Authors
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problogic
- Tuesday Tunes: Out-of-this-world rock band names
- Riding the rails of interstellar discovery at the Very Large Array
- Majestic “mesa” cities and towns around the globe
- Canada’s next supergroup – A Short Walk to Pluto
- Two migration tales of strength, hardship, and tenacity
- An out-of-this-world visit to the Very Large Array (VLA)
- Albuquerque is a national leader in water conservation
- The buzz about America’s “bee-friendly” cities
- Tallest buildings of Greater Washington, DC
- New Mexico’s protected wildlife areas along the Rio Grande
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Tag Archives: opinion
Forget the latest planning buzzword and just plan
First it was “context sensitive solutions,” then “cool cities,” followed by “third places,” and most recently it has been the term “15 minute city.” All of these terms (and a myriad of others) are principally buzzwords meant to promote and … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, Advocacy, books, branding, business, cities, civics, civility, Communications, consumerism, culture, education, history, land use, literature, marketing, opinion, placemaking, planning, politics, product design, reading, Social media, third places, urban planning, writing, zoning
Tagged buzzwords, cities, concepts, fads, history, ideas, land use, language, opinion, planning, trends, writing
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Living amid an “Ecology of Fear”
I recently read Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster by the late Mike Davis. It is an intriguing book that switches from whimsical to dark and foreboding at the turn of a page. In fact, the … Continue reading
Posted in Advocacy, Africa, Animals, archaeology, art, Asia, book reviews, books, branding, business, Canada, Cars, cities, civics, Civil Rights, civility, climate, climate change, commerce, Communications, culture, demographics, density, diversity, economic development, economics, ecosystems, education, entertainment, entrepreneurship, environment, film, fun, futurism, geography, Geology, government, Guns, Handguns, health, highways, hiking, historic preservation, history, homelessness, Housing, human rights, humanity, immigration, inclusiveness, India, industry, infrastructure, injustice, land use, Latin America, literature, marketing, money, movies, music, natural history, nature, opinion, planning, politics, pollution, poverty, psychology, racism, reading, Religion, revitalization, schools, Science, Science fiction, Sexism, Small business, social equity, Social media, spatial design, Statistics, sustainability, technology, Television, theaters, topography, tourism, Trade, traffic, transportation, Travel, unemployment, urban design, urban planning, visual pollution, weather, Wilderness, Wildlife, Women, writing, zoning
Tagged authors, book reviews, books, California, culture, culture wars, diversity, dystopia, environment, extrapolative, fear, geography, history, hope, inclusivness, literature, Los Angeles, maps, Mike Davis, opinion, planning, safety, security, The Ecology of Fear, writing
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An unreliable power grid is unacceptable!
The continuing repairs to the grid across unlucky parts of Michigan, Ontario, New York and Maine clearly shows the weaknesses in our electrical grid and how susceptible it can be to the whimsy of Mother Nature. One sort of expects a power grid to … Continue reading
Posted in Advocacy, Alternative energy, commerce, Communications, consumerism, culture, deregulation, economic development, economics, energy, environment, geography, government, health, history, Housing, humanity, infrastructure, land use, nature, North America, planning, politics, Privatization, product design, Renewable Energy, seasons, sustainability, technology, weather
Tagged advocacy, business, commerce, economics, electric, electricity, energy, geography, health, infrastructure, land use, opinion, outages, planning, power, power grid, the grid, Toronot, utilities
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Are brewpubs becoming too standardized?
In a word, yes. I have visited several dozen brewpubs in seven states and am beginning to tire of the same old, same old format of restored historic building, wood floors, big screen TVs, brick walls, lots of noise, standard … Continue reading
Posted in adaptive reuse, advertising, architecture, art, beer, branding, brewpubs, cities, Communications, Cuisine, culture, economic development, entertainment, entrepreneurship, Food, fun, historic preservation, placemaking, planning, product design, revitalization, sustainability, third places, tourism, Travel, urban planning
Tagged advertising, architecture, beer, branding, brewpubs, cities, commentary, consumerism, cuisine, culture, design, dining, economic development, editorial, entertainment, food, fun, opinion, placemaking, planning
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Now is NOT the time to relent – fossil fuels are still fossil fuels
Given the ongoing North American oil production boom, there will no doubt be a tendency by those without any foresight (and in Big Oil) to push for scaling back incentives for clean, renewable energy resources like wind and solar; funding … Continue reading
Posted in Active transportation, Advocacy, Alternative energy, bicycling, Cars, cities, civics, climate change, commerce, consumerism, culture, economic development, Economy, education, energy, entrepreneurship, environment, EVs and hybrids, government, health, history, humanity, infrastructure, land use, nature, planning, politics, pollution, psychology, Renewable Energy, spatial design, sustainability, technology, transportation, urban planning
Tagged alternative energy, biomass, editorial, energy, environment, history, oil, opinion, politics, pollution, solar, wind
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Intro to wicked yiddish for Bachmann
The following is a guest post that was submitted by a contributor who wished to remain anonymous: As with so many other things, Michelle Bachmann demonstrated her ignorance of a pretty basic and common yiddish term last week – “…chutzpah”. … Continue reading
Panethos 
If every city looks alike, then we are failing as a profession
In response to a cartoon I posted yesterday on panethos.wordpress.com, (see above) a comment was made that planners are one of the reasons why so many cities look-alike. That was a very thought-provoking and rather disconcerting response. With reflection, I … Continue reading →