[Applause]
welcome to Evansville Indiana a city on
the sharpest Bend and the Ohio River as
far as barges go it’s the sharpest Bend
anywhere in the United States of America
imagine piloting one of those push boats
pushing 15 barges pushing a quarter of a
mile long carrying 50 million pounds of
cargo on the sharpest turn possible and
then another one’s coming in the other
direction Evansville is a city torn and
pulled in the directions of the larger
cities that surround us that cast their
shadow on our progress Indianapolis
Louisville st. Louis Nashville and now
we’ll say to people be yourself growing
up in Evansville or a city like
Evansville you’ll have heard peers extol
their plans and their virtues for
leaving with the brighter lights of the
larger cities that surround us as a teen
or twenty-something in Evansville you
may have heard a conversation that
starts something like this you know I
think I’m actually looking for jobs in
Indy and in Indianapolis you may have
heard a conversation that starts
something like this yeah I think I’m
looking for jobs in Chicago and then
Chicago with LA or New York or London
and while there’s increasing hopeful
data for smaller cities that folks and
larger cities are looking for
opportunities in smaller cities the
point is we humans are incredibly good
being motivated and inspired by other
places and by being dissatisfied
in our own place wherever wheel and yet
the admonition bears repeating for
cities Evansville be yourself and yet
we’re in an arms race of competition
with other cities competition for talent
attraction talent attraction the beacon
of economic development strategies
everywhere a marathon of improvements
cities cannot rest on the laurels of one
project focused singularly on one mega
deal as if it were the Silver Bullet to
cure all Civic ills no cities especially
smaller cities must be continuously
planning multiple projects deals on
deals D years upon years out on a Gantt
chart that reads like a never-ending
scroll and then this hunt for talent if
we are to compete if we are to reach our
maximum potential if we are to
out-compete our competition we must
realize like a civic meditation design
matters for us and them because we’re
good enough and because talent is
attracted to good design like a moth to
a flame okay except good design doesn’t
kill you when you get there and now
maybe bad design but seriously why then
does design matter if someone is
thinking well because bad design might
kill us and sure that’s true true but
because we are human it’s simple it’s
hardwired into who and what we are so
why is it so complicated because we are
humans we are so good at lacking a
common narrative we have this thing
called politics we have political
divisions we have experience or
divisions we have ability division we
even have this new thing called
tribalism just kidding that’s totally
not
but one would hope that in a smaller
city these are found less as the
connectivity of a smaller city is
entirely different than that of a larger
city and that’s both good and bad for
smaller cities it’s good because it’s
easier to get involved it’s easier to
get a meeting you might have been a
small fish in a Chicago but now you’re a
big fish in a small pond somebody might
say and Wow
that’s a little bit offensive to the
pond it might be a little bit true and a
smaller city will never have the
critical mass to support a boutique
restaurant that sells nothing but
milkshakes made from pods and only bakes
the pies to only put in the milkshakes
no but we have a beautiful and assembler
connectivity you really will be able to
learn more people in our smaller city
social network and when it’s time to
leave the city for the countryside
you’ll have a quicker trip over a
shorter geography you won’t have to
travel 90 minutes to leave the light
pollution to see the Perseid meteor
shower but some things are hard because
of our smaller size you know when
everybody kind of knows everybody
sometimes that’s bad and some people
some people prefer the greater anonymity
of a larger city that’s great but some
things are harder because of our smaller
city size including design because good
design involves a dialogue around good
and then therefore bad design you will
offend somebody that you know or that
your mom knows or that your dad know or
that your boss knows so you better just
one interesting look at different design
is in these two buildings right here one
building has gone through numerous
changes on the inside and use and
tenants over the years and yet has
maintained its exterior look for the
most part while the other building has
essentially had one use its entire life
and has had to go multiple facade
changes just to try to maintain some
semblance of architectural relevancy the
building on the Left housed the very
first Sears department store in the
United States of America right here in
Evansville and while Sears open another
store in Evansville they kept their
downtown store open for a time they
opened their next store and Evansville
and also a building of firsts the
building on the right Washington Square
Mall was the first covered mall in the
state of Indiana
take that Indy well except within about
20 years the mall already had to undergo
up heralded and complicated grand
