Georgetown Circle: cutting the corners out from the old courthouse square.
Where I grew up in the Midwest, most county seats enjoy an almost overbearingly consistent urban form at their historic core. With few exceptions, they feature the archetypal courthouse square. The four blocks fronting this courthouse—the four sides of the square—serve as the commercial core, with a variety of different sizes of 19th century buildings:
Classical music and crime prevention: 7-Eleven is just the start.
Several weeks ago I noted what I believe is a misbegotten campaign loosely branded “hostile design”, which seeks to galvanize criticism toward the now-ubiquitous effort of preventing people from getting too comfortable in shared public spaces—so comfortable it constitutes (in some people’s option) outright abuse of that shared civic trust. We’ve all seen examples: carefully
Directional arrows in excess: the squires’ turf wars cause serfs’ confusion.
“Too many cooks…” It was an aphorism decades before it became a cult short film–maybe even centuries. We all know how it ends. And we can all think of examples. After thirteen years at the helm of this blog (American Dirt is finally a teenager!), I had to use my website’s own search function to
The Starbucks logo gets entrepreneurial elevation near the lowest point in the world.
It should come as no surprise that a successful brand, once vindicated through repeated growth and revenue amidst expansion, should explore its opportunities in other countries. This tendency is such common knowledge that it influences global consumer culture almost unconsciously. Long gone are the days where we might have pondered, “[McDonald’s] is everywhere I go
Sam Peden Community Park: proof that quality parkland can thrive under utility wires.
It’s rare that I create a follow-up post so quickly on the heels of the original, since both articles deal with more or less the same topic. But my post at Pickwick Commons back in late May investigated the possibility of taking an existing utility easement and doubling it with a pedestrian easement. That is,
Francis Scott Key Mall, home to one of the 20 last Sears locations: a montage before extinction.
If First Lutheran Church, the subject of my previous blog post, seemed like familiar territory, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Here the once-mighty retailer Sears Roebuck and Company—AKA Sears—for at least the tenth time. I first started featuring this retailer over a decade ago, back when Sears was a staple in most middle-tier malls. Even
First Lutheran Church: a permanent record at Encyclopedia of Indianapolis at last!
The subject of this article should win some sort of award for the longest one in the making, but, twelve years later, it has culminated in a major accomplishment: a certain landmark building now has an article permanently inscribed in the Digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, courtesy of yours truly. The structure is the former First
Sequestration in medicine: the newest strategy for splitting people up is three centuries old.
Two and a half years into the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have at long last reached a point where, even if the public health concerns have not yet dissipated, the public will for restrictions is all but completely absent. The CDC, WHO, and FDA may still issue occasional alerts and updates, but the thunk of
Hostile design: a misguided movement to make civic space friendlier to the friendless.
It’s rare that an article assumes an urban activist position that gets my dander up at all, let alone one that prompts me to comment directly on the article. But that’s what I had to do a few weeks ago when Planetizen used the neologism (at least to me) “defensive urbanism” to impugn the modern
Area of Refuge in upstate New York: more than just shelter from a six-month snow season.
I generally try to avoid two consecutive posts in the same state, but I can’t help myself this time around. And frankly, the location—the geography, the jurisdiction—isn’t really all that significant. Though these images come from upstate New York (as the title indicates), the issues that they raise could just as easily be anywhere in
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Georgetown Circle: cutting the corners out from the old courthouse square.
Where I grew up in the Midwest, most county seats enjoy an almost overbearingly consistent urban form at their historic core. With few exceptions, they feature the archetypal courthouse square. The four blocks
Classical music and crime prevention: 7-Eleven is just the start.
Several weeks ago I noted what I believe is a misbegotten campaign loosely branded “hostile design”, which seeks to galvanize criticism toward the now-ubiquitous effort of preventing people from getting too comfortable in
Directional arrows in excess: the squires’ turf wars cause serfs’ confusion.
“Too many cooks…” It was an aphorism decades before it became a cult short film–maybe even centuries. We all know how it ends. And we can all think of examples. After thirteen years
The Starbucks logo gets entrepreneurial elevation near the lowest point in the world.
It should come as no surprise that a successful brand, once vindicated through repeated growth and revenue amidst expansion, should explore its opportunities in other countries. This tendency is such common knowledge that
Sam Peden Community Park: proof that quality parkland can thrive under utility wires.
It’s rare that I create a follow-up post so quickly on the heels of the original, since both articles deal with more or less the same topic. But my post at Pickwick Commons
Francis Scott Key Mall, home to one of the 20 last Sears locations: a montage before extinction.
If First Lutheran Church, the subject of my previous blog post, seemed like familiar territory, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Here the once-mighty retailer Sears Roebuck and Company—AKA Sears—for at least the tenth
First Lutheran Church: a permanent record at Encyclopedia of Indianapolis at last!
The subject of this article should win some sort of award for the longest one in the making, but, twelve years later, it has culminated in a major accomplishment: a certain landmark building
Sequestration in medicine: the newest strategy for splitting people up is three centuries old.
Two and a half years into the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have at long last reached a point where, even if the public health concerns have not yet dissipated, the public will for
Hostile design: a misguided movement to make civic space friendlier to the friendless.
It’s rare that an article assumes an urban activist position that gets my dander up at all, let alone one that prompts me to comment directly on the article. But that’s what I
Area of Refuge in upstate New York: more than just shelter from a six-month snow season.
I generally try to avoid two consecutive posts in the same state, but I can’t help myself this time around. And frankly, the location—the geography, the jurisdiction—isn’t really all that significant. Though these
Recent Comments
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- on Classical music and crime prevention: 7-Eleven is just the start.: ““Weaponizing” indeed. Sadly, it’s probably both a testament to how out-of-step classical music is to the mainstream and also the…” Aug 8, 21:04
- on Classical music and crime prevention: 7-Eleven is just the start.: “I loved this post! Weaponizing classical music…” Aug 8, 10:23
- on Student Driver subterfuge: are they really new and inexperienced, or merely incompetent?: “Hi StefsAnchor, your bf might be right that there are a few more student drivers on the road since the…” Aug 4, 05:28
- on Classical music and crime prevention: 7-Eleven is just the start.: “As the kids these days are saying, I I like the cut of your jib. You found my rhetorical tactic!…” Aug 4, 05:11
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