+_Positive Spaces

Urban Politics: A Bird's Eye View

2011-11-15T12:21:00.001-08:00

Aerial view of Occupy UC Davis - from publiclaboratory.org

Ubiquitous communications and media technology used by private citizens as well as public authorities and the military came to be a defining feature of the Arab Spring protests across the Middle East. The complexity of the technology employed at demonstrations, riots, flash mobs, and other urban spectacles only continues to increase, and accordingly the view of these phenomena that is available to the outside observer is getting more direct, detailed, and rich. One of the latest developments is the use of various technology to capture audio and visuals that aren't confined to the street level or one person's point of view.

In Oakland for example, Public Laboratory experimented with using cameras attached to weather balloons to create this bird's eye view of the crowd at "Occupy Oakland":

Then there is this video of recent riots in Warsaw, taken from a flying Drone:

It will be interesting to see how both private citizens and public authorities develop and make use of these technologies in an urban political environment where the conflict plays out both on the level of the physical geography of the street as well as the semiotic dimension of media and images.

For more information on grassroots mapping, check out http://grassrootsmapping.org/ . For more information on drone technology, check out http://diydrones.com/

Have more imagery or examples of tech that is providing new vantage points for observing and mapping public protest? Post a comment and let me know!

TEDxTohoku - Oct. 30th Sendai, Japan

2011-10-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

This week I'm helping with TEDxTohoku, an independently organized TED event in Sendai, Japan that will showcase 12 speaker's presentations about the Tohoku region's revitalization after the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami. The theme of the event is "asking the 3.11 generation". I'm helping translate materials into English, organizing a team of bilingual volunteers to make the event more accesible for non-Japanese speaking attendees, and doing some English language PR.

My point of view and what I find so interesting about TEDxTohoku is that it is almost completely organized by local college students. Their passion and energy is amazing and I'm having a great time working with them. Having first imagined some stereotypical 20-30something creatives as the organizers I was shocked to find that most of them are my age or younger and most are going to university even as they are planning the event.

The popularization of the TED brand in Japan is another very interesting angle. This fall there have been many TEDx events in Japan like TEDxTokyo, TEDxTokyo_yz, TEDxTokyo Kids, and TEDxSEEDS. The brand is really starting to take hold. In a country where ideas are often handed down from central committees and presentations tend to be dry and read directly from a script... an event brand like TED where the spotlight is on the quality of the ideas and not who presents them is really radical and if it becomes popular, has the potential to really change how people think about post-disaster revitalization and other kinds of societal change here. The theme of the event is "asking the 3.11 generation" (the 3.11 generation being those whose lives were changed in great or small ways by the disaster). Focusing on "asking" instead of "saving" or "telling" something is what makes this event special in my opinion.

Right now the regional planning process is well underway and there are a wide variety of projects aimed at restoring, revitalizing, and growing the urban environment of Tohoku, whether in big cities like Sendai or small villages. I hope that as redevelopment plans are implemented, their planners consider the importance of "asking" and collaborating with the people who have or will inhabit these spaces and places. I'm grateful to have the chance to be a part of this event and hope it helps promote this sort of curiosity and willingness collaborate on new models for the future rather than rebuilding the past with old theories and preconceived notions.

I need to thank my friend Cesar Harada, a Senior TED Fellow, for introducing me to the organizers. Having just presented at TEDxSEEDS in Yokohama, Cesar is currently biking from Tokyo to Sendai, looking for a place to launch his sailing drone, Protei, (designed to tack into the wind and skim oil in swarms) in an attempt to test it's potential to measure radiation. Although he won't be presenting at the event he will join us on sunday and have some materials available for people interested in learning more.

If you can't make it on sunday, you can watch the event live on Ustream from our website:

http://www.tedxtohoku.com

Some of the speakers at the event will include:

•Paul Bennet - Chief Creative Officer, IDEO

As Chief Creative Officer of the global design consultancy IDEO, Mr. Bennett is actively involved in designing and bringing to market new products, services, and experiences. He is a proponent of 'human-centered design' that draws inspiration from the end-user experience and practical elements of daily life. he will speak on the concept of 'human-centered design' and how it might be applied in post-3.11 Tohoku.

•Kawashima Masashi – Google Senior Webmaster / Global Product Manager

Kawashima Masashi spearheaded the Google Person Finder project, initiated within hours after the earthquake struck, among other projects under Google Crisis Response. He will speak about the necessity of leadership and the role of Information Technology in natural disasters.

• Iinuma Kazuie - Head of Ishinomaki Red Cross Hospital.

