Culture : Space

Interesting Reads

Are teenagers part of the reason why malls are dying? John McDuling writing for Atlantic Cities looks at Piper Jaffray’s semi-annual study into teen behavior in American Teens Don't Hang Out at Malls Anymore.

Who is responsible for gentrification and who has the right to criticize? A.O. Scott's article, Whose Brooklyn Is It, Anyway?, looks at media representations and gentrification--specifically in Brooklyn in response to Spike Lee's well publicized rant. 

Not just blue and red or purple states--the politics of metro areas within states. Richard Florida analyzes sprawl in metro areas and the relationship to conservative politics in America's Most Sprawling Cities Are Also the Most Republican.

 

The Mediated Flaneur?

Source: Simpsons, Fox.com

Source: Simpsons, Official preview on Youtube.

Last week the Simpson's aired "Specs in the City" -- a funny and thoughtful commentary on Google Glass.  Mr. Burns gives all of his employees a pair of Oogle goggles as a "gift" to spy on his employees.  Homer becomes addicted to the glasses, even going so far as to use the glasses in bed with Marge.  In Homer's words:  "No one can live in a non-augmented reality!" Giving up his glasses to Marge, he spies on her as she follows her daily routine at home and in the town.  

The episodes addresses issues from privacy, mediated reality ("augmented" reality according to the Simpsons), to performativity.  

The full episode is available on Fox.com or Hulu.com if you missed it.  

 

Americans Still Desire More Space

Source: Business Week.  Death of the McMansion Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

 

McMansions may not be as popular after the Great Recession of 2008, but Americans still want larger homes.  The National Association of Home Builders recently released their nationwide 2011 survey "What Home Buyers Really Want."  NAHB surveys new and potential homebuyers preferences for "home type and size, room layout and design, kitchen and baths, windows and doors, accessibility and outdoor features, electronics and technology in the home, energy efficiency, choosing a community, and trade-offs buyers are willing to make."  

Thank you to The Urban Land Institute for providing an overall summary of the data. 

Some interesting findings: 

1) The average new single-family house is now over 2,500 sq. ft. and continuing to trend larger.

2) This trend reflects the preferences of higher-income families that can afford large downpayments and financing in a tight mortgage market.

3) According to the NAHB most buyers aspire to own a home with a median of 2,226 sq. ft.

4) The majority of people surveyed want 3 to 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. 

5) Most interesting:  apparently 6 of 10 people surveyed would go without a living room.

 

What are the Characteristics of the Typical American Middle-Class Home?

 

I watch a lot of HGTV--especially "House Hunters."  I am always curious if the houses they feature all over the country represent the typical American home.  Also, is the demand depicted on the show for the ideal home featuring at least two bathrooms, a home office, and a "bonus" room or man cave representative of the actual market?  Fortunately, some of these questions can be answered examining the US Census Bureau's 2011 American Housing Survey released this month. 

Out of curiousity I decided to compare the 2011 data to 1985 (the Housing Survey dates back to 1973).  In 1985, the median square footage of a single detached home was 1,636. In 2011, the median square footage has increased to 1800 (providing the average household an additional 100+ sq. ft. per occupant).  The majority of homes in 1985 had 4-5 rooms versus 2011 with the majority of homes having 6 or more rooms (not including bathrooms). The most significant change is the number of bathrooms per home.  Since 1973, the average home had 1 bathroom.  Now, the average home has at least 2 bathrooms.  What is that about?  Lifestyle changes, privacy, aspirational? 

The American Dream to the Extreme

I finally watched "Queen of Versailles," a documentary film directed by Lauren Greenfield.  The film follows David Siegel, the owner of Westgate Resorts, and wife Jackie (along with their children). (By the way, this is the same man that threatened massive layoffs if his employees didn't vote for Mitt Romney.)  As I understand, the original intent of the film was to feature the Siegel's decision to build the largest and most expensive family home in the U.S.  However, because of the financial crisis of 2008 the family is forced to put the unfinished home on the market (for $75M) because David, although originally paying cash, decided to mortgage the home to access cash to expand his business.  The family has to sell other assets (e.g. airplane, cars) as well as layoff thousands of employees as their business empire was built on the real estate bubble and easily available mortgages from the banks. 

This film embodies the causes of the economic crisis and our current economic condition.  Once lower middle class themselves, the Siegels become billionaires from selling condo time shares to lower-middle class people.  David Siegel is able to develop new properties through cheap and readily available credit and his customers are able to buy vacation shares by essentially the same process.  This is depicted in one scene where a couple is convinced to buy a time share with a deposit of $2000 on their credit card without realizing the financial risks.

David Siegel's business offers his customers the opportunity to experience a life of privilege for one week a year in places like Las Vegas.  The Siegels already live a life of privilege but are not satisfied and want to live like royalty, hence the building of Versailles 2.0. 

We watch as the Siegels adjust to new realities and at one point, Jackie questions the fairness of the banks taking advantage of people, identifying with the 99% by asking why the bank didn't lend the money to "common people, like us" as expected after the bailout.  Even David admits that the banking system is corrupt but will not go as far as to admit that the problem was deregulation and the lack of government oversight.  The drive to acquire stuff, in this case real estate, blinds everyone to the fundamental problems with our economic system.

Downtown Brooklyn

Great new documentary:  "My Brooklyn" by Kelly Anderson with the support of historian Craig S. Wilder at MIT. 

 

 

The first time I visited the Fulton Mall was as a teenager in the 1990s.  I was so excited to hang out with my friends and go shopping without adults.  Fast forward to 2008, I moved to Northern Park Slope as an adult joining the later gentrifiers.  I always felt like I had one foot in the Fulton Mall and the other in Gorilla Coffee!  I was surprised (I really shouldn't be) to recently learn about the plans to demolish/redevelop the Fulton Mall (see National Retailers Discover a Brooklyn Mall in the NYT). 

Are American Shopping Malls Dying?

Surfing the web I found this interesting website, Dead Malls, by three historians that have documented the death of retail malls in the US for over 10 years.  They provide many links from numerous contributors featuring malls all over the US.

Also, note related article on the Atlantic Cities:  The Death of the American Shopping Mall

 

The website and article recalled two quotes:

"In consumer capitalism, the working classes abandon the union hall for the shopping mall and celebrate the system that fuels the desires that it ultimately cannot satisfy."

"To expand the domain of shopping and profit, advertisers are already creating new malls in cyberspace that will provide virtual shopping environments of the most exotic kind to parade an unbelievable surfeit of products. Indeed, corporations are currently establishing Web sites on the Internet which offer all sorts of visual spectacles in order to entice customers to buy their goods and provide consumer profile information for future advertising and commercial ventures."

In "Debord and the Postmodern Turn: New Stages of the Spectacle" by Steven Best and Douglas Kellner