Filter by author » Simmons Buntin

• Columnists

  Denver: America’s Great Urban Canvas, Part I

  Simmons Buntin | Mon, Aug 4th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Denver | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, denver, new urbanism, civano, stapleton, town planning, boulder, neotraditional development, bradburn village, modernist architecture, longmont, urban planning, prospect new town, westminster | 0

  The metropolitan Denver area has become America’s greatest urban canvas, and a tour of some of the region’s New Urbanist neighborhoods demonstrates why. Join Simmons Buntin and his host, urban planner Carolyn Dooling, as they tour Stapleton in Denver, Bradburn Village in Westminster, and Prospect New Town in Longmont, discovering places with soul.

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• Columnists

  Is It True That Nobody Walks in L.A.?

  Simmons Buntin | Thu, Jul 17th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Los Angeles | Tags: simmons buntin, suburbs, california, los angeles, growth, denver, new urbanism, smart growth, great neighborhoods, southern california, neighborhoods, downtown redevelopment, urbanism, pasadena, ventura, azusa | 0

  “Walkin’ in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.,” sings the 80s band Missing Persons. But from the handful of times I’ve been to L.A. — including my trip two weeks ago — I can’t help but think the song is only half right.  And the resurgence of great Los Angeles-area neighborhoods and cities is due to public leaders like Rick Cole, Ventura city manager, who are after the “authentic” in city design and development.

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  Knowing Your Neighbor, Online and Off

  Simmons Buntin | Fri, Jul 4th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Tucson | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, website, civano, interaction, discussion forum, community design, cohousing, virtual reality, neighborhood design | 6

  There are two communities in my community.  The first is physical—thin, tree-lined streets and pocket parks, Southwestern architecture and community gardens.  The second is virtual—a community website and discussion forum, registration required. 

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• Columnists

  Harry Potter and the City of Gold

  Simmons Buntin | Tue, Jun 17th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Boulder | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, architecture, alley, england, restaurants, streetscape, urban form, theme parks, boulder, amusement parks, harry potter | 0

  The release of a Harry Potter prequel this week creates a spell on one reader, who goes on to ponder: What does J.K. Rowling’s seven-book Harry Potter series tell us about urban form, and what might that form look like?  By 2010 we’ll know, as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter comes to life with hamlet, forest, and school grounds at Universal Studios in Orlando.  But how authentic can it be?

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• Columnists

  My Martian City

  Simmons Buntin | Fri, May 30th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, building, architecture, pennsylvania, arizona, ecocity, planets, martian, mars, future city, colonization, space travel, arcology | 1

  All the recent Phoenix Mars Lander hullabaloo has got me thinking about what the first Earth-built city on Mars would look like.  Who would get the opportunity to plan that city, and would we find the amenities that make Earth’s best urban spaces also make for the best cities on the Red Planet?

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  The Wildflower Wars

  Simmons Buntin | Thu, May 15th, 2008 | City: Denver | Tags: environment, tucson, simmons buntin, denver, new urbanism, civano, hoa, sense of place, yard, master-planned communities, flowers, nature in the city, landscaping | 1

  A dazzling wildflower season spells trouble for the master-planned communities that spread like invasive weeds along the edges of urban areas across the West.  How are the wildflower wars being waged, and why is it important to have natural yards in cities, anyway?

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  Ghosts as Urban Indicators

  Simmons Buntin | Thu, May 1st, 2008 | City: Bisbee | Tags: simmons buntin, downtown, arizona, historic preservation, urban indicators, bisbee, ghost town, mining, economic development, ghosts | 0

  Given its wild history, mountain geography, and distinct architecture, it’s no wonder that people would want to haunt the historic mining town of Bisbee, Arizona.  But what do the town’s ghosts tell us about the livability of this place?  What kind of urban indicator can spirits be?

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  Beyond the Ballpark: Thwarted Expectations for the Colorado Rockies and the Civano Town Center?

  Simmons Buntin | Thu, Apr 17th, 2008 | City: Civano | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, denver, new urbanism, sports, civano, stapleton, colorado rockies, town center, belmar, coors field | 0

  Expectations are a tricky thing to manage, since they are both internal and external, based on solid design and a large does of guesswork. Heightened by the press and built at a frenzied pace, expectations for sports teams are also rooted in deep team loyalty, which itself comes from the host city’s sense of the place. So what do expectations for the Colorado Rockies and Tucson’s Civano town center have in common?

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• Columnists

  What Rock ‘n Roll and the National Register of Historic Places (Don’t) Have in Common

  Simmons Buntin | Wed, Mar 26th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, building, growth, architecture, historic preservation, music, the economist, rock and roll, national register of historic places | 0

  Hey buddy, being old doesn’t make it classic.  The same is true for architecture, though here I substitute historic for classic.  A recent article in The Economist troubles me in a similar way. 

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• Columnists

  Designing Beyond the Virtual City

  Simmons Buntin | Tue, Mar 18th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: simmons buntin, architecture, website, facebook, urban design compendium, urban design, christopher alexander, city design, good city form, website design, resources, kevin lynch, town planning, pattern languge | 0

  This website design process got me thinking about the city design process, and what they’ve got in common.  Does the virtual translate to the concrete?  No matter how technology changes, the process used to design websites is fundamentally the same.  Is that also true for cities?

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• Columnists

  Finding the Sacred in the City

  Simmons Buntin | Wed, Feb 27th, 2008 | Category: Report | Tags: simmons buntin, paul murrain, yuma, manmade, rome, remade, jeremiah, genocide, sacred city | 0

  Urban designer Paul Murrain said, “We cannot continue to believe that the landscape is sacred and the city profane.” Yet media teaches us at every poorly lit street corner that the city is profane: profanity on brick walls and sidewalks, in theaters and bookstores.  Sin City.  Star Wars and its city planet Coruscant.  CSI Miami or New York or Las Vegas or, who knows what lucky town is next. Yuma, perhaps.  “They must both be considered sacred,” he concludes.

