"The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects." Baudelaire
August 17, 2007 9:09 PM Subscribe
Yeah, it's a fine site. I can't help but think that all of this gets covered well across art, architecture, mapping sites etc though - the 'urban' web is pretty big. They would have better carved out a niche perhaps if they launched 18months ago. I'm not hating on it at all - I like some of this stuff - just musing out loud. Thanks bijou.
posted by peacay at 7:35 AM on August 18, 2007
posted by peacay at 7:35 AM on August 18, 2007
"Bloggings"?
Well, it appears that the term is in use, here and there.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:48 AM on August 18, 2007
Well, it appears that the term is in use, here and there.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:48 AM on August 18, 2007
Another term I take umbrage with is "WebUrbanist". Urbanism is a specific and complex discipline, and it seems sort of arrogant to claim the title of "Web Urbanist" just for posting some links and pretty pictures.
posted by signal at 9:23 AM on August 18, 2007
posted by signal at 9:23 AM on August 18, 2007
I don't think the use of 'urbanist' is a claim to be a professional in the field - it's an entirely different term than 'architect' for example. The term simply calls out the content as being 'urban'
As for the content, some is image-heavy but some of those images accompany political, social and historical content. Other articles use flashy images to get a reader's attention, but raise more serious questions afterward.
If you dig into the archives a bit, there are also artist spotlights regarding graffiti art and guerilla marketing that discuss the work as much as they link to or summarize it.
posted by derami at 12:51 PM on August 18, 2007
As for the content, some is image-heavy but some of those images accompany political, social and historical content. Other articles use flashy images to get a reader's attention, but raise more serious questions afterward.
If you dig into the archives a bit, there are also artist spotlights regarding graffiti art and guerilla marketing that discuss the work as much as they link to or summarize it.
posted by derami at 12:51 PM on August 18, 2007
I might have come of as too snarky. I catually like the blog (or 'bloggings').
My point is that the term that "calls out the content as being 'urban'" is, quite simply "urban".
Urbanism is discipline, like psychology or tarot reading. It's not a general adjective for anything related with the city.
posted by signal at 8:22 AM on August 19, 2007
My point is that the term that "calls out the content as being 'urban'" is, quite simply "urban".
Urbanism is discipline, like psychology or tarot reading. It's not a general adjective for anything related with the city.
posted by signal at 8:22 AM on August 19, 2007
You definitely have a point about the term 'urbanist' - to a lot of people it might sound like an attempt to be a professional. An analogy might be: 'bloggologist' (Alister Cameron's humorous self-title) clearly rings silly/sarcastic to a blogger's ears.
As (myself) an architect-in-training, 'urbanist' has a playful or ambiguous sound to it - I wouldn't personally have assumed a self-identified 'urbanist' were a professional in a field. I would likely assume they meant it as a joke of some kind, or that they were attempting to indicate their academic/personal interest in things related to cities.
Then again, that's just me - and I happen to be close to and interested in urban design, etc... easy to see why most people would expect more academic urban design content. To architects, though, 'urbanism' isn't a typically referred-to discipline, though 'urban design' and 'urban planning' are.
posted by derami at 5:41 PM on August 19, 2007
As (myself) an architect-in-training, 'urbanist' has a playful or ambiguous sound to it - I wouldn't personally have assumed a self-identified 'urbanist' were a professional in a field. I would likely assume they meant it as a joke of some kind, or that they were attempting to indicate their academic/personal interest in things related to cities.
Then again, that's just me - and I happen to be close to and interested in urban design, etc... easy to see why most people would expect more academic urban design content. To architects, though, 'urbanism' isn't a typically referred-to discipline, though 'urban design' and 'urban planning' are.
posted by derami at 5:41 PM on August 19, 2007
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posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:18 PM on August 17, 2007