Whyte vs Gibbs...AND EGGS

1. To what extent do Whyte and Gibbs approach city design from different perspectives? Do you find one more convincing than the other?

Gibbs approach to city design is very sterile. His premise of a successful city focuses on things like easily-navigable streets and car traffic. Gibbs approach feels unnatural to me. In fact, his approach seems to take some of the personality out of a city. Whyte's ideas seem far more organic. While he recommends city planning, he approaches it in a way that allows for much more autonomy. A city following Whyte's model can be clean, safe, and feel unique.

2. What elements of an urban area are particularly attractive to you? What elements repel you?

I love an urban area with unique and accessible food. A restaurant with a good reputation can draw me to an area. I also love the reflective aspect of a city. There is a great feeling that accompanies walking and shopping around downtown Chicago.
I do not enjoy cities with a "sudden" downtown area, one that starts, and more importantly, ends rapidly. Urban areas that feel dead also repel me. Visiting St. Louis, I felt as though everything was closed. There was almost nothing to do, nowhere to really shop.


Egg Package
My egg package design partner was Beth Farwell. We decided to build a small, economical package with cute decorations. The package we used had some minor crumple zones on the sides (this was not enough to protect the egg from a 2-story drop) and we used play-doh and cotton "spider-webbing."
Our package did not survive the fall, unfortunately. We presume that our egg would have survived a smaller drop. It was also clearly the cutest package.

Here is a link to Beth's blog: http://bethfarwell.blogspot.com/