DUKES FANS        

“That’s life; in the big city;  

That’s the way it is, in the big town”  

      That’s  Life in the Big City: David K  

   As many of you know, I am a city guy. I love cities and what they do and make possible and offer and allow. Yes, I love camping, and yes, I love forests and streams and mountains and lakes. But I am at home in the city, and whether it is Philly, New York, Santa Fe, Toronto or Kingston, ON, or Wichita,, KS. I have always loved walking in different areas of cities, visiting museums, taking public transit, looking up at downtown buildings, and walking down curvy, winding streets. I have always treasured cities as places where so many of the positive and negative aspects of civilization are boldly and clearly on display. In every city there are special places such as The Ben Franklin Parkway and Fairmount Park in Philly, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park in NYC, and so many other wonderful places in each and every urban area. I love cities.  

    In some cities they are working out ways to put mini-forests in parks 

  downtown and in city neighborhoods. This is a way to bring abandoned 

 lands back into use, cut pollution, and more.  It started in Asia, spread to 

Europe, and some American cities are exploring this idea as well. In other cities they are looking at how to re-evaluate streets and how they work, and then trying to re-design them to serve the people of the city better. The idea is to make cities more pedestrian centered and less car centered. And there are urban planners who are looking at cities through different lenses. They are trying to involve everyone in imagining how to design cities, even kids. And they are trying new ways of trying to revive older cities and give them a new way of entering the new world. I love thinking about the possibilities and seeing some of them work out.  

  I think of cities as places for innovations in both large and small ways. I see them as places where different conceptions of what it means to be a member of a society can meet, interact and make for positive change. Below are some links to some of the articles I have been reading. I find them intriguing and interesting. And I look forward to some of them playing out in Philadelphia soon.   

(https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/why-tiny-forests-are-popping-up-in-big-cities)  

(https://americawalks.org/how-to-design-and-create-streets-for-maximum-walking-and-rolling-through-the-eyes-of-kids/?cmp=EMC-DSM-NLC-LC-HOMFAM-20210721_LivableCommunities_NL_CTRL_1094001_1458006-072121-F4-AmericanWalks-Text-CTRL-Community-5646812&encparam=eACUDQiGNxD5O59Czc%2fnpJgfVb%2bim916zukCCK66chY%3d )  

(https://usa.streetsblog.org/2021/07/19/the-most-dangerous-roads-in-america-for-walkers/)    

(https://www.governing.com/archive/col-detroit-recoverypark-urban-food-production-jobs-tax-base.html)  

(https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/16/opinion/cities-reopening-time.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces&block=more_in_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=457260317&impression_id=c4934f17-e7b4-11eb-908b-976e1f68b202&index=4&pgtype=Article&pool=more_in_pools%2Fopinion&region=footer&req_id=883421549&surface=eos-more-in&variant=0_bandit-all-surfaces)