READING HOMEWORK FOR FRIDAY:
Finish Jacobs assignment from earlier in the week, Reader 102-05, 114-31
BLOG HOMEWORK FOR FRIDAY:
Photo that capture the essence of your favorite city with link, and why. Or cartoon that evinces a particular view of urban life, and what that view is. Or both for extra credit, but only if one of them is at least 200 words.
OTHER HOMEWORK FOR FRIDAY:
Print Google Map/Earth of your neighborhood that corresponds to your drawing (or sort of corresponds to it). Answer WWJJT, what would Jane Jacobs think.
PAPER 6 TIMELINE:
Outline Friday (email me)... this is optional but strongly recommended. Or you could turn in an outline with the working draft on Sunday night (EEE dropbox). But you have a much better chance of getting feedback if you do it on Friday. So yeah, working draft on Sunday night. Final draft Friday the 13th.
RANDOM BUT IMPORTANT THOUGHT ON PAPER 6:
You cannot reasonably presume that the other members of the arts board/council/whatever have seen Porgy and Bess, or that they are even all that familiar with it. That's why choosing a representative scene or two is so important.
FINAL EXAM:
I want to repeat my announcement that there will be a "passage analysis" section drawn from something we've read since the midterm, in addition to post-midterm short answer and a comprehensive essay. And remind you to save time in your schedule on the afternoon of Friday the 13th.
STAY TUNED:
For a rant on ways in which the Jane Jacobs material relates to previous aspects of the course. Possibly touching on Slumdog Millionaire.
CONTEMPORARY APPROPRIATIONS OF BLACK VERNACULAR:
In U.S. politics
U.S. CONGRESSMEN PERFORM REVISED VERSION OF SHAKESPEARE'S MIDSUMMER:
Remember what I've been saying about "unintended use" in city planning, and how it can also extend to theater, art, etc. Check this out. Oh, and here's another weirdo version of Shakespeare.
FOR THOSE OF YOU STILL INTERESTED IN THE GERMANS:
Review of an exhibit of pre-WW1 expressionist paintings.
HORRIBLY RACIST LOONEY TUNES THAT MAY REMIND YOU OF CHARACTERS IN PORGY AND BESS:
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(Not sure exactly what to write for this, you didn’t say)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.seedforum.org/userfiles/singapore.jpg
Photo of Singapore, the country I grew up in. Singapore is a small country and close to the equator. So the Merlion spitting out water actually has multiple uses. It reduces (slightly) the humidity of the air to make everyone feel cooler. The architecture is very typical of Singaporean buildings. High-rise buildings because Singapore is a very densely populated country and there is not much space. In the background you can see many different races, (I see Caucasian people and Indian, for example) Singapore fosters many races and therefore cannot have another national language other than English.
http://images.elfwood.com/art/a/v/aviv/gotham_mural.jpg.rZd.84883.jpg
ReplyDeleteThis is one of many images of Gotham City, a made-up city found in Michael Kane’s famous comic books, Batman. Gotham is a metropolitan city; therefore it’s very crowded and busy. However, because there is so much congestion and traffic, its inhabitants tend to walk on the sidewalks to get to their intended destination. This makes the “interaction” Jacobs values so much easier. However, as we know from the comic series, Gotham is a very corrupt city full of crime which propels Batman to become who he is. The city’s high-rises serves an unintended purpose to him because this is where he does all of his observing of the citizens of Gotham. These high-rises make acts of crime more accessible for him to witness so he can save the day. The architecture of the city makes it easier for him to be the guardian he wants to be.
Nicholas... that's great. (Why would I want to tell you exactly what to say when you can come up with something like that on your own?)
ReplyDeleteAmanda... that's a great point about Batman being an observer of the city... almost like a city planner himself? I think that was shown quite clearly in the last movie, especially with the whole "video screen that sees everything" that he had at the end. And think about Batman vs. the Joker as philosophers of urban planning in that movie!
http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/5/5/6/1/ar122922839416555.jpg
ReplyDeleteI chose the city of Monterey, which is right next to my home town. This city is not a standard skyscraper/mini mall city, which is why I like it. The city contains historical buildings and gorgeous views of the ocean. There is not one standard style of architecture or group of people. Monterey caters to the locals and tourists with beaches, attractions such as the aquarium, and busy downtown areas that include coffee houses and music stores. I think Jane Jacobs would like the mixed population and busy sidewalks.
