Apr 22
In The Opinionator (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/the-music-of-flow/)?a blog of the New York Times, Richard Carrick wrote about “flow”, the concept developed by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist trained at the University of Chicago, and now teaching at Claremont Graduate University in California where he is also director and founder of the Quality of Life Research Center. ?Mr. Carrick, a …
Apr 11
I live in Harlem. ?Not Central Harlem but South Harlem which real estate developers have tried unsuccessfully to name Soha. ?I am about a block and a half from the northern boundary of Central Park at 110th Street. ?The chic development of Harlem is not where I am. ?It’s a couple of blocks over on …
Apr 08
Among the massive commentary that is flowing around the legacy of Margaret Thatcher what interests me most was not just her disinterest in building consensus but that it was anathema to her. ?Maybe it was part of the time as some have suggested – there were plenty of things to oppose – or that she …
Apr 05
The New York Times reported in an article on April 1 that tony London sections of Knightsbridge and Belgravia are emptying out not because they lack property owners but because they lack residents of those properties who use them more as hotels for their occasional stopovers than places to live. ?(http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/world/europe/a-slice-of-london-so-exclusive-even-the-owners-are-visitors.html?pagewanted=all) ?I forwarded this article …
Jan 22
I am inspired by President Obama’s Inaugural Address to give some thought to the relationship between cities and citizens. ?The President calls on us as ?citizens? several times in his speech. ?The notion of citizen is now generalized to include all who have legal residency in a country. ?As the President said, ?My oath is …
Aug 13
An opinion piece?in the New York Times today argues that the Rio plans to vacate through illegal evictions a large portion of the city’s poorest living in favelas in preparation for the Olympics to be held there in 2016: Last month, Unesco awarded?World Heritage Site status?to a substantial portion of the city, an area that?includes …
Aug 10
On Tuesday, August 10, three counties in southeastern Michigan, one which contains Detroit, and the other two suburban voted for a property tax, called a millage tax, to keep the Detroit Institute of Arts in business. ?Hardly a fluke, this was the culmination of a long-term strategy to renovate the museum and changes its attitude …
May 02
I participated in a panel discussion on cities at?Advancing Creative Thinking: Imagination to Innovation conference in Ridgefield, Connecticut this weekend. ?Kudos to the town of Ridgefield and its arts council for their commitment to the investing time and money to exploring the many ways large and small that creativity and innovation can be explored at …
Apr 21
First, many thanks to Claudia for getting the blog started. ?And then apologies for not picking up the ball and keeping things going. ?I?m hoping we?ll be fixing that situation soon. ?I?m happy to say that after much work on the part of a great team, we will be launching the Vitality Index? this coming …
Apr 20
San Antonio is a city with a thriving arts culture. The city has a large artist population and knows how to support and sustain it. The latest large-scale event created to showcase San Antonio cultural assets is Luminara?a one night arts festival which recently celebrated its fourth year. From dancers, to musicians, to literary artists …