Following the disaster, when the city of Ishinomaki's transportation links were severed, Ishinomaki Red Cross Hospital was the only functioning source of medical care, lead by Dr. Iinuma. He will speak about how to give medical care that protects the lives of residents in situations where outside aid is unavailable.

1930s Tokyo

2011-09-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

@Tokyorich posted a link to some amazing color footage of Tokyo from the 1930s. The film shows several of Tokyo's downtown districts such as Ginza, Marunouchi, and Asakusa. There was a lot of western and western-inspired architecture in the first two areas (Asakusa was and still is a more traditional entertainment district) at one time before earthquakes, bombings, industrialization and modernization replaced the landscape with today's dense modern buildings. The footage also features Frank Lloyd Wright's imperial hotel in it's original location where it continued to be used until the 60s, after famously withstanding the great Kanto earthquake of 1923 (although the building was in fact damaged). After it closed in the 60's it was dismantled and the main entrance hall was reconstructed in an open air architectural museum in Nagoya where you can still see it today:

Japanese comments on the Youtube video of the old film show an extreme nostalgia for this "high class" (jyouhin or 上品) city whose modern equivalent is no match in terms of beauty, vision, and culture. Several comments nationalistically blame the American bombing for ruining the city, and it is hard not to sympathize. However this was also the seat of imperial power and the politicization of the urban spaces is striking, with imperial flags fluttering from the European inspired architecture of Ginza and Marunouchi. You get an uncomfortable mixed sensation of the immense freedom and social change of the turn of the century modernizations, and at the same time the impending imperial grasp on the populace. This is the city where Natsume Soseki had lived and written his novels only a few decades prior. Despite the nostalgic yearnings of the modern youtube audience, this was not a time without troubles, and Soseki had been the first to criticize both what he saw as a simplistic mimicking of western culture as well as Japan's rapid industrialization and the toll he saw it taking on society. The nation's imperialization and the spectre of extreme nationalism was also a target of carefully nuanced criticism from authors of the time. And yet comparing this footage to the modern city, there is a definite nostalgia for an urban setting that was in a way more coherent and personal, a place where humanity could be seen in full bloom.

My friend Luke writes via Facebook:

"My old office is in Nihonbashi, near the original Takashimaya department store. There were a few shots in the clips above of people walking on a sidewalk I used to take everyday. (I recognize the glass in the pavement and wall of the store.) There's another showing Takashimaya surrounded by bombed out lots--not even buildings remain. I thought... how many stories have been lived out on that corner, me completely ignorant of nearly all of them when I was there. So weird to see a city you know bombed out--washed out too, I suppose."

Finally, here is a BBC documentary in 4 parts featuring more color photographs and film of pre-war Japan taken by western photographers, youtube user "Misaganokuni" writes:

"I was really impressed by this film.Many Japanese people still regard Japan before WWII as the country which was very poor and nations were suffering from poverty.But the truth may be completely different from what we were told.I felt that the people in those days were much more happier than people who live in the present society.Their innocent smiles have surely changed my view points toward Japanese.I really want to say thank you to all the staff who created this film."

Instant Cities and Solipsism Disorder

2011-09-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Image from Gale International via sustainablecities.dk

I've been thinking about recent megacity projects in India and Asia, such as Songdo in Korea and several in China. Can we think about these extreme topdown master plans and constructions as falling victim to or generating a sort of Solipsism Syndrome?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism_syndrome

Solipsism Syndrome appears to be associated with theories on humans in space:

http://www.nss.org/settlement/nasa/spaceresvol4/images/monitor.JPG

"Something must exist beyond each human's manipulation because people learn to cope with reality when reality is different from their imagination. If the reality is the same as the imagination, there is no escape from falling into solipsism. In extraterrestrial communities, everything can be virtually controlled. In fact, technically nothing should go beyond human control even though this is psychologically bad; however, some amount of "unpredictability" can be built in within a controllable range. One way to achieve this is to generate artificial unpredictability by means of a table of random numbers. Another way is to allow animals and plants a degree of freedom and independence from human planning. Both types of unpredictability must have a high visibility to be effective. This high visibility is easier to achieve in a macrogeometry which allows longer lines of sight..." - Wikipedia

I see this applying to planning, architecture, and urban design as well. How far do topdown utopian planning architects need to go before they start having to consider 'introducing a level of unpredictability'? All this means in terms of cities is letting people do their thing. Most of our cities--being semi-organic--have so much unpredictability it boggles the mind, and according to the wiki on the 'disorder', this is probably not an unhealthy thing.

