Monthly Archives: August 2013

flexible planning

Posted on by
2

I describe the way I generally muddle through life with the term “flexible planning”. I don’t know if it’s an original word or not, but it describes the vague middle ground that I’ve settled into with regards to how I organize my time. On the one hand, I like to plan things in advance. I don’t like entering into a situation without at least sizing it up and figuring out how to make the best of the time I have to do it.

On the other hand, I’m rather lazy. I can only take planning so far before I get bored and want to move on to something else. These two elements of myself are constantly at odds with each other; I wish I could be a better planner, but I’m too lazy to be good at it. I also wish I could be more spontaneous and not worry about how things will play out, but I’m too anal to just let things happen on their own.

I guess I’m an organized slacker.

Anyway, my slacker self wanted to approach the planning for this trip more loosely, and let the road and the landscape inform me where to go and what to see. But my rigid self wasn’t having any of that and soon took over, as rigid martinets are often prone to do. Soon, what started out as a loose chain of cities to visit became a full-blown itinerary. I stopped short of making it hourly and, as it stands, it’s precise  to the general time of day – morning, afternoon, etc.

So I have an idea of what I’ll be doing every day of this six-week trip, but I tried to incorporate as much looseness and flexibility as I could (or could be comfortable with). What follows is my current tentative itinerary. It doesn’t look like it’s very pliable right now, but don’t worry… I’m going to try to let my slacker self have his way with it as much as I can without having a complete id/ego/superego Lord of the Flies-level breakdown.

(Note: I’m linking to an existing Google spreadsheet. I sincerely hope this works and it’s halfway legible.)

have degree, will travel

Posted on by
1

Some explanation may be required.

If you’re reading this message, it’s probably because I asked you to. If I asked you to, then it’s probably because I know you well enough. If I know you well enough, it’s probably because you’re at least a little bit interested in what I’m doing and where I’m going. If you’re interested in what I’m doing and where I’m going, then you probably won’t mind a little bit of explanation about what this blog is all about. So let me tell you.

As most you of know, I’m a professional architect and non-professional urbanist. I teach for a living, but I also like to teach for free. I was born in India, grew up in the United States and began my career there, and then moved to India in 2009. I returned to the USA in 2012 in order to pursue a Master’s Degree in Architecture History and Theory. That’s what I’ve spent the last year doing and now that’s done. During this past year, I’ve been doing a bit of research in architecture and urbanism, specifically the relationship that Americans have with cities and suburbs. I won’t go into a long history lesson here, but the focus of my interest has been to discover why people choose to live in – or outside of – cities. As a professed city-lover who has also lived in the suburbs, I’ve been trying to reconcile my own personal faith in the dense urban life of the sort glamorized by Jane Jacobs in the 1960’s with the inarguable desire for people to live away from cities, in private enclaves, separated by lawns and driveways and swimming pools.

I’m not a fan of suburban sprawl. I feel the suburbs – with their parking lots, shopping centers, strip malls, and chain restaurants are monotonous, lifeless, and reflect the easy, least-common-denominator lifestyle of modern American society. But that’s my personal prejudice and I own up to it. Clearly not everyone feels this way, and I understand many of the reasons why they do. But I feel that deeper understanding is in order. I spent the last year reading books and writing papers about these issues, and dove into them like a true academic. But ask any of my former students and they’ll tell you that I encourage learning-by-doing, and I can’t absolve myself of the same responsibility to better understand that which I disagree with by experiencing it in person.

So, I decided to travel the USA. Starting on August 31, 2013, I will be traveling the American landscape and roadscape for six weeks, visiting friends and relatives, but more importantly (for my research, anyway), visiting cities and suburbs and vast stretches of empty land and trying to better understand why people choose to live the way they do, in the places where they do. I’ll be documenting my observations and revelations in this blog, sharing what I see and experience with anyone who’s interested. I’ll be driving the whole way, stopping at places both planned and unplanned, following an itinerary both fixed and flexible.

I’m not entirely sure what I’ll find; the trip may reaffirm or contradict the things I already know in the academic sense. I’ve taken many road trips in my life already, so traveling by car over long distances is no new thing. But this is the first time I’m doing it with some “academic” purpose in mind. Some of what I find will supplement the things I learned from previous road trips; some things will contradict them.

I should also warn you (and this may be redundant for many of you), that once I get started in explaining things, I have a hard time stopping. This first post is a great example; it probably should have ended five paragraphs ago. I apologize in advance if, at best, this blog bores you or, at worst, it becomes a flood of narcissistic navel-gazing ramblings from the mind of a pedant. If any of that happens, well… you can do what most democracies in the world still allow you to do: change the channel. If you stick around, though, I hope you’ll comment and share your opinions and, by all means, express your discontent and disagreement. I won’t mind at all.

I think that’s enough explaining for now. There’s plenty more to come.