Archive for the ‘urbanism’ Category

December 14, 2010

What Would Paolo Soleri Do?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet “The mechanisms channeling life positively may consist of the replacement of comfort and security by joy.” – Paolo Soleri in his book Arcology: The City in the Image of Man This weekend was the public dedication of the bridge designed by Paolo Soleri in Scottsdale on the Waterfront. I attended a special VIP reception before the public dedication and snapped a photo of the man himself. The next day, I attended a lecture on Organic Architecture by Alan Hess and a panel discussion on Soleri’s Principles in Action that included Will Bruder, John Munier, Jeffrey Stein and Peter Zweig,…

December 08, 2010

What Cohousing can Teach Us about Urban Planning

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet About a year ago, I was asked to be a part of a cohousing effort here in Phoenix and everything that I learned about community-oriented design inspired me tremendously and has informed much of my thinking about neighborhoods and our city. Cohousing is a very specific model of community living that was originally created in Denmark. A cohousing community usually consists of around 12 to 36 units, is designed by a participatory process led by future residents, has extensive common facilities usually in the form of a common house and is ultimately managed by its residents. But there are…

December 07, 2010

Why Small Multi-Family Living May be the Way of the Future

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This weekend I was in Milwaukee with my husband to visit his family. My brother-in-law had us over for tea and I helped him put up his Christmas tree. He lives in a one-bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor of an old mansion. That mansion, that was once built for a single wealthy family, was later converted into 4 apartments. My sister-in-law, who also lives in Milwaukee, recently bought a duplex that was also once an old mansion but was turned into a duplex later. Milwaukee is full of such buildings in its neighborhoods – single-family mansions turned into…

December 01, 2010

What’s the Best Location for Phoenix’s Next Dog Park?

by: Sean Sweat

Tweet Today’s post is by Sean Sweat who’s posted on Blooming Rock before making a case for a dog park in downtown at the former location of the Ramada Inn. After a disappointing result from a City of Phoenix public hearing approving a vast asphalt parking lot there instead, Sean has come up with an exciting new idea for a dog park in Downtown. Sean Sweat, aka @PhxDowntowner, is the Treasurer of St Croix Villas in the heart of downtown and an MIT-trained transportation professional. His professional focus is supply chain & logistics. His personal focus is pedestrianism, public transit, and…

November 30, 2010

Hedonistic Travel: The Pleasures of Carlessness

by: Sarah Davies

Tweet Today’s post is by Sarah Davies, who’s visiting Phoenix for about a year or so from the UK as a researcher at ASU. I first met Sarah at Critical Mass and we exchanged a few friendly words while trying to ride two abreast and to avoid the nearby speeding vehicles and falling in the gutter. During our short and understandably distracted conversation, I found out Sarah doesn’t have a car, she lives in Downtown and works at the ASU Main Campus. Intrigued, we followed up our brief riding encounter with a coffee at Lux a few weeks later. It…

November 22, 2010

PSF Community Dinner, Real-Life Connections Powered by Social Media

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This Saturday, there was a buzz of activity inside a building that is otherwise pretty quite on most nights This building is the historic First Baptist Church on 3rd Avenue and Monroe. Usually the Church, built in 1930, sits all alone, towering over Phoenix, in great disrepair but in full possession of its dignity. Remarkably, it’s been saved from demolition despite being brought to its knees due to a fire in 1984. This might have something to do with the fact that Terry Goddard owns it. So what was the infusion of life this Saturday? It was the 10th…

November 17, 2010

Children and the City

by: David Bickford

Tweet Today’s post is by guest blogger David Bickford, PHX Rail Food blogger. I first met David at a Radiate PHX event and I’ve run into him several times around town at places like the Public Market and Lola’s on Central. Sometimes we have time for a great conversation but usually, David is on his way to pick his little girls up after work. He’s one of the few people I know who is an urban dweller that has kids. David works in a managerial position at a Phoenix-based institution of higher education, but his hobby is PHX Rail Food,…

November 15, 2010

Phoenix – Small Town Big City

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This weekend I attended three excellent community events, Pecha Kucha Night Phoenix #2, Cupcake Camp Phoenix and Certified Local! Fall Festival. There were probably five other events happening simultaneously that I missed, I’m sure. It’s November and the event season in Phoenix is in full swing! So I knew a lot of the people at each of these events. I would say I knew a good chunk of them. And I would also say that this same chunk attended all three events and will probably attend the various events that are coming up this holiday season. It seems like…

November 09, 2010

Phoenix Bicycle Boulevard Update!

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The Bicycle Boulevard is planned to start at the northeast part of the Gateway Community College campus. One entry point is the Grand Canal at 40th Street and Van Buren. The nearest Light Rail stops are 38th St. and Washington and 44th Street and Washington. Once you get on the Grand Canal, proceed northwest. A foot bridge will be built to get from the canal to Roosevelt Street. The path then heads west on Roosevelt all the way to 19th St, then south on 19th Street to either McKinley or Fillmore. There are three choices of where the Bike…

November 02, 2010

ASU and the City

by: J Seth Anderson

Tweet Today’s post is by J Seth Anderson, a fantastic writer, journalist and fellow urban advocate for the Valley. Seth (first name is John, but he has always gone by Seth) is not a Phoenix native but dang close! His favorite time of year is summer in Phoenix. Seth lives in a mid-century house in downtown Tempe although he lives and breathes downtown Phoenix historic preservation and development. He writes about downtown Phoenix, historic preservation, politics, and LGBT issues on his own blog Boy Meets Blog. Seth also writes for the new Downtown Phoenix Journal magazine debuting this Thursday, November…