New York

Thinking Aloud, on the gentrification of Harlem

In Gentrification, Harlem, Listen, New York on 17 June 2008 with no comments

BBC Radio 4 program Thinking Aloud investigates the impacts of gentrification on Harlem’s longtime residents. Listen to the mp3.
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Hitchens, on the meaning of bohemia and the West Village

In Development, London, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Urbanism on 16 June 2008 with no comments

Christopher Hitchens recalls bohemia’s eclipses in London, Paris, and San Francisco, and worries that New York’s West Village may soon become another victim of the skyscraper’s shadow. The loss would be immeasurable.
[T]ry picturing American culture without the contribution of this unique square mile. Inter alia, you would have to subtract Bob Dylan and the Cafe [...]

The Next City in the New York Times Magazine

In Bogota, Future, New York, Urbanism on 9 June 2008 with no comments

Yesterday’s New York Times Magazine has taken The Next City as its theme; they’ve focused the entire issue on urban issues and trends, including an interview with visionary Bogotá mayor Enrique Peñalosa.

Why conservatives should heart NYC, too.

In New York, Philosophy, Politics, Rome, Urbanism on 16 November 2007 with 2 comments

I recommend reading this short essay imploring conservatives to care about cities.
“In Rome,” wrote the philosopher George Santayana, who spent his final years in the Eternal City, “I feel nearer to my own past, and to the whole past and future of the world, than I should in any cemetery or in any museum of [...]

Event: “Berlin-New York Dialogues: Building in Context”

In Architecture, Berlin, Events, New York, Planning on 16 November 2007 with no comments

An exhibition called “Berlin-New York Dialogues: Building in Context” opened last week at New York’s Center for Architecture and will run through January 26 before traveling to Berlin in March.
Rather than focus narrowly on noteworthy buildings, the exhibition and related panel discussions explore issues like how Berlin is reasserting its role in European cultural and [...]

Radio ratings racism?

In Film & Television, Music, New York, Statistics on 9 November 2007 with no comments

Think of Arbitron as the Nielson ratings people for radio. It used to measure these ratings by having participants record their listening into diaries.
As of October, it switched to the “personal people meter” (PPM), with participants carrying an electronic recording device.
New York is the third PPM city, and Arbitron has said it is still [...]

gen·tri·fi·ca·tion (n.): “a benign ethnic cleansing”

In Criticism, Development, Gentrification, New York on 8 November 2007 with no comments

“What’s kind of going on now is a benign ethnic cleansing of the borough of Manhattan. . .”