Belmar

I live walking distance from the Belmar Mall in Lakewood, CO. It is an example of mixed- land use. There are lofts, entertainment and even some mixed-income housing along its periphery. Everything you need is within walking distance from it. There is a post-office and a grocery store. However, it is very centered towards certain kinds of people. The stores cater to certain people. For example: Whole foods and Coldwater Creek are not stores that cater to the masses. It is also automobile centric. The 3 bus stops running at 11:30pm which is unfortunate if you get out of work at 1am. It is what is known as a town center and an example of retrofitting suburbia. Lakewood is a suburb.

Interview

Todd: Now, Mike, you lived in New York City. That's really, really cool. I think New York's a fantastic city. I've never lived there, but I visited New York many times. What was it like living in New York City?

Mike: Uh, like you said, there's a lot of cool things to do and see in New York. One big difference, when you’re living there, compared to when you’re visiting there, is that you start to feel like a New Yorker does, and it changes your sort of view point of the city and things to do there. Within the city, there's a lot of different, interesting places, and things to do, and of course, when you live there, you find out about more places that you normally wouldn't, either wouldn't know about or wouldn't have time to see if you were just visiting for a few days.

Todd: What did you do in New York city?

Mike: Well, I was there during the height of the internet boom, so I was working for an internet based company that was doing broadband web casting.I won't go into details, but there was just an internet related company, and so I lived in Midtown Manhattan in an expensive apartment, with a few friends and it...

Todd: Oh, you had roommates?

Mike: Yes, I had three roommates, none of whom were from New York, which is very common in New York, I think. It's a city of people who come from elsewhere to live in and the people from New York tend to, I think, sound and act a bit differently than the rest.

Todd: What was your favorite part of New York City?

Mike: Well, as you may know, New York is divided into several sectors, and I'll stick to Manhattan though, one of the main boroughs in New York is Manhattan. In that borough, it's divided into several sections, several areas. One of my favorite was Greenwich Village, and in that area there's a lot of interesting clubs and bars and right next to there, in another area called the Bowery, which is right next to Greenwich Village there are some sort of old icons and places that I'd known from back in the seventies, that were sort of where Punk Rock started, for example, ah, those kind of places, were there.

Todd: You like Punk music?

Mike: Yeah, I do. I'm a big fan. Old guy that I am. Yes.

Todd: Oh, that's cool. Um, could you ever live in New York City again?

Mike: Absolutely. I would live in New York, but, again it's an expensive city to live in and I think it's a very competitive city, and, yeah, if I had, if I had the opportunity I'd definitely live there again. I wouldn't settle in New York, but I'd definitely live there for awhile.

Todd: Oh, cool. Thanks, Mike.

Retrieved from http://www.elllo.org/english/0401/417-Mike-NewYork.htm

This interview is an example of the qualitative method of research. If all you did was take a bunch of interviews you might get a very specific non generalizable biased opinion, several of them. Based on this interview, New York City is an awesome place to live. If you were to ask me, I would have a differing opinion. How is that scientific?

LIving just enough for the city

I was listening to a Stevie wonder song called "Living just enough for the city". It reminded me of the article that mentioned the psychosis of living in the city. This song talks about living in the city in terms of crime, psychosis, lack of education and survival. It was written in the 60's in a hateful time of racial tension and mistrust. A racial tension and mistrust still exists very much in certain cities today.

The phenomena of public art

These are pictures I took while wandering in downtown Grand Juction. I also have pictures from downtown New York and Denver. What it is about downtown that screams public art? In class, We discussed how certain areas used to contain the jobs and the Central Business District. Then with de-industrialization jobs moved out further along the fringes. Then we talked about the revival of downtown. I feel like public art is part of this movement to make the city more appealing to people.

Levittown

This is an aerial view of the creation in one of the "Levittowns". The reading fascinated me about how it was influenced by all these factors: how it influenced how houses were built technologically and specialization as well as its effect on racial tensions. It is an example of the suburbanization of America. Therefore is an urban artifact just built in contrast to the main city as well as being part of the creation of suburbs on outskirts of cities.

Ur

This is a map of Ur, one of the early cities that developed along the rivers. I came upon it last year in History class. This city seems to go with Kotkin's theory of sacred-safe-busy. Sacred because it was so important that Kings were named after divinities. Safe because the most powerful kings had standing armies. Busy because of the population increases.

Every ghetto, every city

These are the lyrics to a Lauren Hill song. I was listening to one of my Cd's and I thought this is her definition of a city. Her description of a city is socio-economic. She names specific streets, what people wear, the food she ate, and the culture of the neighborhood. She also seems to be comparing the suburbs to a biblical place known as the "new Jerusalem".