Why Blog if no one reads it?- Lorraine

http://urbandirection.blogspot.com/
"Some big-box stores still do not have an urban design and won’t go beyond their familiar suburban-style look. But these days, many have wised up and now have urban design templates. Savvier cities have found ways to woo these stores downtown (I was recently in an urban-style Best Buy in Manhattan; Manhattan's Home Depot is shown above)"(The Future of Urban Retail, Greg). This is very similar to what we talked about in class and also connected to what William Whyte spoke about. He talked a lot about the importance of design and how design truly makes or breaks a place. But what Greg spoke about on his site that I found truly intriguing was the aspect of the Internet having an impact of Urban life and urban design. He speaks about how the growing opportunity to buy stuff on the internet is changing the way urbanization happens. In class we didn't spend much time talking about retail and its impact on the way the cities are designed but it connected to the aspects of the plaza's as well as other basic details Jane Jacobs spoke about.

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/

I loved this site. It wasn't a site entirely dedicated to talking about the basics about Urban Studies. Instead a took a political view on the matter, it incorporated global issues they felt to be connected to Urban Studies. They spoke about the impact of our government interference in the urban planning of other nations which I found to be extremely interesting and something we never addressed in class. But like the other blogs they spoke about public versus private spacing. That was one of the reoccurring themes of this blog, but there was no mention of Jane Jacobs or William Whyte which i found to be very weird. Those were our two main inspirations of the class and they seem to be a major part of Urban Studies as a whole and yet there was no mention of them. None the less I made sure to let the blogger know about them. Overall I loved this blog and will probably continue to follow it since it incorporates my major of political science and a hint of international affairs.

http://citystates.typepad.com/

This site was interesting to say the least. It was a site that was concentrated on the Urban environment of Canada. A lot of the blogs were geared and concentrated on Canada. And although it was difficult to understand how it connected to Urban Studies I still found little connections here and there that were related to Urban Studies in one way or another. The blog I found to be most interesting was "Towards a New 'Master Plan'" It talked about the car capacity of cities and how they are attempting to bring down the amount of cars that cities are using. They have found out though that the cities that do have low density neighborhoods are still getting punished while the high density neighborhoods are being rewarded... how this happens i do not know and nor do I want to know because there is probably some sick reasoning as to way such a thing would occur. Yes the amount of cars on the road have decreased but only slightly. Cars effect the dynamics of a neighborhood and diminishes the well being of a neighborhood.

http://www.catlin.edu/place/urban-studies-blog

This site was tremendous. It had so much to offer and so much true academic content to the topic of Urban Studies. The blog I truly enjoyed was "Urban Design After Oil" which turned out to be about a summit there person went to for Urban Studies people to discuss certain issues at hand concerning Urban Studies and its advancement. They spoke about the impact nations have on one another concerning there urban planning. As well as talking about attempts to incorporate Urban planning into creating a greener city scape for cities specifically like Los Angeles. They also spoke about a global standard for planning. I found all these topics to be intriguing but also a tall order to abide to. They are coming up with all these amazing ideas and addressing a lot of the issues going on now in the world but they seem to be taking on to much in my opinion. But none the less I hope they prove me wrong and some of these issues and addressed and taken care of.

http://americancity.org/afteroil/

This site was recommended by the person who wrote the piece "Urban Design After Oil." And because i found that blog to be a stupendous site I decided to take their suggestion and read it. And as soon as I got on the site the first thing i see is the cover of Jane Jacobs book and I was excited to say the least. Because I truly felt like an Urban Studies scholar because i knew exactly what they were talking about and could follow or at least connect my knowledge of the book to what they were talking about. My only disappointment in this site is that they closed down the option to comment. I was so excited to comment on the Jane Jacobs article and share the new things i learned about her and the topic of Urban Studies but sadly i was unable to do so. But other then that the blog was cool. It connected Jane Jacobs to the issue of oil having a direct impact on urban planning and it's ability to diminish a city for the purpose of earning the oil or the money it would produce. It also pleaded that there would be students out there that would be like Jane Jacobs and see how the impact of what is going on now effects the future of this world. Sadly i would love to be that person but I know I am not. But I now have a better knowledge of the issues at hand and only hope to have a helping hand in changing what needs to be changed in the topic of Urban Studies and how it impacts the world we live in.



I was able to leave comments on all the blogs except for the last. I found it weird at first to leave comments but the more I got into the blog the easier I felt it to be to just talk about the topic of their blog. And somewhere in that comment I was able to throw in our blog name. Hopefully it will spark some interest and the other bloggers will find some interest in our blog.