The Rumpus Interview with Michael Helm
One of the key themes of Helm’s novels is whether or not imagination can help humanity deal with a troubled past. Can the stories we tell about each other…help us reach some sort of peace?
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Posts Tagged: cities
The Golden Gate Bridge = The George Washington Bridge?
Want to leave NYC but fear too much about abandoning your beloved Red Hook/Boreum Hill/Washington Heights/Harlem/Upper West Side…? Check out The Morning News’s list of counterpart neighborhoods throughout the US and abroad.
Rumpus pal Alexander Chee recommends Portland, Maine’s Vinalhaven in place of Bushwick, and former Saturday editor Michelle Dean praises Toronto’s Leslieville as Park Slope’s sister neighborhood.
...moreIntertextual Cityscapes
According to his website, Matthew Picton is interested in “humanising the city by deconstructing the clean, uncompromising aesthetic of the cartographic city plan and imbuing it with the unique history and culture of each place.”
Deconstructed, his works — bird’s eye view layouts of cities including New York, Tehran, and Portland — are layered representations of the urban as art. Flavorwire explains:
...more‘Who’s Up, Who’s Down, Who’s New’
Monocle Magazine‘s annual global quality of life survey is freshly released for public consumption.
A city’s livability and lovability (amongst other things) are considered in this reflection on what makes a city great. Adaptability, innovation, and connectivity are prized characteristics by monocle correspondents, though even Japan’s vending machine culture is explored.
...moreBurrowing
“Cappadocia had been cobwebbed by trade routes in those days and was constantly under attack; the underground cities served as fortification from invaders…What made me curious was that the ancient inhabitants were believed to live underground for months at a time.”
At The Paris Review, Will Hunt writes about his explorations in subterranean colonies, ants, and the Thames Tunnel.
...moreDream City
Salon kicked off a new column called Dream City with an exploration of how “cities of the future” are being designed.
“…The inescapable truth is that the new urban reality we’ve created — the one with spiffed-up boulevards and cutting-edge transit and high-design parks and bike lanes and BeltLines — is more expensive than the one that existed before.
...moreLinear Parks
Linear parks have sprung from abandoned rail lines in cities nationwide. This article looks at the most well-known of these industrial transformations, New York’s High Line park, along with examples of other abandoned railroads, bridges, canals and factories that have been reshaped into parks.
...moreCity Inspirations
With 80% of the population expected to inhabit cities by 2050, governments may find ideas for reforms in examples of urban transformations elsewhere. This piece looks to Colombia, whose story of “political metamorphosis” is told in Bogota Change, part of the Cities on Speed film series.
...moreOn The City And The City
“‘No two persons ever read the same book,’ the writer and critic Edmund Wilson said. Let me expand that sentiment outward into the geography of experience: it seems increasingly clear to me that no two persons live in the same city.”
At The Millions, an insightful commentary on China Mieville’s The City And The City.
...moreMorning Coffee
Evidently we’re thinking about cities today.
New Scientist takes an in-depth look at drowned cities, fact and fiction. Thank you New Scientist.
The winning design for Mexico’s pavillion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
1/100 scale architectural models.
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