Longitudinal Slum

Road Trip

Zipcar is our new favorite service. After living in NYC for over six years we have almost no sense of what the surrounding region looks like. New York State is a big question mark, as are the other states leading into New England. So a quick road trip to New Haven followed by a night in Providence has helped to build a bit of a mental picture of some of the I-95 corridor.

A combination of the ease of the Zipcar and Google Maps on the iPhone reminded me how nice and liberating it used to be to own a car and take spur of the moment road trips, though when taken from Lincoln, Nebraska it usually meant committing to a biblical trek just to get anywhere worthwhile. While we could have gotten to New Haven and Providence by means of rail, having the car afforded us a certain level of freedom and flexibility that isn't possible taking the train. Maybe we should be more idealistic and commit strictly to mass transit, but flying down the Interstate in a little Mazda felt like the American dream.

A couple thoughts about Zipcar: It's a shared-car program, meaning it's users are supposed to have a certain level of care and responsibility toward the car. Of course the car we picked up was coated in cat hair, pine needles and soda syrup, while the glove compartment was filled with parking tickets. It just reinforces the notion that people are awful. Other than having to deal with other people's slop, it's an efficient and well thought through experience.

The more I use the iPhone, the more I wonder how people used to get by without it. Outside of being able to use it as a navigation device, the convenience of being able to Google 'hotels' when arriving in a city, compare their locations on Google Maps, and call the hotels displayed in the search results for rates and reservations, all seamlessly with one device is a dream.

And finally, after some confusion driving into New York City and ending up driving Myrtle Avenue from the middle of Queens to Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I'm of the opinion that Robert Moses didn't carve nearly enough super-highways through the boroughs...

How To Do A Parking Garage #2

Temple Street Parking Garage. New Haven, Connecticut. Paul Rudolph, 1962.

How To Do A Parking Garage #1

Random parking garage in New Haven, Connecticut

Nebraska's I-80 Wish List

The Nebraska Innovation Zone Commission is looking for input on the future of the I-80 corridor between Lincoln and Omaha. A brief survey is online here.

Shopdropping

Shopdropping noted in the New York Times.

Anarchists in the Aisles? Stores Provide a Stage [NY Times]

The Strip, Visited

Does the retail strip even have a chance, when any coverage it receives focuses on its generic or even 'ugly' looks, its alienating qualities, and automobile driven planning strategies? Dan Berry writing for the New York Times visits U.S. Route 1 with Kevin Fry, President of Scenic America, and Brad Cownover, its director of scenic conservation services.

Of course we agree that it is ugly, alienating, and results from automobile infrastructure. However it is these qualities that define what this generic place is and where the opportunity lies to make the strip a better place. Focusing on the aesthetic qualities of the strip are secondary to the infrastructural or operational issues that can impact how the strip is used and engaged. Understanding the strip goes beyond 'pimping awnings' and limiting the heights of billboards.

A Place Just Like Every Other Place. Only Not. [NY Times]
above image by Ángel Franco

Fulton Street Mall Keepin' It Real

The New York Times takes a visit to Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn, a half-mile outdoor strip that can be characterized as an outdoor mall. The Fulton Street Mall comes pretty close to what the contemporary Lifestyle Center aims to be, though you would be hard pressed to find black Santa's and flier guys with teardrop tattoos in the corner of their eyes at any Lifestyle Center.

It'll be interesting to see how Fulton Street changes in the coming years - it currently balances a few name-brand retailers with a host of mom & pops, but with the changing demographics of Brooklyn it shouldn't be long before the Banana Republics and H&M's that litter New York's other outdoor mall (Soho) make their way across the East River. And in a city that is continually evolving, maybe that's not a bad thing. I certainly wouldn't mind a Duane Reade popping up somewhere near in our Bed-Stuy neighborhood. Maybe one-stop shopping is in our blood.

New York (we can even isolate Brooklyn in this case) is full of shopping strip typologies. The Atlantic Terminal Mall is of the enclosed, multi-level model. The Fulton Street Mall takes care of the outdoor strip (steps taken in the '70s such as sidewalk widening and limiting vehicular traffic (control mechanisms) formalized the strip as a mall). And sections of Brooklyn thoroughfares are packed with small, local stores serving their immediate neighborhood & demographic. Fundamentally they are all very much the same, and at the same time very different. The organization and control of space helps to define each type. The larger and more complex the type requires greater control (levels of security) which ultimately define how sanitized a place becomes. For better or worse...

Step Right Up! Brooklyn Mall Is Oasis and Anomaly [NY Times]
top image by Richard Perry

Omaha By Design Lists Great Public Spaces

Omaha by Design has listed 10 Great Public Spaces in Omaha. Naturally the intersection of 11th & Howard is listed as Number 1. Only the southwest corner of 50th & Underwood makes it in Dundee. The other three corners of this intersection must constitute bad public space.

Missing from the list is Village Pointe. Disappointing because a new Lifestyle Center should be a shoo-in for a list like this. However one of Omaha's older shopping centers, Countryside Village, did make the list.

Inaugural List of 10 Great Public Spaces Announced [Omaha by Design]