The concept of beauty throughout history has been a force for creation, inspiring mankind to reach the pinnacle of civilization. From men accomplishing great things to win over a lover, the beautiful female as a muse for the artist, religions building great temples and cathedrals to attract worshipers, kings and emperors building monuments to demonstrate their greatness, and businesses using aesthetics in architecture and advertisements to attract more consumers.
In today’s society aesthetics serves primarily as a force to manipulate people to keep them striving and conforming to the liberal capitalist system. Advertisements use aesthetics to create a vision of a product to consume; not just the product itself but an overall aesthetically pleasing scene involving beautiful women, luxurious furnishings, great architecture, natural scenery, and music to create the mood.
Richard Register is a theorist in ecology and urban design, the author of several books on the topic of ecologically sustainable cities, and founder and President of Ecocity World.
Topics:
Richard’s concept of an Ecocity Paolo Soleri’s concept of an Arcology and his project Arcosanti in Arizona
The Ecosa Institute which is doing what Soleri intended on a smaller scale
Ancient examples of the Arcology go back to Ur in Mesopotamia and Çatalhöyük in Turkey
The city as a complex living organism
Horizontal vs. three dimensional cities
Implementing an ecocity on a large scale as an Ecotropolis
Why density is more ecologically sustainable
Ecocity Zoning
The goal of creating a car free city
The use of bridges between structures
John C. Portman’s Embarcadero Center in San Francisco which has aspects of an Arcology
Exterior glass elevators
Richard’s book Ecocity Berkeley and NIMBY imposed barriers to change in Berkeley
Opening up the creek systems in urban areas
Creating Ecocity village cores in the suburbs and how to retrofit aesthetically pleasing suburbs(ex. Santa Barbara, Marin County, and wealthy East Bay suburbs)
Reducing the foot print of cities and suburbs and opening up new land to agriculture and wilderness
Richard’s illustrations and the importance of aesthetics in urbanism
New Urbanism as a step in the right direction but too rigid in height and density
Richard’s trip to the Galapagos Islands and observations of how architecture coexists with nature
Ecocities in China
Robert’s observation that Las Vegas despite being an ecological catastrophe has many aspects of the Arcology
Robert Stark joined with Cartrell Payne(aka The Adventure Kid) to discuss the YIMBY movement, the Alt-Center, and how those issues relate.
Topics:
California Senator Scott Wiener’s housing-transit measure Derailed
Factions of the YIMBY movement including left leaning housing advocates, real estate developers, and the Market Urbanist
Left Wing anti-gentrification activists and their alliance with NIMBY’s
Cartrell’s observations on gentrification in Memphis, Tennessee
The hypocrisy of pro-immigration Limousine Liberal NIMBY’s, and how that combination exacerbates the housing crisis
How the YIMBY movement is also very pro immigration
Income Inequality in California and the mass exodus of the middle class
The film Falling Down which is set in LA in the early 90’s and a warning of a dystopian future
What makes California great and can it be saved?
The New Great Migration of Black Americans back to The South
White Middle Class Conservative NIMBY’s, their motivations, and how they are sabotaging their own self interest
Why YIMBYism and immigration restriction are compatible, and why the Alt-Center should take up those causes
Why YIMBYs need to address aesthetic concerns
Why YIMBYism is compatible with environmental and historic preservation
Citylab and City Journal; their writings on urbanism and political agendas
Why mass transit is inefficient in LA and other Sun Belt cities
The political and cultural flaws of both Blue and Red States
A vision of an Alt Center which include alternative economics, pro middle class policies, New Urbanism, environmentalism, SWPL culture, and socially centrist
Cartrell’s political orientation as an Old School Southern Democrat minus the racism
Cartrell’s critique of both the Black Liberal Establishment and Black Conservatives
Conservative views on the poor and police issues and Conservative Class Cucks
The early 20th Century Populist movement
Norman Mailer’s plan for breaking up New York City which addressed both the concerns of the Left and the Right
Growing up in Los Gatos which is a small town on the edge of the Silicon Valley
Studying architecture at USC and observations on LA
Art Deco and Mid Century Modern Architecture in LA
New Urbanism and Retrofitting suburbia
The Bay Area Housing Crisis and the importance of developing smartly while protecting greenbelts
