Monday, March 30, 2009

Wall Street's affect on the Economy.

In New York City, so many people have been laid off.  Manhattan used to be one of the most job offering places in our nation, but now even they are having to get rid of employees.  The hardest business hit was Wall Street.  I know of many people who have lost their jobs because of the downfall of this Economy.  My Aunt has been working at Smith and Barney for over thirty years.  She is very high up in her department and is well like by everyone in that company.  She has two little boys, and now has to worry about loosing her job.  The last time i talked to her, she was very close to a mental break down because of the fear of loosing her job.  She was on the next "Cut List" if the economy did not improve.  Although she would get benefits for being laid off, she did not quit understand what was happening especially since she had been working their for so long.  This type of thing is happening to a lot of New Yorkers.  They are receiving small benefits for "getting fired."
In The New York Times article "After Reversal of Fortunes, City Takes a New Look at Wall Street" it describes what is going on in largest financial capital of the world.  The last huge stock market crash was in 1929 which then triggered the Great Depression.  Now, because of such a low economy, the stock market is the worst its been in years.  When Wall Street first began to suffer, they predicted that it would "bounce back" faster than expected, renaming New York City as the financial capital.  However, this state of mind has changed.  The loss of most of the financial jobs during this crises will not be regained for the next several years, if ever.  Because our financial capital is suffering so much, so is the rest of the country.  Many are even saying that the economy is worse than the Great Depression, but no one is really talking about it.  Maybe not talking about it will make it go away?  
Many believed that with a new President, the economy would take a brighter turn.  Unfortunately its not changing this mess anytime soon.  In fact, it's going to get much worse before it gets better.  This is because former stock holders do not want to put their money in for new stock.  So, on Wall Street stock is not being bought, traded, or sold creating no financial change.  

Clearly, the impact of the recent stock market crash and ongoing economic crisis is bearing down on both consumer sentiment and, more fundamentally, credit availability resulting in a significant pullback in spending on homes and other costly purchases.
http://paper-money.blogspot.com/

Because of the financial crises in New York City it affects the whole country.  With this Economy crash no one is spending anymore creating society to downfall even more.  Obama is doing everything in his power to  help the economy rise again.  He is having wonderful ideas, but none are turning our economy around thus far.  

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The fabulous modernist.


It was during World War I and World War II when everything resembled an architectural order.  This was during the modernism era.  Everything was a history of science and it seemed to measure and control all of society. It was the architecture of builders that had the most influence.  Le Corbusier was an architectural urbanist whom pioneered an international style.  He built the skyscrapers all through out the world including Europe, India, and North and South America.  Then there was Frank Lloyd Write who created building and spaces that enriched the quality dignity of society.  
Frank Lloyd's architecture was very interesting.  He was interested in community planning and urban design.  He designed what we now call neighborhoods for suburbia.  he wanted to have his design strayed from traditional suburban lot layouts and set houses on small square blocks of four equal-sized lots surrounded on all sides by roads. The houses were set toward the center of the block so that each maximized the yard space and included private space in the center. This also allowed for far more interesting views from each house. This design would have eliminated the straight rows of houses on parallel streets with boring views of the front of each house.   
This is because in the modernism era it became more of a high art society.  With-in the high art society is the working class.  It was post modernism in the 1970's when everything became more of an inversion and constructional.  Everything then became politically, socially achitectual.  

Monday, March 23, 2009

Arizona's Urban Planning

It is so interesting to see the layouts across the United States of different towns and cities.  Growing up in Arizona, and now living on the East Coast, Arizona's layout is quite different.  Everything from housing complex, towns, cities, and the transportation system from place to place is not the same as the East Coast.  I mean, at least in Arizona you can make left turns than compared to New Jersey ( a little out of state humor their, jersey people please do not take offense!).  
Phoenix is considered the "city" in Arizona.  However, with-in Phoenix there are so many suburbs that connect with one an other that have other suburbs with-in them.  For example, Scottsdale is a huge wealthy suburb of Phoenix, but with-in Scottsdale there are suburbs of Paradise Valley, Desert Ridge, and Pinnacle Peak.  All these towns are woven into each other.  This is interesting when the do school districts because one family could be going to one school in a neighborhood, while the line dividing could be as close as their next-door neighbor's.  
Arizona's urbanization planning is quite unique.  Urban planning, as we discussed in class, is the planning to explore a wide range of aspects to the communities.  This has existed since ancient Roman times.  Arizona has planned to keep its towns right next to each other.  It is pretty much all built up too, there is not much desert left from North Arizona all the way to right past Mesa.  This Region takes up most of Central Arizona. 
 Also there is not much of a Highway system in Arizona.  It is a newly developed transportation roadway which is a result of the extreme growing population that Arizona is experiencing.  The major highways are the loop 101 and the Interstate 10.  The interstate 10 is the only highway that is not originated in Arizona because that runs across the country.  The 101 connects to the 60, 202, and 51. These were designed to go through out all of Arizona, North, East, South, and West.  They end at the outskirts of the state and connect to interstate Highways.  They did this so they could accommodate all the different towns and increase population.
That is interestingly different than the rest of the United States, especially the East Coast.  I have found that highways out here are to make state to state transportation a lot easier and faster.  This is because of commuting.  This allows society to live in the suburbs for cheaper and commute faster with these road ways. In an highway information sight they explain it like this: 

The procedure for naming the highways is systematic. Major routes are designated by single- or two-digit numbers. If a route runs north-south, it is given an odd number, and if a route runs east-west, an even number. For north-south routes, numbering conventions begin in the west. Thus I-5 runs north and south along the West Coast, while I-95 runs north and south along the East Coast. For east-west routes, numbers begin in the south.

Major routes usually traverse cities and are the shortest and most direct line of travel. Connecting interstate routes that travel around a city carry three-digit numbers.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0881994.html

a little interesting fact ill leave you with.
Goodbye for now (=.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

diversity in cities

The really cool thing about cities is that they are so diverse.  New York City has so many different cultures. You can go to China town and see all the the different parts of Oriental culture, or go down to little italian and partake activities with the italians. There are all different kinds of ethnicity and cultural back-rounds, but thats what makes up a city.  With out all the different races and culture the city would be plain and boring, but with it its always alive and awake. I love walking around  cities when i get a chance.  The liveliness and different types of people fascinates me.  I always have a different adventure when i visit the city.  
It all started in 1870 when slavery had ended.  People where migrating to the city for factory jobs. Immigrants started to come over from Europe and the Cities were the places they were flocking too.  It had plenty of jobs and America was starting its Industrial Revolution.  
In an online article about Brilliant diverse thoughts on society a writer wrote "The spread of urbanization is, on net, an enormously beneficial process.  People in cities are much more economically productive; urban density has been a wellspring of innovation of many millenia.  Cities sometimes have a bad reputation because of their association with problems like poverty, pollution, and disease; but this association does not imply causation."  Glaeser wrote what most people think about cities.  So many people in society are fascinated with cities like myself.  I really think the city is a place for me to live one day.