reopening and as to the design of Sears
as a business well history will be the
judge of that one but whether it’s the
design of a business or the design of
the building surely design matters
design matters because it’s who we are
design matters because it’s where we are
and design matters because it’s where we
are going
design matters because it’s who we are
and then therefore who we are not we are
not walruses now couldn’t graduations
everybody I want you to turn to your
neighbor on your left and pack them on
the back and say we are not walruses go
ahead and do that now
good now turn to your neighbor on the
right and say we are not walruses turn
to your neighbor on the right do it do
it good good and now now maybe you reach
out both hands at the same time and just
Pat both neighbors on the back and Pat
both neighbors on the back come on and
say we are all good and now think about
how awkward that was we are a
non-contact species like birds you see
birds up on powerlines nice little
spaces between the birds maybe birds
that know each other more sit closer
together I don’t really know I don’t
speak bird and all right I don’t speak
walrus walruses are a contact species
meaning they lay on top of each other as
complete strangers on the beach awkward
in be indeed we are not Wallis’s we are
hardwired to prefer a certain type of
connectivity between others or and a
distance between others when we’re
hardwired to prefer some sort of visual
distance that we can see out in front of
us not too far not too short to scan for
potential predators and risks and we
want to feel some enclosure on the sides
in places where we can escape or
potential risks and being not walruses
we are capable of shaping and building
our environment so we can build our
environment in a way that connects us to
our evolutionary past and literally
makes us more likely to want to go for a
walk or we can build an environment that
disconnects us from our past and makes
us literally less likely to want to go
for a walk and less likely for our
improvements they have the maximum
impact for our community now design also
matters because it’s where we are both
locally and of course globally Jared
Diamond and his book Guns Germs and
Steel writes that even the orientation
of the continents had a profound impact
on the history of human development and
locally or in evansville we’re down on
the river at one point Evansville’s low
elevation was a strategic advantage it
made our spot on the river advantageous
remember that tight River Bend well in
the days of motorless barges it was easy
the dock on that tight with a bend and
when you’ve got docked it was easier to
get your wares up to market to sell on
the street and Evansville with our low
elevation we might have had one or two
less storeys in height up the hill to
get your goods to the market and then
this happened trains yeah I know tell me
about it
it totally changed the barge industry
and then we had this the flood of 1937
this is over seven blocks from the river
at what is Main Street and now the dr.
Martin Luther King jr. Boulevard you may
not recognize what you’re seeing because
of all the progress we’ve had but what
once was a low elevation that was
advantageous suddenly was a disastrous
disadvantage so now we have this we have
a levee and here in Evans own we have
one of the most computer-controlled
state-of-the-art levee systems in the
entire United States of America and it
protects us from floods but it also
disconnects us from the river ways that
are costly to overcome and design
matters because it’s where we are going
it’s where we are going because in an
age of social media it is easier than
ever to share visual information in mass
it’s where we are going because
Millennials and boomers alike
increasingly prefer walkability they
prefer good street design remember what
that means it means we can actually
design a bad street remember talking
about bad street design can be touchy in
a smaller city where you are going to
offend seven different good people and
somebody sphere of influence
it’s time because we need critics to
improve we need criticism
we don’t need blind enthusiasts and we
don’t need mean-spirited heavy-handed
sometimes a smaller city may be
desperate to catch that next wave of the
urban Renaissance and in that
desperation it might cloud a community’s
response to otherwise honest and fair
and loving criticism and to paint a
loving critic as a chattering nattering
nabobs of negativity who loves her city
is a grave disservice to the community
it’s like this if my kid is in t-ball
and has a terrible swing and I don’t do
anything to help them have a better
swing then therefore I am not that great
of a t-ball dad and if in order to
improve my kids t-ball swing all I do is
yell and say you know you’ve got a
terrible t-ball swing well I’m a
terrible dad and if when the coach comes
out to correct the t-ball swing a jump
in defensive Ness and I say look what
you’re gonna need to understand about
the swing is it’s based on or I yell at
the coach get your hands off my kid he’s
got the best swing on the team everybody
here in the stands knows that look at
his swing it’s the best swing best swing
best sweetie the people in this stands
rightly think it’s crazy to see don’t be