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn421/krimsonravyn/ArcdeTriumph032.jpg
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if I’d consider it my favorite city, but I think this picture of the Latin Quarter in Paris portrays the “sidewalk ballet” and the city diversity that Jacobs mentions fairly well. First, you can find any number of different ethnicities in Paris [though I guess that isn’t all too obvious from this shot]. Second, the city is a mix of residential and commercial areas together. On the bottom level are mostly small boutiques, cafes, shops, etc. and on the upper levels are apartments, hotels, and the like. And third, the streets take up different uses at different times of the day. In the early morning, the grocers and other suppliers come by to drop off the goods that were ordered. A few hours later, residents and tourists begin to emerge from the buildings and socialize at cafes and whatnot, and from afternoon to late night, street performers use the streets as a stage to earn some money. The actual street is also multifunctional because it serves as both a walkway and a canvas for street artists in some areas.
http://activate.collegegop.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/san_diego_ca1.jpg
ReplyDeleteSan Diego is my favorite city in the entire world. As this picture shows, Sand Dieog has the best of everything! There are parks with trees and grass, and salt water that connects it to the world, the desert is close, there is an actual skyline full of skyscrapers near by. [My real favorite city in the world is Poway- http://activate.collegegop.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/san_diego_ca1.jpg ... but there are no high rises or sidewalks] I love San Diego mostly because of the sense of community and the weather!
this is poway and i was i actually meant to post for the second url. http://www.mountainbikebill.com/images/Trails/MtWoodson-LakePoway/LakePoway-10JUN07-03.jpg
ReplyDeletehttp://www3.pids.gov.ph/ACIAR/photos/sightseeingmanila/images/Manila%20street%20scene_JPG_jpg.jpg
ReplyDeleteManila is the capital of the Philippines and has close of 1.6 million inhabitants. Manila is very lively with many people walking around since they cannot afford cars. People with cars and jeepneys (a jeep-like car that acts like a bus) also see the lines that divide the different sides of the street more as "guidelines" than rules and "walls". I like Manila because it is a totally different city than can be seen in the US. Everything seems much more compact while residential and business areas are almost indistinguishable.
Captain Planet-
ReplyDeleteThis cartoon was specifically made to increase awareness on environmental issues. The show tries to put environmentalism is a good light that is appealing to children. The idea is to get children to become aware of these issues while they are young so that they can help start thinking green for the future. One way this was done was that at the end of the episodes there was an announcement that pertains to the issues that was shown within the episode. Here they can connect what happened in the show to a real life situation. There they can show the relevance of the showing and hopefully make people aware of certain environmental issues. In the intro of the cartoon it shows traffic and smog within a metropolitan city. Also seen in the first episode it shows scenes of a polluted ocean, a horribly maintained business sector, and a forest that has been cut down. The cartoon is a satire of the current (at the time) wasteful lifestyle found in cities. The first episode centers around a different use of sewers. The “evil” organization uses the sewer to spread its poision that turns people into rats. This is probably not exactly what Jacobs had in mind but it shows how people find different uses for places around the city.
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ReplyDeletehttp://www.visitingdc.com/images/manhattan-skyline-picture.jpg
ReplyDeleteThis is the Manhattan skyline; it’s not exactly my favorite cities, because i don't have a favorite one but it is definitely one of my favorites. I always thought places with tall buildings that are all different shapes and sizes are pretty neat. The fact that so much work went into making sure they don't topple over or that they don't sway too much when you're inside always amazed me. There are certain places here that have solely businesses and solely houses but usually it’s a mixture because of the lack of space that there is there. The less space means they need to be efficient and mix both housing and business areas so that there can be more room to create more housing and businesses. There are also parks that are incorporated in the urban neighborhoods so that it is not too congested and also so that it is a aesthetically pleasing city to look at because of the ocean that surrounds this island which helps contrast with the tall buildings and cars rushing everywhere.
