A Lens on My Curiosities in Urban Design

1. Disaster Relief Efforts | The Wrong Solution

Every year since Hurricane Katrina, I have been back to the region to help rebuild. The relief efforts appear to be slower and slower every year, when the need is still dire. Are the large-scale “niche” designs the proper solution? Brad Pitt’s homes in the Lower Ninth Ward and the Habitat for Humanity Musician’s Village appear worthwhile solutions at first glance, but they are in fact quite exclusive and leave many former residents without help.

2. Micro-Urbanism | A Closer Look at Poor Neighborhoods

Can micro-urbanism be the solution? Many Urban and Rural studios are currently focusing on small-scale projects that address poor neighborhoods that are often ignored within city design proposals. The purpose is to try to bring students more “in-touch” with their backyard poverty. Check out Auburn University’s Rural Studio!

http://apps.cadc.auburn.edu/rural-studio/Default.aspx?path=Gallery%2fProjects%2f2000%2fthomastonfarmersmkt%2f

3. Informal Gatherings | Living in Poverty 

I have always had a curiosity in where the “poor” society of a city retreats to. This stems from trying to understand why the Lower Ninth Ward and other areas of New Orleans that have had a history of poorer inhabitants remain un-helped. The informal designs of the Favelas in Rio de Janeiro and the rooftop slums in Hong Kong provide a lens on these issues. The strong divide can best be seen in the famous photos of Brazilian favelas directly adjacent to upper-class resorts, without any form of bleeding between the two social classes. 

Aside from my obsession with disaster relief and rural and urban studios trying to bridge the gap between rich and poor, I have a few other curiosities within the Urban Design field. These interests stem from past experiences of living in different cities around the world, current readings and lectures on Urban Design, and my personal draw towards Street Art.

4. Commuter Paths

Every city that I have lived in, I have chosen to have my home be around twenty minutes away from either my school or work. I feel that there is an essential opportunity within the field of urban design to re-design or re-think the commute. The commute, for me, is a time to relax and be “in-between” my two lives, in an almost euphoric state.  Can we redesign the commute to amplify this feeling of euphoria? This will require careful consideration of commuter paths, patterns of flow, green space and benches along commuter paths, and other issues related to the human scale at street level.

5. The Wrong Mentality | CJ Lim and Food Nations

CJ Lim, in his recent studies, looks at the notions of food distribution on the global scale and how we have lost concern for producing food locally. One interesting point he brings up is the idea that the public square within the city has not changed in two or three centuries. As cities change and new developments are considered, the traditional public squares are not being re-designed. Can the public square provide an opportunity to re-connect citizens to the lost notions of seasonal food growth and simultaneously provide more sustainable living?

6. Street Art + Public Art

I enjoy investigating why people feel the need to express themselves on local streets through graffiti or small art projects. When I went to Brick Lane, I found an art piece that I really enjoyed…. (see below)

This interest stems from local work in Charlottesville by my former professor, Sanda Iliescu. In Downtown Charlottesville, there is a chalkboard wall where children are allowed to draw anything they feel. The images stay until it rains and a new set of drawings is created.

7. Copenhagen, Denmark | Designing for the People

Jan Gehl is interested in designing the city for the people. His interest in the human scale and attention to detail I find very fascinating. I had the opportunity to see, and experience, many of his urban spaces while studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. For me, I am curious if this attention to human scale is what is really missing in the large-scale urban design schemes for cities, and perhaps why I find myself so much more satisfied within his urban spaces.

I am also interested in the work of BIG and Topotek1 in the design of Superkilen in the neighborhood of Nørrebro. This project involves the local community so that they can feel more connected to the new urban space. I find this a strong aspiration for design. At Superkilen, every nationality located within Nørrebro is represented through furniture from cultures around the world present within the park.