Breaking Ground

It's almost 2:30 and I finally got around to creating my new blog. I've been thinking about it for some time now, but just never made time for it amidst the business of school life. Which leads me to my introduction that I've been contemplating in my head, trying to find the right words to portay myself with, this is my first post after all! Anyhow, I'm 20 going on 21 and I'll be a Senior this fall at Michigan State University. My chosen major is Urban Planning, and as you may be able to tell by my blog entitled "Cities Come, Cities Go", this will be my outlet to all things urban that are bouncing around in my head.

Just as we travel from city to city, sometimes staying longer or shorter than we planned on, cities have come and gone throughout the grand history that has been written by the human race. From the rise and fall of a metropolis in an ancient civilization, to the more familiar decline of Detroit, along with the recession of many other American urban centers, cities have grown and changed in unmistakable ways, and we must figure out why. The amount of life and culture that exist in our central cities is too great to forsake to poor, closed minded, short viewed decision making. I only hope that it is not to late for our cities already, I think that it is not, and I hope that any one of my thoughts might provoke someone else to open their mind to the vast world of planning.

As my UniverCity of East Lansing will go in my near future, other cities will come, specifically those of Seoul, Shanghai, and Osaka. In five days I will be leaving for a month long tour of Asia. I am lucky enough to be a part of the MSU Urban Planning study abroad trip to Asia this summer, where I'll get the once in a lifetime chance to attend the 2010 WORLD EXPO in Shanghai, themed "Better City, Better Life". It seems that this study abroad was all too fitting to pass up, and thanks to alittle push of my academic advisor, I will be on my way once I step on that aeroplane to the Orient. I have no idea what to expect for a culture so different from my own, but I am ready to find out as I walk the streets of Megacities that can even dwarf Manhattan. The World Expo will be a whole nother story. I look forward to sharing these experiences with you and think this will be a great start to my blog. I will leave you with a quote from a woman who has provoked my own urban thinking, Mother Jacobs.

Our songs and cities are the best things about us. Songs and cities are so indispensable. Even if we go into darkness, the time will come when people will want to know how these ruins were made—the essence of the life we made. It sounds very conceited to say it, but I hope that what I wrote will help people start back.
-Jane Jacobs