The Cartoon I chose was HEY ARNOLD! :)
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heyarnold3a.jpg
That is a picture of their city, part of the city at least. They live where houses are not exactly houses but housing complexes that are a couple of stories high and their park is not really a park, its a lot next to their housing complex. I would say that Jacobs wouldn't exactly like this type of housing because their stores are a bit out of the way and they always have to ride their bikes rather than just being able to walk to the next block to buy something.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/San_Francisco_Chinatown.jpg
ReplyDeleteSan Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest, largest, and most populated Chinatown outside of Asia. Besides Chinese people, Chinatown is also the home of many other ethnicities, such as Koreans and Vietnamese. Chinatown also consists of the oldest buildings built in the city of San Francisco, showing diversity in architecture. Below these flats, there are many convenient stores such as Walgreens and 7-11, making it very convenient for inhabitants to buy their daily needs. While many suburban families go to the supermarket once every week to buy a week of food (so they don't need to drive to the supermarket every day), the people in Chinatown do not need to stock food as they can conveniently buy their food every day as all the stores are walking distance. The sidewalks are also very densely populated with tourists, shoppers, workers, etc, making Chinatown a very noisy and busy part of San Francisco.
http://www.sydesigninc.com/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_6516-795454.jpg
ReplyDeleteHuntington Beach is one of my favorite cities. In particular, Main Street is probably the busiest street in this city. The street is mainly comprised of food and shopping centers. The streets of Main Street are the most bustling and many cars whiz by on Pacific Coast Highway. Many people walk around here because of the entertainment it provides. Most do not walk here to get to another destination. Usually, people are walking because they want to be in Main Street.
There is no distinct architecture in Huntington Beach because the city is broken up into different parts. There are gated communities, non-gated communities, apartments, and little shacks by the beach. People normally bike or drive around in this city. I do not think Jane Jacobs would approve of the way Huntington Beach was built. She would dislike the vast, empty streets and bike lanes. She would also dislike the gated communities and empty parks or gated pools within those communities.
Photo that capture the essence of your favorite city with link, and why. Or cartoon that evinces a particular view of urban life, and what that view is. Or both for extra credit, but only if one of them is at least 200 words.
ReplyDeleteTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: simple children's show, or a more subtle statement on urban environments? I'm gonna say this right here, it's the latter.
Forced to live underground due to their mutated appearance, four turtles practice martial arts and battle street crime. Likewise, the underground of society, this being the lower class, are forced to live in shitty projects because of their own mutated statuses: their inability to rise in social class due to a capitalist ranking imposed upon them at birth. Ridiculous? You betcha.
Each turtle follows a specific archetype: there's the stoic, silent honorable one, the one that's really tough and fierce and gets in fights all the time, the really intelligent one that's inventing all the time, and then there's the one that makes jokes all the time and doesn't really care about anything. These defined personalities are meant to remind the viewer of their own neighbors down the hall: that one quiet, focused guy, that one guy that gets into fights all the time, the one who is squandering his intelligence in some crappy apartment, and that one boisterous man who is drunk off his ass, making jokes nonstop. With their inability to function within society, they have to make their own means of entertainment. They commit themselves to their practice of arts, be it martial arts, fights, inventions, jokes. Likewise, those urban people who are lower-class, unable to entertain themselves in upper-class entertainment, have to invent their own kinds of societal diversions.
These turtles are defenders of justice, springing up from manhole covers like ants from their hills in order to defend against evil. A man is getting robbed or a car is being stolen, and then suddenly, a flash, a clatter, and the offender just got karated justice. Get it yet? They are the eyes on the streets that Jacobs discusses. They fight evil, like shopkeepers that use brooms to chase away muggers, or apartment dwellers that use mob mentality to scare away delinquents. Except instead they use like, katana and nunchucks and bo staffs and those weird-ass giant fork things, showing that the realm of imagination will always be infinitely more awesome than the actual reality. If I sprang up from the shadows with a weapon in hand I'd be arrested. But if they do it? Yeah. Heroes. And it is this fantasy world that urban folk prefer to indulge themselves in, in the hopes of actualization, in order to dismantle the reality around them.
