Category Archives: Reflection

Podcast Response

What do you think the speakers and interview subjects did particularly well to communicate their ideas? What questions do you still have, or what do you think they could have explained better? Feel free to link to 1-2 of your favorite podcasts if you regularly listen to ones you want to share.

I chose to listen to the podcast of “East New York, did it work?” I like this podcast since the speaker did a great job so that we could hear a lot of opinions from people living around East New York. Through the interview, we felt a sense of the shortage of affordable housing in New York. He did great on defining the true meaning of affordable which was so controversial, which means is the word, affordable works for those rich people or those people with low income.

Podcast Blog Assignment

After listening to “There Goes the Neighborhood: Here’s the Plan”, I realized how it was created and what type of conceptual voice the podcast took; it was set in a narrative perspective. As events seemed to occur, there was a narrator describing his opinions or his overall thought process behind the topic of rezoning in Brooklyn being tied to gentrification, overcrowding, and manipulation tactics driven by politics and big shot developers.

I found the podcast’s aesthetic to be refreshing; there was never a time that the listener was left unaware of a topic or unbeknownst to a certain term; everything was explained for any listener’s understanding. I liked how there was a healthy mixture of narrative with interviews or a type of panelist conversation in which there is a moderator and someone speaking along those lines. I also liked the stitching between reality and personal analysis; it gave a very humanistic approach to a very broad topic of gentrification and rezoning.

As for any inquiries I had subsequent to listening to the podcast, I only had one recurring question, which is as follows: “As they mentioned the East New York project, Is this an example of finding an “antidote” to blight while avoiding massive gentrification?”

Podcast- There Goes the Neighborhood: East New York: Did it Work

The speakers make a great job interviewing the neighborhoods in East New York. People were expressive of how they feel and who changes is impacting them. I think that when they were speaking, they get the community point of view to prove what they are saying is facts. They make sure that people understand what is going on in the neighborhood and how the changes are being visible to everyone. The question is what are they calling that we have a lot of affordable housing, there is no such thing as affordable housing. Overall, the speakers did a great job explaining himself as well as his ideas. His ideas were clear and illustrated with examples and with the involvement of the community that is being affected.

Everyday commute observation

I gotta say, walking is one of the most dreadful activities I can think of. I just don’t understand how people like it, however moving to New York city it became a necessary thing I had to do in order to move around for a while when I was younger. Around my neighborhood there hasn’t been many changes. I live in a residential building and the only changes I noticed are the growth of parking for the building residents  and increase of traffic in the main streets. Since my building is adjacent to a major expressway, the vehicular circulation is always very busy while the pedestrian sidewalks are pretty empty. The area is calm asides from the constant car transit. Also at around 5-10 minute walk you will find yourself in a heavily pedestrian walkway since there are two different shopping malls around, which are busy for majority of the day. There are not enough food places  or open areas, like parks around. The only open space available is a main courtyard and entertaining center with different amenities shared between all the residential building of my complex. My daily commute involves driving from home to school everyday which doesn’t really allow me to observe most of the changes around that you would appreciate by walking. I have only notice a big increase in traffic and the lack of parking around my neighborhood and school, because what two years ago would take 10 minutes now takes up to and hour to find parking. I would still rather drive to places and I mostly avoid walking to any places, or if it involves major walking I’ll just not go at all, but after reading ” Urban walking isn’t just good for the soul” it made me think perhaps I Should walk once in a while.

Blog #2

As every new yorker, I spend time in traffic too, not as much as others, luckily train in my area almost never have delays, but still, things happen, especially when it driving. I work as a part-time driver and I think traffic is good when you have patience. it gives you chance to look around and see stuff.  There are so many places you can drive by and see, even from the train you might see a lot around, but there is nothing better to walk, you can discover places where you would never be able to go by train or car, or even better you might walk by the same place you drive by every day and notice things that you don’t pay attention from the car. in my case I always walk from home to train. I would love to walk from sheepshead bay to school but it is too far. after around two semesters of architecture, I started noticing interesting and exciting things on my daily route to city tech. Every day I find out more and more, I start to pay attention to details, and some things remind me of stuff I have learned in my architecture classes. I think you just have to look around when you walk and not be on the phone all the times.

Urban Walking

I live literally not even half a block away from the subway station. In the city, it seems a lot more convenient to find public transportation. There is also a lot more traffic because the streets are now designed to be more narrow because of the bicycle lanes and just one and two lanes for cars to drive. Where I live, when I step foot out of the door, I am facing a street where cars are waiting for the traffic light. Beyond that, is where the Sara D. Roosevelt park is. After I step foot out the door, I turn the left and start walking to reach the Grand Street train station, B and D. Before that, I have to wait at the stop sign for the light to change. Around where I live are mostly Asian markets and Asian bakeries, there will always be bakeries opened as earliest at 6am and filled with people rushing to buy breakfast. There is never a moment where I do not see a crowded street because many people just exited the subway station, meaning that I might have just missed my train.

Urban Walking Prompt

We, as the New Yorker spend three or more hours on traffic every day, either on train or car. We seriously did not spend much time on walking. I agree with the article, “Urban Walking isn’t just Good For Soul. It could Save Humanity” on the opinion, “Walking is the best way of getting to know a place, too.” Once you walk, your movement will be slowed down and you can have a chance to know the beauty of some places which you never realize since you were always in the car. It will not like when you were in the train, every scene was like a shortcut and pass so fast, we don’t even have a chance to focus on the detail, but you can see a bigger picture once you walk instead of driving. And that’s why I really enjoy the period between leaving my house and reaching the train station. I will exit my house earlier so I don’t need to be rush and I can walk slowly and find out what’s new around my house.

Urban Walking

Urban Walking and Exploration In New York City

Anyone who knows me moderately well, knows that I am a creature of habit. I take the same train and corresponding route to school, work, or wherever I need to be. Then, the same way home at the end of practically everyday. I have had this routine for years and I find comfort in it. Though I take this rather repetitious journey everyday, I would never describe my daily interaction with New York City as “boring” as Jonn Elledge stated in his short urban-walking memoir. In a city as vast as New York, you can take the same route everyday and experience a new adventure; meeting new people, taking in new cultures, and learning new points of view.

Normally, if I’m on a bus or train, you would find my nose buried in a book, my eyes captivated in a literary induced reverie. But once the sun goes down and the impending night rolls in, my innate paranoia of safety and awareness for my commute home becomes the forefront thought on my mind. I am then forced to walk in the clearest moments of observation of my entire day. I notice the last of CityTech students exiting Namm hall from their night classes as they make a beeline for the A train entrance, tourists desperately trying to find the Brooklyn Bridge on Adams Street, the homeless man curled on a bench in Columbus Park, and the colorful LED lights that illuminate the 1850’s Brooklyn Borough Hall at the end of the park. The open space in front of the massive stairs of the hall makes for skateboarders’ delight if the weather permits.

I agree with how Elledge described the urban city as opposed to the rural or suburban parts of town. That it’s more of human nature to watch other humans rather than observe inanimate nature. Everything most likely stays the same in less populated areas, while the constant motion of a diverse city ultimately gives rather divergent outputs of everyday life. The same buildings, bridges, parks, or other structures can become monotonous, redundant, or “boring” (as Elledge stated), but it’s the population, the people of this city, that add such a satisfaction that can’t be duplicated. It’s the New Yorkers that breathe life into New York City.