The Protagonists of Utopia
January 16, 2013 § 1 Comment
Last night, on January 15th, I had the privilege of seeing Italian ethnographer, and Rust-Belt lover, Allessandro Coppola, speak at Cleveland State University as part of the Levin College of Urban Affairs Public Forum program.
![coppola-001jpg-ea02e4f92066b1aa[1]](http://mscsymposium.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/coppola-001jpg-ea02e4f92066b1aa1.jpg)
Allessandro Coppola
The perspective of his lecture bore greater significance than its content. This is not a jab or backhanded compliment to Dr. Coppola, but rather a recognition of the fact that most of the audience last night knew on a personal level the very phenomena he had been trying to convey to his Italian audience. He knew this, the crowd knew this, and it was through this mutual understanding that gave us, Cleveland natives and in a very clear sense the subjects of his book, a space to step back and really take in the magnitude of our work, our struggle, and our vision.
How Modern-Day Eugenics Spreads Dumb Ideas like a Virus
January 14, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Last week, the folks over at Richard Florida’s The Atlantic Cities wrote a real think piece. The article, entitled ‘How Economic Segregation Spreads Crime like a Virus’, is built upon a fairly simple and understandable premise; when varying economic groups are living within isolation, rather than integration, crime rates rise. Mind blowing, right?!
So why am I wasting my time telling you about a real whoop-dee-doo article that came out of intensive research from the cats over at the Brookings Institute and the D.C. Crime Policy Institute? Because in no uncertain terms is this article littered with unadulterated classism and ambiguous flashes of racism, and that’s a real problem. Not to mention that I think we can all agree with the idea that eugenics is a bad thing.
“Slum Beautiful”: St. Louis Is Only Part of the Story
July 10, 2012 § 1 Comment
This past week The Daily Mail featured a photo essay by St. Louis photographer Demond Meek entitled “Slum Beautiful” in which the artist chronicled some of the city’s abandoned buildings and crumbling lots. In the article, “City of Ghosts,” Meek told the Daily Mail, “I wanted to focus on the buildings that were once considered beautiful or treasures- a few that could be fixed up with a little bit of love.”
How the Midwest Will Spend Its Foreclosure Settlement Scrill
April 26, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Earlier this month, on April 6, the foreclosure settlement was approved in federal court, despite its obvious flaws. But as they say, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade–so what do you do with a bad deal like the foreclosure settlement? With the $1.5 billion it netted as a region, the Midwest has come up with some possible answers, although there’s always room for improvement.
At Coworking Spaces, Plenty of Coffee (Without Any Cubicles)
April 25, 2012 § Leave a Comment
You’re right to be skeptical about co-working spaces. Let’s face it, you might be more concerned about finding “work,” period. But last week I had the opportunity to sit down with two pretty incredible people, Graham Veysey and Emmett McDermott, and talk about their newest venture, Cowork Cleveland. There, I got a glimpse of the future of work.
Fasten Your Rustbelt: Jay Williams Talks Cities (audio)
April 23, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Detroit’s International Bridge: Make That a Double
April 14, 2012 § 2 Comments
This past weekend I was in South Haven, Michigan, on Michigan’s dazzling western coast. Although this remote lakeside town is usually pretty quiet, nowadays the airwaves are abuzz with television ads attacking Rick Snyder, the state’s Republican governor, for his proposal to build a second international bridge between Detroit and Windsor.
The Other Bracketology: the Race for #SoMeT12
March 30, 2012 § Leave a Comment
As I write this, Cleveland is less than an hour away from pulling off a comeback win against Kansas City in the first round of the Social Media Tourism Symposium’s (SoMeT12) “March Madness”-style bracket. Being a Clevelander, I am, of course, blindly promoting the city as the venue for this year’s symposium—hence the jabs at those Kansas Citians (yes, that is the correct demonym) on the other side of the Internet. Sorry guys, tough loss.
But Cleveland is not the only Rustbelt city involved in this tournament: Buffalo and St. Louis have already moved on to the second round, while Milwaukee will be taking on Lehigh Valley, PA tomorrow. What does it mean that out of a field of 16 competitors, four of them are Rustbelt cities that will be featured in our second Midwest Sustainable Cities Symposium this September?
How Re-Thinking Malls Can Reshape Communities:
March 21, 2012 § 2 Comments
There has not been a new, enclosed mall to open in the United States, the land of malls and honey, since 2006. This might not seem to be too significant, but given our country’s obsession with shopping, the comfort of remaining in a climate-controlled environment for as long as humanly possible, eating at mediocre chain restaurants, and our fetishization of a suburban-style utopia that just wont go away; trust me, it’s a very big deal.
Indoor shopping malls, for the purposes of retail, are dying and it is a good thing. It is good because it is creating the opportunities to re-think what these massive properties can mean for a neighborhood, and how, through their abandonment, help point toward what is truly important and valuable to a community.
A Big F’in Deal
December 19, 2011 § Leave a Comment
In the new Detroit edition of the Huffington Post, a recent article features the “Best Detroit Tech Startups of 2011.” Included in the story is Detroit native Dan Gilbert, a majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Quicken Loans, and many other ventures. Gibert has been pumping money into small technology start-ups, fueling a resurgence in the Motor City.
