Linda

Recently Oliver Wainwright wrote a blog article on plans for Rio Olympics 2016 and their legacy. ?He outlined the plans for the Olympics and their supposed transformation following. ?Important to the discussion as he points out is the “growing national discontent about he amount of public money being spent on both the Olympics and the …

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As most urbanites know it’s often the little things that get you through the day in a big city. ?The stresses and strains of the most average day wear you out and the small – and usually unexpected – moments of pleasure change your mood completely. ?Phil, one of the peacocks in residence at the …

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Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas will be staged in the Roman Baths in…Bath. ?What an idea. ?It is one production of many in the Bath Festival. ?See the video for a taste of how cool it would be to be there. ?http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/10086369/How-to-stage-an-opera-classic-in-the-Roman-Baths.html

You can make your own mind up about the attributes or lack thereof in the latest plan to demolish libraries in New York City (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/nyregion/public-agencies-needing-money-give-up-land-and-buildings.html). ?Personally I do not have the expertise to line up the values numerically on both sides of this argument. ?What I would say, and I have to friends, is that …

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If you’re lucky, you find out about a cultural shift before it’s over. ?I feel certain that many people living in the 1920s were aware that a cultural shift was going on, especially if they lived in Europe. ?Quite a few Americans are now aware that a cultural shift is occurring in the US. ?It …

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A friend wrote to me responding to a post on The Dish (http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/04/30/cities-dont-have-a-reset-button/): ?What is striking to me about SimCity and other models for urban planning is how increasingly-sophisticated they are getting, thanks to improving technology, incorporating more and more variables relating to everything from population density to urban waste and climate change; yet however …

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That is a headline that sounds too familiar. ?Patrick Sharkey, an NYU sociologist, reminds in his op/ed piece in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/opinion/the-urban-fire-next-time.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0) that the crisis is with us – if it ever went away – and will be here to stay if we don’t change the policies that directly affect our cities. ?Like …

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At last! ?A weather prediction of five days in a row of 60 degree temperatures. ?(Then sadly back to the 50s.) ?But let’s celebrate the warmth while we have it. ?And along with the sun come the turtles. ?While others may concentrate on flowers, turtles are my love. ?I can completely identify watching them claw …

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I feel sure that we will never be at a loss for these stories. ?A headline in today’s Guardian reads, “British culture should be seen as commodity, says Maria Miller [culture minister]”. ?(http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/24/british-culture-commodity-maria-miller)? Her stirring words on this topic were delivered before an audience of “senior cultural figures” at the British Museum. ?She vowed to …

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I received an email blast with this link to an article,?http://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2013/04/counting-arts-economic-drivers-dicey-proposition, in which the author reports on a Creative Vitality Index Report that rates Minneapolis as the sixth strongest arts community in the nation. ?The author goes on to mock this by maintaining that although she is “all for the arts,” the figure the report …

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