Urban

http://www.crosscut.com/2013/05/17/urban/114479/chuck-wolfe-understanding-cities-through-urban-dia/

What is a diary?  Actually, what is the purpose of a diary?  A diary is a document that records an individual's thoughts and actions.  It becomes a testament to a person's life at given time or over a lifetime.  However, can a person keep a diary of a city?  An urban diary?  This is the topic that Chuck Wolfe addresses in his article "Understanding cities through urban diaries."  Mr. Wolfe posits that an urban diary is a type of archeology.  A record of buildings or objects that we are actively engaging with.  Mr. Wolfe was inspired to start an urban diary after reading a column by urbanist Allison Arieff titled "Reading the City" in late 2012.  The column, published in the New York Times, described she ditched a "smart city" conference in Barcelona, Spain and explored the urban spaces around her armed with nothing more than a conventional map.  Ms. Arieff concluded her column with a bibliography that told the stories, the type that took place outside the conference room.  Inspired by this, Mr. Wolfe attempted to keep an urban journal of his own.

Exploring a city as a way to understand the urban fabric is not a novel idea.  In fact, when I travel to a new place, I like to get out an explore the city.  I have little use for guide books or tours.  Often times you find the most fascinating out of the way places.  For example, several years ago, I was in San Francisco and I spent time walking around the city, easy to do.  In my explorations, I came across City Lights Bookstore (http://www.citylights.com) and some fantastic teashops in Chinatown.  Walking around a city is very human thing to do.  I could never understand why tourist to Los Angeles want to spend so much time on tour buses being shuttled about to places that someone else thinks that they'd interested.  You could argue, that if a person is visiting an unfamiliar city that a guided tour is a way to get acquainted with the place.  Grandy Clay, the late journalist-turned-urban writer, enthusiastically advocated urban exploration as a way to read cities. In fact, contemporary urbanist articles and blog posts (including this one) frequently champion walking, biking, or using public transportation as a way to discover and experience a city's sui generis.

There are websites dedicated to extolling the virtues of the narrow side streets of Los Angeles, the alleyways of Seattle, and the Jane Jacobs-inspired walkability of Dallas (?).  Kasey Klimes' essay, "The Real Reason Why Bicycles Are The Key To Better Cities," (http://www.secretrepublic.com/post/4608802363/the-real-reason-why-bicycles-are-the-key-to-better) argues that through bicycle travel, a person can develop an intimacy with the city he or she lives in a much different way than a motorist.  In a car, a person is reduced to trying solve the basic puzzle, "how to get from point A to point B as quickly as possibly?"  On a bicycle, a person becomes familiar with the urban intricacies.  A bicycle is a more economical method of transportation and makes the concept of livability less abstract.

On that note, let's define what an urban diary is.  According to Mr. Wolfe, the idea is simple, cities are hubs of human interaction, the best way to experience that urban energy is to throw yourself into it and record your experience (Mr. Wolfe's suggestion).  "Urban diaries" are an important source of ongoing documentation and understanding.  Ho//w you record your experiences is up to you: writing, photography, sketching, digital file that reflects time-lapsed views.  They can be narrative or figurative, capture actual events, record internalized memories or intuitions.  They can record elements of a city's history, culture, or climate.  Mr. Wolfe's own urban diary is photo-centric.

The urban diary serves as a backdrop for documenting the urban fabric.  That urban fabric has within it embedded patterns that can be discovered, read, interpreted, and reinterpreted.  The diary is a depository for evidence, a place to collect "experiential understanding" of a city.  An urban diary is a type of archeology which involves more than the unearthing of specific artifacts from another time.  While urban diaries can be figurative or intuitive, according to Mr. Wolfe, "...we are also tangibly recording our exploration with whatever tool we choose-a pen, a keyboard, camera."  The point is, that while we are making notes, we are actively engaging with a place or building.  For Mr. Wolfe,