Nowtopian

Nowtopia in Bristol

Arrived in Bristol and Roger B., my wonderful host, whisked me off to Stokes Croft where he handed me off to Chris, a guy who will probably eventually be known as the Mayor of Stokes Croft. He is one of four people who together own the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) building, and in it he has a storefront where local folks, many of them alcoholic or drug-addicted, drop in seeking work. We stood on the sidewalk in front of the place for a while, as he began to explain the neighborhood and his years’ long effort to fight the local council and transform the area based on a local arts community that he is part of, and while we chatted, a steady stream of characters came up to greet him, cajole him for attention, maybe a job, but always with a lot of obvious respect and affection, which he returned without judgement.

People's Republic of Stokes Croft Headquarters, Bristol, England.

His building is quite large and Chris has in it a huge collection of ceramic decals he purchased from a local firm that went out of business, and somewhere he has a couple of shipping containers full of porcelain. Stokes Croft is apparently one of the neighborhoods where the world-famous Banksy first made his mark (literally) and there’s a couple of iconic pieces of his within sight of the PRSC.

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As the place straddles a busy thoroughfare that splits just to its side, there’s an odd triangular plot of land that Chris and others organized an artistic transformation of, renaming it Turbo Park with these odd Easter Island-inspired sculptures and spraypaint murals.

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Cardiff, Wales, a city killing itself?

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I was at Cardiff and had a lovely time at the Nutopia Conference. I spoke in the morning yesterday as part of a 1.5 hour panel with Mike Hallett, Development Director of Igloo Regeneration, a straight up “green” real estate developer (mega-millions), and Steve Garrett, a very sweet guy who is the main organizer of the Riverside Farmer’s Market here in Cardiff, and then me. We were not entirely in sync, Hallett presenting a more or less typical planning demonstration of how his company (named the #1 Green development company in the world by the UN!) plans to renew the old coal yards in a part of Cardiff Bay (condos, townhouses, some parklands and less parking, but nothing about agriculture or transportation or anything radically “sustainable”). Garrett went next and immediately objected to part of Hallett’s presentation due to the paltry allocation for open and green space and the total lack of agriculture. That was as sparky as it got, and he went from there to a lengthy home movie of his trip to Havana’s community gardens and manure piles (!) and said clearly that the ‘gig is up’ and we have to change everything. No longer is there any hope of restarting the system as we’ve known it. But his comments didn’t add much to that healthy sentiment. I went and did a super condensed Nowtopia talk, which really seemed out of left field after the prior two speakers, but people seemed to enjoy and many people spoke to me later with a lot of enthusiasm and I sold a pile of books.

Peering back from the bike tour in Cardiff.

We had two walks and a bike ride, all related to the Nutopia Conference. I give very good marks to the overall Conference (and am sorry I couldn’t stay through the end). There’s a great crowd of interesting people, good synergies… On the morning walk before we spoke, conferees were sent out to find a series of posted printouts around the area, each displaying an excerpt from an email from Zimbabwe, detailing the breakdown of water supplies, the cholera epidemic, the famine, the death of the prime minister’s wife, juxtaposed to ironic locations designed to highlight a way to think about the same issues in a “stable, first world” context.Â I particularly enjoyed the signage about cholera posted in a “health products store” full of over the counter herbs and health foods, and the signage about the famine over the shoulder of three guys wolfing down a hearty English breakfast. It was a good way to get started in the conference.

Sign about famine in Zimbabwe, part of the a Nutopia exploring adventure, on window behind the guy and his sandwich.

We had a nice, short bike ride led by Robert Bermingham of Cycle Cardiff, wherein he showed us the River Taff, and had us riding in single file to my dismay. I loved riding around though, and it was great to catch this view of daffodils blooming on the river.

April daffodils on the River Taff in Cardiff, Wales.

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Spring Delight: Critical Mass March 09

Last night was a huge ride here in San Francisco, maybe 2500 or 3000 riders! The weather was ideal, warm and sunny, and daylight savings time made for a long evening. Whoever got out in front did a majestic job of turning and twisting around downtown for a good hour or so, stopping regularly, which made it a slow, chatty, friendly pace for everyone. Eventually we wrapped part way around Union Square, and did a back and forth on Post and Sutter before finally making our way uphill through both tunnels, to Polk, back south past City Hall and up Market Street to an unusual left on Dolores. The ride broke up after a long stall on Dolores and 18th, but we’d been riding a couple of hours by then, and everyone fanned out around the Mission, clogging sidewalks, restaurants, and thousands hung out in Dolores Park until late. It was a great ride, had a lot of nice conversations with old friends and new, fun playing my new coconut-like percussion device I acquired in Brazil (they’re actually Castanha do Para shells) along with my usual bells… Here’s the photo gallery: