Archive of posts filed under the Cities category.

Raton, New Mexico: notes on western railroad towns and urban form

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RATON, NEW MEXICO The decorative streetlights, the hanging planters, the Chamber of Commercial-style tourist banners, the antique stores, the nascent brew pub scene. The old motels, with their seen-better-days charm. The newer motels (but still old), out by the interstate, with U-Hauls in the parking lot and their seen-better-days lack of charm. The abandoned buildings, …

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“For inscriptions to take place, witnesses are needed.”

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  For inscriptions to take place, witnesses are needed. Brighenti, A. M. (2010). At the wall: Graffiti writers, urban territoriality, and the public domain. _Space and Culture_, 13(3), 315-332. doi: 10.1177/1206331210365283 On the northbound morning Rail Runner out of Albuquerque’s downtown station, it’s best to sit on the  left side of the train to see the …

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Terrain vague

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Unincorporated margins, interior islands void of activity, oversights, these areas are simply un-inhabited, un-safe, un-productive. In short, they are foreign to the urban system, mentally exterior in the physical interior of the city, its negative image, as much a critique as a possible alternative. -Ignasi de Solà-Morales Rubió, “Terrain Vague” In his essay “Terrain Vague,” …

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