One of my favorite games from childhood, SimCity, has been released to the world and is being adapted specially to the OLPC under the name "Micropolis."
I couldn't be more excited. The build instructions looked a little gnarly to me, so I'll probably need to wait until my very own OLPC arrives from California to play with it. If it's still fun, I might have a go at building it up on the Mac so that others can play with it if they are so inclined.
The Micropolis people say that they're planning on eventually porting the whole shebang over to Python from TCL/TK (pronounced 'tickle-tea-kay' by those in the know). I'm a little disappointed that they didn't choose to refactor the app in Squeak. Oh well, Python will be good too. It'll be interesting to see how complex / simple the rulesets are that govern the function of cities.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Slogging
It has been a while since I posted anything substantive here on the planning front. I stopped by the planning department at the university yesterday to see if I could take a graduate-level class or two this semester. It sounds like they may not be offering the class that I'd want to take until next term, but the head of the department kindly agreed to chat with me later this week about planning and the kinds of courses that I might take in the meantime at UoA.
I've been stuck for a while reading a topographical history of Boston. The early parts of the book are somewhat interesting in that the history of Boston goes right back to the beginning of US history. Unfortunately, I don't have much of the context for Boston. I've never been to Boston. And though Google's various tools--Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Street View--are really great, I think I probably don't have quite the appreciation for Boston that I might otherwise have. The MIT course's intent is to give MIT students something tangible to cling to after a dose of theory. Unfortunately, Boston is less tangible to me than the theory, and therefore is just a slog.
I think I'm going to return this book and move on to another book for the time being. Maybe if I can find a good topographical history of Auckland, I might have something more concrete to cling to.
I think I'm going to deviate from the MIT reading list a bit. I'm craving something a bit more contemporary. My recent malaise in finishing these books hasn't daunted my consumption of news aggregated by Planetizen. Still, the longer format of the book is nice. I'm thinking that the combination of 'contemporary' and 'book' will help me along.
Toward that, it's no secret that I'm not a big fan of suburbia. At its most fundamental level, it's simply not sustainable. Plus, I don't like it on an aesthetic level. I think it leaves people isolated, doesn't force people to have those daily interactions that, while they may be uncomfortable, are necessary for humans to remain humane. I think that suburbia breeds xenophobia right down to being afraid of the neighbors. Plus, I remember attending a planning conference in Missoula where they talked about how even a 10 minute daily commute by car can have profoundly negative psychological and health effects.
This is a silly and sad 'Dear Abby' that talks about being trapped in suburbia. My guess is that more and more people will be caught in this bind, and that the bind will become increasingly painful for people in the suburbs. I just had a geologist explain to me the other day why it is that we will never have more oil than we do now. With global food supplies in jeopardy, I think it's doubtful that biofuels will continue to enable suburban living (actually, it's much more likely that they would be an ecological disaster).
In line with my fascination and revulsion with suburbia, and my craving of something contemporary, I think my next book will be Mark Hinshaw's True Urbanism: Living in and near the center. The book talks about the growing trend of people moving back to the cities from the suburbs, and advocates for still more desuburbanization (do you like my new word?).
I've been stuck for a while reading a topographical history of Boston. The early parts of the book are somewhat interesting in that the history of Boston goes right back to the beginning of US history. Unfortunately, I don't have much of the context for Boston. I've never been to Boston. And though Google's various tools--Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Street View--are really great, I think I probably don't have quite the appreciation for Boston that I might otherwise have. The MIT course's intent is to give MIT students something tangible to cling to after a dose of theory. Unfortunately, Boston is less tangible to me than the theory, and therefore is just a slog.
I think I'm going to return this book and move on to another book for the time being. Maybe if I can find a good topographical history of Auckland, I might have something more concrete to cling to.
I think I'm going to deviate from the MIT reading list a bit. I'm craving something a bit more contemporary. My recent malaise in finishing these books hasn't daunted my consumption of news aggregated by Planetizen. Still, the longer format of the book is nice. I'm thinking that the combination of 'contemporary' and 'book' will help me along.
Toward that, it's no secret that I'm not a big fan of suburbia. At its most fundamental level, it's simply not sustainable. Plus, I don't like it on an aesthetic level. I think it leaves people isolated, doesn't force people to have those daily interactions that, while they may be uncomfortable, are necessary for humans to remain humane. I think that suburbia breeds xenophobia right down to being afraid of the neighbors. Plus, I remember attending a planning conference in Missoula where they talked about how even a 10 minute daily commute by car can have profoundly negative psychological and health effects.
This is a silly and sad 'Dear Abby' that talks about being trapped in suburbia. My guess is that more and more people will be caught in this bind, and that the bind will become increasingly painful for people in the suburbs. I just had a geologist explain to me the other day why it is that we will never have more oil than we do now. With global food supplies in jeopardy, I think it's doubtful that biofuels will continue to enable suburban living (actually, it's much more likely that they would be an ecological disaster).
In line with my fascination and revulsion with suburbia, and my craving of something contemporary, I think my next book will be Mark Hinshaw's True Urbanism: Living in and near the center. The book talks about the growing trend of people moving back to the cities from the suburbs, and advocates for still more desuburbanization (do you like my new word?).
Friday, February 8, 2008
What's your walk score?
I'm not sure that this is entirely the most accurate gage of walkability, but I like to see people thinking about these sorts of issues. Our walk score in Devonport is a 46, as compared to a walk score of 75 at our old apartment in Missoula. Come to think about it, that matches my perception of relative walkability pretty well.
What's your walk score?
What's your walk score?
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