Design work has begun for a new Carter G. Woodson Park, located in my neighborhood one block from the Carter G. Woodson house at the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue, Q Street, and 9th Streets NW. According to the project’s manager at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who is overseeing the planning, the project […]
Slums in Cape Town and Beyond
Part 5 of my South Africa series. To begin this week’s final post on South Africa, let’s consider this satellite image of most of metropolitan Cape Town, population roughly 2.9 million. This map depicts an area some 40 miles across. Next, this map of the economic geography of the city from a city planning document […]
The Minibus Solution
Part 4 of my South Africa series Imagine a public transportation system that combines the low cost and fixed routes of a bus, with the frequency and availability of a private taxi. The system would be idea: convenient, low-cost, and predictable. There’d be no fear the driver was taking you for a ride, and catching […]
Government-Built Sprawl
Part 3 of my South Africa Series The lack of progress bridging the social divides in South Africa has not been due to political will. In addition to a variety of political rights (many which Americans will be familiar with from our Bill of Rights), the South African Constitution includes workers’ rights to join unions, […]
Shaw Library Meeting Monday
UPDATE: This meeting has been canceled. If, like me, you received a post card about it in the mail please disregard it. Next week the D.C. Public Library will start the first round of public meetings connected to the redesign of three neighborhood libraries: the Benning Neighborhood Library, Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library, and Watha T. Daniel/Shaw […]
The Defensive City
Part 2 in my South Africa series The combination of affluence and desperate poverty in South Africa I described yesterday has made the country a world leader in both crime and security technology. In particular, security measures are pervasive in the physical form of the city. Although some of the security measures date from the […]
A Cityscape Divided
Part 1: Setting the Scene I recently returned from spending one month in Cape Town participating in a study abroad program. Each day this week I will post a new article exploring, in order, the social context, the defensive architecture I observed, government led low-income urban sprawl, Cape Town’s ingenious Minibus taxis, and a selection […]