Metropolitan Affairs | ModeShift

New Media, Old Media, Race and the Internet

by Keith SchneiderApril 11, 2007April 12, 20070

[youtube]Yd6dsrxd_Qc[/youtube] In May 2004 when writer David Brock launched Media Matters For America, the Web site that specializes in documenting the lies and otherÂ distasteful discourse that permeates talk radio and TV, I paid immediate attention.Â Mediamatters.org went up near the top of my favorites listÂ for a couple of reasons. TheÂ reporting was entirely new and airtight — the Web site made very good use of on-air clips and transcripts.Â The frame was values driven and righteous.Â Brock and …

Thinking Big in Knoxville, Tulsa, Salt Lake City

by Keith SchneiderApril 10, 2007April 12, 20070

KNOXVILLE — From his office on the fifth floor of the Knoxville City County building, Dave Hill looks across the Tennessee River toÂ 350 acres and more than two miles of riverfront. None ofÂ it is enchanting. Yet all of itÂ essentialÂ to this mid-size southern city’s plan to be a green, clean, energy efficient, and lovely statement about America’s capacity to build the century’s new world class urban centers. As my Manhattan mother might say: “Knoxville? Where’sÂ Knoxville?” …

Smart Growth and Gentrification

by Keith SchneiderApril 5, 20070

For as long as I’ve been involved in understanding the dimensions of urban disinvestment, as well as the solutions, one more civic concern has always lurked in the shadows. That’s gentrification, the process by which wealthier people interested in moving back into a city use buying power and sway to push the poor out of their homes. As a journalist, public policy specialist, and citizen of America I’ve personally experienced almost every side of this …

Cool Sites on Design, Cities, Environment

by Keith SchneiderApril 3, 2007April 3, 20070

Metrophile isÂ an interesting offering on Wired’s blog network. It covers trends and fashion and art, the urbanÂ snackage that makes living in the metropolitan space a more inviting existenceÂ for growing numbers of Americans, young and retired.Â The International Herald Tribune launched its Business of Green blog last month, and it’s alreadys one of the savviest forums for global business and environmental trends on the Internet.Â The New York Times carries the blog on the page it’s hidden …

My Friend Harriet Tregoning

by Keith SchneiderMarch 24, 2007May 8, 20071

Harriet Tregoning, who’s one of the smartest and most capable Smart Growth advocates in the United States, just took command of Washington, D.C.’s Office of Planning, among the most visible planning jobs in the country.Â And as the better half of theÂ uniquely well-positioned leading couple of Smart Growth — her husband of 17 months is Geoffrey Anderson, the director of the EPA’s development, community and environment division — Harriet brings her brain and moxie to positioning …

Flip: Curating the City

by Keith SchneiderMarch 20, 20073

The Los Angeles Conservancy, the largest local historic preservation group in the United States, produced a terrific online multi-media exhibit of Wilshire Boulevard called Curating the City.Â Using motion graphics, mapping, text, photographs, and digital hotspots, the program explores the history and geography of one of the nation’s iconic roadways, the West Coast equivalent of Detroit’s Woodward Avenue or Philadelphia’s Broad Street.Â What’s so cool about this example of multi-media storytelling is how quickly it loads …

New Quality of Life Measure: Retail Percentage

by Keith SchneiderMarch 18, 2007March 18, 20071

Last week the Traverse City Record-Eagle, whichÂ does a decent job reporting on northwest Michigan’s population growth and business development, published an article with these facts.Â In 1997, shoppers in Grand Traverse County spent 58 percent of their money for retail sales in the Traverse City. Last year, according to a new economic analysis, the city attracted just 12 percent of those sales. As a measure of the quality of life, the percentage of retail sales held …

Live Maps And New Perspectives

by Keith SchneiderMarch 3, 2007March 4, 20071

My writer’s lifeÂ occurs principally inÂ twoÂ media arenas. One is the reporting I do for the New York Times and other mainstream pressÂ that involves structuring the gathered facts into a narrativeÂ that is purposefully designed not to have a point of view. My focus is delivering expertise in a 1,000 to 3,000 word package distinguished by studied detachment.Â The other arena is the public interest journalismÂ I prepare for the Michigan Land Use Institute. The idea is toÂ dig just …

Flip: Google and Congestion

by Keith SchneiderMarch 1, 2007March 2, 20070

This fourth installment of Flip, which tracks keen new convergences between urban affairs and new media technology, was suggested byÂ Joe Mielke, an IT professional and a colleague at the Michigan Land Use Institute. It’s Google’s recently introduced tool to trackÂ urban congestion in real time, and available now in New York. Click theÂ traffic link on the top right of the page. The applications for this tool are immeasurable. If you’re swinging upÂ the New Jersey Thruway …

Great Western Train Race, C’mon Michigan

by Keith SchneiderFebruary 28, 2007April 4, 20072

More on that train race out west that I wrote about earlier this month.Â Metro, the transit agency in Phoenix, is asking the state for $1.7 billion to accelerate construction on the 57-mile light rail system that is being built,Â and to add more than 20 new miles to the system by 2027. This according to the Arizona Republic. That’s the very same strategy that Salt Lake City voters approved in November when they raised the sales …