But what about this new breed of instant megacity where unpredictability has been minimized to an extreme? would new inhabitants start to exhibit the signs of this disorder in these environments? one has to wonder.. but rather than dismissing these new cities as unhealthy and staring with shock, disgust, and fascination as most features on them seem to, it might be more interesting to explore how they could incorporate enough unpredictability to grow into healthy inhabited settlements. One way or another people might have to live in these places. how can we create systems of governance and urban spaces that allow us to be just out of control enough to feel alive?

I am reminded of this "immune-system boosting house"

What if a whole city were built like this?

Of course the real answer I think is not wacky design but rather loosening the creative grip (creatively loosening if you absolutely have to be 'creative') and planning for agent citizens with various interests and agendas, and for unexpected occurrences that multiply and build alternative urban systems from below.

What Meets the Eye in Northeast Portland, Oregon

2011-08-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Northeast Portland is a really interesting place. Historically a minority area known for its high crime rates, within the past 10 years or so it has become the new frontier for arts and culture in Portland, and accordingly a major site of urban gentrification. The two major commercial streets are Mississippi and Alberta, both dubbed "historic areas", while the surrounding area is primarily residential and low-rise as is much of Portland east of the river. Portland's lax ordinances when it comes to property and public right of way care allow for a plethora wonderful, flowery foliage that grows in the yards and sidewalks. Indeed many local streets are "unimproved", meaning that they have either been depaved, allowed to decay or augmented with gravel and greenery. Several intersections have undergone "repair", a procedure adopted into the city code that allows for a large, traffic-slowing mural on an intersection with majority approval and cooperation amongst its neighbors. Some groups that promote these kinds of spaces in Portland are "City Repair" and "Depave".

One interesting architectural characteristic of North East is the corrugated metal that you can find on homes (like the one pictured above), galleries, condos, and restaurants/bars like "Alleyway" and "Tin Shed". I'm used to seeing this material in the context of informal settlements in the developing world, so it was interesting to find such a local fascination with it here. Finally, Alberta and Mississippi have some great food carts, like the "Grilled Cheese Grill", housed in an old school bus.

Like many gentrifying neighborhoods, the north east seems polarized between neolocals and the area's historically black and latino population that has been increasingly pushed out. At the root of the divide is the discriminatory "red lining" practices of banks in the 40s which led to concentrations of "high risk" minorities in the only areas where they could buy from realtors, who risked losing their license if they sold properties to minorities outside of these areas (info from AlbertaMainSt.org). In the 1990s the area was rediscovered by artists and small businesspeople. Their attention brought down the historic crime rate but also raised rent and began to create tension and pressure on longtime poorer residents to move out. Friends tell me there is a noticeable divide and lack of socialization between the groups. Last summer when I was visiting I saw a homeless man berating the owner of a wine bar on the patio, telling him between slurs and curses that it wasn't fair for him to be asked not to bother the patrons when they invaded his neighborhood every month with their wild "Last Thursday" art fair. Bars tend to cater to one group or the other and there is at least a one-way stigma for neolocals to enter an establishment where longtime residents gather. One exception seems to be the neighborhood pub "Binks" where longtime residents and newcomers mingle.

Despite the narratives of gentrification surrounding Northeast Portland, the area is full of contradictions and places where the stereotypes break down. A leisurely stroll down Alberta St. during the yearly street fair revealed a diverse cast of Portland characters stepping out in the neighborhood in their own ways, and taking in the relaxed atmosphere of the street.

Update 9/26/11: check out this article in the Atlantic about bike lanes & racial tension in northeast: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2011/09/portland-bike-lanes-open-racial-wounds/138/

2011-08-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

Restarting this page soon, either here or at a new address... stay tuned

Photo: Even the graffiti in Cambridge, MA is intellectual. Kendal SQ T, Red Line

Tokyo Urban Activism (update: from public space to brand space)

2010-09-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Update: Here is a video of Nike's vision of the space, a stark difference:

Miyashita Park in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo is the site of a struggle over urban public space. Activists are protesting the Ward's plans to turn the Park into a Nike Sponsored Skateboard Park, criticizing the privatization of a historic site of public assembly & protest, and shelter to many local homeless. One activist banner depicts a Nike swoosh turned into a swiping hand, adding a sinister inflection to the motto "just do it". A more detailed description can be found at West Tokyo Hustle. More at (japanese): airmiyashitapark.info ourplanet-tv

When the ward recently barricaded the park, ostensibly for "cleaning" and preparation for the new construction, activists gathered again to protest. The youtube video of the demonstration provides an interesting peek at Japanese activism (and its seemingly ubiquitous helmets, head and/or armbands). For a great history of public protest in Japan see Wesley Sasaki-Uemura's Organizing The Spontaneous: Citizen Protest in Postwar Japan.

update: @remmid links to a TBS interview with social scientist Miyadai Shin about Miyashita Park and the future of public space: http://podcast.tbsradio.jp/dc/files/miyadai20100917.mp3

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Creating Translocal Spaces, The Old-Fashioned Way!

