Diigo Bookmarks 08/30/2008 (a.m.)

by Yule Heibel on August 29, 2008

  • Found via …? Kazys Varnelis?, Geoff at BLDGBLOG? (can’t place it, but at some smart blog I read), an essay by Bernard Languillier about how the digital process is changing our relationship with printed images. It’s a to-read-later piece for me right now – haven’t had time to read it thoughtfully yet, but it promises some compelling insights (something a bit better than Emily Gould’s recent piece in MIT’s Technology Review, “It’s not a revolution if nobody loses,” which ostensibly bases itself on Walter Benjamin’s pivotal essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”).

    tags: embodiment, disembodiment, photography, imagery, digital_pictures, printing, bernard_languillier

  • Intro page from the Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds (RSPB) to a report by a Dr. William Bird (ha!) called “Natural Thinking,” available as a PDF download. Bird’s report is an “investigating [of] the links between the natural environment, biodiversity and mental health.”

    This could be a useful reference for urbanist writing, insofar as it underscores the importance of amenities as a necessary complement to density. You don’t want to have density while simultaneously “automating” everything (no more walking, driving only, no interaction with nature, etc.). Even small “hot spots” of natural interaction will work, or more walking with actual natural elements at hand.

    tags: health, mental_health, nature, amenities, stress, research, rspb

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