Critique of Glaeser's statements in article leading off this thread Here are some comments on the Glaeser statements in the article that starts off this thread. (Since I haven't read the book itself, these are comments on Glaeser's ideas as they are being portrayed in this article.) 1) [H]e...

Critique of Glaeser's Writings on Jane Jacobs` While I generally agree with much of what Edward Glaeser has to say about cities and skyscrapers, I think he has greatly misunderstood the work of Jane Jacobs and therefore mischaracterized it -- even if unintentionally. This is particularly true...

Don't know how many Urban Toronto readers/posters already know about the wonderful "Cinema Treasures" website, but a recent post on Urban Toronto (in the architecture section) about Art Deco buildings (including theaters) reminded me of it, and it occurred to me that many here who don't already...

Another interesting article about Zukin and Gentrification I think many readers of this thread will be interested in the current (May 2010?) online edition of "the Atlantic" monthly. Among other things it includes an interesting essay entitled, "Gentrification and Its Discontents," which is...

Thanks for bringing the Glaeser article to my attention! To M II A II R II K, Thanks for bringing the Glaeser article to my attention! Although I read the on-line edition of "The New York Times" regularly, I missed this essay when it first appeared on Tuesday -- and it's an article that I...

Correction Correction: Whoops! Obviously, I expanded the summary "two" basic objections into "three" basic objections. Benjamin Hemric April 29, 2010, 4:49 p.m.

There were a number of analytical / critical comments that were posted about this article when it was first published in the on-line edition of "The New York Times." If anyone is interested in reading them, click on the link after the words "Read More" in the above article, and then go down the...

Proposed Urban to Rural Taxonomy Benjamin Hemric originally wrote (in part) But I think the issue in general here is the one brought up previously by both Scarberiankhatru and myself. There are some downtowns that are just temporarily "down on their luck" and thus not the downtowns that they...

Proposed Urban to Rural Taxonomy 1) A number of interesting issues have been raised which I'd like to discuss. First, however, a quick definition of "quasi." I just looked it up in Webster's Third International, and one of the definitions for "quasi" is "as if; in a manner; in some sense...

Proposed Urban to Rural Taxonomy Eug wrote: Downtown cores are often not mixed use. They are very uninteresting after business hours, but I would [still] call them urban. Benjamin writes: Interesting point! 1) But I think there is a difference between "legislated" (by zoning)...

Proposed Urban to Rural Taxonomy Benjamin Hemric (me) originally wrote (in part): Note: as someone who thinks of himself as a Jane Jacobite, it seems to me that mixed uses and mostly high ground coverage (and thus walkability), but not necessarily high densities or tall buildings, are the...

Urban to Rural -- My Proposed Taxonomy As a long-time student of cities, it seems to me that there is a lot of confusion on this topic and, as a result, this has led to a lot of confusion in the field overall. Since the original poster mentioned NYC -- and seemed to be pretty astute in his...

Whoops! I meant Yorkville (not the Annex) Re-reading my post, I see a Freudian slip. If I remember correctly from my readings the area that 100 Yorkville Avenue is located in is, of course, Yorkville -- not the Annex. So my previous post should have read said this instead: But I have to...

What do Torontonians like / dislike about Rae? Being a New Yorker who is unfamiliar with the political landscape of Toronto (but who is someone who is interested in learning more), I'm curious about what people like and dislike about Councillor Rae. From the little I've read elsewhere...

24 hour-ness Haven't been to Toronto, so obviously can't comment on whether it is, or is not, a 24-hr. city. But the idea of a city's "24 hour-ness" has always fascinated me. So here are some observations about the "24-hour-ness" of New York City (which has been mentioned in other posts as a...