subtly perfect

i don't mind

exactly what i needed

cities and nature.. can they co-exists?

"the belief that the city is an entity apart from nature and even antithetical to it has dominated the way in which the city is perceived and continues to affect how it is built. this attitude has aggravated and even created many of the city's environmental problems" - anne whiston spirn

"we must learn the joy of working on the solution - not to be consumed by despair over the immensity of the task - but enriched by the steps to be taken - one at a time" - robert thayer

natural systems

"we might assume that a nature preserve represents the absence of human influence when in fact the existence of intact remnants of indigenous ecosystems depends upon human protection and managements" - joan inverson nassauer

The BlueBelt Project, Staten Island.
use of natural systems to manage stormwater - a very human effort

adore

post-moderism yet again

"post-modernism preoccupation with simulation, fantasy, irony, contradiction, vague historical reference, boundary warping, and lack of guiding principles will not last long, simply because 'postmodern' style attempts to 'deconstruct' or make a mockery of all former, form-giving influence and assumptions. It has given up seeking an underlying 'truth'. I argue, however, that an underlying truth is rapidly revealing itself to us in the birth of the notion of sustainability, however 'trendy' the world has become. A need to put flesh [in the form of physical landscapes] on the skeletal philosophy of sustainability has become too powerful to resist" - Robert Thayer, Gray World, Green Heat 1994.

watch the world spinning waves... like some machine

i'm screwed worse than new york's shoreline

a month and a half into thesis and i'm fresh out of a topic. my plan for a feral landscape in the gowanus is basically what dlandstudios (landscape arch firm based in brooklyn) is proposing. this really couldn't happen at a worse time because the semester sure as hell isn't about to get any easier.
sure there's plenty to write about with respect to stormwater management via green infrastructure it's just too bad most of it's been written by engineers, scientists, and landscape architects. i've got nothing. i've tried thinking about how i could investigate nyc's seriousness in the various efforts to use green infrastructure but i know the answer, the city doesn't have money so how could is possibly do more than it already is? i've thought about proposing an alternative plan for the gowanus neighborhood in opposition to that ridiculous decision made by the city planning department to add more housing in a flood plain, i just can't figure out how to go about this.. but i've gotta do something, my first assignment is due in a little less than 48hrs and guess what i haven't even started. this is not like me and it really sucks. i wish SO badly that i was allowed to create a thesis that is more playful, allowing the master to look beyond the rigid structure that is planning policy and start to think about the possibilities that could be achieved if people just tried something new every once in a while. also it may have been a better idea not to go to school in new york where some 'powerful' people have a sickening love affair with capitalism and all things greed.. more so it would have been wise to go to school for philosophy and focus on ecological transformation and what that means for humans and their life, especially those living through it - now. but alas, here i sit, damning myself for lack of creativity and possibly knowledge, intelligence, and all things necessary to write a successful thesis that means something to me. jeez, i'm fucked.

rough day

i've clearly got a thing for 'two door cinema club'