Author Archives: vivianwu
Posts by vivianwu
Future of Street Art in NYC
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Group #2: Rachel, Susu, Cassie, Vivian, Wesley
Abstract: What is street art? Are they solely the unsanctioned designs like graffiti that most people view as vandalism or the commissioned and funded works like sculpture, lighting displays and wall murals? Regardless of how one defines street art, it pushes of boundaries and now it has expanded. Therefore, our final video for the Future of New York City class will focus on the changes in the forms of street art, the responses and attitudes towards the changes and what does the future hold for publicly displayed art. We will look at how street art, graffiti in particular, have changed from being thought as vandalism to now being funded, how advertisements have grown and became a form of art itself and how exhibitions constantly expand and evolve beyond the walls of museums and how they have become so easily accessible to the public eye. Through filming these various types of public artwork in the different neighborhoods of New York City, we will see where street art will be headed in the future.
Futuristic Structures
Efficient Green Roof Building and Self Sustainable Restaurant
I drew a futuristic building with a energy efficient green roof. Instead of the typical flat green roofs, I wanted to create a building that would optimize all of the energy the sun provides throughout the daytime. Because of all the different types of angles of the building, each segment of plants and trees will be able to have a period of maximum sun exposure throughout the day, making good use of the sun’s location at different points of the day. The tree next to this building is a self sustainable restaurant/cafe. All of the fruits and vegetables that are grown on the tree are served at the restaurant, and during the off season, fresh vegetables and fruits will be grown in the greenhouse within the tree. This would allow for this restaurant/cafe to be self sufficient enough to rely on its own resources entirely.
To Internalize Waste Disposal or Not?
The Municipal Solid Waste in New York City paper stated various options that New York City has to cope with the disposal of waste that will continue to increase in the upcoming years. Currently, the majority of waste is being managed by out of city facilities that bring solid waste out to regions outside of New York City to be sorted and taken care of. However, the unsteady and often increasing prices of gas affects transportation costs for this form of waste disposal. One option, the Comprehensive Solid Waste Plan, was brought up in order to centralize solid waste disposal into New York City itself through the construction and development of transfer stations. This option would allow New York City to become more self sufficient in its solid waste disposal and not be affected by the effects of dynamic gas prices. However this solution also has drawbacks such as the current budget shortfalls that would create a financial burden for the city as well as community opposition towards the building of transfer facilities.
Should New York City move towards a self sustainable means of solid waste disposal but have to potentially face financial drawbacks, or continue to rely on outside facilities and transportation modes that would on the other hand lessen the burden of New York City having to mange its own waste disposal?
Comments by vivianwu
"For NYC to tackle this issue of climate change would also require a great deal of change in the lifestyle New Yorkers are use to. It wouldn't just be a simple task of recycling bottles, rather, to effectively promote and encourage preventing climate change would require a cultural change that many people may not be readily able to accept immediately. Without the population of New Yorkers ready to take this first step to accepting this change would make it extremely difficult even if the government were create even more programs targeting climate change. Therefore, just like Wesley said, New Yorkers themselves have to take the first steps of showing willingness to adapt, accept change, and put in a lot more efforts to create a future sustainable NYC for when the effects of climate change become more evident."
--( posted on Feb 11, 2014, commenting on the post
Wake Up, NYC )
"In a society where social media is extremely prevalent in our lives and information about ourselves and others is so readily accessible to social media corporations and companies it is confident to say that we are extremely influenced by external forces. Because we reveal so much, these external forces whether it is media, corporations, or even people are able to target and monitor our perception of things and what we are exposed to in the world. In this way, our thoughts, ideas and even decision making are influenced and can be changed, a lot of times even without our awareness. For example, with all the information we provide to online websites such as Facebook and Google, companies are then able to use this information to control what advertisements, websites, and even news we are exposed to. Although it can be perceived as us being exposed more to our interests this form of marketing and advertising limits ourselves from anything outside of our own, personal interests, giving us a tunnel vision of the world and society."
--( posted on Feb 11, 2014, commenting on the post
Can Top-Down and Bottom-Up Coexist? )
