Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
• Grist celebrates artists in Santa Rosa, CA, this week. Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector made use of the city’s 1% for art law, which requires corporations doing major construction to fund public art projects, to build “Cyclisk” – a six storey sculpture made out of 340 bicycles and weighing in at 10,000 pounds.
• The Active Transportation Alliance reports on a new traffic calming device in West Vancouver, BC. A realistic stenciled image of a child chasing a ball has garnered controversy as a potential distraction.
• Alissa Walker at GOOD takes a positive spin on the recent Ground Zero Mosque debate. She challenges talking heads weighing in on the NYC issue to consider developments in their own communities and to use the energy they are spending on this particularly controversial project to think about and act on changes in their own communities.
• Lilli Carré at Chicago Magazine offer up an illustrated history of the raising of Chicago: an 1850s scheme to lift the city above the mud and gunk.
Photo from Active Transportation Alliance