Can Graffiti be Good for Cities? Reflecting on the Loss of 5Pointz

I'm quoted in this great article in Fast Company Design, by Shaunacy Ferro. Inspired by the recent destruction of the world-famous graffiti mecca, 5Pointz, in Long Island City, Queens, the piece questions ponders why the place was not deemed culturally and economically valuable enough to preserve, considering that graffiti and street art are today as often signs of a neighborhood's hipness and trendy appeal as they are of disorder or neglect. I'm in great company, quoted alongside Greg Snyder (author of Graffiti Lives) and Elizabeth Currid-Halkett (The Warhol Economy). I'm grateful to Shaunacy for finding me and my work and including my thoughts so centrally in the piece! Check it out:

Can Graffiti be Good for Cities? by Shaunacy Ferro

"Do-it-Yourself Urban Design" in City & Community

My article, "Do-it-Yourself Urban Design: The Social Practice of Informal 'Improvement' Through Unauthorized Alteration," has been published in City & Community. It was published in early view in September 2013 actually, and will be in the next print issue (vol. 13, no. 1). 

The folks at the journal and the publisher, Wiley-Blackwell, have been super supportive and are making the article free (i.e. not behind the academic paywall) all year, so go download it here!: http://bit.ly/DIYurbandesign

Do-it-Yourself Urban Design
The Social Practice of Informal 'Improvement' Through Unauthorized Alteration

There are numerous ways in which people make illegal or unauthorized alterations to urban space. This study identifies and analyzes one that has been largely ignored in social science: explicitly functional and civic-minded informal contributions that I call “do-it-yourself urban design.” The research, which began as an investigation into more “traditional” nonpermissable alterations, uncovered these cases—from homemade bike lanes and street signs to guerrilla gardens and development proposals—that are gaining visibility in many cities, yet are poorly accounted for by existing perspectives in the literature. This article examines the existing theories and evidence from interviews and other fieldwork in 14 cities in order to develop the new analytical category of DIY urban design. I present findings on the creators of these interventions, on their motivations to “improve” the built environment where they perceive government and other development actors to be failing, and on the concentration of their efforts in gentrifying areas. This introduces the possibility of conflict and complicates their impact. I argue that DIY urban design has wide-ranging implications for both local communities and broader urban policy.

They also gave me the opportunity to create a 'video abstract' for the research, which you can see below. I'm a goober but it features some other friendly faces and familiar names behind the scenes. 

Do-It-Yourself Urban Design | City & Community Video Abstract 

from Sawyer-Lux | QUALITY CUTS on Vimeo.

Thanks to everyone who helped with both the article and the video!

No Posts in 2013!

It's true. It was a wild year. I completed remaining data collection and the bulk of the analysis for my dissertation and got a lot of writing done. I worked on two articles for publication (one of which has just come out) and presented a paper at ASA. I spent most of the first half of the year working on the "Spontaneous Interventions" exhibition, which we traveled to Chicago for an excellent and very well-received run from May to September at the Chicago Cultural Center. I hope to post some post-dated entries on some of these (great pictures from SI:Chicago!) back in 2013 when I get around to it.

Most importantly (and the best reason for not having spent any time blogging), my partner Emily and I welcomed our daughter into the world. Isla Peregrine Art Douglas was born on April 8th, 2013, in Brooklyn, New York, in a room overlooking the harbor. She's nine months now and continues to be the coolest thing ever in the world.