Urban Environment

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Urban Environment - Fieldwork_Healthscape

This fieldwork focuses on the concept of Healthscape in the urban environment. To begin, I would like to go through a concept model that analyzes healthscape through the urban environment. Community health is the center of the healthscape environment. Around the community health are different factor that acts within this environment such as: individual health, illnesses, family influence and people/culture and is either defined as a good influence or bad influence. And within these factors are parts/issues that begin to define these factors. For e.g. individual health - such parts/issues include: motivation, lifestyle(which can begin to relate to opportunity and/or economic repercution), motivation and spirituality. Moreover, within these factors and issues are defined types of services that encompass these factors and issues. Such services/public services are: hospital, community centers and public works/services.

Through this concept model of healthscape, I began to analyze the chosen site, which is the Cecil B. Moore corridor from 12th St. going west to 20th St. Through this fieldwork, I began to analyze the types of program that can be found on the Cecil B. Moore corridor. As a training architect, I was taught to analyze the types of program as an initial step in developing an idea of what the site is about (such as zoning, culture/people, history, ecology and public services) and develope an initial solution that might be needed to an environment. As an analysis of the corridor, the site is basically run down/dilapidated. But there are visual signs of gentrification that is currently undergoing. This gentrification can be seen around Temple University Main Campus on the corner of Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore but does abruptly stop as one is leaving the campus vicinity. Also through my observations, I have not seen many types of public services such as a local clinic/dentist and/or community center strictly for the residences around the Cecil B. Moore neighborhood.

To relate back to theme or concept of interest which is the concept of Identity and Culture, the healthscape is defined through the identity of the place in which is related to the culture currently residing in the particular neighborhood. Culture is a big issue and plays a major role, in my opinion, in the issue of urban environment. As a designer, I often look to the type of culture in a particular place to find an inspiration in developing the right solution for the type of issue at hand.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Urban Environment - Fieldwork_Gentrification

The site chosen for the investigation of Gentrification is in the city of Philadelphia from Temple University Main Campus on Cecil B Moore Av. south to Girard Avenue on Broad Street. The first sign of gentrification investigated is the construction of a multifunction complex on the corner of Cecil B Moore and Broad Street consisting student housing for Temple University Main Campus and movie theaters with commercial programs on the ground level. This construction will aid in the gentrification of Cecil B Moore as a commercial district, much like the construction currently undergoing on Girard Avenue. Also, in the Cecil B. Moore corridor, the paving on sidewalk are replaced, and the addition of trees on the sidewalk can also be seen but only within the Temple University Campus.

The second sign of gentrification is the adaptation of North Philadelphia in using wireless Internet that from the busy corridor of Broad Street is unnoticeable. Another sign of gentrification is focused on Broad Street, such gentrification include the installation of new street light fixture, placement of trees on the sidewalk, replacement of paving for the sidewalk and construction of potholes on the road.

The next location of gentrification is the corner of Broad Street and Girard Avenue. Currently, construction of new pavement of the road can be seen, corporate businesses seem to be dominating the intersection, and the re-use of the railroad track for the trolley buses. Like the Cecil B. Moore corridor, Girard Avenue is becoming its own corridor as well and this can be clearly seen, as the installation of banner along the avenue is very noticeable.

Last, but not least, another gentrification that one might notice is the construction of a senior housing facility located on 13th Street near Temple University Main Campus dormitories.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Urban Environment – Fieldwork_Industrialization

Railroad = Industry = Commerce

Since the topic of investigation is industry and commerce, the initial investigation began with analyzing the role of the “railroad”. The first chosen location is the Temple University Station located on Berks Street. The railroad is important to the survival of industries and commerce; one could say that the railroad is the spine of industries and commerce. Most industrial building, like ones around Temple University, has close proximity to railroad lines giving easy access to receive materials and dispatch products. The Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), the second location for investigation, is an industry located around the railroad. The relationship of the railroad and the industry is weakened to that through observation PGW exists in this location only through zoning purposes rather than the defined relationship between the railroad and the industry. Also, there are historical relics located next to the Kardon Apartments on Montgomery Avenue. This artifact clearly proves the relationship of the railroad and the industry.

After analyzing the relationship of the railroad and the industry, there is a sudden shift in interest in which how urban spaces began to be formed around the industry. This interest can clearly be seen in the next location which is the public housing located Berks Street and Franklin Street. In its history, especially in the industrial revolution, housing facilities have been located around industrial sites in which are provided for those who are employed in the industry business. Currently, these housing are deteriorating implying its relationship to industry and employment. Hence, the relationship of the railroad, the industry, the commerce, housing and employment are linked through the design and survival of an urban space and environment.