2010-08-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

Jim Weeks, the town crier from Bideford, England paid a visit to Biddeford, Maine to give a town cry on Main St.

CoLab Radio

2010-08-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

I submitted one of my photos from an HOB event in Biddeford to the MIT CoLab Radio blog:

http://colabradio.mit.edu/

Montreal

2010-08-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

"Le spectacle n'est pas un ensemble d'images, mais un rapport social entre des personnes, médiatisé par des images."

–Guy Debord

http://www.montrealgazette.com/columnists/they+destroying+Lower+Main/3648319/story.html

Music in The Park

2010-08-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

This summer we added tables & chairs to Shevenell Park, a rather neglected pocket park on Main St. For the last few fridays they have been filled for a series of free performances featuring local bands. In terms of 'structure', we saw how the furniture immediately changed the perception of the space, from more or less an oversized alleyway to a pleasant nook shaded by trees where one might sit down for a quiet lunch. On the other hand, the music--although not a structural element-- changes the spatial perception just as much, associating the space with the concept of a stage or venue rather than, well, nothing in particular. Finally, the old park sign was replaced with a new one sporting an image of the park's namesake, Israel Shevenell, who was supposedly the first French-Canadian immigrant to arrive in Biddeford, having walked all the way from his home in Canada. The old sign had been a classic example of the long list of "NO"'s that mar so many public spaces in this country. The new sign also lists rules, as required by city ordinance, but they are written in a much more human voice and the portrait of Shevenell almost makes it seem like it is his voice speaking through the sign. Many people objected that the new chairs and tables would be immediately stolen, but as in the case of similar improvement projects, if something is useful it is usually respected and protected by the community; so far nothing has been removed or vandalized.

Additions: chairs and tables, new signage,
small plants such as ferns, and bamboo sheets
to block an open view of some dumpsters.

So here we have spatial revitalization in 3 dimensions: physical structure (chairs & tables), representation (the written sign, rules, photo, and history of Shevenell), and socio-cultural activity (in this case a musical performance).

With a little stretching it is possible to interpret the park revitalization in terms of Henri Lefebvre's spatial "trialiectic"of Spatial Practice, Representations of Space, and Spaces of Representation. These are really difficult concepts to distinguish, mostly because they necessarily bleed together, but the park example provides a really nice tool for attempting to explain them.

Spatial Practice, as I interpret it, is intended to signify everyday, un-thoughtful perceptions of space; using and thinking about space as one is "supposed" to according to the dominant ideology whether of the architect, planner, or society at large. You don't hang your laundry or sleep in the park, not because someone needed to tell you not to, just because it doesn't seem appropriate for that sort of space.

Representations of space like public signs
tell you how to think about and treat spaces.

Representations of Space have to do with the concepts, discourses, words, and images that go into creating the commonsense spatial practice mentioned above. In the park example, the sign with it's list of rules, official name, and history, is an example of a representation of space. Except for the sign that instructs you to, you don't HAVE to call the park by a certain name; you can use whatever name you want, and indeed many public spaces have 'unofficial' names that can become more famous than the official ones. Yet signs, plans, and urban planning typologies do have a great deal of power because they overlay a certain favored interpretation of space to the extent that it can be really difficult to separate the actual space with all of its potential from the ideas that have congealed around it due to the spatial representations. Skateboarders have always been adept at cutting through representations of space and unlocking different potentials; a railing becomes an athletic obstacle for instance, defeating everything we know about what a "railing" should be.

Bringing one's own chair
as an example of engaged spatial practice

Finally, there are Spaces of Representation, the third and most difficult to understand piece of the trialectic. As far as I understand Spaces of Representation (also translated as discourse of space, or representational space), the category is meant to be a synthesis of spatial practice and representations of space, effectively forging a sort of active spatial participation, where people--by the very virtue of how they are present in space, and act on and within it--are consciously involved a conversation (or battle) about the significance of that space. A live performance like the ones we have been holding would seem like the type of ephemeral spatial phenomenon that would allow this tricky concept to begin to emerge. Being a participant in a live performance, as a listener or musician, gives one the chance to "try out" not only the physical space of the park itself, but also the rules, ideas, and perceptions governing it.

