What: The Cultural Landscape Foundation and the Pennsylvania Horticultural...
A Who’s Who in NYC Politics – as of May 2013
New York City politics can be a little confusing at times, so here is a simple list of candidates running for major positions. The list also includes current (May 24, 2013) campaign contributions … just a little something to talk about over Memorial Day weekend. Mayor Christine Quinn (D) $7,063,397 Anthony Weiner (D) […]
32 images that answer: “How Long is Long Island?”
Using a tool called MAPfrappe I’ve put together some images that compare the geographic scale of Long Island to other places in our region, and across the world. As I’ve mentioned before, even though I live in Brooklyn I consider myself a Long Islander. I am from a town on the north shore called Mt. […]
1,100 Dead in Dhaka Building Collapse
More than a thousand people are dead in a Dhaka garment factory; world’s worst industrial disaster since 1984 Bhopal Tragedy. The question is who is responsible for the death of 1,100 people in Dhaka, Bangladesh? A several-story building filled with garment factory workers collapsed in Dhaka killing more than a thousand people. This is not the first […]
Using mapping tools to make the development permitting process more transparent
It’s occurred to me that, in the era of open governments and publicly available data of all kinds, the development and permitting process should seek to connect to this emerging practice and become more transparent. We live in a time in which governments are increasingly making their data available to the public, only to hope […]
Helpful Tips for NYC Renters
I have occasionally been asked for advice from people who are moving to New York City for the first time and looking for apartments, so I thought I would share my advice (which I have accrued from renting here for almost twenty years). Feel free to share your lessons learned too! I refuse to give […]
The Eastern Tradition of Landscape Architecture: Part II
Eastern Landscape Architecture Tradition: Part II This is the second part of a two-part series about the varied landscape architectural traditions of the Middle East and the West and the impacts of their differing climates on design. The first part analyzed the relationship that Western landscape architecture had with wet and cold climates. This second part […]
Friday Wrapup – May 10th
Here is your Friday wrap-up, with a list of things to look at and investigate this weekend! The Rumsey Map Collection: It is a massive private collection of historical map archives which is completely open for public viewing (online). The neatest thing about the archives is that you can search for historic maps […]
How to end the NYC housing emergency (Part 2)
New York City clearly has a housing emergency. The dire shortage of housing has created a market which overwhelmingly benefits existing landlords and property owners, by exacerbating demand at the expense of renters. As discussed in an earlier post, New York City averages a 3.12% rental vacancy rate, which is well below a minimum 5% […]
EVENT: 5/4/2013 OpenUrban Map-a-thon
What: OpenUrban is hosting an urban development map-a-thon as part of the New Museum’s Ideas City Festival When: Saturday, May 4th, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. Where: The New School, 66 W. 12th Street (Orozco Room, 7th Floor), New York, NY For Whom: This should be of interest to urban planners, urban designers, architects, community mapping […]
2013 NYC hotel industry report
Tourism is a-booming in New York City. Starting with Mayor Giuliani’s quality of life push and continued with Mayor Bloomberg’s soft-spot for the service-sector, tourism has never been bigger. In 2012, New York City broke its all-time visitor record with more than 52 million visitors, up 44% since 2002. The city also houses almost 600 […]
