In my years outside of the academia, I have read and researched urban planning written by Anne Whiston Spirn and Jane Jacobs. My approach to this research was to inform my art making, and I now feel more compelled to learn further within these subjects. I spent a time in the science library at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden reading publications on environmental politics and conservation theories written in the early half of the twentieth century. I created abstracts for implementation of library databases for scientific research. This exposure to early histories of the American forest and its landscapes has furthered my interest in urban studies.
Pioneers setting forth the rules of the land designating where and how the future generations will interact with nature and the natural environment. The idea of the pioneer is to keep the environment as virginal and untouched as possible. The first instinct and reactions to finding the land must be kept intact for future generations. The first breath of awe inspiring beauty, made by earthly means, plates crashing, molten lava crusting, regrowth, overgrowth, swamp, spring, waterfall. The first experience must be shared, it must be sacred, it must be preserved. But we are a growing and moving society filled with technology and invention and idea, preservation becomes standardized, more rules, maybe less impactful. The system in place may not be even understood by fellow man, the unpracticing, unlooking, industry heavy individual. He longs to leave the city, bring the city with him, and breathe the fresh air and carefree with the kids. He uses nature and the city uses him. He is a tool and nature becomes a tool for him; meditation spot or something to look forward to. Rarely can one find the perfect balance of city and nature, but a balance for all would be our utopian dream.
Spirn writes in The City as a Garden,
"To realize the opportunities inherent in the city’s natural environment, to see beyond short-term costs and benefits, to perceive the consequences of the myriad, seemingly unrelated actions that make up daily city life, and to coordinate thousands of incremental improvements, a fresh attitude to the city and to shaping its form is necessary. The city must be recognized as part of nature and designed accordingly. Cities, their suburbs and countryside must be viewed as a single, evolving system within nature, as must every individual park and building within that larger whole. The social value of nature must be cultivated, like a garden, rather than ignored or subdued."
and she concludes with,
"It is time to employ one of the greatest human talents, the ability to shape the
environment, to transform an environment that has become hostile to life into a humane habitat that sustains life and nurtures growth, both personal and collective. That is the challenge of our time."
I conversed with a friend about the jungle city. The futurist cars emit no fumes, only mist, making all the moss and lichen and trees and grass prosper. The ivy takes over, the orchids creep up the side of the builidng. The palms flourish and shade. Wildlife frolicking in abandoned buildings seven stories high, the trees peeking out of the roofs. We are living in treehouses, not apartment builidings. Our skirts are six inches in mud. We do not inhale the sour garbage scents rather the rotting of leaves piled up in a corner swept to the side by the wind. As rotten earth smells so much cleaner than our modern waste consumption and disposal system does. On the hottest of days it turns your stomach, we all know the smell, dare not describe it, try not to get our pedicured flipflopped feet in it.
So to venture forth as new urban pioneers researching for our identities as urban land inhabitors, the planners consider how to put the greenery, built architecturally as well as agriculturally and ecologically.
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(lastly)
i watched the nightmare before christmas last night, i have been on an animation rant. i began thinking of muppets, all the characters and cartoons i knew, children's tales, and all the things that seem square and grown up. commuter trains, shuttle buses, 401k. but man, im looking for my corners in my closet, sign me up. im working on some small presents as i found out a meeting friend is having a baby girl and four months along. babies are the cutest and baby things are even cuter, and fun to make. so below is the visual imagery all entwined and stuck in my head that represents the written word above.
(and here)
im off to chitown very early tomorrow morning or really late tonight, which ever time clock you are on. chicagoland may be the history of my future...one should read the pig and the skyscraper by marco d'eramo.