With our "revitalization" efforts, we were basically asking a question using the medium of space which is essentially "can you see this park as a place you would want to come hang out in and use regularly?" This is what the chairs, the sign, and the concert series collectively ask; and the people who attend the concerts every friday have a chance to listen to this question and answer it for themselves. They may accept our new interpretation, or continue to think of the park in a neutral or somewhat negative light; or they may decide they have their own interpretation; after all, with our additions the park could sprout some unintended uses: drug sales, busking, sleeping, theft. Some of these unintended uses may actually be desirable, others of course less so. But if the park ends up getting used in new ways or picking up a nickname for itself, then that would perhaps show that it has become a space of representation, a site of active spatial interpretation and counter-interpretation.

'Is this a place you would want to hang out in?'

I hope my own theoretical interpretation is not so difficult to understand. I also hope it at least has some bearing on what Lefebvre really intended with his spatial trialectic. If anyone can comment on whether my interpretation is on the right track or not, I would be really grateful. A lot of times however it is tempting to get carried away in jargon and forget that even something that sounds as convoluted as "spatial trialectics" ultimately boils down to really concrete things we do and feel in our everyday lives. Whenever possible less emphasis should be placed on fragile jargon-y constructions and more on lessons taken from the experience of everyday life which is, in the end, all there is.

Heartworks Community Forum Article

2010-07-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

The Courier published an article about our recent "community forum" event on Thursday. A very positive write up; I especially like how they did not quote me (a facilitator) but used quotes from the actual attendees. They raised some interesting observations about the city. The attendee exit surveys from the event also contained a lot of interesting opinions and observations; I am going through them now and putting together an at-a-glance display sheet about the crowd that attended the forum. Check the Flickr reel to the right for more pictures from the event. Also, add "Heart of Biddeford" on facebook for more info

"They agreed downtown has an urban feel, but feel Biddeford still has the community feeling of a small town. Brian Schrader said he is impressed with the 'amazing talents' of people in the city. While Buczacz said he appreciates the reusable architecture downtown."

Update: changed blog title

2010-07-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

I just changed the title of the blog from the exceedingly PoMo ______Cities, to Positive Space, a title that incorporates the so-called spatial turn in urban sociology put forward principally by Lefebvre and nowadays Ed Soja. I subscribe to the view that sees space as just as important as other political economic dimensions if not more so. That the latest economic crisis was intimately tied to real estate is testament to this.
so.. Positive Space.. in the spirit of creating/fostering/fighting for more socially just, environmentally friendly, and democratically controlled spaces, and criticizing 'negative spaces'; those which are unjust, toxic, discriminatory, impersonal, authoritarian. The dialectic should turn into some bigger picture, combining positive and negative space the way a successful design, painting, or sculpture does.
-NK

Democratizing Information Access+Literacy: What happens when everyone's an architect?

2010-07-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is a recent post on BigThink about trying to make programming languages part of people's everyday vocabulary: http://ht.ly/29p2f

Something to consider when it comes to the democratization of information access and information manipulation is: If everyone knew how to program would it be easier or harder to maintain the standards (html, CSS, OS software and computer hardware itself), or would all standards just melt away? I think the question of whether you want a democratization of programming/techno knowledge is what will separate the technocrats who believe only an esoteric barrier between the masses and the technocratic elite can protect the stability we need to have communciation and cross-compatibility; from those who hope for a more egalitarian system that does not obscure knowledge on purpose.

One thing that might happen with routinized computer knowledge is that our collective ability to create and maintain standards would become tied to our politico-socio-psycho-economic ability to cooperate with each other.

Whereas now I think the esoteric nature information architecture/design/planning is allowing us to exceed our actual social potential for cooperation, with the democratization of knowledge we might see a temporary setback and some struggles until we somehow learn to let everyone hold their own reigns and still come together to create something greater such as the internet and collective info archives that require standard setting practices.

I would choose to take this harder path because the potential fruits are much greater; it all comes down to do you believe a truly free and open, decentralized society can function? would you bet on it? would you risk WWIII for the sake of it? We have yet to see major warfare based solely on information.. a sign that we haven't really grappled with what information means to us yet.

(MP3) Justice, Equity, and Rights In The City: panel discussion from the Just Metropolis Conference, UC Berkeley 2010

2010-06-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

I still need to write a reportback about the Just Metropolis Conference at Berkeley that I attended from the 16th-20th. In the mean time, here is a recording of an all-star panel (Teresa Caldeira, Peter Marcuse, Edward Soja, Martha Matsuoka, and James Holston); "Justice, Equity, and Rights in The City: A Conversation About Contemporary Urban Idea(l)s." It was a hell of a debate, and an amazing conference. Thanks to all of the presenters and organizers, especially Alex Schafran from UC Berkeley.

