Eggs and the City

1-To what extent do Whyte and Gibbs approach to city design from different perspectives? Do you find one more convincing than the other?

Gibbs and Whyte have similar yet distinct views when it comes to city design. The two both try to focus on the feel of an area, but for very different reasons. Gibbs focuses on the issue strictly commercially; what can I do here to make the customer spend the most money? I think this approach, while valid and in the short run more important to businesses, should not be the primary focus of a cities design. Like Whyte, I think that cities should be designed to feel good. If the feelin' is right, people are going to stay in the district, and almost always spend money. But the distinction is the goal. Gibbs gave me the impression that he couldn't even define what a good urban community was, his only criterion for success was amount of money made. Cities and urban areas are so much more than that however. I feel Whyte has got it right, focusing more on how cities make the pedestrians feel.

2-What elements of an urban area are particularly attractive to you? What elements repel you?

I love cities. I have loved cities since I was a little three-year-old living in Brooklyn NY. I love going to cites now. I am a city person all day. The main thing I like about cities is just the environment of it all. Walking around late at night with all the buildings lit up, still passing people walking along the sidewalks, that is what I love. Reading Whyte's chapter made me think of how even though vendors and street hustlers may seem like a detractant to cites, they actually help the overall vibe. I cannot imagine New York without the noise and shaddy characters on the streets.

Unfortunately, these same things that can make a city great can hurt in to large quantities. Cleanliness is good to a point, but to clean is weird. Conversely, dirtiness makes a city feel right, but to much is definitely a turn off. In the end its all about balance, weighing the pros and the cons and finding a happy medium.

EGGS?

Karl and I had lots of good ideas, however with limited resources and lack of transportation, we could not follow up on them. Instead we somehow decided to build a springy thing that was almost guaranteed not to work. Some of our good ideas were using a substance that absorbs a lot of shock such as peanut butter, or packing the egg in something like mini marshmellos as to take force off the egg. Our design may have worked had it fallen in the intended direction, straight down, however due to whatever it maybe, it landed directly on its side destroying the egg. Oh well. We'll get 'em next time?