this is it.....

Alright, so this is it. After much talking about it, threatening to do it (well not to you because you likely don't know me), I've taken the plunge and decided to start a blog. Is it going to be any good? Probably not but hey, that's what blogs and anonymity are all about right? Oh, and it has never stopped the Advertiser from publishing so why not.

So what's it all about? Well, the situation is quite simply that I've returned to life in Adelaide (oh yeah, thats the SA 'heaps good' Adelaide) from a few years living, working and traveling in Europe. Unfortunately due to family commitments, visas etc. the OS time had to come to an end and now I am back to where it all started. What's so bad about that I hear you say? Plenty of people live here and think Adelaide is tops. You even come from here! I note you said 'unfortunately', wait, is this going to be you blogging a lot of the ill informed, biased and nonconstructive anti-Adelaide rhetoric that we have come to expect from the kids today? Well, yes....... and no. Then why don't you f$*k off and live somewhere else if you don't like it so much?

Ease up! The deal is this; I don't hate it (entirely), it just frustrates me because it could be so much more than what it is. Its just that there are a lot of people here with less than progressive attitudes and to quote Aurelio Vidmar, it really is a bit of a 'pissant town'. I'm not saying that in a completely negative way, I just think once people realise that, we could probably deal with the reality of it all and progress a bit.

I should point out here that my interests and gripes lye mostly in the realms of architecture, urban design and planning (though that won't stop me trying to comment on a bit of culture, fashion and so on because really, its all part of the same thing really). For me, its about the built fabric, the forms and spaces that make up the city and the stark reality of returning to a city where people seem to place little value on this. Mostly though, its about one man's struggle with a return to suburbia!

So you don't like suburbia eh? What's your beef? Well as I see it, the past 60-70 years of urban planning in this city have been based around this very outdated and largely shite model of planning. All of it based on the fallacy that is the 'suburban dream', the detached house on a block of your own land. The problem with suburbia though is that it's trying to be half urban (without the good bits like accessibility) and half rural (without the reality of proper space and cows). It's the ultimate compromise with the worst of both worlds.

So again, you don't like suburbia, you don't really like Adelaide. Then what do you like?

I like streets where people live and interact rather than just drive (one of their three cars) from suburban project homes down to the mall. I like density and diversity. I like the ease and virtues of a well connected public transport system that runs often enough that i don't need to live by a timetable. I like the ability to ride and walk most places. I like a city that feels alive and where things are at hand. I like being able to walk to the shops, park and the pub. I especially like being able to walk home from the pub (via a kebab shop). I like walking or riding because I am going somewhere not because I need to to make up for a lifestyle that doesn't involve enough exercise. I like riding without licra. I like progressive cities. I like people who don't leave stupid comments on the AdelaideNow website (more on that later).

Anyway, that's largely me. When I get some more time, I'm going to start posting up some of my gripes, observations and maybe even positive plans for making this city more urban. A positive dose of urban for a city infected with suburbanitis.