News – Page 39 – William (Billy) Riggs

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Working on some publications using graphics and data from my dissertation (2011) focused walkability and housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too… If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;… Continue reading Untitled

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…the most important qualities in a city planner are “principled”, “integrity”, “professionalism”, and “passion”. Brent Toderian, Former Vancouver Planning Director

Higher Ed Moving Online and the Campus Environs?

Reports about this Stanford artificial intelligence course getting 160K enrollees may offer an insight into the future of higher education – especially if universities can begin charging for this enrollment to bring in extra revenue, without paying for the physical space these additional students might occupy on a campus. This, however, brings up interesting questions about the role of the campus and the importance of the classroom in the pedagogical experience. What is the role of the classroom in the teaching profession and what are the intangible benefits? What shape should built space on the college campuses take? In 20 years will campus simply be focused residential / social communities that can, in the words of former UC Berkeley, Chancellor Clark Kerr, “provide sex for the students, sports for the alumni, and parking for the faculty.”? If the Stanford course is any indication, it is unfortunate that faculty will likely not need that parking because they can teach from home in their pajamas.

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My task today: outline the best potential design options to reuse this mid-century building (or not).

Moon Colonization an Important Issue? Really?

Great discourse on an important subject by robertreich that ends up loosely tied to city planning on the moon of all places:

Newt’s latest idea, for example – to colonize the moon – is typically whacky.

As Reich reminds us, American citizens should not be so flippant as to simply assume a Newt nomination equates to an Obama victory. Our social and economic future is not something to gamble with – especially with weird speculation about moon colonization.