In tonight’s session of “mobilities: cities on the move” Professor Sheller introduced this video of a young scotsman, Danny MacAskill, filmed imaginatively navigating his environment and shaping it to suit his purpose. He clearly tests our understanding of an environment’s affordance while demonstrating that how we move through space alters our perception of a space […]
Author Archives: Patrick
Passions, Priorities and Perpetual Motion
These last few months have been a blur for me. I started a new full-time position with a planning department. I wrote an intensive application for a graduate scholarship. I began a number of graduate school applications. I hung out with friends. I went on some dates. I ramped up my work on Drexel Smart […]
The Future of Our Built Environment
According to the Center for Built Environment Research in the School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast: “Modern built environment research combines innovations in materials, interaction of people with the built environment, meeting social needs of housing, simulation studies for energy efficiency in the built environment, and the use of space, […]
Look to your team for your greatest strength
I recently read a synopsis of a seminar that discussed the evolution of the human brain. The seminar, sponsored by the Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Felloships, brought together members of diverse disciplines like anthropology, archaeology, biology and neuroscience. Essentially, the attendees said that our brains have developed through our social behavior, and not due to any drive […]
Now is a Good Time to be a Designer
Tim Brown of IDEO recently wrote that “much of what we are able to do with design is dependent on the context in which we ask our questions.” After all, as he understands it “an innovatoris someone who is able to ask a question that no one else has thought to ask.” Even better, one […]
Why We Study
Tonight I had a brief and thoughtful conversation with a mother. This weekend, I watched over her house, her dogs, and her two sons. I’m not sure how we got on the topic, but it might have started with the topic of her children not having any homework for the weekend or her one son […]
Out with Analog
I have always wondered if we are going in the right direction with all of our technologies. Today, many seem to be contemplating the difference between an analog world and the digital. Either way, they are both rather indicative of the advanced technologies of their times. Today’s digital world is rather encompassing and pervasive. When riding […]