tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:/feedJeremy Smith2019-01-29T21:55:53-08:00Jeremy Smithhttps://urbanjeremy.svbtle.comSvbtle.comtag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/resilient-redwood-city2019-01-29T21:55:53-08:002019-01-29T21:55:53-08:00Resilient Redwood City: An Introduction<p>Hi, </p>
<p>My name is Jeremy Smith. I grew up in Redwood City and have an unusually great amount of pride for my hometown. Having gone through high school at the same time as the city’s beloved downtown started its renaissance, I became very interested with what makes a city that all people can enjoy living and working in. </p>
<p>I left Redwood City to go to college at the University of Southern California, partly with a scholarship from the city’s own Sequoia Awards. While in LA, I further developed my interest for cities and began to explore how they interfaced with natural systems. I was drawn to urban coasts, where dense settlement and vital ecosystems collided. </p>
<p>I then took a year after college to work in engineering consulting, where I worked on sea level rise vulnerability assessments for cities in Southern California. I was so interested in the topic that I returned to the Bay to go to graduate school at Stanford studying civil & environmental engineering. </p>
<p>Now, I’m back. I have been the local happenings closely ever since high school and haven’t really stopped, only added more topics to cover. The two topics I follow the most intensely are housing and climate change. I probably gravitate towards these issues as a product of my age. I’m 23 and starting a life of my own, and like many other people my age, I am faced with enormous barriers to finding an affordable place to live and the ever-looming prospect of how climate change will destroy life as we know it today. Simple problems, you know?</p>
<p>I might be more concerned than the average (borderline) millennial because of my chosen profession in climate adaptation engineering, but I’d venture the average is pretty close to “incredibly anxious.” </p>
<p>Luckily, the Bay Area has been making tremendous strides towards trying to solve the problem of “So what are going to do about it?” Even more incredibly so considering other regions that are also making big strides have been the victims of catastrophic hurricanes. But it’s got me thinking. </p>
<p>What is Redwood City going to do about it? What are WE going to do about adapting to climate change? That is the question that I’d like to tackle with Resilient Redwood City. </p>
<p>I have some of my own ideas, but I know others do too! In the next posts, I hope to try and explain why Redwood City should be concerned about the issue of sea level rise and what kinds of work has been done so far. </p>
<p>Thanks for reading!</p>
tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/sketch-of-downtown-los-angeles2015-03-29T17:09:27-07:002015-03-29T17:09:27-07:00Sketch of Downtown Los Angeles <p>View from roof of my apartment building in North University Park (3.28.2015): <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/e8zgg7y5s6vaw.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/e8zgg7y5s6vaw_small.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Sketch.jpg"></a></p>
tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/photoshop-glitches2015-02-24T17:19:50-08:002015-02-24T17:19:50-08:00Photoshop Glitches<p>These are glitches in photoshop that occurred after I deleted a linked file. The program started to pull random images from my desktop and ended up portraying me through a digital collage of an example image of design feedback from Geodan, a map of USC, and my self-portrait. </p>
<p>These are some of my favorite glitches that I screenshotted:</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/vvoyckmpsmg9g.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/vvoyckmpsmg9g_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015-02-24 at 1.46.56 PM.png"></a><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/qhtshfu09epr5a.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/qhtshfu09epr5a_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015-02-24 at 4.55.48 PM.png"></a><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/qxogqpmxubr0qw.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/qxogqpmxubr0qw_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015-02-24 at 4.59.31 PM.png"></a><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/22ltmgk8jtexta.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/22ltmgk8jtexta_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015-02-24 at 4.54.41 PM.png"></a><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/jefun1xtqyg9w.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/jefun1xtqyg9w_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015-02-24 at 4.54.33 PM.png"></a></p>
tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/social-innovation-design-lab2015-02-23T14:54:09-08:002015-02-23T14:54:09-08:00Social Innovation Design Lab<p>Spring Semester 2015 at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles </p>
<p>I am almost half-way through one of the most interesting courses I have ever taken at USC: BAEP 471 Social Innovation Design Lab. For the course, 21 students are split into 7 groups of 3 and go through the design thinking process to learn about our community, identify problems, find opportunities, and design a product that can be implemented in a for-profit, financially sustainable business model to have a positive social impact. </p>