But anyway I'm going off on a bit of a tangent here. What about those purple ninja guys headed by Shredder? Yes, yes, they DO represent conservative groups that want to maintain the status quo! Disgruntled by their unconventional lawmaking, the ninja clan wants to prevent the turtles from getting in the way of their illegal activities. Likewise, those upper-class smug bastards want to keep the poor down, going out of their way to reallocate school funds into places with more prestige, taking city funds and using them to maintain old statues instead of fixing streets or whatever, so they can sip their chardonnay and point their noses up in the air, remarking to themselves, "What is to be done with these, these urban folk?"
Yeah, so concluding, Teenage Mutant Turtles? It's urban. It has cities and stuff, you know?
Oh, and April is representative of the local news that refuses to report upon the plights of the poor yadda yadda yadda.
http://gobostoncard.com/blog/files/2008/04/boston-harvard-square.jpg
ReplyDeleteThis is a picture of Harvard Square, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the summer of my junior year I got the chance to live there for two months because of this summer program. It was seriously bomb. Cambridge mixes elements of city life, along with the placidity that old people throughly enjoy. There are book stores on corners, old cafes to drink coffee, small restaurants. It had a very safe feeling to it.
This picture's great, because at certain times of the day, the center of the city is bustling, but there are times in which it has a total lack of people, as seen here. It's just calm. There's this feeling of bustling city life, but it never gets overwhelming, you know? That's the feeling I get from this picture.
One cartoon that I enjoyed watching as a kindergarten kid was Sailor Moon. What I find interesting about this particular show is that most of its crime fighting took place at night or in vacant areas. I think the cartoon probably took place in Japan because I remember seeing small cars and really tall sky scrapers. Normally, the Sailor Scouts would be walking to school in the morning with their uniforms on with no one passing by them in the streets. It was usually after school when the streets would start bustling and cars would be whizzing by. This show somewhat relates to what Jane Jacobs was saying about how occupied streets are safer than vacant ones. It was usually at night or in the early morning when the streets were empty when villains appeared.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite city is Mumbai because it is my birthplace. However, I also like it because of its unparalleled spirit of moving on, no matter how many terrorist attacks or political riots it faces. To Jane Jacobs, the concept of “sidewalk ballet,” where you know your neighbors and are cordial towards each other, is really important. There cannot be a better example than the city of Mumbai itself. People are very helpful in general because it is the city of strugglers. Everyone knows that everyone else is there to make something out of themselves and that it is impossible to get anywhere without someone’s help. For example, during the numerous train blasts that took place in Mumbai. The civilians were the first people to start taking care of the injured people; the police arrived later.
ReplyDeletehttp://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060712/060712_mumbai_hmed_3a.h2.jpg
Not only do people know their neighbors, but also make acquaintances with people who take the same trains and busses as them to work. For example, if someone knows that an elderly man takes the same 7:30am train from one stop to another, he/she may hold a spot for that old man (because the seating is not based on reservations) so that he doesn’t have to stand in the crowded compartment for however long the ride is. Also, people recognize and smile at each other every day because they may be jog at the same park every morning.
http://www.photoatlas.com/photo/india_mumbai_marine_drive.jpg
Also, Jane Jacobs would be thrilled to see the beach in Mumbai, where not only people come to hang out and play Frisbee, but also to enjoy snacks off the hundreds of stalls that are placed, legally, on the beach itself. There, kids may also get to enjoy little Merry-go-Rounds and Ferris Wheels. I think that is a really good example of “mixed use.”