Download now or listen on posterous

Justice,_Equity,_and_Rights_In_The_City.mp3 (26603 KB)

In the discussion, I found the comment from an audience member at the end regarding justice & pain fascinating. All too often we treat pain as something to be suppressed/repressed, when it is not pain that is the enemy but suffering; an idea that is central to Buddhist philosophy. Of course we want to rid ourselves of suffering and unnecessary pain, but there is a certain amount of pain that is a function of our existence and the fact that we have to work; to exploit ourselves, others, and the environment, in order to survive. If we look on that basic pain in disgust, or try and make it disappear (the entire project of modernity was/is in some sense concerned with this), we just end up creating more suffering, whether for ourselves, or for those on whom the pain of the privileged is dumped. So the notion of justice is inextricably tied to pain, the pain that we all inherit at birth and learn to share in complex ways through our social/technological constructions. A Just city would certainly eliminate a great deal of unnecessary pain that we have now (corporal punishment, etc), but it would also equitably share the pain we need to live, the pain that is our inheritance, the pain that turns to pleasure when we appreciate what it does for us. That's a Buddhist teaching, that pain can turn to pleasure to the extent that we do not turn away from it but observe it closely and make it our companion. I hope that this point was not lost on the panel.

-Nick Kaufmann

Building a Community Skills Lab @ Heart of Biddeford

2010-06-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

This corner will soon become...

This!>

The goal is to provide a space where local business owners and residents can learn about urban planning / community development / business development, thereby enabling them to better understand the language of planners and administrators and be able to have productive and empowered dialogues with them about the community. Planners and outsiders can in turn learn more about the community here. There will be a computer workstation in addition to a small library of books, so that people can come in and listen to open source lectures or watch DVD materials, as well as promote their projects with online social media.

The Social Capital wall will be a low-tech, local Facebook; a directory of people and organizations, their skills, and how to contact them. Everything will be updated according to the wall, so there can be an online directory and a yearly guidebook distributed to local businesses when we accumulate enough profiles. In order to encourage people to post profiles, we can make it a condition of being able to borrow a book from the library. That way we make sure to get the books back :)

http://www.heartofbiddeford.org

Some shots of Chicago from the air

2009-06-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

Passed Chicago on the plane out West

Seaside, Oregon: Making and Re-making a Coastal Resort Town

2009-05-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

[This is a paper I wrote for a college course in 2009]

In the 1870’s, developer and railroad tycoon Ben Holladay built a luxury hotel called Seaside House on the Oregon coast, in the style of an Italian villa. The hotel had a stable and a racetrack—since many of the wealthy visitors arrived by stagecoach. The elegant atmosphere attracted elite tourists from Portland and San Francisco. This hotel that would eventually give Seaside, Oregon its name, was once called “the oldest fashionable resort” on the coast .

Fast forward about 130 years—a few friends and I are stranded at Cannon Beach in the Rain with only a tent for shelter, so we decide to look for a hotel to spend the night in. When we sheepishly ask one of the hotel managers if she has anything under eighty dollars, she tells us that we “won’t find anything that cheap in Cannon”, and suggests we try someplace like the Econo Lodge seven miles North in Seaside. This is how I was first introduced to the town, as Cannon Beach’s ‘cheaper alternative’ —cheaper, I gathered, not just in terms of hotel prices, but in a deeper, value-laden sense. Both towns are tourist destinations, and they are built around beaches a few miles apart, yet Seaside has evolved into quite a different place from its neighbor. For one thing, it has embraced Econo Lodge, and many other hotel chains and resort condominiums, which line Highway 101 and lie clustered around the beachfront blocks of the city’s downtown. In contrast to Cannon Beach’s quiet affluence, Seaside seems built for the masses, with a sort of Cony Island mishmash of attractions. The long-term influence of tourism on the landscape was evident from my brief observation, but there seemed to be a discontinuity between the more historic features—plaques announcing the endpoint of the Lewis & Clark expedition for example—and the ones that appear to be part of recent (and likely ongoing) renewal, such as the sushi restaurant, luxury condos, and yes the Econo Lodge. Towering over them all is the Resort at Seaside, an eight story, three building complex that surrounds a swimming pool right next to the sand. An advertisement for the resort announces in mock cursive script, “we invite you to tour the Resort at Seaside!”