The next two locations chosen involve more of the idea of juxtaposition in its use. The Kardon Apartments, located on 10th Street and Montgomery Avenue, is an example of this juxtaposition in which the use of the old building (open spaces, producing textiles etc.) has been turned to housing facilities. This type of approach in use (involving zoning issues), again, can be seen in the relationship of the industry and housing in its history. Also, the Temple Facilities Management, located on 10th Street and Montgomery Avenue, also changed the use of the property, through zoning. Moreover these changes, through observation, are developed through the growing need of space of Temple University. Clearly, changes around the neighborhood of Temple University can be seen including the development of new types of Public Housing, location of facilities such as the Day care facility on 8th Street and the construction of a new school located on Berks Street and Franklin Street.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Key Concepts

Horse and Carriage Ban in New York City

Identity – sameness of essential character or aspect; separate or distinct existence.

Juxtaposition – the state of being placed or situated side by side.

Tradition – a mode of thought or behavior followed by a people continuously from generation to generation; a custom or usage.

Preservation – to keep in perfect or unaltered condition; maintain unchanged.

Urban Landscape Juxtaposition

Identity – sameness of essential character or aspect; separate or distinct existence.

Juxtaposition – the state of being placed or situated side by side.

Alien – dissimilar, inconsistent, or opposed, as in nature

Presence – immediate proximity in time or space.

Form – The shape and structure of an object.

Global Warming – Environmental Ethical Dilemma

Identity – sameness of essential character or aspect; separate or distinct existence.

Environment – The circumstances or conditions that surround one; surroundings.

Technology – The application of science, especially to industrial or commercial objectives.

Consumption – The act or process of using up something.

Community Description – Kensington, Philadelphia

Identity – sameness of essential character or aspect; separate or distinct existence.

Community – a group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society

Neighborhood – a district or area with distinctive characteristics

Environment – The circumstances or conditions that surround one; surroundings.

Interaction – a mutual or reciprocal action; interacting (social and cultural).

Community Map – Magnolia, New Jersey

Identity – sameness of essential character or aspect; separate or distinct existence.

Juxtaposition – the state of being placed or situated side by side.

Urban – characteristic of the city or city life.

Suburban – relating to, or characteristic of the culture, customs, and manners typical of life in the suburbs.

Place – An area with definite or indefinite boundaries.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Community Map - Magnolia NJ

Magnolia is a suburban neighborhood located in Southern New Jersey. The current population of the town of Magnolia is approximately 4,400 and growing. Being a small town in Camden County, Magnolia keeps its identity mostly through its social and cultural background. The major cultural groups are whites, african americans, asians and puerto ricans. The design of housing and commercial buildings around the area creates the special characteristic of the place in which can be identifiable by its user and by tourists.

The town of Magnolia is very accessible from any local roads and major highways in which why many homeowners enjoy living in to that the town is conviniently placed from any major points of interest around the aresa. The major landmarks located in this area are the two local highschools (triton regional and sterling), the magnolia municipal borough & park and the two major malls in the area (deptford and echelon). Some local interest that tourists may enjoy are two ice cream parlors located at either border of the town, and annual parades which include fireworks displays and a fair. One juxtaposition that I can identify is the development of industry around a major suburban area in which begins to convey the town's relevant need to attract tourist hence becoming a major destination point, much like the neighboring towns.

Sources:
Images = http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=Magnolia,+NJ

Community Description - Kensington, Philadelphia

The site chosen is the community in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which includes the following neighborhoods: East Kensington, South Kensington, Fishtown and Norris Square. This area is known as an integral part of the city’s Irish American and Puerto Rican population. Also heavily represented are Polish Americans, German Americans, and Asians.

Although the majority of the population is working class, Kensington suffered from the closure of the area’s manufacturing industry, which mostly happened in the 60’s. Hence, the result led to major unemployment and dilapidated housing in the area. However, some neighborhoods are perhaps gentrified, specifically on Frankford Avenue near Fishtown, due to the expansion of Temple University Hospital. Also, the renovation is expanding to those near Port Richmond, Kensington’s neighbor to the east. The area has also identified itself as a large small-business center due to the many diverse shops in the area. Known for conflicts between gangs and labor unions, the area suffered much from the 90’s crack epidemic and is still considered high-crime neighborhood.

This area has been chosen due to its social, cultural and economical issues in which is conveyed physically and mentally in its urban environment. Social, cultural and economical issues help shape the neighborhood where the two main population are to be located on either side of Front Street on the commercial corridor. This commercial corridor is also interesting due to that it is the only place where the two major cultural groups interact.

Sources:
http://cml.upenn.edu/nbase/default.asp

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Global Warming - Environmental Ethical Dilemma

Global Warming is a major environmental issue that the world has been dealing with ever since the 20th century. The earth is warming up and studies have shown an increase in surface temperature with an average of 1 degree with each passing year. This increase in temperature is caused by human’s increase consumption of the earth’s fossil fuel. The primary cause of global warming is increase amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causing increased temperature. Our fossil fuel use is main source of these gases. Every time we drive a car, use electricity from coal-fire powered plants, or heat our homes with oil or natural gas, we release carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gases into the air. Human’s greenhouse emissions are expected to lead to climatic changes into the 21st century and beyond. These changes will potentially have a wide-ranging effect on natural environment as well as on human societies and economy. Natural environment impacts the ff: health (weather, infectious diseases, air-quality respiratory illnesses), agriculture (crop yields, irrigation demands), forest (forest composition, geographic range of forest, forest health and productivity), water resources (water supply, water quality, competition for water), coastal areas (erosion of beaches, flooding of coastal lands, additional costs to protect coastal communities), and species & natural areas (loss of habitat and species, diminishing glaciers).

