Welcome to Place-Matters!

Welcome to Place-Matters! Before I get started, let me take a moment to introduce myself, tell you where I'm from, what the intention of this blog is and hopefully convince you as to why you should keep reading it.

First and foremost, my name is Anthony, and I am currently a resident of the persistently under-estimated, rarely appreciated, always on the cusp, city I hate to love and love to hate: Providence, Rhode Island. Refer to it as you will; the Renaissance City, the Creative Capital, the Beehive of Industry, or as I so endearingly refer to it as the Surface Parking Lot Capital of the Universe. Call it what you will, for now, love it or hate it, it is my home.

Halfway through college I really became interested in cities. I'm not positive exactly when that moment was, but I'm pretty sure my awakening came around Freshmen year as I began to venture out on my own and frequent Boston almost weekly, as I still do today. I'd always been interested in cities, don't get me wrong, but I don't think I ever really had an appreciation for urbanism until I started researching the subject beyond its surface. There's something about the city to me; I'm not sure if it's the pace, the size, the culture or diversity; I think more than anything though, it's the opportunity. There's a pulse to a city, an energy, a soul. Some cities have it, others don't. What that "it" is per-say, I cannot pinpoint exactly but perhaps an unattainable quest to discover exactly what that "it" is may, unknowingly be the ultimate goal of this blog; a seemingly fruitless attempt to encapsulate what makes a city thrive, and for arguments sake what makes it fail, at least in one naive young adult's opinion.

In another life, I'm pretty sure I was an urban planner, an architect, or a maybe even futurist. Maybe I was just a homeless bum living in a cardboard box over a subway grate. Whatever I might have been, I now have this persistent, at times annoying habit of when I walk through a city, imagining what could be and what potential it holds. I see towers rising from dirt lots, neatly landscaped parks where elevated highways once stood, bustling city squares and vibrant storefronts emerging from a decadent past. I suppose this brings me to the purpose of this blog. When I walk around a city, be it my home of Providence, RI, my near neighbor of Boston, the city to end all cities of New York or an urban metropolis on the other side of the world such as Shanghai, I am constantly inspired and hopeful for that city's future. I plan to use this website as an outlet for my comments, my suggestions, my frustrations and my observations.

A substantial amount of the infancy of this blog will focus on Providence, RI/Boston, MA and it's potential/actual development, planning, and current events, as this is my home at the time of my life that I am giving birth to this blog. It is my personal hope to move beyond this city in the coming

years as my personal career grows and progresses. As a frequent traveler, I hope to include entries on cities around the country and at times the world. I hope to contribute pieces on notable architecture and buildings that I visit and different mass transportation systems that I use. I have spent much time in Asia and Europe and in addition to place I have yet to visit, I hope to offer my perspective of places I have already been. I hope that my entires will encompass a variety of subjects, however they will all demonstrate urbanism both good and bad.

I hope you take as much pleasure in reading my work as I plan to in writing it. Please feel free to offer any comments, suggestions, critiques, and/or questions as you often or as infrequently as you like.

“Everyone is aware that tremendous numbers of people concentrate in city downtowns and that, if they did not, there would be no downtown to amount to anything--certainly not one with much downtown diversity.”
― Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Citi