crazy don’t be a blind enthusiast but
don’t be a jerk either so what so what
is this all about this is simply about
the need for a broader and deeper
conversation around community design
in small cities across the map and that
has to include architecture and
criticism so don’t be a blind enthusiast
don’t be a jerk either evansville be
your best
thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
you [Music]
welcome to Evansville Indiana a city on
the sharpest Bend and the Ohio River as
far as barges go it’s the sharpest Bend
anywhere in the United States of America
imagine piloting one of those push boats
pushing 15 barges pushing a quarter of a
mile long carrying 50 million pounds of
cargo on the sharpest turn possible and
then another one’s coming in the other
direction Evansville is a city torn and
pulled in the directions of the larger
cities that surround us that cast their
shadow on our progress Indianapolis
Louisville st. Louis Nashville and now
we’ll say to people be yourself growing
up in Evansville or a city like
Evansville you’ll have heard peers extol
their plans and their virtues for
leaving with the brighter lights of the
larger cities that surround us as a teen
or twenty-something in Evansville you
may have heard a conversation that
starts something like this you know I
think I’m actually looking for jobs in
Indy and in Indianapolis you may have
heard a conversation that starts
something like this yeah I think I’m
looking for jobs in Chicago and then
Chicago with LA or New York or London
and while there’s increasing hopeful
data for smaller cities that folks and
larger cities are looking for
opportunities in smaller cities the
point is we humans are incredibly good
being motivated and inspired by other
places and by being dissatisfied
in our own place wherever wheel and yet
the admonition bears repeating for
cities Evansville be yourself and yet
we’re in an arms race of competition
with other cities competition for talent
attraction talent attraction the beacon
of economic development strategies
everywhere a marathon of improvements
cities cannot rest on the laurels of one
project focused singularly on one mega
deal as if it were the Silver Bullet to
cure all Civic ills no cities especially
smaller cities must be continuously
planning multiple projects deals on
deals D years upon years out on a Gantt
chart that reads like a never-ending
scroll and then this hunt for talent if
we are to compete if we are to reach our
maximum potential if we are to
out-compete our competition we must
realize like a civic meditation design
matters for us and them because we’re
good enough and because talent is
attracted to good design like a moth to
a flame okay except good design doesn’t
kill you when you get there and now
maybe bad design but seriously why then
does design matter if someone is
thinking well because bad design might
kill us and sure that’s true true but
because we are human it’s simple it’s
hardwired into who and what we are so
why is it so complicated because we are
humans we are so good at lacking a
common narrative we have this thing
called politics we have political
divisions we have experience or
divisions we have ability division we
even have this new thing called
tribalism just kidding that’s totally
not
but one would hope that in a smaller
city these are found less as the
connectivity of a smaller city is
entirely different than that of a larger
city and that’s both good and bad for
smaller cities it’s good because it’s
easier to get involved it’s easier to
get a meeting you might have been a
small fish in a Chicago but now you’re a
big fish in a small pond somebody might
say and Wow
that’s a little bit offensive to the
pond it might be a little bit true and a
smaller city will never have the
critical mass to support a boutique
restaurant that sells nothing but
milkshakes made from pods and only bakes
the pies to only put in the milkshakes
no but we have a beautiful and assembler
connectivity you really will be able to
learn more people in our smaller city
social network and when it’s time to
leave the city for the countryside
you’ll have a quicker trip over a
shorter geography you won’t have to
travel 90 minutes to leave the light
pollution to see the Perseid meteor
shower but some things are hard because
of our smaller size you know when
everybody kind of knows everybody
sometimes that’s bad and some people
some people prefer the greater anonymity
of a larger city that’s great but some
things are harder because of our smaller
city size including design because good
design involves a dialogue around good
and then therefore bad design you will
offend somebody that you know or that
your mom knows or that your dad know or
that your boss knows so you better just
one interesting look at different design
is in these two buildings right here one
building has gone through numerous
changes on the inside and use and
tenants over the years and yet has
maintained its exterior look for the
most part while the other building has
essentially had one use its entire life
and has had to go multiple facade
changes just to try to maintain some
semblance of architectural relevancy the
building on the Left housed the very
first Sears department store in the
United States of America right here in
