{"id":1479,"date":"2007-04-27T13:24:01","date_gmt":"2007-04-27T18:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/good-design-bad-cities\/"},"modified":"2007-04-27T15:38:09","modified_gmt":"2007-04-27T20:38:09","slug":"good-design-bad-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/good-design-bad-cities","title":{"rendered":"“Good design” = bad cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

I meant to post this James Lileks bleat<\/a> a while ago. He engaged in some “wretched, slanted cherry-picking of selected quotes” from a newspaper interview with professor Thomas Fisher, the dean of University of Minnesota’s new School of Design. The interview discusses “the Design Economy,” and Lileks uses some of Fisher’s quotes as a springboard to discuss cities (starting with Minneapolis), suburbs, and the economies that are tied to them. Starting point:<\/p>\n

[I]f all you have is a degree in Design, everything looks like a design problem.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a long post, but I recommend giving it a read<\/a>, if only because it helps me justify my own life in the suburbs:<\/p>\n

Boring people live everywhere. Interesting people live everywhere. People have reasons for wanting to live in certain places, and if someone wants to live in the city, it’s his business. If he wants to live in the burbs, it’s his business. I could argue that people who confine themselves to the city are removing themselves from the experience of suburbia, which is actually more germaine to understanding America’s future than experiencing some of the lousy blocks I drive through daily.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So there’s some Friday afternoon reading for ya, in case it’s a slow day at the office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I meant to post this James Lileks bleat a while ago. He engaged in some “wretched, slanted cherry-picking of selected quotes” from a newspaper interview with professor Thomas Fisher, the dean of University of Minnesota’s new School of Design. The interview discusses “the Design Economy,” and Lileks uses some of Fisher’s quotes as a springboard … <\/p>\n

Continue reading ““Good design” = bad cities”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,46,3,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-design","category-suburbs","category-urban-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-nR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":329,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/the-blum-is-off-the-ros","url_meta":{"origin":1479,"position":0},"title":"The Blum is off the Ros","author":"Gil","date":"August 9, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"James Lileks on Ikea: And we'll have to shift around a lot because this sofa feels like a washcloth draped over some two-by-fours, but it's a hip washcloth.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3906,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-may-8-2009","url_meta":{"origin":1479,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: May 8, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"May 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm heading off to Toronto this morning, so I'm trusting you not to break anything. I'll try to bring back some Tim Horton's. Oh, you're looking for some Unrequired Reading? Just click \"more\"! Poets, judged by beard weight. * * * The coffee ouroboros. * * * You need special\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15316,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-490-alexandra-lange","url_meta":{"origin":1479,"position":2},"title":"Episode 490 – Alexandra Lange","author":"Gil","date":"June 14, 2022","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 490: Alexandra Lange \"A lot of people try to think about the geography of the mall in the context of the outside. The outside is not important. Ignore the outside and get into the center and work your way out from there.\" With her fantastic new book,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/langecomp.jpg?fit=1102%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/langecomp.jpg?fit=1102%2C800&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/langecomp.jpg?fit=1102%2C800&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/langecomp.jpg?fit=1102%2C800&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/langecomp.jpg?fit=1102%2C800&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5073,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wait-a-minute-mister-postman","url_meta":{"origin":1479,"position":3},"title":"Wait a minute, Mister Postman","author":"Gil","date":"March 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The UPS guy just drove up our driveway and almost through our house: I'm starting to think working at home isn't such a good idea for me.","rel":"","context":"In "suburbs"","block_context":{"text":"suburbs","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/suburbs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1550,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/sprawl-for-some","url_meta":{"origin":1479,"position":4},"title":"Sprawl for Some","author":"Gil","date":"June 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't recall why I never finished reading Robert Bruegmann's Sprawl: A Compact History. Presumably this was because of the standard reason I don't always finish non-fiction books: I picked up some novel that caught my interest and never looked back. That doesn't mean that I won't get around to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "suburbs"","block_context":{"text":"suburbs","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/suburbs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0226076911","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":936,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/of-safety-pins-and-razrs","url_meta":{"origin":1479,"position":5},"title":"Of Safety Pins and Razrs","author":"Gil","date":"May 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"BusinessWeek has an interview with Phaidon Press editorial director Emilia Terragni about Phaidon Design Classics, a three-volume release covering 999 examples of great everyday design. 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