February 21, 2012

Daniel Arreola on Latino Urbanism

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The Latino Urban Form lecture is this tomorrow!! We have an amazing panel who will talk about a relatively new and increasingly relevant concept called Latino Urbanism. To give you an idea of what Latino Urbanism is about, I asked each of our three speakers to give us their thoughts on it in a short interview. You can find my interviews with Kevin Kellogg or James Rojas here and here, respectively. Today I’m featuring the final interview with Daniel Arreola, a professor at ASU who teaches about Mexican Ancestry Populations in Phoenix. The lecture will take place on Wednesday…

February 20, 2012

James Rojas Explains Latino Urbanism

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The Latino Urban Form lecture brought to you by Women Design Arizona and Blooming Rock is this Wednesday!! I have asked each of the three speakers to give us a short rundown of Latino Urbanism and its significance in the community we live in. Today I’m featuring a short interview with one of our speakers, James Rojas, the founder of Latino Urbanism and a transportation planner at the City of Los Angeles. The lecture will take place on Wednesday February 22 at 6pm at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market. Tickets are $5 and you can buy them here. All ticket…

February 15, 2012

Kevin Kellogg on Latino Urbanism

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Next week, the Sustainable Communities Lecture Series, brought to you by Women Design Arizona and Blooming Rock, will present a lecture on Latino Urban Form featuring three great thinkers on the subject. James Rojas, a transportation planner at the City of Los Angeles, is the founder and foremost authority on Latino Urbanism in the country. Kevin Kellogg, who has been featured and has written for this blog several times, is an architect and urban planner who has hands-on experience with Latino urban planning and design. And Daniel Arreola is a professor at ASU who teaches about Mexican Ancestry Populations…

February 14, 2012

What YOU Want to See in Arizona’s Next 100 Years

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet It’s Arizona’s Centennial today, a day to celebrate the last 100 years of our state founding. For me, today’s also a great day to pause and lay claim to the future we want for our state. To that end, I asked YOU, through Facebook, Twitter, this blog and the Blooming Rock newsletter, what you’d like to see in the next 100 years in Arizona. There were definitely themes to people’s responses, and so I’ve broken them down into categories, to help us better see what’s important to people today. Here’s what you said: Renewable Energy/Solar Power: Rocco Meneguale: I…

February 12, 2012

What Do You Want to See in Arizona’s Next 100 Years?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet What do you want to see in the next 100 years in Arizona? Post your answer on Twitter or Facebook. Or email me at tazmine@bloomingrock.com! The best answers will be published on the Blooming Rock blog on Centennial Tuesday. Photo credit: Photo from OldTucson.com

February 09, 2012

ASU Design School Explores how Designers can Solve Social Problems

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet One of the most onerous but beneficial parts of architecture school is presenting your work to a panel of guests, faculty and the rest of your classmates. I remember these reviews being the source of great anxiety before hand and sometimes angst and sometimes joy afterwards. Having to put yourself out there was an emotionally harrowing experience, but one that taught us how to learn from criticism and input for the rest of our careers. Last week Friday I was a guest reviewer at ASU for a fourth year architecture class, taught by one of my former teachers, Scott…

February 01, 2012

Bicycle Cellar in Downtown Phoenix a Step in the Right Direction for Air Quality

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Air pollution is a major problem for Valley residents, not just because it sullies our beautiful blue skies, but because it has a very real and lasting negative impact on our health. According to an excellent seven-part series currently running in the Arizona Republic called The Air We Breathe, “studies now link pollution, especially traffic-related pollutants to heart disease, premature births, asthma attacks and shortened lives.” The series, of which only three installments have been published to date, explores many reasons why we find ourselves in a choke hold with air quality, but lays much of the blame on…

January 30, 2012

Revitalizing America’s Worst Urban Park

by: Will Novak

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Will Novak: Since I’m stuck in Boston until the end of February I’ve been unable to participate in the current visioning processes for Hance Park. From what I’ve seen, the process is moving along rather rapidly, but so far I’ve yet to see a plan that fulfills the parks amazing potential. Below is a slide show I’ve created outlining what I think it will take to make Hance Park one of America’s great urban parks. It’s a big vision; it will take time and lots of money, but its better to dream big…

January 25, 2012

Is the City of Phoenix’s Polyanna Attitude Towards Sustainability Hurting Us?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Below is an article written by Phoenix’s sustainability officer about our city’s state of sustainability published in the Arizona Republic on Friday January 20, 2012: Greening of city hits stride – by Carolyn Bristo Phoenix led the way in sustainability decades before “green” was cool. Though the color brown is often associated with our desert region,”green” has saturated our policies for more than 30 years. In the 1960s, Phoenix developed rubberized asphalt made from recycled tires. We adopted water-conservation and energy-efficiency programs more than 30 years ago. Our alternative-fuel program is now one of the largest programs in the…

January 18, 2012

A Letter to Light Rail Riders

by: Ryan Glass

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Ryan Glass: Dear Valued Rider, We realize our relationship has had its ups and downs this past two years, and since it’s the New Year, it feels like we should join in the spirit and shape some things up so that we can feel better about each other in 2012. Therefore, we present our list of resolutions: Longer trains arriving more often. Yeah, it really sucks having to wait on the platform for so long just to get crammed into a one-car train. We admit we started this so that we could take…