In England, a simple urban view is a regular contrast to the views that I saw while growing up. The latter showed a built environment no older than I am now. Here, there is comfort in contrast, because, as I have been writing over the past month, I can see […]
In mid-May, I began Sustaining Place with an explanation of why and how to document emergence from lockdown in May and June. From a London perspective, I have been loyal to that task over the last month, and alluded to the uneven impacts of the pandemic across the world. Even […]
People blend with their surroundings in cities. Today, in our dual pandemic world of disease and social justice (including a new tragedy in Atlanta), we see just what protest looks like against urban landscapes. The systemic injustice on display is both disheartening and tragic, through whichever lens we select to […]
Over the past several years, I have often posted a photograph and used it as a prompt for reflection. In Seeing the Better City, I encouraged this approach as a helpful way to spur meaningful discussions about urban land use disputes, particularly in American cities. In my pending book, I […]
Pandemic or not, we tend to talk only about what we see, even though we instinctively know that things are not always what they seem. We often divide the new and old, without imagining how the two might blend. But now is an enlightening time for long-term stories of adaptation, […]
Here in the United Kingdom, things are waking up again, with many pandemic-based recalibrations advancing to new venues. Things are much the same as before, but personal space is now strangely buffered, with in-person interactions altered in subtle ways. For instance, who would have imagined the need to explain that […]
In Newbury, England today, the High Street landscape shows the early easing of lockdown, surrounded by a framing sky. Such views can transcend the frantic quest for solutions in the most irrational and illogical times.
How to manage disruptive daily news that impacts our sense of well-being, highlights social disparity, or recalls the fragile balance between health and economy? As forms of therapy, how do we adapt to the unaccustomed extremes of 2020 thus far? Our answers will vary; recently, I have tried to share […]
During these all-too strange days of pandemic and protest, it is hard to say something someone has not said already, or to express outrage in an innovative way. But neither is it a time to remain silent, particularly when people remark here in London about an American President and expect […]
