Discuss - KunstlerCast #119: The Projects

[Duncan]

KunstlerCast #119: The Projects
Concentrating Poverty

Released: July 8, 2010

JHK explores a mostly abandoned low-income housing project in Duncan's neighborhood. Two of the three 9-story brick "vertical slums" are boarded up and abandoned. They come complete with their own "rape-o-matic" tunnel for pedestrians to travel under the bridge ramp that separates them. Kunstler says these "towers in a park" are based on the ideas of Le Corbusier, the Swiss-French architect/planner whose "Radiant City" plans envisioned turning the right bank of Paris into a series of high rise towers connected by highways. Corbu's plans were not implemented in Paris, but his ideas didn't die. In fact they morphed into what are commonly known as "the projects," low-income high rise towers all around the U.S. and indeed the world. Taking inspiration by the housing projects in Troy, Kunstler explains the history of this style of low-income housing and its detrimental side effects.

NOTE: There are two versions of this episode. The "enhanced" version has a photo slide show that plays while you listen.

Direct Download:

KunstlerCast_119.mp3

KunstlerCast_119-Enhanced.m4a

(11 MB | 18:48 mins.)

Sponsor:



Support for the KunstlerCast comes from Post Carbon Institute, the world's leading think tank dedicated to getting society off fossil fuels fast. PCI is proud to have James Howard Kunstler as a valued advisor--joining Richard Heinberg, Bill McKibben, Majora Carter, Rob Hopkins and 25 other Fellows in leading the transition to a more resilient world. Learn more at http://PostCarbon.org.

[noodles]

I really enjoyed the last 10 minutes.  Jim sounded very....calm.  Great articulation about our missteps, with some hopeful words for the future.  Good stuff

[mjcrites]

I'm enjoying the enhanced walkabout format, it would be fun to see it expanded to other topics: pea patches, bike lanes, a tour of the Cheese Doodle factory...

Enjoy your time off.

[Ro]

Ah the 'jects. We've got them in Europe as well. The riots in the Parisian projects are infamous.

[mhelie]

Ah the 'jects. We've got them in Europe as well. The riots in the Parisian projects are infamous.

Three apartment blocks are nothing compared to Parisian-style projects. Imagine a design so bad the police will only go in with armored cars. (And the Google Streetview car did not dare enter.)

[Ro]

Ah the 'jects. We've got them in Europe as well. The riots in the Parisian projects are infamous.

Three apartment blocks are nothing compared to Parisian-style projects. Imagine a design so bad the police will only go in with armored cars. (And the Google Streetview car did not dare enter.)

It sure does look horrible:

What I dislike most about these projects is that there's so much public space which is redundant. It makes me feel uncomfortable walking around such projects, especially at night. There's also very little mixed use in these areas. No shops, no offices, just residential buildings. It lacks a lot of liveliness for that reason. And the people that do create liveliness is often not the liveliness you want (drug dealers and so on).

In this area in Amsterdam there's an issue with the apartment buildings which is that the entrance is locked but also every floor of the building is locked separately. When I visited a friend who lived there a while ago I had to pass 3 locked doors (4 if you count his own front door). This is needed for safety reasons of course but it also makes the buildings difficult to access for the police. Especially if the inhabitants throw rocks and other objects at them.

(old picture, many of these buildings have been demolished by now)

[mhelie]

I've actually been to the Biljmermeer on my way to Amsterdam - pictures don't quite express just how enormous it is.

The new constructions replacing them are flatter but still soulless and repetitive.

[Duncan]

The Troy newspaper just ran an article about these project towers and cited the KunstlerCast in the article.

No date set for demo

Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
by Cecelia Martinez
The Record

TROY — The application for the demolition of two Troy Housing Authority Taylor Apartments buildings has been approved, but Acting Executive Secretary Tom Hulihan declined to say when exactly the buildings would come down.

[snip]

The Taylor Apartments were the focus of a recent podcast by Capital District author James Howard Kunstler. In the podcast, Kunstler said the buildings are based on designs by a Swiss-French architect, Le Corbusier, but are now considered “vertical slums.”

Full Article

[mjcrites]

Duncan, you guys are moving up in the world!

Did you read the news about Nigeria?
Nigeria: 'Insolvent' state oil company needs $6.6B
By BASHIR ADIGUN (AP) – 1 day ago
ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria's state-run oil company is "insolvent" and needs $6.6 billion to cover its debts and fund future oil exploration in the West African nation, a government minister said Tuesday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isYsXafBnTUr2AMx4bbYW88wvVWwD9GU9PDO1

Our days of happy motoring truly are coming to an end.

[Innocent Byproduct]

The Troy newspaper just ran an article about these project towers and cited the KunstlerCast in the article.

No date set for demo

Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
by Cecelia Martinez
The Record

TROY — The application for the demolition of two Troy Housing Authority Taylor Apartments buildings has been approved, but Acting Executive Secretary Tom Hulihan declined to say when exactly the buildings would come down.

[snip]

The Taylor Apartments were the focus of a recent podcast by Capital District author James Howard Kunstler. In the podcast, Kunstler said the buildings are based on designs by a Swiss-French architect, Le Corbusier, but are now considered “vertical slums.”

Full Article

Duncan, I just stumbled upon this news item. You should log into the newspaper's web site and post a link to the actual podcast.

[RVideo]

A great show but I had to skip the "enhanced" version b/c I absolutely refuse to install Apple's abortion of a plugin commonly know as "Quicktime." 

I attempted to convert the M4A to something that everybody could watch (there are many who refuse to install Quicktime) but was unsuccessful.  It's a shame that there isnt a universal FLV or standard video alternative to this otherwise great episode for the enhanced version.

[Hedgehog]

I must object strongly to the notion that poverty and "dis-functional behavior" are hereditary. Anyone can become poor at any time for any one of a number of reasons. And who knows how any of us would deal with that situation. So I say to you James Howard Kunstler, come on, you are a smart guy, think it through, can you offer any evidence to support what you said?