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built

Homelessness has nothing to do with a lack of shelter. Graphic desgn student Mark Daye posted official looking signs in downtown Toronto noting the homelessness nearby. More in the Toronto Star and its reaction, captured on Torontoist.
>  8 April 2007 | LINK | Filed in ,
Zimbabwe: Graffiti Protests Multiply. Political graffiti surges in popularity because of the crackdown on nearly every other means of expression.

See also: “After graffiti calling for Mugabe to be ousted appeared in the bathrooms of an army barracks, the government announced a 300 percent pay increase for soldiers and teachers. ‘It is a way of buying off the soldiers,’ said [opposition activist] Moyo. ‘Mugabe is a terrified man.’”
>  14 March 2007 | LINK | Filed in
Guiding Principles of Sustainable Design. A nice little publication from the National Park Service, circa 1994.
>  26 February 2007 | LINK | Filed in , , ,
A Radical Apple Map. 14 points of radical New York City history around the East Village, plotted using the More Accessible Map CSS technique.
>  25 February 2007 | LINK | Filed in ,
Guerilla Gardening. Illicit, nocturnal gardening in public space. A blog of projects, mostly in London, each described with a blurb, location, photos, and budget. Includes tips for making your own.
>  22 February 2007 | LINK | Filed in ,
New York City Local Law 86. Passed in October 2005, New York City Local Law 86 became effective on January 1, 2007. It requires all new construction using $2 million or more of city funds to meet sustainability standards that are at least as strict as LEED silver. An unhappy consequence is that it just got even more expensive for affordable housing developers. (Though some are finding ways of greening without going LEED.)
>  18 February 2007 | LINK | Filed in ,

Paving the Clouds

UNESCO regonition seems to carry a heavy burden of opportunity.

La HuastecaLa Huasteca canyon, an ecological park in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park in north-eastern Mexico, may soon become part of a high-end residential development and golf course.

Last October, the municipality of Santa Catarina approved a 900 million dollar project to build more than 9,000 housing units and a 27-tee golf course in this place. Just a few days earlier it had been made part of a UNESCO biosphere network. Monterrey will also host the second Universal Forum of Cultures in 2007.

La Huasteca is a frequented family outing, camping and climbing site. One third of the drinking-water in Monterrey (pop. 3.7 million) comes from La Huasteca. There are over a thousand species in the area, seventy-three of which are endagered. See photos here.

The state and federal governments have pretty much washed their hands off the issue while local politicians, including a brother of the Governor, own part of the land.

Media coverage and activists have forced the new municipal authorities to claim they would freeze the project for at least three years, but they are now hinting they could give it the go-ahead this week.

Two activist websites are lahuasteca.org and voluntariosgreenpeace-mty.blogspot.com. Subcomandante Marcos shows his support to activists in this audio file.

See La Huasteca at Flickr, or read about it in Crain’s and La Jornada

>  18 February 2007 | LINK | Filed in , ,

Negative Campaigning

NYC's True Grafitti Problem

A great action in NYC, taping placards over those outdoor video billboards attached to subway entrances. The typography is composed of holes in the board, illuminated by the video ad beneath.

The project is Light Criticism, brought to you by the Anti-Advertising Agency and the Graffiti Research Lab.

In form, it reminds me of the work of Moose, writing his name on walls by cleaning them.

In context, it’s a lot like this guerilla wayfinding campaign, a grassroots, illegal action for civic improvement.

>  24 January 2007 | LINK | Filed in , , , , ,
Pedestrian Memorial. “After 19 months of installing ghost bikes for slain cyclists around New York, this is the first memorial we’ve created for a pedestrian.... We tried to come up a simple visual icon (like the white bikes), but couldn't come up with any one symbol that seemed appropriate. In Bogota, Colombia, a stenciled black star is stenciled onto the sidewalk, but that didn't seem right. Suggestions are welcome. Email us at visual.resistance at gmail.com.”
>  8 January 2007 | LINK | Filed in , ,
Solar powered trash compactor.
Solar powered parking meter.
Solar powered traffic light.
Solar powered bus shelter.
Solar powered municipal wifi?
>  31 December 2006 | LINK | Filed in ,



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