Extinct: the obsolescence of objects and technologies, Places Journal, Barbara Penner and Adrian Forty, September 2021

The process of the disappearance of objects and technology, ranging in scale from tools and equipment to structures and infrastructures, is sometimes referred to as obsolescence, and sometimes — and this is the description we have chosen to focus on — as extinction. Both terms contain assumptions about how and why things disappear, while neglecting other, no less pertinent, possibilities.

Man is this is a fun, thoughtful long-read. Take some time and read the whole thing, that’s all I’ll say!

America’s Architecture and Construction Industry Is Broken, Treehugger, Michael Eliason, November 15, 2021

Where in the United States can an architect develop a six-story urban building using prefabricated, standardized concrete components? Where are the zoning and financing options that would enable and allow this? Or a concrete plant that manufactures them?

This is not a technical article, but it’s full of examples like this. It reminds me of reading about the craft beer revolution in the United States, or the growth of the wine industry in my own state of Virginia. There’s creativity and innovation—that’s indispensable—but then there are rules that encourage or repress that creativity and innovation. There are reforms that can unlock it.

This is one reason why talking about regulation/deregulation isn’t that useful. The question is whether a regulation (zoning, building code, etc.) is actually protecting some aspect of the public interest, or not. Many, maybe most, lines in these codes are not. And as the article explains, there are many cost savings and innovations we are artificially denying ourselves via poor regulation.

We’ll Miss You, MetroCard Machine, Curbed, Karrie Jacobs, August 31, 2022

My affection for the machine occasionally bubbles to the surface. For instance, on my most recent trip to Washington, D.C., my husband and I found ourselves stuck in the Foggy Bottom Metro station, flummoxed by the D.C. Metro’s vending machine. With an oddball buffet of mechanical buttons and arbitrarily placed instructions, it felt like an artifact from the former Soviet Union.

Yes, the D.C. Metro ticket machines are very…retro. Like lots of old things I sort of like them. But these New York City machines sound great (I’ve never used them), and most of the article describes the exacting, highly detailed design process that created them. It’s neat stuff.

The new system, as others have noted, also raises privacy issues. It’s interesting how each iteration of fare technology—tokens, cards, pay by phone options—have become more intrusive and less anonymous. And maybe it doesn’t have to be that way.

Sometime next year, New Yorkers may begin to notice the dwindling number of MetroCard machines. For many, it won’t just feel like the inevitable exchange of an old technology for a new one — like another 4 a.m. update of your phone’s operating system — but more like the passing of a dependable friend, the sort we don’t much think about or fully appreciate until they’re gone.

Fairfax campaign hopes for tourism boost, Virginia Business, Courtney Mabeus and Jenny Kincaid Boone, August 29, 2022

This is a pretty short news article that caught my eye, about a “tourism improvement district” plan to grow tourism in the southern portion of Fairfax County, around the area where George Washington’s Mount Vernon is located.

There is a lot of wealth in that part of the county, along the Potomac, but there are also a lot of working-class neighborhoods, particularly along U.S. Route 1. The area has so many layers of history, from the early days of America itself down to the county’s diverse, urbanizing character today. I just hope we appreciate all of it.

Related Reading:

New and Old #68

New and Old #69

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