Suburbanites walk perpendicular. Urbanites walk parallel.
Suburban land is organized by purpose, and suburban experience consequently tends to be selective, single-variable, and destination-centric. One travels to or among destinations, with each answering to one goal. The journey between is generally not designed to have experiential value. This is why, when suburbanites shop at a strip mall, they often walk only between car and front door. If using more than one store, they often return to their car, drive a short distance, and repeat the direct line of engagement to the next destination. Urban experience is continuous, oblique, and incidental. It is all-at-once rather than one-at-a-time. Although one may move through an urban setting with a destination in mind, the journey to it will be rich, varied, and engaging.
Ilse Crawford on Interior Design
(…) We spend 87% of our lives inside buildings.
How they are designed really affects how we feel, how we behave.
Design is not just a visual thing.
It is a thought process. It is a skill.
Ultimately design is a tool to enhance our humanity.
It is a frame for life.
(Ilse Crawford: Interior Design; in Abstract: The Art of Design) Read more…
The law of delay and the priority principle
Before I resume my blog activity and explain why I have been – quiet for probably a year, and – silent for the past five months, the quote below seems appropriate. Life has to get back to some sort of known normality. Read more…
‘Streetfight’
“Every community has excuses for why changing the way they use their streets is impossible, impractical, or just insane. I learned firsthand that there is no end to the reasons for inaction. But inaction is inexcusable. As our cities grow, leaders and the people they serve cannot accept dysfunctional streets; they must fight to change them. The fight for these changes—well, that’s just part of the job.”
On ‘the science of building cities’
“In general, the urban community has become lost in strategic planning, masterplanning, zoning and landscaping… Read more…
‘ENOUGH’- The importance of limit-setting for writing
“(…) limit-setting means learning to . . .
1. Start writing before you may feel you’re ready.
2. Finish writing before you may feel you’re ready.
3. Know when you’ve done enough with your writing project.
Knowing when you’ve done enough or that you can begin without over-preparation is a critical skill in writing efficiently and painlessly. Without this kind of knowing, writing problems loom at the ready. Without limit-setting, professors expose themselves to an especially insidious kind of stress–of never being able to leave campus feeling they’ve done enough.”
On the importance of local values
As we have Chuck Wolfe with us at JCU leading the Urban Thinkers Campus this and next weeks, this week’s quote comes from his Urbanism Without Effort book… Read more…
Book recommendation: ‘Finding Time for your Scholarly Writing: A Short Guide’, by Jo VanEvery
Finding Time for your Scholarly Writing: A Short Guide by Jo VanEvery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“[Day] is my research day. I will address your email during normal working hours on [next working day]. Thank you for your patience.” (Kindle Locations 247-248) Read more…
Writing as a tool for thinking
Don’t allow your gremlins to tell you that you should be able to do this [writing] in your head and only commit your ideas to paper when they are clear. Use writing to think.
Book recommendation: ‘The Scholarly Writing Process: A Short Guide’, by Jo VanEvery
The Scholarly Writing Process: A Short Guide by Jo VanEvery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Writing is a process through which you create knowledge. AND Writing is a product that communicates knowledge.” (Kindle Locations 39-42) Read more…
For the protection of closed doors and against open plan academic offices
The main thing that all writers need, Stephen King says in On Writing, is “a door that you are willing to shut.” The door (if we use it) protects us from interruptions. A space where we are protected from interruption is crucial for any writing project.
On PhD outcomes
But if I had to name the very best outcome of the PhD (besides being greeted with ‘Welcome back, Dr Mewburn’ while boarding aeroplanes) is that I am not afraid to appear stupid. When I discover my ignorance, I know how to fix it. I’ll just research the shit out of it. People should fear my mad skills of research.
Job vs Career
‘A job is what you do for other people. A career is who you are’, Mark said. He told me that a career mission is driven by a desire to solve a particular set of problems. Your job is just whoever happens to be paying for you to do your mission at any one time. A career potentially spans many of these mission oriented jobs.
Inger Mewburn (The Thesis Whisperer), in How to be an Academic
Darkest Hour
Watched Darkest Hour last weekend. 5-star movie in my opinion, with a great quote to finish it up: Read more…
