An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Urban Culture, Space, Architecture, and Design
Last June’s Venice Seminar frequently prompted me to think about what the “deep time” perspectives of evolutionary psychology and archaeology can contribute to the conversation about intercultural place-making. I’ve argued that Evolutionary Psychology might direct us to some cross-cultural common […]
Last week Charlie Rose invited to his interview table the geographer David Harvey and the economist Richard Wolff. At issue was the question of whether modern capitalism is in crisis. Embedded in the conversation are several topics relevant to the […]
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. […]
It was an honor to participate in the recent Intercultural Place-Making Seminar sponsored by The Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities Programme and held at the Palazzo Badoer, Università IUAV di Venezia. The seminar’s central organizing question was how urban planning […]
The 20th annual Congress for the New Urbanism recently wrapped up in West Palm Beach, Florida. I’ve never been to the Congress—and I didn’t attend this one—but I’m always interested in what transpires. A few summary reports by attendees provide […]
Back in November 2011 I wrote a review of Chad Friedrichs’ film The Pruitt-Igoe Myth. I’m prompted to revisit the subject because of a very nice analysis of the film by Ray Gindroz that recently appeared in Better! Cities and Towns. […]
One of my favorite anthropologists is the Norwegian Thomas Hylland Eriksen. His book Engaging Anthropology was a big hit in my senior capstone seminar on public anthropology. I recently came across his essay “Diversity versus Difference: Neoliberalism in the Minority […]
One of the delights of being in Bologna recently was meeting, courtesy of my colleague Gabriele Manella, other scholars doing urban research in the University of Bologna’s Sociology Department. I’m honored for our anthropology department here at DU to be […]
I’m just back from the “Contours of The City Conference” in Bologna, organized by the University of Bologna’s Laboratorio di Ricerca Sulle Città. It was all good: terrific hosts, stimulating company, an elegant meeting venue, and great cuisine. The conference […]
My title, and especially the concept of a “Just Aesthetic”, is attributable to Alaka Wali, Curator of North American Anthropology and Director of Applied Cultural Research in the Environment, Culture and Conservation Division at Chicago’s Field Museum. Yesterday Dr. Wali spoke at the […]
In three weeks time I’ll be headed to Bologna, Italy to participate in an international conference on the City sponsored by the University of Bologna’s Laboratorio di Ricerca sulle Città (Laboratory for Research on the City). The laboratory was co-founded […]
Or, help kill him? So asks Planetizen, in advertising an article by Robert Steuteville in Better! Cities and Towns. Steuteville’s argument is that gated communities like The Retreat at Twin Lakes create “a fortress mentality” replete with paranoia and suspicion […]