William Riggs

Helped this ewe give birth this morning at Rinconada Dairy near...

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:01:05 -0500

Helped this ewe give birth this morning at Rinconada Dairy near #SLO — awesome!

Today’s view from Wurster Hall, Room 1000, where my...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:54:16 -0500

Today’s view from Wurster Hall, Room 1000, where my Transportation Advisory Group regularly meets.

Skin installation on new UC housing going up. My office did...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:24:57 -0500

Skin installation on new UC housing going up. My office did planning entitlements and I wrote design guidelines.

Working on some publications using graphics and data from my...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:46:43 -0500

Working on some publications using graphics and data from my dissertation (2011) focused walkability and housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can..."

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:32:00 -0500

“

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too…

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man my son!

”

- I came across this Rudyard Kipling quote from the poem ‘If’ (1909) in an old journal entry last night. Thought it worth sharing. Onward.

"…the most important qualities in a city planner are “principled”, “integrity”,..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:07:31 -0500

““…the most important qualities in a city planner are “principled”, “integrity”, “professionalism”, and “passion”.””

- Brent Toderian, Former Vancouver Planning Director

Higher Ed Moving Online and the Campus Environs?

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:09:38 -0500

Higher Ed Moving Online and the Campus Environs?:

Reports about this Stanford artificial intelligence course getting 160K enrollees may offer an insight into the future of higher education — especially if universities can begin charging for this enrollment to bring in extra revenue, without paying for the physical space these additional students might occupy on a campus. This, however, brings up interesting questions about the role of the campus and the importance of the classroom in the pedagogical experience. What is the role of the classroom in the teaching profession and what are the intangible benefits? What shape should built space on the college campuses take? In 20 years will campus simply be focused residential / social communities that can, in the words of former UC Berkeley, Chancellor Clark Kerr, “provide sex for the students, sports for the alumni, and parking for the faculty.”? If the Stanford course is any indication, it is unfortunate that faculty will likely not need that parking because they can teach from home in their pajamas.

My task today: outline the best potential design options to...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:36:15 -0500

My task today: outline the best potential design options to reuse this mid-century building (or not).

Moon Colonization an Important Issue? Really?

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:02:06 -0500

Moon Colonization an Important Issue? Really? :

Great discourse on an important subjuct by robertreich that ends up loosely tied to city planning on the moon of all places:

Newt’s latest idea, for example – to colonize the moon – is typically whacky.

As Reich reminds us, American citizens should not be so flippant as to simply assume a Newt nomination equates to an Obama victory. Our social and economic future is not something to gamble with — especially with weird speculation about moon colonization.

An example of the donor-driven design of the built environment...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:25:23 -0500

An example of the donor-driven design of the built environment in a public gathering space on the UC Berkeley campus. Does it degrade the purity or integrity of the design? You be the judge.

Walkability Report Generates Questions

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:11:44 -0500

Walkability Report Generates Questions:

New walkability benchmarking report out with some provocative results. I’m curious how Alaska can be the highest ranking state with regard to walking levels, but not have a city that ranks in the top 50.

Also, not surprising, the places with the most walking look like they have the most bike-ped related fatalities, but such inferences generate their own set of questions. All are significant areas of opportunity for research.

My wife and son during in the midst of our holiday ‘love...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:28:00 -0500

My wife and son during in the midst of our holiday ‘love miles’ (Monbiot, 2007).

But How Many Folks Actually Compost These Photo of a disposable...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:33:00 -0500

But How Many Folks Actually Compost These

Photo of a disposable coffee cup

John S Lens, Alfred Infrared Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic

Sea Ranch a 'Beautiful Example of Environmental Architecture'

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:14:00 -0500

” the totality of The Sea Ranch offers an example of an environmentally sensitive development and place that is also sublimely beautiful…”

I find this quote by Sarah Williams Goldhagen in the New Republic to be very provocative and am wondering how she objectively supports such a strong claim. Her article mentions nothing about sustainability — For example, the embedded water / energy use, lack of transportation services, loss of valuable agricultural land and lack of affordability / equity espoused by the development. It would seam to me that at best The Sea Ranch was an experiment in design with environmental aspirations. It may have aesthetic merit but many environmental factors went unheeded and in the ethos of ‘sustainable design’ the simple act of putting 2,000 homes on a greenfield site within feet of a pristine coast would render the aspirations unsuccessful.

lottdance: Fun in Golden Gate! (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:58:43 -0500

lottdance:

Fun in Golden Gate! (Taken with instagram)

Students Making a Statement About Bay Area Cost of Living...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:16:42 -0500

Students Making a Statement About Bay Area Cost of Living

Buckhorst H1 Lens, Alfred Infrared Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic

A classic CA landscape that has underscored the environmental...

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:23:00 -0500

A classic CA landscape that has underscored the environmental movement

Kaimal Mark II Lens, BlacKeys SuperGrain Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic

Complicated Housing at UC Merced

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:10:18 -0500

Complicated Housing at UC Merced:

The planners on the Merced campus had mentioned this phenomenon to me recently and I thought it was fascinating. Now it appears in the NY Times.

Kaimal Mark II Lens, BlacKeys SuperGrain Film, No Flash, Taken...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:43:00 -0500

Kaimal Mark II Lens, BlacKeys SuperGrain Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic

Beautiful sunrise this morning

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:17:26 -0400

Beautiful sunrise this morning