Posts Tagged ‘suburbs’

July 11, 2014

Top 10 Reasons Suburbia is the Wonder Bread of Places to Live

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I just spent more than two weeks now in the suburb of Chandler, Arizona. As far as suburbs go, it’s not bad. It’s actually considered an “inner ring” suburb, at a whopping 25 miles from downtown Phoenix, which is a testament to how sprawling Phoenix metro really is. Every time I spend time in the suburbs, I am reminded of why I live in the city. Suburbia is like Wonder Bread – bland, easily digestible, convenient, but really it offers little in terms of nutrition for the soul. Here are 10 reasons why: 1. Everything looks the same. Perhaps…

January 29, 2014

Livability 101: Nolli Plans of Phoenix Suburb Depict Isolation and Car Dependence

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This is the fifth installment of the Livability 101 Series. A Nolli Plan is a figure/ground representation of the city. It depicts the figure as white and the ground as black, allowing you to immediately visualize the relationship between, say buildings and open space. The most famous Nolli Plan is that of Rome, captured in the lead photograph. I’ve been staying in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler on and off this past year, visiting my parents. Every time, the enormous distances between destinations, the wide roads and the sea of parking in front of every shopping center strike me…

December 31, 2012

A Year of Profound Change Leads to a Big Move

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet 2012 has been a year of profound change for me. I went through a divorce after being married for seven years. If you’ve ever been through a divorce, you know that it feels like the rug (actually, it feels more like the entire ground you walk on) has been pulled out from under you. Nothing looks or feels quite the same. Your old assumptions and your old paradigms don’t make sense anymore and you’re left with a blank canvas (whether you want one or not) on which you must build a new life with new assumptions and new paradigms….