Tendencies in the Tenderloin, a neighborhood that polarizes.
January 19, 2019
My first blog post in San Francisco is atypical (if anything about this blog topic could ever be considered typical), but it’s probably a significant one given the socioeconomic context. The wealthy core to one of the richest regions in the country—probably among the wealthiest in the world—San Francisco is also the only city I’m …Read more…
First Harvest: seeking a fertile ground amidst the expanding blight.
January 12, 2019
Over the holidays I briefly visited my hometown of Indianapolis, and even more briefly made a stop to the Greenwood Park Mall, which was “my mall” growing up and a frequent subject of this blog in earlier years. Back then, I singled this mall out for its resilience, as other malls (in Indianapolis and across …Read more…
When a state chooses to feast on its identity, what does it use to fill its plate?
January 5, 2019
It is completely unreasonable for me to use license plate background art as a synecdoche for a state’s prevailing ethos, but I’m going to do it anyway. Why not? The design of a license plate is broadly attempting to achieve this effect, more so than even a flag. Whether license plates originally intended this or …Read more…
It’s just our skyline; pardon our dust.
December 30, 2018
Indianapolis International Airport (IND), the top-ranked airport in the nation for service quality six years in a row, offers an appealingly simple navigation and aesthetic experience that no doubt helps it maintain its high ranking. Navigation-wise, it should be easy: it is neither a large nor particularly busy airport (though big and busy enough to …Read more…
Malls are imploding; restaurants are in a tailspin. Can I get anyone a cup of coffee?
December 25, 2018
In an era of progressive retail collapse, one submarket that seems to be flourishing is the coffee shop. Although the restaurant scene has surged in the wake of a conspicuous decline in recreational shopping, the pundits have also anticipated that we are at “peak restaurant” and that a restaurant bubble-burst is imminent. But is that …Read more…
Promoting American Dirt: when a boost goes bust.
December 19, 2018
Hating social media in 2018 is about as edgy and anti-establishment as making fun of malls in the late 1990s: no one admits to actually liking either one of these communal-commercial spaces, but just about everyone uses them. (Or, at least, they used malls twenty years ago.) I have no doubt that if I were a …Read more…
Landfill diversion: the California approach is gentler than it’s ever bin.
December 14, 2018
By this point, it’s not unusual to encounter a series of trash receptacles in public places, each with distinct labels, allowing passers-by to sort and separate recyclable from non-recyclable waste. On a college campus, it would be far more surprising if a row of receptacles weren’t standing sentinel at every prominent node; the opportunity to …Read more…
A vacant lot on the California coast: green activism or the color of money?
December 10, 2018
This article will feature an assertion I’ve made in the past, and I have ruffled feathers for it then. In all likelihood, I’ll ruffle a few more this time around. Yet I’m sticking to my guns. So here goes: far too many communities embrace the notion of urban parks as an absolute good—of parks for …Read more…
Didn’t find a shopping nirvana? Try three stores down the hall.
December 5, 2018
I’ve taken a breather these last few days, after a series of particularly time-consuming posts in November, and it’s likely to continue a bit more, but I’ll provide some fodder with a teaser post like this one: of a mall that will remain unnamed (for the time being) but one that I’ve covered before. It …Read more…
Philly’s subway entrances: should we cast great infrastructure in iron or cast it away?
November 30, 2018
As a general rule, the major public works initiatives of America suffer an almost complete bifurcation in our broader societal gaze: between the deliberately ornamental versus the purely utilitarian. We clutch our pearls in attempts to salvage the former—even if many critics impugn these embellishments as kitschy, schlocky, or some other great Yiddish adjective. Their …Read more…
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