Roland Beinert

One potatoe, two potatoe, three potato, floor? Brilliant! That may inspire my next project.

What I meant was the image of some landscape or feature of the landscape within the region that people love, not necessarily the landscape outside the building. That sort image has a lot of power, I think. We tend to associate the regional landscape or famous landscapes with a place. I associate Moscow, ID, where I live, with the rolling hills of…[Read more]

You might like a book I’m currently reading called Urban Microclimate: Designing the Spaces Between Building by Evyatar Erell, David Pearlmutter and Terry Williamson.

I read this article yesterday, and I came to the conclusion that he was talking about the sometimes ridiculous reasons starchitects give for choosing design features. The architect picks a feature of the local landscape then tells a nice story about how it inspired him/her to make a building that looks like an ameoba or something. This is…[Read more]

I never actually worked for the firm. They just contacted me to find out if I wanted to work for them. I don’t remember the name of the firm, because it was more than a year ago. But if you want to find work over there, try looking at the ASLA joblink website. Sometimes there’s a few Chinese firms advertizing jobs there. I wish I could be more…[Read more]

This clip from Bill Moyers sums up my thoughts: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/11/19/372809/bill-moyers-plutocracy-and-democracy-dont-mix/

Now that I think about it, “Ignoreland” (also REM) would be another good choice.

“It’s the End of the World as We Know it” by REM

Wouldn’t the businesses still whine about whatever penalties you have in mind? Wouldn’t there be a new set of politicians who thought there shouldn’t be any penalties? Who would enforce all this without government? Individuals don’t have a good track record against multi-national corporations.
I think almost everyone here would agree that no per…[Read more]

So, if I am all for a free market for the most part, but want the government to prevent multi-national companies from dumping toxic waste into our drinking water or something, am I still an evil socialist? Should we let businesses walk all over us in the hopes they might decide to give us a few jobs? Is it only abuse of power if the government…[Read more]

How do you define socialism? If a government passes any rule that keeps big businesses from running amok, is that what you consider socialism? Have you ever thought that idealizing the market the way you do is just another form of extremism? It’s not perfect, you know. I’m not saying government is, either, of course.

So you’d shoot Bernard Madoff? Then call the SEC?

How have Swiss landscape architects, planners and architects responded to this so far? 

This article argues that we could be experiencing the great disruption, or it could be the big shift: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/opinion/theres-something-happening-here.html?_r=1

…and another: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/10/city_in_wisconsion_outlaw_bicyclists_pedestrians.php
This time a town is thinking about passing an ordinance that would essentially ban walking or biking. The article points out that there have been very few accidents. The author comes to the conclusion that the town is secretly run by the…[Read more]

Is it really the design of a park that makes it active? I think there are a lot of well-designed parks that are simply too large to be active all the time, and/or they are in the wrong location. This park is 20 acres. It would take a lot of people to make it seem active. Its in the civic center of Malibu, which probably means there are a few…[Read more]

Judith,
Have you read Janine Beynus’ book on biomimicry (Biomimicry: Innovations Inspired by Nature)? I think its worth reading. She has a section on farming, so its somewhat relevant to landscape architecture.

Long drawn out debates? I think you’re wrong about that. I don’t remember ever having long drawn out debates on land8. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong.

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/problems/bear-control.htm

I went back to grad school for a number of reasons. First, there were topics that I had not had an opportunity to explore in undergrad, like urban ecology, that I knew I would only have the time and resources to explore if I went back to college. Secondly, I wanted to explore planning, and there was a graduate certificate in planning at U of I.…[Read more]