Although global warming is still continuing and human’s vast consumption of fossil fuels is increasing, major changes in technology have been adapted by human’s to aid in decreasing the effects of global warming. One example of technological advancement can be seen on automobiles across the globe. Automobile corporations, especially in Japan and United States, have used the technology of “hybrid” in which the car uses much less gasoline thus decreasing carbon dioxide emissions. Another example, in which most are familiar with, is the technological advancement on architecture (buildings and homes). Most architectural designs often adapt the concept of sustainability. Sustainability defined as a systematic concept, relating to the continuity of economic, social, institutional, and environmental aspects of human society. With this definition in mind, the concept of identity can be related in this controversial issue in which the present social issues holds its own identity in comparison to previous social issues.

Sources:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Urban Landscape Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing two things together or side by side. This is often done in order to compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or differences, etc.

Being an architecture student, when asked the meaning of the word juxtaposition, it is architecture conveyed as juxtaposed to its existing context. A good example of this would be the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain in which the architecture becomes the artistic feature in a much historical and urban background. The architecture becomes alien to its context thus creating this im-balance in the landscape. With this issue of architecture juxtaposition, the dilemma of "identity" again comes into mind in which the new contemporary architecture is conveying its identity in much older and historical setting which is also conveying its own identity.

Designed by the North American architect Frank O. Gehry, this unique Museum built on a 32,500 square meter site in the center of Bilbao represents an amazing construction feat. On one side it runs down to the waterside of the Nervión River, 16 meters below the level of the rest of the city of Bilbao. One end is pierced through by the huge Puente de La Salve, one of the main access routes into the city

The building itself is an extraordinary combination of interconnecting shapes. Orthogonal blocks in limestone contrast with curved and bent forms covered in titanium. Glass curtain walls provide the building with the light and transparency it needs. Owing to their mathematical complexity, the sinuous stone, glass, and titanium curves were designed with the aid of computers. The glass walls were made and installed to protect the works of art from heat and radiation. The half-millimeter thick "fish-scale" titanium panels covering most of the building are guaranteed to last one hundred years. As a whole, Gehry's design creates a spectacular, eminently visible structure that has the presence of a huge sculpture set against the backdrop of the city.

Sources:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=juxtaposition

Horse - Carrriage Ban in New York City

Should horse drawn carriages be banned from the streets of New York City?

In order to take a position in this growing controversy about banning horse-drawn carriages in the city of New York, one must take a look both sides of the argument, which are the argument that horse-drawn carriages should be banned in cities nationwide and the argument that horse-drawn carriages should be saved.

Horse-drawn carriages should be banned due to these reasons. Horse-drawn carriages create potential threat to the safety of both people and horses. Mixing horse-drawn carriages and motor vehicle traffic is essentially dangerous. Horses can be easily spooked by sudden noises radiating from motor vehicle traffic and eventually causing accidents by running against traffic or into pedestrian sidewalks. A survey nationwide has revealed that 85% of all accidents were the result of the horse being spooked, 70% of the accident result in injuries to the carriage driver, passenger and bystanders, and 22% of accidents result in human death. Moreover, the horse’s welfare is a factor on why the horse-drawn carriages should be banned from the streets nationwide. These factors include visible injuries, and toxic pollution. Visible injuries result from the horse’s lifetime walking or jogging on the asphalt street of the city. Another injury results from the harness that the horses wear which cause skin sores, bone bruising, neck, shoulder, and back problems. Also cruel bits result in painful mouth, teeth and gum infections. Air pollution has an unpleasant effect the horse’s respiratory system. Vehicle exhausts create low-level toxic smog in which the horses that are pulling the carriages in vehicle traffic have no choice but to inhale lung-full of toxins. As a result, from studies, that these toxins can cause severe lung damage, the same kind one would find from a heavy smoker.

Horse drawn carriages in New York City should remain by these following reasons: tradition/heritage, local economy/jobs, and tourism/entertainment. Horse drawn carriages have been long a tradition for the city of New York as a means of transportation. Not only that this is a means of preserving tradition that has been long appreciated by most of the citizens of New York but also as means of preserving a heritage in which some families were brought upon the tradition as a type of business to earn income for their families. Also, the local economy will be affected if the horse drawn carriages are banned. This will result in the loss of jobs, for the owners as well as the employees. And last, but not least, horse drawn carriages has become appreciated as an entertainment, both for the local community and tourists alike, not only on the streets of New York City but in most cities across the nation.

After studying both sides of the argument, my position on this controversy is neutral. The main dilemma that seems to relate both sides is the issue of “identity”. The issue of identity often relate to economic, political, social, and cultural issues in which the modern way of living and the old traditional way seem to convey.

Sources:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-01-11-alexis-stewart_x.htm
http://www.peta.org/Automation/AlertItem.asp?id=1708