How ugly architecture leads to NIMBY sentiment and why the YIMBY movement needs to address aesthetics California Senate bill would force more dense housing near transit hubs
Working on a redevelopment project at the Walnut Creek BART Station
San Francisco’s SOMA district’s new skyline
San Francisco’s new Transbay Terminal
Architect John C. Portman; The Embarcadero Center and Hyatt in San Francisco and the extension of the urban realm to the inside
Architect Jon Jerde; his projects including Westside Pavilion and the Universal City Walk in LA, Horton Plaza in San Diego, and the Wynn and Bellagio in Las Vegas
Architect William Pereira who designed the Trans-America Pyramid in San Francisco
Brutalism
1980’s architecture and whether it will make a comeback
Frank Gehry
Modernism vs. Postmodernism and where to draw the boundary
How current architecture lacks one cohesive aesthetic
Adam’s work as an architect in China, master planned projects, and observations on architecture in China Winner Take All? Richard Florida’s ‘New Urban Crisis’
How to accommodate families in cities
Mount Diablo
Walnut Creek
Lafayette
Orinda
The Caldecott Tunnel
Oakland
The Bay Bridge
The Downtown Skyline
Alamo Square
Lombard Street
Coit Tower
Fort Mason
The Palace of Fine Arts
Nob Hill
The Fairmont Hotel
North Beach
Fisherman’s Wharf & Ghirardelli Square
The Mission District
The FM-84 Concert at the DNA Lounge
The John C. Portman designed Embarcadero Center
The under construction Transbay Transit Terminal
Union Square
The SF Chronicle Building
The Tenderloin
Intro Song: Love & Science (feat. Paul Humphries from the Concrete Pop Album
Dean’s background in music and his original band 3D the band
Influences from electronic music from the early 80’s including Gary Numan and Tangerine Dream
90’s influences including Front 242, Nine Inch Nails, and Skinny Puppy
The New Retro Wave genre; FM-84
Darkwave Minimal Wave Records
The hybrid sound of 80’s Synthwave and 90’s Industrial Music, and the trend of fusionism
Performance at Zigfrid von Underbelly in London
Band of the month for Artefaktor Radio
Dean’s vocals, and Cye Thomas who also does vocals for the band
The use of the Korg MS-20 Synth
The aesthetics of the album covers Dean designs, fusing Brutalist and Industrial imagery with bright fluorescent colors Brutalist architecture, Trellick Tower, The Underground, and Centre Point in London, John C. Portman Jr., and the revived interest in Brutalism
Cyberpunk, the London Trocadero, and 80’s arcades
Victorian era Railway Stations in London
Urban exploration and dead mall enthusiast
Economics and political themes in music
The de-industrialization of the UK Depeche Mode’s Where’s the Revolution
The marketing and consumption of music on the internet
The band’s new album Post Democracy from live performances
Robert Stark, co-host Pilleater, and Rabbit talk to Constantin von Hoffmeister. He is an advocate of National Futurism and blogs at Oge Noct
Topics:
Constantin’s National Futurist Manifesto
How Futusim captures the Faustian Promethean nature of Western Man
Taking a materialistic over spiritual outlook toward identity
The Italian Futurist who wanted to re-create the glory of Rome in a futurist setting
The Dada movement, and Constantin’s flirtation with the concept of National Dadaism
The concept of Eurosiberia and Imperium Europa
National Bolshevism, Eurasianism, and Aleksandr Dugin
The European Migrant Crisis, and why Constantin is pessimistic about his home country Germany’s future
Why Constantin views Islamization as Europe’s primary threat, but America as a rival
How the election of Trump has improved Constantin’s view toward America
Constantin’s support for Israel and Secular Arab Nationalism as a bulwark against Radical Islam
The Cultural effects of Communism on East Germany and Eastern Europe
The Faustian Imperial Nature of Brutalist Architecture Le Corbusier’s Plan To Overhaul Paris
Using Le Corbusier’s ideas to redevelop decaying suburbs into garden cities
The glitzy Neo-Brutalist Architecture of John C. Portman Jr, and his inspiration from the Champs-Élysées
London’s Architecture, Ernő Goldfinger’s Brutalist towers, Centre Point, and the BT Tower
The Bauhaus White City in Tel Aviv, Israel Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Mid-century modern
The Palace of the Soviets proposal in Moscow
The Russian Futurist movement 1970s Soviet futurism New Arbat and Cyberpunk in Moscow
Constantin’s experience in India, and Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh, India
Constantin’s Poetry
Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater interview Robert Brenner. Robert is a writer, critic, satirist, futurist, urbanist, and porkatarian. His work has appeared in the Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Salon, the Barnes & Noble Review, Medium, Different Truths, Antiserious, and Theory In Action. He is a graduate of the Writers’ Institute at CUNY.
