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All Urbanism Frontier Nature

Famous Christopher Brown Quotes

“Railroad rights-of-way are weird zones that you can find almost anywhere in the American Landscape. Our urban spaces have worked to overwrite them in favor of motor vehicles in the era since World War II; often you can see the traces of tracks from old streetcar lines or intercity routes peeking through the asphalt of a public street. Sometimes the remains persist as actual ruins.”

Author:Christopher Brown

“The same term, "brown lands," is sometimes used to describe those parts of the modern urban landscape that have fallen to ruin, at least in the eyes of the planners who measure the city's health based on its contribution to the wealth and growth of the human community. Empty lots, abandoned buildings, trash woods—all the parcels whose former use for industry, residence, agriculture, or other productive purposes has been abandoned, often due to changing economic or technological conditions, and have not yet been replaced by or redeveloped for some more lucrative and vibrant contemporary use. They're zones of economic entropy that become almost invisible due to their removal from the dynamic commercial flows of metropolitan life. Since the postindustrial cleanup era began in the 1970s, the more common official term used to describe such zones is "brownfields," but that has a more specific meaning, describing areas polluted with environmental toxins. Brown lands are more inclusive, encompassing all the properties where human occupation has effectively ceased for many different reasons.”

Book:A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places

Source: A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places

“The idea of the frontier runs so deep in American culture that we internalize the idea that to find nature—real nature—you have to get in your car and drive out of town.”

Nature Urbanism Frontier

Book:A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places

Source: A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places