Rainy Saturday on the Glattalbahn, Zurich

On our recent trip to Zürich we rode the Glattalbahn (German) from Zurich Airport into the center of Zürich. The Glattalbahn is a new rail line that combines aspects of a tram (streetcar, light rail transit) line with regional rail. It operates on the city streets in Zürich and then on its own right of way outside the city.

The Glattalbahn was very carefully planned and has lots of interesting features that you can see in this film including very well designed stations, sensitivity to the environment (tracks laid on grass, lines of trees), including the whole street in the improvement project and connectivity to other public transport. I hope the film does justice to some of these, sorry about the rain!

Zurich: Restaurant Karl

On our last trip to Zürich I had a great lunch at Restaurant Karl in the Zentrum Karl der Grosse, which is right next to the Grosse Munster.

The Zentrum Karl der Grosse is operated by the city of Zürich and offers a large variety of social and cultural programs. For example they have integration classes for immigrants, art programs and sometimes concerts. The restaurant offers training to disadvantaged persons and eating there helps support the programs.

We ate there several times when we lived in Zürich and the food was always very good. It's fairly simple: pastas, rosti and grilled meats. They offer a nice selection of wines by the glass, most from nearby (especially good are those from the Kloster Ittingen, which also brews a great Klosterbrau beer). An added bonus: it's smoke free ... still a rarity (unfortunately) in Zürich.

On this visit I was drawn in by the promise of Barlauch. Barlauch is something I never had in the USA, it's a spring herb that you make pesto out of, it's a natural garlic. I can't get enough of it (in fact we made five bottles of pesto last week). Anyway, I had it on top of the Zürich standby Rosti (home fried potatoes). It was fantastic, check out the photo. Although they did look at me a bit oddly when I asked for extra Barlauch, they brought me a nice little pitcher full. Lunch with water and coffee cost about 35 Swiss Francs.

Saving the Auto Industry - Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
You're Welcome - Auto Industry
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

John Hodgman, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart's "You're Welcome" correspondent presents his ideas for saving the auto industry. I really miss the Comedy Channel!

Burnham Plan for Chicago

2009 is the centenial of Daniel Burnham's plan for Chicago. We studied this plan in all my history of city planning courses, not only the content, which was quite advanced, but the beautiful drawings and associated public relations efforts (they even created a textbook for school children to teach them about the importanace of good city planning and implementing the plan). To celebrate the centenial the Chicago Public Library has created a website: The Burnham Plan Centenial with lots of good information.

Is funny the new black? Is this a mixed metaphore?

Scott Brown at Wired has an interesting article Scott Brown on Stand-Up Comedy, Lingua Franca of the Wired World. I think his point that comedy on the internet helps

facilitate ironic linkages, unexpected resonances across genres and media, and anarchic twists on established, institutional forms

is fascinating because this is just what is needed to help spur creative ideas in areas from research and development to business planning. I guess I need to go to comedy school ... but Brown has the solution: just being part of the e-world will help. Hope so.

By the way, the photo is from Luzern, it's under a big hook that can be used to pull people out of the river. The sign says that it is an "Official Rescue Device" and that "Missuse will be punished." Reminds me of the Vaudeville hook used to pull bad acts off the stage.

Is management the problem?

Henry Mintzberg, a professor of management studies at McGill University in Montreal, wrote a great article America's monumental failure of management on the current economic crisis that takes a broader view of the problem and its causes. He criticizes the Harvard Business School case study approach among other things and mentions a study he did evaluating the performance of 19 "superstar" HBS graduates (10 led businesses that failed miserably, 4 failed more or less and 5 led businesses that were considered successful ... not a great track record).

I would add former US President George W. Bush, another HBS graduate, as perhaps the best example of failed HBS managers and the bankruptcy in the "American" system of management HBS teaches.

Rebuilding Cities: Buffalo NY

Nicolai Ouroussoff had a great article in Sunday's NY Times: Reinventing America's Cities: The Time Is Now. The article outlines the need for coordinated planning and, can I say: "big" ideas for making US cities more attractive and livable.

He discusses specific plans for New Orleans, Los Angeles, the Bronx and my hometown Buffalo, as well as more general concepts that would help. I was particularly interested in his description of Buffalo, especially the problematic plan by the US Department of Homeland Security to greatly expand the Peace Bridge Customs area. Ouroussoff mentions that preservationists in Buffalo are fighting the plan, I wish them good luck!

Buffalo could be a poster child for the problems with urban redevelopment projects. Ouroussoff mentions that an aerial freeway was built through one of Fredrick Law Olmsted Sr's parks ... actually it's worse, another two freeways were built: a surface freeway through Olmsted's Delaware Park and a depressed freeway through Olmsted's Humboldt Parkway (which also happened to be an African American neighborhood). The city's light rail system was build mostly underground thus reducing the possibility for community development similar to Portland Oregon around its surface LRT line (not to mention drastically increasing construction and operating costs).

A real problem hindering big planning ideas is that cities like Buffalo need to think small. In other words how to best grow into smaller cities. That goes against the traditional political and business "boosterism" but it's reality. And, smaller could really be beautiful.

Why not simply tear down the freeways - there's less traffic? Replace them with surface boulevards like San Francisco or Milwaukee or re-route the traffic. Rebuild the parks they run through: daylight the Scajaquada Creek from Delaware Park to the Niagara River.

Why not use the existing International Railway Bridge to create a "moving inspection" system for homeland security. Trucks would be loaded on railcars and be inspected on a continuous system of automatic sensors located along the railway track. Not only would such a system eliminate the need for increasing the Peace Bridge inspection facilities, but it would reduce emissions and increase the efficiency of freight transport (less waiting at inspection). Such a system could be a model for other border crossings. In the long term it could increase the amount of freight shipped by rail.

Why not develop a program to focus redevelopment in certain neighborhoods and create a 21st Century equivalent for Olmsted's park system? Such a plan would reduce infrastructure costs and help create the kind of environment that could attract new residents and businesses to Buffalo. The parks could even offer 'economic crisis victory' gardens to nearby residents.

Why not preserve the grain elevators and Buffalo River area as an urban park the way many Ruhr District cities have done. But, the list of ideas is endless.

This kind of planning calls for creativity - which is clearly available - and government programs like those called for in Ouroussoff's article. Let's hope that the Obama Administration doesn't stop thinking about tomorrow.

Ouroussoff mentions that Europe looked to the USA in the past for planning ideas and now the US is looking at Europe. But there is an Architect Engineer from 1890s Vienna, Otto Wagner, that also provides a clue. He planned Vienna's urban transport system combining existing rail lines with new lines and building stations, bridges and facilities that, while serving engineering functions very well, are also beautiful. He did the same with flood facilities. I think there's a lot to learn from his work as well. The photos with the posting are from my flickr photos Vienna Public Transport Otto Wagner.