COVID Diary: Five Weeks
Five weeks ago was the day Chicago’s shelter-in-place order went into effect. I know this because it was also moving day for my husband and I and, thanks to this overlap, for me March 20th is the start of our new reality. In the weeks beforehand I remember going to work and having many
Five Things White Urban Planners Should, but Likely Won’t, Do During COVID
Photo: Taylor Wilcox, Unsplash; Illustration: Vitaliy V. The past weeks have already brought on a wave of “listicles” of tips for making sense of the COVID crisis and envisioning its impact on urban life. Inspired by a list I saw from the American Planning Association and my growing anger and helplessness at the data coming
COVID Diary: Sampling Shimo
As society grapples with COVID, I am reminiscing about past travel experiences, starting with a once-in-a-lifetime April 2019 trip to Japan. For the Japan trip, my partner did the big-picture planning of the trip while I scoured the net for tips on manners, foods to try, and sights to see. We were avid AirBnB users
COVID Diary: An Urbanist Goes to Japan
For a glorious week, my days began & ended with waiting to cross these tracks. Exactly a year ago, I spent two weeks exploring Japan with my husband. After seven days in Tokyo, we visited Kanazawa, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto, plus brief detours to some rural parts of Honshu, the island all those cities