2024-04-23T04:22:08-04:00 https://archinect.com/blog/article/21453050/columbia-city rlovett 2009-08-31T14:53:25-04:00 >2018-01-30T06:16:04-05:00 <p>With my life in my bags I arrived at JFK a little after 5:30am. The sun was rising. It was already 80 degrees and I felt the humidity- as if there was an invisible extra weight- another type of space all around me.<br><br> I decided to take the Airtrain to the subway instead of a cab. After seeing someone for some reason throwing up as I was boarding the subway car I was struck with sudden sense of nervousness and realized, my god-I am in a very new place. I grew up in Los Angeles, the epicenter of decentralization- a city defined by its paradoxical socialized libertarianism. A city made up of edge cities, where a sense of civic pride is only visible by flags hanging from cars on the freeway after Lakers win the championship, where collectivized services facilitate halucinations of individualism in an urban desert-Where the case study houses and the Getty Center create a warm sense of comfort looking out an endless sea of low-rise buildings.<br><br> Immediately over the next hour or so on the tra...</p>