as an apparatus that does the killing has opened an unexpected specter and elevated the deadly aspect of the automobile to new heights, not only for the people in cities but also for the design of cities. A car crashes at Baltimore's city hall after a police chase killing a pedestrian (Baltimore ...