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Transformation of NYC’s Madison Square

I’ve been in a video sharing mood as of late so why stop now when I’ve got more great material to share. STREETFILMS shares a great piece with us about the transformation of NYC’s Madison Square. What was once a mess for autos and a nightmare for pedestrians, bicyclists, etc is now a beautifully landscaped public space.

The street network has been reconfigured and condensed in a way to free up public space that is heavily used. The area has become safer, cleaner, and more pleasant as a result. The film is excellent as it gives a great overview of the transformation and includes fantastic input from the users, of the space, to experts like my favorite – Jan Gehl.

There is another great film about Portland’s bicycle parking program. The film looks at on-street bicycle parking and areas known as a ‘bicycle oasis.’ These are things that could really be looked at as ways of empowering the local bicycling community here in Cincinnati. Enjoy!

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Welcome UrbanCincy’s New Writers

In an effort to increase the quantity and quality of the content on UrbanCincy four new writers have been added to the roster for a total of five altogether. All of them have contributed in one way, shape or form to UrbanCincy over the years.

Sherman Cahal (Over-the-Rhine), has been with UrbanCincy for several months now contributing content about Cincinnati’s history, bicycling community, and photography. He will continue with these roles and look to continue to develop new ideas and content for the site.

Brad Hawse (The Heights), is a returning writer and will look to fill us in on what is happening with Cincinnati’s YP community, the Uptown area, and other general news/info.

Chris St. Pierre (CUF), is a new member who will be adding in his expertise on political/legal issues and transportation policy.

Travis Estell (CUF), is the Technology Director for Bearcast Radio and runs the weekly Explore Cincinnati radio show (Fridays @ 10am). Travis will keep us informed on university related items, business news, infrastructure, and local media quips.

Adam Hawkins (Western Hills), has helped UrbanCincy in the past with theatre/performance reviews and will continue to contribute on that front in addition to photography and general musings from a Cincinnati westsider.

If there are certain topics that you think UrbanCincy spends too much or too little time on please let us know. We hope to be able to make the site a more comprehensive place to get all your information on Cincinnati and its urban core. Please feel free to get to know these new writers through their profile links in the left column, and share your thoughts with us in the comment section. Thanks for reading.

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Making Sense of Place Series

Phoenix: The Urban Desert

Cleveland: Confronting Decline in an American City

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News

Cincy’s own Heartless Bastards on Letterman

They’re from Cincinnati, David, not Austin. Great performance, great band.

Additional Reading:
Heartless Bastards On Letterman + Bonus MP3 – Each Note Secure
Video of Heartless Bastards on Letterman – CityBeat

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News

PechaKucha debuts in Cincinnati

Cincinnati will be joining the global PechaKucha craze on Friday, February 13th at the Contemporary Arts Center (GoogleMap) downtown. There are currently 168 cities worldwide that have their own regular PechaKucha events typically on a quarterly basis.

The Cincinnati events are being organized by a collection of designers led by Greg Lewis. Like the other chapters, Cincinnati is planning four events for 2009 including the one on Friday. The events are known as being part social, part art, and part ideas. At the first PechaKucha Night Cincinnati you will see presentations by designers, artists, architects, professors, and others.

The dozen presentations or so will begin at 8pm and last until roughly 10pm. Prior to that, guests are invited to tour the CAC galleries, grab a cocktail, and check out the latest exhibits from Tara Donovan and Donald Sultan starting at 6:30pm. After the presentations conclude there will be a DJ to keep the party going right there at the CAC.

Tickets cost $10 for CAC members and $15 for non-members. It is recommended that you bring your ID as there will not be any physical tickets for the event – they will be cross-checking the orders with your ID. Both members and non-members, to the CAC, can order their tickets through the PechaKucha Cincinnati website.

Background:
PechaKucha (pronounced Peh-Chak-Cha) is a forum for creative people to informally share their work in public. The name comes from the Japanese term for the sound of conversation (chit-chat). The idea is to give creative individuals a public forum to share their ideas. The presentations are meant to be visually telling, informative, and to the point. PechaKucha uses as 20×20 format – 20 images, 20 seconds each. The result is 6 minutes and 40 seconds of “exquisitely matched words and images that transforms presentations into a compelling beat-the-clock performance art.”

UPDATE:
Pecha Kucha – the chit-chat, low-down on Cincinnati’s hottest designers – Soapbox Media