<p>Our community is Pacoima, CA in the North San Fernando Valley. We are working with a fantastic organization called MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity). Look out for more updates on my team’s progress on our design of our final product. Here are some photos from our visit to the community in late January. <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/v7ksaam4uf53jg.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/v7ksaam4uf53jg_small.jpg" alt="IMG_3597.jpg"></a><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/qzcylv0kg4gpw.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/qzcylv0kg4gpw_small.jpg" alt="IMG_3603.jpg"></a><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/99y2izpywtdfta.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/99y2izpywtdfta_small.jpg" alt="GOPR1393.JPG"></a></p>
tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/selfportrait2015-02-23T11:33:23-08:002015-02-23T11:33:23-08:00Self-Portrait<p>Made in Adobe Illustrator <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/jt5cufe6dswrq.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/jt5cufe6dswrq_small.png" alt="Project X (color).png"></a></p>
tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/watercolor-and-pastel2014-07-18T13:58:07-07:002014-07-18T13:58:07-07:00Watercolor and Pastel <p>This is a painting inspired by the damage of war in the Middle East. <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/t9u3f5on6oi8w.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/t9u3f5on6oi8w_small.jpg" alt="IMG_2723.jpg"></a></p>
tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/familiar-landscapes2014-07-07T16:03:43-07:002014-07-07T16:03:43-07:00Familiar Landscapes<p>As I flew into SFO, I was able to get some shots of my hometown, Redwood City, CA. The canals brought me right back to the Netherlands. Except I knew that these were not as easy to navigate via any mode of transport except a car. You can tell from the classic American culdesacs. <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/tzd0cihwsxxacg.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/tzd0cihwsxxacg_small.jpg" alt="IMG_2715.jpg"></a><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/6furydktaolmya.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/6furydktaolmya_small.jpg" alt="IMG_2716.jpg"></a><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/wuyifvvfi142mw_small.jpg" alt="IMG_2718.jpg"></p>
tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/urban-identity2014-07-01T16:19:19-07:002014-07-01T16:19:19-07:00City Identity<p>Like teenagers, some cities struggle with their identities. When I visited Rotterdam, Utrecht, Brussels, and Almere during my time in the Netherlands, none had quite the clear identity as the one and only: Amsterdam. Quite honestly, I attribute a majority of the credit to Amsterdam’s flag. The flag is two red horizontal stripes with a middle black stripe with three white X’s (or crosses as the Dutch would call them). There is much speculation on the origin of the design, but a popular belief is that the flag became a warning to those entering Amsterdam of its three dangers (the water , fire, and the plague). <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/sgezne2rowcg9w.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/sgezne2rowcg9w_small.jpg" alt="IMG_2228.jpg"></a> Now the X X X flag can stand for another three things that the city is known for around the world. Regardless of their meaning, the flag is excellent branding. The X X X is seen everywhere in the city, from drainage markers to the city’s crest. Wherever you are in Amsterdam you can see its symbol. I find that this has contributed to Amsterdam’s palpable identity, along with its concentric canals, identifiable architecture, and coffeeshops. <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/twmfjdgfknhi0g.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/twmfjdgfknhi0g_small.jpg" alt="IMG_2233.JPG"></a> And identity is a good thing! It inspires innovation, gives residents a sense of pride, and creates community. I wonder how cities such as LA could work to brand themselves better. For example, everyone in the world thinks the Hollywood sign when they think LA, but how does this is inspire community with the millions of people who live in less touristic areas. Does LA even have a flag? Or could anyone even recognize it? Things to think about… </p>
tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/from-pavement-to-polders2014-06-30T18:18:01-07:002014-06-30T18:18:01-07:00From Pavement to Polders<p>In my geodesign class, we were asked to try and see how the geodesign aspects in the Netherlands could apply here in LA… well…. this is one way: Turn the Highways into Canals! <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/syhg3bcmttohq.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/syhg3bcmttohq_small.jpg" alt="LA Polders.jpg"></a> Here’s a colored version: <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/euo9tixrt98sa.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/euo9tixrt98sa_small.jpg" alt="Los Angeles Canals Colored.jpg"></a></p>
tag:urbanjeremy.svbtle.com,2014:Post/change2014-06-29T19:04:30-07:002014-06-29T19:04:30-07:00Change <p>“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” <br>
-Barack Obama <br>
<a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/5kej7fcie2fcog.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/5kej7fcie2fcog_small.jpg" alt="IMG_2680.jpg"></a></p>