To begin a discussion of where and how Crown Heights residents engage in their neighborhood we will consider how sidewalks are “third places” of interaction and social gatherings. Home and work places can be thought of as first and second places. Third places are defined as “public spaces that host the regular, voluntary, informal, and […]
Filed under: natural landscape, social justice, environmental planning on April 4th, 2008 | No Comments »
Our neighborhood of interest, Crown Heights, is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Clarkson Avenue to the south. Neighborhoods bounding Crown Heights are Prospect Heights to the west, Prospect Lefferts Gardens to the southwest, Wingate and Rugby to the South, Brownsville to the […]
Filed under: environmental planning on April 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »
New York City, as proposed in PlaNYC2030, is beginning citywide improvements to create a more sustainable and ‘green’ city. Part of this plan includes planting more trees in low tree count public spaces, particularly sidewalks, throughout all five boroughs. In addition to planting trees in low count areas the city can benefit residents by focusing […]
Filed under: natural landscape, social justice, environmental planning on April 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »
In 2006, New York City introduced PlaNYC2030, a plan to create a more sustainable urban environment. As part of this plan NYC will continue to plant trees in every planting opportunity in the city. This paper will address ways in which one can investigate resident needs beyond what is discussed in the plaNYC2030’s “Green the […]
Filed under: natural landscape, social justice, environmental planning on April 1st, 2008 | No Comments »
A professor at University of Vermont’s Environmental Policy and Planning department recently sent out a call for papers on Conservation and Conflict Resolution. His overall research question is “Can cooperation over environmental factors such as water distribution, pollution control, (and) wildlife conservation lead to spillover cooperative behavior between erstwhile adversaries?” He believes, and I agree, […]
Filed under: observations and opinions, environmental planning on March 11th, 2008 | No Comments »
In Malinowski’s ethnographic study of a coral garden population some miles from New Guinea he writes this about his field work:
“The principles of social organization, of legal constitution, of economics and religion have to be constructed by the observer out of a multitude of manifestations of varying significance and relevance. It is these invisible realities…which […]
Filed under: environmental planning, goals on February 20th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
This morning in my Environmental Planning course at Columbia part of our discussion focused on the driving forces of environmental change and the positive and negative role of cities. The discussion touched on many economic and population statistics but a few ideas stuck out to me:
1::According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) “the combination of […]
Filed under: environmental planning on February 13th, 2008 | No Comments »
I spent the last year and a half researching how people use the natural environment for recreation. In particular I participated with and interviewed cavers (people who explore caves) here in the northeast U.S. During this research I noticed how cavers constructed social networks in order to gain access to a particularly nice resource […]
Filed under: natural landscape, social justice, environmental planning on January 13th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
