GeoDesign redaction

First, it was the Summit. Hosted at Esri for the 2nd year. Co-hosted by myself and Eric Wittner for the 2nd year. Which means that we coordinated submissions of lightning talks and idea labs and longer presentations, and arranged the schedule, and got to be mic’ed up for speaking on stage. Lots of work for little glory, but that’s what life’s about. It’s all for a good cause – finding effective ways to bring design practices more aligned with geographical reality and expectations, supported by the “enabling” technologies emerging today.

Then a power-house five-day workshop, directed by the inimitable Carl Steinitz. Carl was Jack Dangermond’s mentor (advisor?) as a Harvard grad student in the late 1960s and his presence still looms large on New York Street today. Carl and his posse ran a large-scale research project to explore which approaches to geodesign work well. Over 30 of us were divided into 9 different teams to pursue a common outcome through differing approaches. Specifically we worked out plans for both open space and a transit-oriented development within the city of Redlands. Fascinating experience overall, but already the results for the city seem more ephemeral than the video recorded for Carl’s research agenda.