What people eat around the world

A family in Beijing, China showing the amount of food they purchase a week

For the first time in history there are more people living in urban places than in rural areas. With an increased demand of food from cities and a dwindling population of farmers all across the globe, the importance of providing food to everyone in this world has become more critical than ever. Right now, there are 2 Billion people in this world that live in slums. Before we plan the next great development for people to live in, we must first plan to make sure we can feed everyone in this world first.

Here is an interesting website showing the amount of food and how much their weekly budget is for food. Also, check Talib Kweli's, Eat to Live and Mos Def's, New World Water.

Presidential Revival

Ok, for all the Baltimoreans, Marylanders, Virginians and Washingtonians reading this blog, make sure you go out and VOTE!

Here below is a fuzzy cell phone pic of the Obama Rally that was held last night in the Baltimore Arena (a post about the Arena is soon coming). This blog is called Urban Revival but last night's rally surely looked and felt like a true Revival.

Preserving Historic Black Neighborhoods

The AP has recently written in article about the historic preservation of subdivisions that were built for blacks. This issue has often been somewhat of a touchy issue because the argument is about preserving the cultural heritage of a neighborhood instead of the aesthetic character or the significant age of the site. Factors that work against these sites in historic preservation is that some of the neighborhoods have lost their cultural significance as the black population has dwindled out or was displaced and these neighborhoods are often times not as old as the typical historic neighborhoods already in the inventory of historic places.

Many historic, culturally rich black neighborhoods have already succumbed to development and gentrification while others are still fighting to keep their cultural identity. Examples of historically black neighborhoods that have completely lost their identity can be seen in Philadelphia in the Society Hill neighborhood which was the basis of W.E.B. Dubois's ground breaking anthropology, The Philadelphia Negro. Other neighborhoods that are struggling to maintain their identities include the iconic black neighborhoods of Compton, CA, Harlem in New York City and the Atlanta neighborhood of Dr. King which is already listed in the register of historic places.

Here's an excerpt of the article:

"Some of the early black homeowner neighborhoods around the country are trying to win historic recognition before their place in the history of homeownership fades. The residents want to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which would make them eligible for federal tax credits or grants for historic preservation. ... Persuading black property owners to seek the designation can sometimes be difficult because some equate preservation with gentrification or higher taxes."

For the entire article, click here.

So what are your thoughts on preserving neighborhoods based on their cultural identity and history?

Unfamiliar Skyline Series...The Caribbean

Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago

Kingston, Jamaica

Havana, Cuba

San Jaun, Puerto Rico

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

The Cityscapes and Photo montage of Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden's life was full of movement. Born in 1912 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden's family moved shortly thereafter to Harlem where their apartment was a popular meeting place for intellectuals such as W.E.B. Dubois as well as artists during the Renaissance.

In 1925, Bearden moved to Pittsburgh where he eventually graduated from high school, and later came back to New York, obtaining his bachelor's degree in mathematics from New York University.

The painter eventually joined the "306" group and continued his study of European painting which was later to exert a heavy influence on his work. After serving in the army for three years, Bearden studied philosophy in Paris at the Sorbonne, returning to New York afterward to paint.

.

The Street

Photo Montage, 1964

Pittsburgh Memories

Berkeley - The City and it's People

Rocket to the Moon

The Baltimore Urban Forest Project

Check out this new sustainability project in Baltimore. From their website:

The Urban Forest Project is a growing national exhibition working in conjunction with the Times Square Alliance and World Studio in NYC. Tilt Studio Foundation, Inc. is located in Baltimore and we discovered this project when it ran in NYC last fall. We are introducing the Urban Forest Project to Baltimore in the Spring of 2008 from April 11th-June 27th.

The project brings together 200 artists, designers and College students, 75+ K-12 students, and another 100+ businesses to produce a visual story based on the image of a tree and the idea of sustainability. Each participant was asked to design a banner, to be hung throughout Baltimore City. The banners will lead visitors to Druid Hill Park, Wyman Park Dell, Herring Run Park, Patterson Park and Carroll Park. In each park, we will have installations and day long events that help to promote and drive traffic to the park

After the closing, the banners will be recycled into tote bags and sold as original works of functional art. All proceeds from the project will benefit the Baltimore City Department of Recreation & Parks Tree Baltimore Campaign for a greener city. The best thing about Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project? It produces no waste!

For more info, click here.