Archive for the ‘urbanism’ Category

April 28, 2010

Why I think Jane Jacobs Rocked and Why You Should Participate in Jane’s Walk Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The 2nd Annual Jane’s Walk Phoenix Saturday May 1, 2010 9:00am Starting at AmenZone 106 E. Buchanan St. What is it? From Sunset Magazine‘s profile of last year’s Jane’s Walk Phoenix This is an annual walk put on by urbanist Yuri Artibise in honor of Jane Jacobs who was a community activist, amateur urbanist and advocate of walkable neighborhoods. There are several Jane’s Walks that occur throughout different cities in the US but Yuri brought it to Phoenix, a place that is in dire need of the ideals espoused by Jane Jacobs. Find out more about this remarkable woman…

April 21, 2010

How Sprawl could help Phoenix become a Pioneer in Solar Power

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet In honor of Earth Day 2010 (tomorrow!) I’m focusing on sustainability issues in Phoenix. Monday I touched on 3 of the biggest sustainability challenges in Phoenix and yesterday I focused on the over abundance of parking in our city center. But we can’t talk about sustainability in Phoenix without talking about solar power. So today, I’d like to talk about this issue and discuss some creative ways we can incorporate solar power within the existing fabric of our city. Ever Wonder Why Solar Power Isn’t more Prevalent? There are 2 major drawbacks of solar power production. First, photovoltaic (PV)…

April 20, 2010

Why Making Parking a Problem is the Solution for Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet In honor of Earth Week (Earth Day is only 2 days away), I’m reflecting on some of the sustainability challenges in Phoenix. In yesterday’s post I outlined 3 of the biggest sustainability challenges we face. Today I’d like to focus in on one of them – our dependence on the car. Specifically I want to talk about parking and why it’s the root of so much evil here in Phoenix. First, let me applaud the small group of people rising up against the car in Phoenix, making an effort to explore other ways of getting around town. People like Tony…

April 19, 2010

The 3 Biggest Sustainability Challenges We Face in Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet With Earth Day (April 22) just around the corner, let’s take this week to reflect on the sustainability challenges here in Phoenix. What are the biggest sustainability challenges we face in Phoenix? These are my top 3: 1. SPRAWL – The Problem: increased emissions into our atmosphere increased dependence on foreign oil an ever-increasing expansion of highways built on land that could be used more sustainably swaths of abandoned foreclosed homes in failed housing developments in far-flung suburbs such as Coolidge, Surprise, and Maricopa sprawl in Phoenix – photo from The Anthropik Network Suggested Solutions: telecommuting build work hubs…

April 12, 2010

A Review of Modern Phoenix’s Panel Discussion on The Restaurant Revolution

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I enjoyed attending the various events last week set up by Modern Phoenix. The entire week-long series of events was immaculately organized by Alison and Matthew King and their team and was well-attended as always. I didn’t have a chance to go to all the events, but this week I’ll post my thoughts on the events I did get to attend. Let’s start with Thursday night’s Panel Discussion on The Restaurant Revolution hosted by David Tyda. The panel comprised of: Wendell Burnette of Wendell Burnette Architects – Project: St. Francis Restaurant Peter Koliopoulos of Circle West Architects – Project:…

March 22, 2010

Why We Are Surrounded by Crappy Buildings

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This weekend a client was driving me to a house to show me the style she’d like for some renovations at her house. I half expected to be shown a run-of-the mill stucco cookie-cutter home with little personality but that somehow seems luxurious to people. This isn’t a reflection on my client but on most people I’ve run into who aren’t designers themselves. I was shocked and relieved that she showed me this beautiful ultra-modern renovation of a mid-century modern home: The owner of this house directed us a few blocks north of him telling us that there was…

December 07, 2009

AZ Economy in the Dumps – Start Innovating or Get Out

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet It looks like our economy is in dire straits for a few more years to come. According to this December 2, 2009 article below by Mike Sunnucks of The Phoenix Business Journal, both our residential and commercial real estate markets are dead in the water until about 2013. I’m the last person to want to spread bad news, but I think it’s important for all of us to understand where we stand so that we can take the appropriate action to move forward. We in Arizona can’t be thinking that since we heard news of the recession ending it…

November 30, 2009

A Sense of Community for the Rugged Individuals of Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet One of the most highly prized values of our nation is “rugged individualism” and nowhere is this more apparent than in our very own city – Phoenix. Many of us have come here to get away from our old tired communities and to start life anew. Maybe it’s because of our bad experiences with the communities we grew up in that we seem to shun any semblance of community in our newly-adopted city. But where does that leave us rugged individuals? Surely we can’t rely wholly on ourselves? Surely there are times we need help from others. Who do…

July 07, 2009

Street Presence

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet How many times have you driven around in neighborhoods that are not quite there yet and when you see a unique and well-kept home you know that things will turn around in that neighborhood? At Blooming Rock, our goal is to positively impact the neighborhood we develop in. One of the most effective ways to do that is to improve the street presence of the home. We believe that improving even one home on a street will encourage better maintenance and general improvement of the other homes on that street and as one street gets better, the surrounding ones…