Posts Tagged ‘Tucson’

September 28, 2011

An Essay by Will Bruder: What Can We Aim For?

by: Will Bruder

Tweet This week I am posting Will Bruder’s excellent essay for the 98th Arizona Town Hall meeting, “Capitalizing on Arizona’s Arts and Culture”. I’ve posted the essay in 3 parts. In today’s post, which is the third and final part, Will gives us a 6-point plan on how to move forward in Arizona in ways that we can tap into our unique local resources and plug into the sustainability progress happening globally. Make sure to read Part I and Part II of this essay if you haven’t yet. If you’d like to read Will’s entire essay in one sitting, you…

September 27, 2011

An Essay by Will Bruder: Arizona’s Architecture – The First 100 years

by: Will Bruder

Tweet This week I am posting Will Bruder’s excellent essay for the 98th Arizona Town Hall meeting, “Capitalizing on Arizona’s Arts and Culture”. I’ll be posting the essay in 3 parts. In today’s post, which is the second part, Will gives an extraordinary account of the history of architecture in Arizona. If you missed part I, where Will defines architecture and the urban fabric, catch it here. If you’d like to read Will’s entire essay in one sitting, you can find it on the Arizona Town Hall report starting on page 76. Arizona’s architectural identity is built on a foundation…

August 15, 2011

Phoenix: America’s Desert Metropolis

by: Will Novak

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Will Novak. One of the most exciting things about being a Phoenician is being from a place that looks unlike any other major City in the United States. Very few large American cities are in deserts and only two, Phoenix and Tucson, reside in the world’s most beautiful desert, the Sonoran. Phoenix needs to do a better job embracing the desert and leveraging our unique climate to become America’s and the World’s foremost desert metropolis. Embracing Xeriscaping In Phoenix’s early days its Anglo residents were strangely embarrassed by the Desert and the Arizona…

July 17, 2011

What’s All the Haboob About?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The haboob last week was a sight to see! Thankfully it didn’t do much damage, but it did start me thinking about the intensity of the dust storm and the fact that so little rain was associated with it here in Phoenix. I wrote a series exploring the haboob and its possible connections to urbanization for Firefly Living. Take a look: What’s All the Haboob About? Part I and What’s All the Haboob About? Part II Photo Credit: Photo of the July 2011 haboob by Daniel Bryant.

May 18, 2011

Peter MacDonagh on the Importance of Green Infrastructure and Old Trees

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The Marq2 was a 48-block long redevelopment project in downtown Minneapolis. This project utilizes the Silva Cell, to contain large amounts of bioretention underneath the paving. Photo courtesy of The Kestrel Design Group. Do you know what green infrastructure is? It’s the stuff inbetween gray infrastructure (streets, piping, roofs, bridges, drains) and blue infrastructure (the lakes, rivers and other natural bodies of water). Green infrastructure helps filter, clean and minimize the amount of gray infrastructure run-off that goes into our lakes, rivers and natural bodies of water. I learned all this from the brilliant landscape architect Peter MacDonagh, partner…

January 19, 2011

Will Native American, Hispanic Cultures Be Included in the Arizona Centennial?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is the third and final installment of my interview with the Executive Director of the Arizona Centennial 2012 Foundation, Karen Churchard. If you missed them, make sure to read part I and part II of the interview. In today’s post, we find out how the Native American and Hispanic populations will be recognized and included in the Centennial, how we can all participate, and finally why the Centennial is coming at such a good time. Blooming Rock: How are the tribal communities going to be included in the Centennial? Karen Churchard: On Centennial Way, we’re doing a…

January 18, 2011

What the City of Phoenix is Doing for the Centennial

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is part II of my interview with Karen Churchard, the Executive Director of the Arizona Centennial 2012 Foundation regarding what the State is planning this year and next for our Centennial. If you missed part I, make sure to catch it here. I’ll be posting the third and final segment of the interview tomorrow. Today’s installment is about the events that we can expect to see this year in anticipation of the Centennial and also how the City of Phoenix, specifically, is planning to participate. Blooming Rock: What are some of the things that are happening now…