  Finding the sacred in the…

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• Columnists

  The Photographer’s Dilemma: A Public Process Parable

  Simmons Buntin | Thu, Feb 21st, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: simmons buntin, new urbanism, civano, utopia, photography, canon, filter, design charrettes, design aesthetic | 2

  It’s possible my soul was just sold to the devil. You see, I’m an avid photographer — the worst kind: a hobbyist, spending lots of money on the craft but never recouping the investment, at least financially. When I travel, an empty hand longs to hold the camera. So when the new Canon Rebel XSi was announced three weeks ago, I got all jittery; it must be mine. But times are tight, and a thousand bucks give or take are not easy to come by. Still, I pre-ordered the new-fangled thing, which…

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• Columnists

  Dark Skies, Bright Future?

  Simmons Buntin | Tue, Feb 12th, 2008 | Category: Report | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, arizona, observatory, light pollution, international dark-sky association | 0

  When plans are drawn for preserving urban environments, they often account for important systems like watersheds, transportation corridors, and infrastructure.  In Tucson, and throughout southern Arizona, the health of cities is also measured in light pollution — with a singular goal of maintaining dark skies.

  Of the 43 observatories, university departments, and institutions associated with astronomy and space exploration in Arizona — accounting for a statewide impact of $252 million…

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  ‘People in New York are the friendliest people in the world’

  Simmons Buntin | Tue, Feb 5th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: new york city, simmons buntin, myths, friendly people, great cities | 4

  Well before the South American gauchos rolled through the subway that lolled from Uptown to Brooklyn, I knew most of my preconceptions about New York City were flat wrong.  As the two men sang over guitar and accordion, moving down the Sunday morning train to collect the small tips that most riders provided, I thought back over the last few days. It had been a scurry of literary readings and writing panels, late-night dinners and subway rides, and miles upon miles of Manhattan walks. And…

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  What Makes a Great Neighborhood?

  Simmons Buntin | Tue, Jan 29th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: simmons buntin, civano comunity school, placemaking, the great neighborhood book, jay walljasper | 0

  Pam Bateman is an instigator. The Civano Community Schoolmarm has a long history of kicking up my neighborhood’s proverbial dust. For starters, she and her family were the first residents of the new urbanist community of Civano. They are pioneers, and Pam specifically is a risk taker with an agenda. She started our neighborhood school, which is based on community involvement and experiential — that is hands-on, field-based — learning. (It’s the greenest grade school in America I…

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• Columnists

  The Greenest School in America

  Simmons Buntin | Mon, Jan 21st, 2008 | Category: Report | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, new urbanism, civano community school, pam bateman, greenest school, kermit the frog | 1

  Kermit the Frog sang, “It’s not easy bein’ green,” and he’d know. Yet in this period of rapidly declining frog populations — amphibian mortality, like just about everything else, is now linked to climate change — being green does have its benefits.

  For the Civano Community School in Tucson, being green means a $50,000 award for the school, a green iPod with a solar charger for each of the school’s 66 students, and a year’s supply of All Small and Mighty concentrated laundry detergent…

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• Columnists

  A Boy and His Horse, and the HOA Too

  Simmons Buntin | Tue, Jan 15th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: simmons buntin, new urbanism, civano, hoa, miniature horse | 0

  A few weeks before Christmas, Alexander Gonzalez, who lives in the Skyline Bel Air Estates subdivision north of Tucson — in the lush and often posh foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains — learned that the miniature horse he purchased from the proceeds of running the cash register at his grandfather’s service station wasn’t allowed. Livestock? Sure. But no horses, big or small.

  Then the eleven-year-old spent more than $1,000 of his own money for a special election to change the…

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  Returning the Emphasis on Schools to Urban Trust Lands

  Simmons Buntin | Fri, Jan 11th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, civano, urban trust lands, public schools, arizona state, arizona daily star | 0

  The times they are a-changin’ in southeast Tucson, where the metropolitan area’s largest remaining expanse of undeveloped open space was just approved for development by the Arizona State Land Department. It’s all for the good of the schools — or is it?

  All states entering the Union since 1803 have received land grants for support of public schools. In Arizona, a total of about 10.2 million acres was granted when Arizona became a territory and then a state. The Arizona State Land…

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• Columnists

  Immigration and the Sustainable Urban Economy

  Simmons Buntin | Thu, Jan 3rd, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: simmons buntin, labor, sustainable urban economy, immigrant employment, immigrant labor | 0

  My mother was an immigrant.  She moved to New York City from Sweden after she married my American father.  His grandparents many generations removed were immigrants, too — they came from Scotland.  I am an immigrant, at least in the regional sense: I moved from Auburn, Alabama to Washington, D.C. to Denver to Germantown, Maryland to Denver to Tucson, Arizona, where I live now.  Most of us are immigrants, I’d wager, whether globally or regionally.  It seems that we all come from somewhere…

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• Columnists

  Fantasy Urban League

  Simmons Buntin | Tue, Dec 25th, 2007 | Category: Commentary | Tags: tucson, simmons buntin, denver, fantasy football, nfl, fantasy urban league, sustainability rankings | 1

  Today marks the championship game for many fantasy football leagues, including mine. If you’re not familiar with fantasy football, it works like this: Before the beginning of the NFL season, leagues comprised of ten or twelve teams — one team per manager, such as myself — hold a draft.  Each manager picks players in key positions, just as the NFL itself holds a draft of college players each year.  In my league, we draft key positions including quarterback, running back, wide receiver,…

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