#podcastnotes

Strategies to deter certain behaviors or crowds in public spaces 

Social control

Largely targets young or homeless

Modifies behavior

Examples:

Classical music in front of stores to deter youth

Lighting (pink or blue)

Pink - emphasizes blemishes, but there is not a lot of evidence of it working

Blue - usually in bathrooms, makes it harder to see veins and discourages heroin use

Street lighting

Bridge in Bosnia - lights continuously put up and destroyed; placed to discourage criminal activity

Currently used to make people feel safe

Spikes in floors or alcoves

Attempt to stop people from sitting or lying in specific places, particularly homeless people

Caused social issues - spikes are too aggressive even if homeless people are viewed as inconvenient

You can’t argue with them/permanent - unpleasant

Public seating

Force people to be uncomfortable, not allow them to lie down or interact - armrests to limit use, higher benches, Camden benches (the perfect anti-bench)

Some don’t even have seats, instead they have leaning supports to discourage sitting or lying down

Anti-pigeon measures - spikes or nets

Work well in area they’re placed in but cause a concentration of pigeons in the small areas without these measures - makes those more unpleasant

Designs are problematic when they exclude people

i.e. hard, physical barriers/exclusionary measures/hostile measures (spikes)

A Long Now Seminar. Nature is Rebounding: Land-and-Ocean-sparing through Concentrating Human Activities (Jesse Ausubel)

It’s so surprising to hear someone talk about things that are going well, as opposed to how we’re headed towards imminent doom and destruction. (I was just as surprised when I ran across Hans Rosling’s talk DON’T PANIC. The Truth About Population, in which he presents data indicating that the increase in population growth seems to have peaked)

Given the role that Jesse Ausubel has played in climate change research and environmentalism, it’s not like he can be accused of being an anti-conservationist.

His main point is: 

American use of almost everything except information seems to be peaking. This is not because the resources are exhausted, but because consumers have changed consumption, and because producers changed production.* 

His key arguments are:

The land used for farmland has peaked. Agriculture has increasingly become more productive, achieving higher yields with less input (land, water, etc.).

Timber use has peaked, resulting in an increase in forest area.

The use of other important commodities, like plastics, has peaked.

Americans may have reached peak car travel and petroleum consumption.

Unfortunately, "ocean life is getting a raw deal”. Ocean conservation is about 100 years behind land conservation.

Of course, it doesn’t mean we should stop our conservation efforts. It just means that, fortunately, some of the efforts put in place are having an effect. But it’s also interesting to note that innovations/practices not related to conservation (like eReaders) are also having a positive impact.