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/0e/72/61/beach-near-hotel.jpg
http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/cartoons/pages/powerpuff-girls.shtml
ReplyDeleteI think that in "The Powerpuff Girls" most of the houses and residential areas are outside of the main city. And the city is in the center with the skyscrapers. There are never any houses around "downtown" of Townsville. However, the citizens of Townsville know each other very well and are also very helpful. Whenever, the Powerpuff girls cannot, the citizens save the day!!
http://www.germanplaces.com/templates/rothenburg-germany/images/rothenburg-germany-city-small.jpg
ReplyDeleteHere is an image of Rothenburg, an old German town that I visited in the summer of 2007 on a trip with my German class. It is basically a fortress, surrounded by a wall used a long time ago to ward off invaders. Built in the medieval times, there are hardly any roads for cars to drive on, so everyone mostly gets around on foot. It is also not exactly what you would call “urban,” so it isn’t nearly as crowded as a city like New York or LA. Also the architecture of all the buildings is like nothing one could ever find over in America. Perhaps this is why I like this town—because it is beautiful, peaceful, quiet, and everything is so close together. As a tourist, I also found the stores to be very interesting. I remember I went into a blacksmith with friends, and many of them bought swords…legitimate swords. “Eiscafes,” or ice cream cafes, were always around the corner, so I was never hungry. I think Germany has some of the most beautiful towns and architecture in the world.
http://www.visitbuenapark.com/images/IMG_BNK/BPDKrikorianNite.jpg
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a particular city that is my favorite; I usually just decide on ones I don't like. I currently live in Buena Park and of all the places I've been to, I'd say it's the most pleasant to be in. Buena Park is home to many tourist attractions and well, people; it is made up of a few commercial areas including its own "Downtown" (ironically, it's one of the most unpopular malls in the area, but it still has its perks, including the movie theatre pictured in the link above), an amusement park, museums, and while residential blocks take up the rest of the city. Beach Boulevard is where most of the "activity" takes place as it is where most people would find Knott's Berry Farm, Medieval Times, Ripley's Believe it Or Not, a recently shut down Wax Museum, and the majority of the city's fast food restaurants. So while it has its quiet city undertone, which I really like, it also has busy and loud aspects. There are schools, grocery stores, restaurants, and a Wal-mart (my parents are so glad) in close vicinity to residential areas which is really nice--it also adds to that tranquil quality of the city.
Link to photo that captures the essence of my favorite city:
ReplyDeleteParis, France
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Uax-hhMlwlA/R5NJmBeeO4I/AAAAAAAAAJU/VlNU4i7XRBo/IMG_0123.jpg
This image is, as the assignment asks for, the image that capture the essence of Paris, France. Most of the streets are narrow like this one, and the cars are tiny compared to what Americans are used to. There are many places to shop and famous historical buildings/structures in Paris to see such as le Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris, le Louvre, le Arc de Triomphe, and more...
Paris is also located next to the upper-class filled city, Versailles. The main attraction is Château de Versailles, the chateau where many of the royalty lived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3dQKHZtcUc
ReplyDeleteFuturama
It's not our typical urban city but it reminds me of Chicago for some reason minus the flying cars and tubing in and around the city but it is actually depicting the new New York. The lifestyle portrayed in Futurama is excessive in a way that people in the past have wasted resources that led toxic areas in the cartoon.
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/9301117.jpg
Long Khanh, Vietnam is my birth city and I only lived there for less than half of my life. The main transportation in Long Khanh is seen from the many xe dap's (bicycles) on the streets. The streets are wide and traffic is horrific but these motorcycles are very accessible and dominate over cars and buses. On occasion when cargo trucks come by, you can see people riding in the backs of the trucks alongside the vegetables (possible double use because it is very common). Most of the buildings in Long Khanh don’t cover most the skies like big American cities do. Their buildings reflect their simple and practical lifestyle. On the outskirts of Long Khanh there is farmland. My family used to own a farm that was next to a river. The river was used to cool use down during the summers, water the farm but it wasn’t a major source of income or food. Going to the market was my favorite thing to do. Jane Jacobs would go crazy about how many uses the market has. It was social area where women constantly network. It is a place to buy the freshest products; eyes are on the streets constantly (shopkeepers usually live where they work or do business).
-Yen