Posts Tagged ‘placemaking’

September 17, 2014

Reclaiming Urban Space for People with the Picnic Blanket Effect

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Recently, fellow blogger Hart Noecker of Rebel Metropolis shared this photo from Shorpy with me: I was struck how these people managed to define a totally new space within this parking lot merely by taping down a bunch of butcher paper. It’s as if they were “drawing” a new space on a plan, but they did it in real life at full scale. I encountered another example of defining a new space merely by putting something on the ground this weekend at the Belmont Street Fair. At the intersection of SE 34th and Belmont, which is usually never…

July 10, 2014

Property vs. Place

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Real estate booms and busts, exorbitant property values, displacement, gentrification and slumification are all predicated on the concept of private property. The European concept of land as property has become the rule in the world as we know it today and everything revolves around it, including entire economies and ways of life. In this post, I dissect the idea of property ownership and look at what place means underneath the filter of property ownership. Though we won’t be doing away with private property ownership any time soon, we need to look at ways to take back power for the…

June 16, 2011

Phoenix Mayor Candidate Wes Gullett on Cutting Costs and Why We Shouldn’t Expand the Light Rail

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This Monday I interviewed Wes Gullett, who is running for Mayor of the City of Phoenix and is currently a partner at First Strategic, a strategic communications and public affairs company. This interview with Mr. Gullett is the fourth in my series of interviews with the major mayoral candidates. To get an in-depth view of where the different candidates stand on issues like public transit, historic preservation and further growth in Phoenix read the Blooming Rock interviews with Claude Mattox, Greg Stanton and Peggy Neely too. Note: If you’re not registered to vote yet, please do so now by…

August 11, 2010

Trees Improve Social Connections, Who Knew?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today is the second installation in a month-long Wednesday series on The Phoenix Tree and Shade Master Plan. Last week I talked about the concept of the Urban Forest and why it’s important. Today I’m going to try to address this notion quoted in the Master Plan: “(The) General public has a limited understanding of the importance of trees.” This may be why most people have no idea or don’t care that our Phoenix urban forest is being destroyed slowly. Planting trees is not in the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to improving livability. Here’s why trees…