Archive for the ‘urbanism’ Category

April 18, 2012

Surviving Sprawl with Pop-up Placemaking in Phoenix

by: Christina Noble

Tweet Today’s post is by guest writer Christina Noble. Christina is an architect and owner of Contour Architecture, a local architecture and design firm. She is a fifth-generation Arizona native who feels passionately about making a difference in her local community – through the projects she completes as well as through active engagement with various community groups. She has worked on numerous high-profile projects in her career including collegiate, mixed-use, government, and private development projects. Christina frequently writes about design and architecture and serves as the Senior Director of Forward, a national design journal for the American Institute of Architects, and…

April 16, 2012

Jane Jacobs Walk Returns to Phoenix with Four Events, May 5th & 6th

by: David Crummey

Tweet Today’s post is by David Crummey. David Crummey is a Mesa resident with a strong passion for walkable urbanism, public transportation, local businesses and economic development. He studied Urban & Environmental Planning at Arizona State University as a graduate student. Currently, David works at a small charter school near Mesa’s downtown, making sure teachers get paid, kids get fed, grants get filed, computers turn on, data gets sorted and interpreted, and pencils get ordered. He hosted the 2011 Jane Jacobs Walk in downtown Mesa, as well as helped found Lo-Fi Forums, a monthly, quieter, more interactive TED-style salon at…

April 09, 2012

The Crescent Ballroom: A Minor Musical Fairytale set in the PHX

by: Feliciano Vera

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Feliciano Vera: The timbero ferociously punched out a backbeat with an intensity I had not seen since watching Tito Puente at the Regattabar. While Tito was famously expressive, mugging and goofing around just for grins, tonight was pure business, and what little attention was paid to the beat was by the dancers. Competing pairs of hipster girls swayed in front of either end of the stage, while a crowd of academics straight out of a Nineties-era Benetton ad anchored the center with their ballroom moves. Standing a full head above me, just beyond…

April 05, 2012

Pedal Craft PHX – Where Art Meets Bicycles

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet April is Bike Month here in the Valley of the Sun and there are some wonderful events happening to celebrate bicycles and the people who ride them. One of the most visually appealing and fun parts of Bike Month will be Pedal Craft PHX, an event that was founded by Sustainability Manager Jonce Walker and Graphic Designer Jon Ashcroft. Pedal Craft PHX will take place on Friday, April 20, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Kitchen Sink Studios Gallery, 828 North Third Street. Admission is free. One unique part of the exhibit will be the showcasing of inventive bike…

March 26, 2012

Phoenix: Growth vs. Efficiency? Or a random contemplation of a single cup of coffee.

by: Feliciano Vera

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Feliciano Vera: As I cross the threshold into the office, Laurie Carmody immediately notices the Starbucks cup in my hand. Shooting imaginary laser beams at me, she asks incredulously “What are you doing with that? Why didn’t you get coffee somewhere else? Someplace local?” “My sister gave me a Starbucks card for Christmas. I had to use it.” I admit, sheepishly. But my decision was also based on the location of this particular Starbucks – a five minute walk to and from Laurie’s office. I didn’t have time to go anywhere else before…

March 21, 2012

Take Metro Out to the Ball Game

by: Ryan Glass

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Ryan Glass: Spring is here, catch it while it lasts. Seriously, if I was able to maintain my focus, I’d be outside right now, feverishly typing this post on my phone, just to enjoy the 8.42 days of really great spring weather we get. Actually, if I was really slick, I’d be writing this on my way to one of my favorite spring activities, Cactus League Baseball. (Confession, I am really slick. Hooray for productive train rides). Normally I am not a fan of event-based transportation, of the teeming masses that only take…

March 19, 2012

Urban Appropriation through Art

by: Kirby Hoyt

Tweet Today’s post is by Kirby Hoyt: Let’s face facts, cities are incomplete. They are never done. They’re either in a state of expansion, decline or repair. But they’re never complete. Phoenix is still developmentally infantile. At least you’d think that by studying the figure/ground relationship within its urban core. With all the recent discussions about “vacant” land, empty lots, and the like, you’d think Phoenix was some sort of ruin, a former urban battleground, with the remnants of the buildings swept away. One problem with our mass of urban lacuna is the deadness they promote. Reminiscent of larger urban…

March 14, 2012

The RO2 Lot: Beyond the Oatmeal, Beyond the Homogeneity

by: Mike Davis

Tweet Today’s post is by guest writer Mike Davis, founding principal at DAVIS architecture firm. Michael R. Davis, AIA is a second-generation Arizonan who has lived in Phoenix since 1973; when the population of Maricopa County was 1,157,000. He is an architect, artist, theologian and mountain climber currently in training for a January 2013 attempt of Mt. Aconcagua in South America. These are interesting days. Interesting to me, anyway, because they’re not too dissimilar from days past. Interesting because we’re in a pattern that we can’t seem to break. Bankers still rule development. Designers have become aestheticians at best, compliance…

March 12, 2012

Bow Ties and Boutique Business in Phoenix

by: Feliciano Vera

Tweet Today’s post is by a new contributing writer to Blooming Rock, Feliciano Vera, an entrepreneur in real estate and finance. Jim McPherson does not know how to tie a bow tie. Lingering over the antiqued wood display table at Mercantile, he brushes aside that fact and ushers us closer, in an almost conspiratorial manner. “Look,” flipping over one of the many bow ties. “This tie was originally made from another that was sold at the Broadway. And that one over there was a tie from Goldwaters.” Clutching a purple and white checked sample, my eye is drawn to another…

March 05, 2012

An Interview with Jon Talton about the Future of Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Jon Talton, a Phoenix native and an Arizona Republic columnist at one time but now a resident of Seattle, doesn’t pull any punches on his blog Rogue Columnist. He is the author of the Phoenix-based David Mapstone Mysteries, The Pain Nurse, first of the Cincinnati Casebooks and the thriller Deadline Man. His new novel is South Phoenix Rules. Talton is often criticized for being too negative about Phoenix, but it is his underlying love for the city that drives him to expose this place’s reality as he sees it – complete with a rich history, misguided dreams of unlimited…