-
Representing Transects
Picking up on a couple of great posts on transect delineation over at FAD (and a lively discussion thread as well that is worth checking out), this idea continues to permeate the discussions around the Urban Edge. :: image via CATS Taking a different tack than the critique of the transect per se (of which…
-
Reading List: Kerb 17: Is LA Dead?
“Landscape architecture has not evolved the necessary operational agility to manage the growing complexity of regional urban infrastructures… Contemporary landscape architecture should seek to generate new performative models of infrastructural form that renew the biophysical environment while facilitating a regional understanding of market forces. Landscape architecture has failed to embrace the technical complexity of infrastructural…
-
Historic Depave Portland
As previously mentioned, the main drag along the Willamette was formerly a multi-lane highway named Harbor Drive, which was removed in the mid-1970’s to make way for the current resident along the river, Tom McCall Waterfront Park. :: image via Portland Mercury :: image via Flickr – William200549 Text, from the article ‘The Dead Freeway…
-
Ghost Highway: Mount Hood Freeway
It’s fascinating to dig into some of the historical legacies that have existed throughout planning over time. Some seem like missed opportunities – while others show that perhaps sometimes cooler heads will prevail, and we think of the awfulness of what might have been. Nowhere in Portland’s planning history is this more evident than the…
-
Soundtrack for Spaces 2
This video reminded me of a post from this past summer regarding Soundtrack for Spaces, where I speculated on the connection of space and a particular experiential musical accompaniment (particularly that viewed while in motion). Check out this one, compiled from Google Street View imagery with a soundtrack by Phoenix. (via Urban Tick) Brilliant. Google…
-
Historic Portland Maps: 1866 Portland Map
The last in this particular era of maps, this survey map highlights the tracing of ‘disappeared streams’ throughout the urban area, which requires research and layering of a number of historical maps onto the modern urban form. One map that has some interesting waterways is a Map of the City of Portland, Surveyed and drawn…
-
Historic Portland Maps: 1852 Cadastral Maps
Probably the most detailed and broad ranging of these early maps are from the collection from the Public Land Survey System (or Cadastral Maps). These were generated throughout the 1850s in the Portland metro region, with the main portion of Portland encompassed in two maps, which were obviously the base material for the 1852 Survey…
-
Historic Portland Maps: 1852 Downtown Survey
A focused companion in the same vintage as the 1852 Survey Map (which includes the entire city area) comes from the early Portland 1852 Downtown Survey, a more detailed account encompassing the downtown area adjacent to the Willamette River (oriented with north to the right). One interesting pattern is the street grid running right into…
-
Historic Portland Maps: 1852 Survey Map
Following up on the previous post, one of my all time favorite maps is the reproduction of the 1852 Survey Map offers not only development and trails, but information on soils, disappeared streams, topographic and other natural features. The map used to be available via a link to the BES website, but I can’t seem…
-
Historic Portland Maps: 1845-1852
The discussions of Portland Urban Form (here, here) got me thinking about a series of posts I originally posted to Free Association Design of a collection of historic Portland maps that I thought worthy of reposting here. It’s great to see the origins of the urban form begin to take shape, and it provides a…