Empty Spaces in the Streetscape
Released: Dec. 18, 2008
James Howard Kunstler explains the negative effects that empty building lots have on the urban streetscape. These empty spaces or “missing teeth” are dead zones that are repellent to pedestrians. But, at the moment, our car crazy society prefers to keep those dead zones for surface parking rather than to infill them with good urban buildings. During the second half of the program Kunstler speaks face-to-face with Troy, N.Y. Mayor Harry Tutunjian about what to do with the empty space that will be left behind after the city demolishes its current City Hall. Plans for the soon-to-be empty lot include an underground parking garage with grass on top. The mayor says that the lawn will allow access to the Hudson River and provide scenic views of the river from Broadway. Kunstler argues that the building lot should be completely occupied by a good urban building, like a new city hall.
Direct Download:
KunstlerCast_43.mp3
( 35 MB | 38 mins.)
Note: Use Google Street View to view City Hall and Monument Square in Troy NY. Use the cursor to examine this outdoor public room:
Promo music featured in this episode courtesy of IODA Promonet:
Hauschka
“Freibad” (mp3)
from “Ferndorf”
(Fat Cat Records)
More On This Album
More info about the KunstlerCast theme music
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Book Cover: The KunstlerCast, by Duncan Crary (New Society Publishers, 2011) Paperback – 320 pages 6 Inches × 6 Inches (w × h) Weight: 261 Grams ISBN: 9780865716933
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If books were made out of Cheez Doodles this is what they would look like: bright orange, bite size, leaves a tasty residue on those who touch it.
REVIEWS
“This book is indeed great fun. … However, Crary’s superior volume has the guts to truly grapple with the harsh realities shaping our times—realities that few dare discuss out in the open.”
“KunstlerCast is an easy read that you can dip into and out of at will”
— Peter Bane, Permaculture Activist Magazine (.pdf), February 2012
“For those of you wanting a good overview of Kunstler’s thinking and for those of you that want to share JHK with others but may fear being embarrassed by the sometimes ‘salty’ language he can use, this book is a great tool. The format is, by design, conversational. You can digest it in small bites or in large pieces. And the Kunstler world through Duncan’s eyes is not necessarily sanitized, but it is communicated in a way that I think will reach a broader audience.”
“The 320-page New Society Publishers offering was just released in paperback and is based on four years of weekly Kunstler riffs recorded by podcasting journalist Duncan Crary. In his introduction to the book, Crary professes to be merely a host, and sometimes a Kunstler foil, but the two upstate New Yorkers really are kindred intellects.”
—Ready to despair? ‘Doomer’ exhorts us to ‘grow up’, Jon Rutter Lancaster Sunday News, Nov. 12, 2011