Back to Blogging?

A long ago, in a lifetime so far away, I started up this little blog. After a bit, I moved it over to another blogging platform, thinking I wanted more capabilities. And while that platform is quite good, I am taking this opportunity to move my blogging back over here as a way of tying in what I hope to do here with the social networking I am doing on Google+. What exactly does this mean?

I'll confess that I don't know yet. For now, this is an aspiration that may not actually go anywhere. My time and energy are limited, so I don't know if I am even ready or able to commit to this. But my quest, my search for ecopolis, goes on, and I would like to get back to sharing that search with the world in some small way. Maybe, somewhere, I will find others out there who find it interesting enough to join me on the journey and have come conversations on this topic. But first, I need find the time, energy, and discipline to make this whole blogging thing happen. I guess I can only give it a try, and see what happens.

For now, this will serve as a starting point. Where does it go from here? Well, we'll just be patient and see what happens next...

Rolling along...

I've been doing some thinking about my online life of late, and have decided to make a change so that I can do this blogging thing in a way that makes more sense for me. Consequently, this will be the last post at this location, but Seeking Ecopolis will live on. To see the new digs and more on what is going on, head over here. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the new neighborhood!

Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute

Today and tomorrow I'll be at a great land use planning conference that takes place right here in Denver every year. No wifi today, but may post ocassionally from my iPhone, time permitting. Should be a great time!


Preparing for the opening keynote at DUs Newman Center.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What is transportation for?

I came across this in a reading for my class Case Studies in Sustainable Transportation. The question, "What is transportation for?", was asked by urban theorist Lewis Mumford in 1958 after Congress passed and President Eisenhower signed the Federal Highway Act, which lead to the construction of the Interstate Highway System. I love Mumford's response to his own question:

"The purpose of transportation is to bring people and goods to places where they are needed, and to concentrate the greatest variety of goods and people within a limited area, in order to widen the possibility of choice without making it necessary to travel. A good transportation system minimizes unnecessary transportation; and in any event, it offers change of speed and mode to fit a diversity of human purposes."

Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, quoted in How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken, by Alex Marshall (emphasis mine)

What would our cities be like today if this paradigm had been headed, and our cities hadn't been ripped apart to make room for the interstates and the cars they would bring? I'll explore this in a future post.

A Vision of the Future...

This video shows a great vision of what the future could hold for America, and indeed the rest of the world, if we would just step up and encourage our government to make the infrastructure investments necessary to make it happen.

The technology is there to make this happen. Do we have the willpower to make Washington do it?

h/t to The City Fix for posting this

RTD Customer Panel

Last fall I applied to be part of a customer feedback panel for the Regional Transportation District (RTD) here in Denver. I received a letter from them late last week; I was one of over 200 applicants to be picked for the 15 member panel!

As a regular bus-rider, I am really looking forward to this. It will be a great way to learn more about RTD, and a good chance to give feedback. Have anything you'd like RTD to know about their services? Let me know in the comments!

Here's a link to the application website for more information on the panel itself.

A Journal, and Hopefully More...

This is the first in what will hopefully be a regular thing for me. I've considered doing this for a while, and even took a stab at it back in 2008. What has me going this time is the need to keep a journal for the Planning Studio class I'm taking this semester. While I'll be keeping a hand-written journal as part of the class requirement, I'm hoping to use this space as a way to supplement that endeavor, and to think through the things I'm learning about urban planning, sustainable development, and the relationships between land use, transportation, and the 3 "E's" of sustainability: environment, economics, and equity. We'll see what happens from here!

Oh, why the name "Seeking Ecopolis"? Well, let's start with the word "ecopolis". I picked up the term from Australian architect Paul Downton of Ecopolis Architects in Adelaide. It's essentially a term that is synonymous with the phrases "sustainable city" or "eco-city". The term just struck me, and has stuck with me for quite a while as a succinct way of talking about the need to find a way to live sustainably in a warming, urban world.

I'm sure I'll explore this term in more detail as I go forward with this blog. For now, thank you for joining me on the journey. For now, off to study!