Interested in cities, check out this link

I've been interested in cities since I was a little boy. I would ride my bike around the neighbourhood keeping notes as to where the streets went and, almost as importantly, where they didn't. I was amazed that some streets were very short and could be followed to very quick ends.

Streets ended in so many different ways. They ran up against other streets and although the present street ended the journey carried on. Or the route was blocked by railway tracks or or a field or even a building, leaving one stranded in a cul-de-sac having reached a deadend.

Streets had personalities. Some were residential. Some were industrial. The most interesting, to me as a boy, were the streets that ran through both residential and industrial areas and then disappeared into the countryside surrounding the city.

Cities were rich places filled with interesting stuff.

When The London Free Press started its series investigating London's identity, I was worried. What's London's identity? The very question irritated me with its shading of Richard Florida or the new urbanist team of Duany and and Plater-Zyberk. (I dislike all of them but I'm sure I didn't have to tell you that.)

I have found The Free Press series not only poor but, despite being posted to the Internet, there is little of the promised interaction between the series writer and readers. Urban Sub on Tumblr had 11 posts in May, 3 in June and one, the last one (at this time), in July. The paper did not even shut down the Tumblr site properly. No final message. Nothing. It seemed to be just abandoned.

If Randy Richmond and The London Free Press articles on urbanism and London, Ontario are leaving you as cold as they are me, check out The Melbourne Urbanist for thoughtful, defensible musings on urban issues.

Enjoy. (Maybe Randy will stumble upon my blog, check out the link and get some ideas on how to tackle writing about London without the silly videos with poetic voice overs.) [Reading this in the fall of 2018, I find I dislike my tone. If I were writing this today, I'd take the snark out.]