The Drama that is London

    Condominiums by Richard Rogers / Hoptons Gardens (Southbank, London)

Cities everywhere are having an identity crisis. As new economies and populations emerge, some cities struggle with how to control the growth and retain what they think made them special in the first place. Austin has lately been torn between the sleepy town it once was and the cutting edge, creative city. This is manifested in the unofficial SXSW mantra, "Welcome to Austin! Please don't move here." 

I just returned from London, a more established evolving city, where I could not help, but appreciate some little things that help make up London's "identity." Some are cliche, while other were surprising to me. I believe the observance other cities is critical to understanding our own cultures. So here's what I learned about the drama that is London:

• physical characteristics: formal rigidity next to "messy" urban growth, prevalence of landmarks/easy way-finding, blocks are tight, but irregular, Foster + Partners building on every corner, strong emphasis on world-class parks (Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Kew Gardens) supported by numerous pocket parks and squares within the urban fabric, dark stones, deep greens, bright reds pop against the grey, public transit is highly emphasized, muddy banks on tidal Thames River, dismal grey weather is unfortunately accurate
• cultural attitude: many Londoners do not own an umbrella, general affection for old buildings and urban forms yet most are eager for the next greatest development, sometimes I walked around for hours and heard every accent except British (abundance of immigrant populations as well as tourists), strongly established market culture (from farmer's markets to crafts, antiques, and flower markets), prevalence of "high" culture (theatre, museums, literature)

London has a strange choreography... the grey drizzle keeps the city at a constant hum, but it by no means stops it! Sunny days or snow days punctuation marks to London life. Tourists shuffle up and down the Thames venturing into the streets only to be startled by the double-decker bus coming at them from the right. The Tube stations require no thought to navigate: just follow the stream of people lined by walls of tv, film, and musical advertisements. Beware of the mass migration of men in suits to and from the central city during the work week. The public actually has a general interest and respect for architecture. In fact, the proceeds from the national lottery go towards the the construction of public architectural works. As new developments pop up, the contrast of new and old creates a looseness and vibrancy that is distinctly London.

Social Media in the City

What role does social media have in creating urban form? We live in a uniquely interactive society. Social media makes it equally possible to connect with someone across the world or feel disconnected from one's own community. Some people expose themselves to other points of view while others use social media to find like-minded individuals. The effect is at once polarizing and blurry.

Social media is important for getting information out to a community and providing informal opportunities for discussion. Most of the time people talk about what they really love or really hate. This applies to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, news articles, etc. It provides an opportunity for designers and policy makers to learn about the flavor of a community that they might not otherwise be exposed to. In a recent studio project, my group and I used geolocation data from social media posts to get insight into the society of Vauxhall, London compared to the surrounding areas. We looked at instagram photos and tweets to study what was casually important to those who lived there. We found people excited about their morning walk to work, others griping about delayed trains, someone taking their granddaughter to a park, different groups of students posting about a specific restaurant, someone taking a picture of a frightening homeless person. Looking at individual posts is a good way to get a snapshot of what people care about.

Information can be extracted from these posts and pooled to be informative at a different scale. Eric Fischer has done extensive mapping of social media usage of cities worldwide. The image below shows geo-located posts by tourists (red) and locals (blue). This kind of mapping shows a dynamic relationship between the city form and the kinds of social interaction within it. Traditional demographic information is static, showing only where people live, but this map shows where people spend their time. It can be an important indication of business development, population growth, and tourist destinations.

It is slightly unnerving how much information is collected and can be extracted from the internet.There is a delicate balance between using the information to serve the public interest and exploiting it. My hope is that in this day and age, we can appreciate the beauty of information.

Eric Fischer: Tourists vs Locals Austin

     red=tourists

     blue=locals

     yellow=undetermined

Urban Grocery Shopping

Besides remembering how to drive, adjusting my food shopping routine was the most difficult part of moving back to Austin after living in New York for six months. What I miss most is walking passing the corner store on my street and picking up ingredients for dinner on my way home... and maybe some fresh flowers :) Or buying fresh fruit at the farmer's market in Union Square by my work. Or shopping at Trader Joe's by the subway if I needed something specific. Having a wide variety of choices was lovely as was the ability to walk just around the block if I happened to forget something I needed.