How did Seaside go from “the oldest fashionable resort” on the coast to what the developer of the Resort at Seaside had called “tacky”, “rowdy”, and “rinky-dink”? What does the most recent development represent? And how has history been preserved along the way?

Accounts of Seaside’s history, and the broader narrative of tourist development in the west that Hal Rothman recounts in his book Devil’s Bargains, suggest that Seaside’s shift from high-brow to mainstream was hastened by the development of transportation infrastructure—first the rail, and then the highway—which democratized travel to the coastal town. Furthermore, as tourism became democratized in Seaside, its form changed as well, to a blend of recreational tourism and heritage tourism made palatable for the masses.

In 1888, a rail service opened up connecting Astoria and Seaside, providing a convenient alternative to stagecoach travel. In 1898 another line connecting Portland and Astoria made the whole trip possible by rail (taking four hours or so). Whereas in the early 1800s the area’s economy depended on logging, trapping and salmon fishing, by the turn of the century the city of Seaside came to rely heavily on seasonal tourists. In the summer the full-time population of 500 would increase by 10 or 20 times. Recreation was clearly a main draw, visible in attractions like boat rentals and an indoor, salt-water swimming pool, or “natatorium”.

The 1920s brought automobile culture to Seaside with the opening of Highway 101, which ran from Astoria to the California Border. Broadway, Seaside’s main street leading to the beach (nicknamed “rubberneck row”) was rebuilt around the automobile, as the wooden beachfront boardwalk was replaced by a concrete promenade and automobile turnaround, allowing cars to get about as close to the beach as they could without sinking into the sand. Wells notes that in the 1930s, “car touring became an increasingly affordable way to spend a family vacation”. In the late 30s, the Sunset Highway between Portland and Seaside—the same one my friends and I took on our budget spring break—completed the updated circuitry of mainstream tourism.

Seaside today is divided into eastern and western sections by a river. The eastern side of town is centered on the highway, around which have been built several strip malls, a large movie theatre, and a Safeway supermarket. The western side of town is organized in a grid pattern, focused on the main axis of Broadway Avenue. The streets above it are marked with numbers and the ones below it with letters. Broadway runs from Highway 101 to the “Historic Turnaround” and promenade running parallel to the beach. At the center of the turnaround is a bronze statue of Lewis & Clark that marks “the end of the Lewis & Clark Trail”. Next to the promenade there is a swing set and a few coin-operated viewing devices. Despite the cold weather, at around two ‘o clock in the afternoon the sand was quite crowded, (there was even one swimmer). Some people were trying to fly kites and others were pedaling around on recumbent bicycles that were available for rent.

Broadway clearly still functions as the city’s “main street”. It opens easily onto the promenade and beach, facilitating movement between the sand and the restaurants, souvenir shops, and entertainment centers that make up the commercial blocks. Although the street is open to vehicles, its features welcome pedestrian traffic and there are large planters of flowers and greenery decorating the intersection, which are paved with bricks instead of plain concrete. The sidewalks are wide with walk signals that give a generous amount of crossing time. Decorative streetlamps (which look to be about as old as the promenade) run down the avenue and the buildings are colorfully painted with large shopping windows and awnings.
The attractions are still predominately recreational. Some of the businesses include: “Funzone”, a large video arcade; a trinket store selling items such as swords and tapestries featuring Bruce Lee; a salt-water taffy store; Italian, Japanese, and Cajun-themed restaurants; and a small shopping center with an old-fashioned carousel at the center, a caricature artist, wild-west themed photo portrait studio, and a store called “mostly hats”. Except for the Resort at Seaside the buildings on Broadway keep a relatively low profile, with large display windows and pastel colored exteriors recalling a certain Disneyfied Main Street aesthetic.

I got the sense that features seeming to represent Seaside’s particular history had been blended with nostalgic features, which were fashioned to evoke an abstracted sense of history but which were in actuality a product of recent renewal. The “Flash from the past” photo shop in the Carousel Mall provides the most obvious example of a pseudo-historical element. The store offers visitors the chance to dress up in Wild West garb and have their picture taken in a mock saloon. Other parts of the mall also seemed pseudo-historical, such as the “Flashback Malt Shoppe” and the mall’s centerpiece, a full-size working carousel that charged $1.25 per ride. These stylistically ‘old’ features are mixed with features like the “historic turnaround” and various statues and plaques describing historical events connected to the area such as the end of the Lewis & Clark expedition in a way that forms a simplified version of history in the mind of the casual observing tourist. It is as if Lewis and Clark actually ended their journey by driving out to the turnabout in their hot-rod, sipping malts from the malt shoppe.

