Posts Tagged ‘nan ellin’

April 26, 2011

How we can fit all the growth of the next decade on less than 1% of our land and save 400 million gallons of gas doing it.

by: Kevin Kellogg

Tweet Today’s post is by architect/urban planner/thought leader Kevin Kellogg, who, I feel lucky to say, is a regular contributor on the Blooming Rock blog. While the history of Phoenix points to low density, suburban sprawl as the continued norm, it is possible to grow both economically and accommodate more population in a sustainable way by focusing the future growth onto vacant land around light rail stations. Much as the 1985 highway plan has enabled sprawling subdivisions around freeway off-ramps, the light rail line presents a transformative investment that could shape new types of urban places for the Valley: a…

October 06, 2010

A Tribute to the Canals of Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I know it seems like I keep harping on all the things I find problematic about Phoenix and I tend to point out the things we could learn from other cities. But this doesn’t mean there aren’t already great things about living here, right now, just the way they are. Today I wanted to touch on one of those things, and that is our canal system. There has been much discussion, much speculation and much thought put into our canal system thanks to Nan Ellin’s visionary Canalscape project which is now being overseen by Valley Forward Association. But what…

August 16, 2010

Downtown ASU Students are the Accidental Urban Pioneers

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today I gave a presentation at the Barrett Urban Experience, a 4-day intensive introduction to the downtown Phoenix urban environment for Barrett Honors College freshmen, a brainchild of Nan Ellin. Overall, the program is very well designed, including a public art tour, a trip to the Downtown Public Market, a discussion about community food by Maya Daily of Maya’s Farm, a lecture on Local First, plus a tour of the Roosevelt Row arts district among other things. (Conspicuously missing was a tour of the Grand Avenue arts district because ASU officials thought it was too dangerous for students. This…

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…