Space was a huge limiting factor: the appliances are half the size and pantries are rare. Everyone grocery shops with handheld baskets so one never gets more than they can carry home (although some places deliver). While this may seem limiting, it was actually very freeing. Going by the stores more often meant I had fresher food and it was always what I felt like eating, so even though it was more expensive, I ended up wasting less food. Because it was so convenient, I really enjoyed shopping, cooking, and eating healthy.

In Austin, I often have no choice, but drive to the HEB and stock up on what I think I might need for the next few weeks. I pay hundreds of dollars in groceries at a time, load it into my car, and stuff it into the fridge. No matter how diligent I am at meal planning, I struggle to make complete meals with what I have after a few days. I stretch my groceries out as long as I can, eating poorly for the last week until I have to go back... the whole ordeal is unpleasant.

In my experience, convenient access to grocery stores is a huge factor in healthy living. Austin should incentivize corner markets (and I don't mean gas station markets, but places to buy fresh veggies, lettuce, deli meats etc.) Whole Foods is a great asset to downtown, but it would be wonderful if a few more well-planned supermarkets could be integrated as well. In the meantime, I guess I'll freeze more food!

Austin Transit Vision Missing the Mark

I came across the Project Connect Transit Vision for Austin this week and had mixed emotions about it:

• the map's graphics are believable... I and perhaps others can start to see how a rail system might work in Austin
• the urban rail proposal seems awkward and disjointed

As native Austinite, I am familiar with the tendency to stay in the suburban bubble. The need to attract commuters into the city is essentially what the current Leander-Downtown line rail aims to do, but it fails to serve anyone else.

As a UT student, I desire to use public transportation, but I am frustrated by its inconvenience and inefficiency. Austin is growing too quickly to keep relying on cars and, to a lesser extent, buses. We have the unique opportunity to plan a rail system essentially from scratch in comparison to the NYC subway system, which originated from two transit companies competing for commuters with redundant lines. New Yorkers are still having to live with those inefficiencies.

Before we can work to bring in regional communities, we have to serve the downtown community. Commuters will continue to use their car if there is no reliable and efficient way to get around downtown once they arrive via rail. I suggest the following:

• Phase 1: (North-South Connection) Domain - Seton/Central Market - UT/Guad - Capitol - 6th St - SoCo - St Ed's - Southpark Meadows
• Phase 2: (East - West) Airport (ABIA) - Riverside - SoCo - Auditorium Shores - South Lamar - Barton Springs/Zilker - Barton Creek Mall

By anchoring lines at Austin's main shopping malls and the airport, people can park and ride using the existing parking structures. Each mall could serve as the hub for that sector and could connect to regional rail lines from there.The use of buses could then be focused on bringing people to the rail stops instead of trying to serve as major arteries.

Project Connect Transit Vision (June 2012)

Does Austin Hate the Poor?

The rejection of Prop 15 in 2012 was a tremendous blow to Austin’s affordable housing initiatives. Voters approved bonds for transportation, open space, parks and recreation, public health and human services, and even library, museum, and cultural arts facilities, but not for housing. Why, of all the bonds, was this one not approved? Is the community against affordable housing in principle or is there more to it?

Beyond just the proposition, I believe that as designers and as humans, we have a basic responsibility to help those in need. It is either incredibly self-centered or incredibly ignorant to disregard issues assuming they will solve themselves. The problem poverty is not a new one and is something that we can never actually solve. Jesus famously said, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” However, the enormity of the problem is not an excuse for inaction.

Studying the effects of the Industrial Revolution on poverty in 1889, Charles Booth mapped the wretched living conditions endured by the poor. They lived as close to work as they could afford and the personal cost was more than just rent They sacrificed personal space, health, and morals to be exploited by their employers. While conditions are not as dire in Austin, the root of the problem is the same. Many people cannot afford to live and are unable to advance. There is a discrepancy between rent and wages. While rent is extremely susceptible to the market, wages are not. Left solely to the market, low-income citizens will lose every time. Thus, Austinites must intercede to help their own community. We have to craft policies that will effectively create affordable housing where it is needed. I intend research what went wrong with Prop 15 and what Austin should do to move forward with its affordable housing initiatives.

Charles Booth: Poverty Map of London 1889