This fanciful image speaks to one of the characteristics of mainstream tourism that Hal Rothman discusses in Devil’s Bargains. Rothman argues that as the train and automobile democratized tourism, it changed forms from ‘heritage tourism’, an elite practice of soaking in national history, to ‘recreational tourism’ in which just soaking in a pool was good enough. He writes:
“Recreational tourism melded the amenities required by elite nineteenth-century tourists with activities that appealed to a broader public, less status conscious but more affluent and having greater amounts of leisure time after World War II.”

Recreational tourism was not as concerned with the historic legacy of the places it appropriated. Seaside’s generic name is in some sense the perfect example of this ethos, under which people were mostly seeking only ‘a day at the beach’. Yet as Seaside developed into a resort town, it clearly retained a historical legacy associated with the mythology of the west, the Lewis & Clark expedition, and to a lesser extent the Clatsop-Nehalem tribes indigenous to the area. The melding of the town’s generic resort features and historical attractions, such as a reconstruction of the salt works used by the Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery—and also pseudo-historical ones like Flash from the Past—is in line with Rothman’s theory of the rise of a third type of tourism he calls “entertainment tourism”. “Entertainment tourism,” he writes, “eventually included both recreational and heritage tourism within its broad dimensions, packaging experience in resorts and national parks and mimicking what these forms offered in the packaged unreality of Disneyland, theme parks, and even Las Vegas.”

Entertainment tourism certainly seems to describe the experience that Seaside offers today, even if it is not nearly on the level of Disneyland or Las Vegas— which brings me back to the Resort at Seaside. The resort was built by a company called Worldmark at a cost of 73 million dollars. According to an article celebrating the resort’s innovative “concrete wall system”:
“The Resort at Seaside marks the 49th Trendwest resort that WorkMark operates in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Fiji. Five other resorts are also located in Oregon at Depoe Bay, Redmond, Gleneden Beach, Klamath Falls and Newport.”
At the same time that the luxury and amenities of the Resort at Seaside recall the affluence of the original Seaside House, the resort represents a new stage of tourism and an entirely different relationship to place. The resort sits right next to the historic turnaround and towers over the bronze effigy of Lewis & Clark, at the same time as it exists in a transnational economic dimension next to identical buildings in Australia, Mexico, and Fiji. If rails and roads democratized tourism, global networks of capital are re-stratifying it for the age of post-modern consumption, where “travel as a defining experience has become a new form of religion, a new way to value the self.”

What happens to place and history in this context? Boyer argues that the packaging of history into theme parks of consumption “suppresses the continuous order of reality, the connecting in between places, and imposes instead an imaginary order of things”. In a way, the evolution from heritage to entertainment tourism can be thought of as a gradual hollowing out and liquification of place, turning it into a commodity in the global market. If seaside followed this model exactly, then the actual history of Lewis & Clark, logging, fur trading, and the Clatsop-Nehalem people, would cede to the pseudo-historical aura of Flash from the Past, offering historical auras and new identities up for sale to post-modern tourists who aren’t bothered that the history they are consuming has no referent. I don’t think Seaside has gotten that far yet, and there seems to be plenty of earnest efforts by local groups like the Seaside Historical Society to preserve more authentic narratives of the town’s history. Yet the Resort at Seaside and the “devil’s bargain” of tourism it represents is unnerving. As one resident said in an Oregonian article, “it was hyped that this development was going to save Seaside, and that’s just not true.” Some local shop-owners and employees are optimistic however. Their point of view can be summed up in the words of a candy-store owner: “I think Trendwest is the best thing to happen to Seaside since Lewis & Clark.”

Sources:

Pulaski, Alex. “Seaside’s Second Wind” The Oregonian, December 12, 2003.

Boyer, Christine M. “Cities for Sale: Merchandising History at South Street Seaport” in Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space. New York: Hill and Wang, 1992.

Wells, Gail. “Tourists Discover the Oregon Coast” The Oregon History Project, www.ohs.org 2006.

Hughey, Ray. "Oceanfront Seaside project largest for concrete wall system". Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR) 03 May, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4184/is_20030731/ai_n10046086/

Rothman, Hal K. Devil’s Bargains: Tourism in the Twentieth-Century American West. Kansas: the University Press of Kansas, 1998.

Author Unknown. “Oregon’s Seaside.” Pp. 20, The Seaside Vacation Planner. Pelican Productions, Inc. 2009.

Paulson, Sara. “Seaside House” The Oregon History Project, www.ohs.org 2007.