everything

8 February 2012

Six days from now, Eve Picker, cityLAB’s intrepid CEO, will be meeting at the White House and wants to hear from you:

“Help wanted! 6 days from now I’ll be at the White House, in a meeting with the administration and other Pittsburgh business and civic leaders.They want to hear how they can help spur job creation and economic development in Pittsburgh.They want to hear our ideas about what they could be doing more or, or less of.

While I have ideas, I’ll bet all of you have more. Send them to me and I’ll write them up and take them along!”

Leave your ideas as comments here or send them to info@citylabpgh.org.

10 January 2012

cityLAB recently received an email from a long-time Pittsburgher who now lives in Harare, Zimbabwe. He writes:

Dear Garfield Neighbors,

Please find my contribution to your community creating its future: Invest. Brand. Plan.

Good luck with the process!

Mike Staresinic
Harare, Zimbabwe
Pittsburgh from 2012

Garland Clubs. Recovery takes time. Start small start now: combine joined parcels for gardens, greenways, community vegetable gardens and the like, as a viable investment strategy to attract neighborhood investment clubs. For the price of acquisition, tax, fencing, and some weed whacking, each patch of green neighborhood pulls the rest up. Over time, the surroundings come up due to these Garlands. As new housing picks up, it has green neighbors. Those who hold the green get their investment back as a neighborhood develops around them (eventually selling or developing their land), while residents walk the garlands  in an upcoming, natural, strengthening neighborhood. I am prepared to organize the first Garland Club.

Garland Brand. Garfield needs a new brand. Named for an inconsequential President who nobody remembers (quiz: ask meeting participants for that president’s first name), please play with options: 25% Garland. Gardens. 20% vacant can be readily made into a wonderful number when it = 25% FREE, 25% SPACE TO BREATHE, 25% NATURAL 25%. Natural material is the neighborhood’s natural strength. Pump it up to 25% Garlanded Garfield.

Holistic, Full-Cycle Planning. Pittsburgh should not be proud of its speed of demolition, rather speed of redevelopment. Figuring out the full cycle before buildings unfortunately go down transforms demolition from a loser into a winner.

Thanks for contributing your ideas, Mike!

view of Harare by Flickr user Simon Kelly

3 January 2012

cityLAB’s 6% Place book has been written up in the Bloomfield-Garfield Bulletin. In the article, Rick Swartz, executive director of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, says, “The book is an impressive piece of work that should fuel conversation and planning discussions for years to come.”

Read the article here, and read more of the January issue of The Bulletin here.

Thanks to the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation and to The Bulletin for their support and for the mention.

12 December 2011

Trailer for cityLIVE! event on 17 November 2011

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Watch the full version here.

12 December 2011

Full video for cityLIVE! event on 17 November 2011

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12 December 2011

Trailer for cityLIVE! event on 18 October 2011

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Watch the full version here.

12 December 2011

Full video for cityLIVE! event on 18 October 2011

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8 December 2011

cityLAB’s experiments create a buzz and seed change in cities. Your donation would help us to DO more next year, and that would be a holiday gift for all of us!

Click here to donate. Your tax-deductible donation will help keep us doing great experiments in the city!

 

16 November 2011

November 17 2011 | New Hazlett Theater | 6.30 P.M.

Can algebra be an organizing principal for a civil rights movement?  Robert Parris Moses thinks so!  As the founder of the Alegbra Project, a revolutionary educational tool, Dr. Moses will show how mathematics can be used as an organizing tool to guarantee quality public school education for all students. As a result of his efforts, Dr. Moses received the Heinz Award from the Heinz Family Foundation for making math instruction available to children of all backgrounds.

Carey Harris, Executive Director of A+ Schools, an independent advocate for improvement in public education, will highlight local efforts and trends to provide opportunities to public school students and will also moderate the discussion, which we’ll kick off with some questions from Pittsburgh Public School students.

Be there or be square.

2 November 2011

The Carnegie Museum of Art and the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh are sponsoring a free screening of the film Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of Rural Studio at 2:30 PM on November 12, 2011. The screening will be held at the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater at 4400 Forbes Avenue in Oakland. Read more about the screening here, read more about the film here, read an interview with the filmmaker about the film and Rural Studio’s work here, and watch the trailer below.

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