Evansville and while Sears open another
store in Evansville they kept their
downtown store open for a time they
opened their next store and Evansville
and also a building of firsts the
building on the right Washington Square
Mall was the first covered mall in the
state of Indiana
take that Indy well except within about
20 years the mall already had to undergo
up heralded and complicated grand
reopening and as to the design of Sears
as a business well history will be the
judge of that one but whether it’s the
design of a business or the design of
the building surely design matters
design matters because it’s who we are
design matters because it’s where we are
and design matters because it’s where we
are going
design matters because it’s who we are
and then therefore who we are not we are
not walruses now couldn’t graduations
everybody I want you to turn to your
neighbor on your left and pack them on
the back and say we are not walruses go
ahead and do that now
good now turn to your neighbor on the
right and say we are not walruses turn
to your neighbor on the right do it do
it good good and now now maybe you reach
out both hands at the same time and just
Pat both neighbors on the back and Pat
both neighbors on the back come on and
say we are all good and now think about
how awkward that was we are a
non-contact species like birds you see
birds up on powerlines nice little
spaces between the birds maybe birds
that know each other more sit closer
together I don’t really know I don’t
speak bird and all right I don’t speak
walrus walruses are a contact species
meaning they lay on top of each other as
complete strangers on the beach awkward
in be indeed we are not Wallis’s we are
hardwired to prefer a certain type of
connectivity between others or and a
distance between others when we’re
hardwired to prefer some sort of visual
distance that we can see out in front of
us not too far not too short to scan for
potential predators and risks and we
want to feel some enclosure on the sides
in places where we can escape or
potential risks and being not walruses
we are capable of shaping and building
our environment so we can build our
environment in a way that connects us to
our evolutionary past and literally
makes us more likely to want to go for a
walk or we can build an environment that
disconnects us from our past and makes
us literally less likely to want to go
for a walk and less likely for our
improvements they have the maximum
impact for our community now design also
matters because it’s where we are both
locally and of course globally Jared
Diamond and his book Guns Germs and
Steel writes that even the orientation
of the continents had a profound impact
on the history of human development and
locally or in evansville we’re down on
the river at one point Evansville’s low
elevation was a strategic advantage it
made our spot on the river advantageous
remember that tight River Bend well in
the days of motorless barges it was easy
the dock on that tight with a bend and
when you’ve got docked it was easier to
get your wares up to market to sell on
the street and Evansville with our low
elevation we might have had one or two
less storeys in height up the hill to
get your goods to the market and then
this happened trains yeah I know tell me
about it
it totally changed the barge industry
and then we had this the flood of 1937
this is over seven blocks from the river
at what is Main Street and now the dr.
Martin Luther King jr. Boulevard you may
not recognize what you’re seeing because
of all the progress we’ve had but what
once was a low elevation that was
advantageous suddenly was a disastrous
disadvantage so now we have this we have
a levee and here in Evans own we have
one of the most computer-controlled
state-of-the-art levee systems in the
entire United States of America and it
protects us from floods but it also
disconnects us from the river ways that
are costly to overcome and design
matters because it’s where we are going
it’s where we are going because in an
age of social media it is easier than
ever to share visual information in mass
it’s where we are going because
Millennials and boomers alike
increasingly prefer walkability they
prefer good street design remember what
that means it means we can actually
design a bad street remember talking
about bad street design can be touchy in
a smaller city where you are going to
offend seven different good people and
somebody sphere of influence
it’s time because we need critics to
improve we need criticism
we don’t need blind enthusiasts and we
don’t need mean-spirited heavy-handed
sometimes a smaller city may be
desperate to catch that next wave of the
urban Renaissance and in that
desperation it might cloud a community’s
response to otherwise honest and fair
and loving criticism and to paint a
loving critic as a chattering nattering
nabobs of negativity who loves her city
is a grave disservice to the community
it’s like this if my kid is in t-ball
and has a terrible swing and I don’t do
anything to help them have a better
swing then therefore I am not that great
of a t-ball dad and if in order to
improve my kids t-ball swing all I do is
yell and say you know you’ve got a
terrible t-ball swing well I’m a
terrible dad and if when the coach comes
out to correct the t-ball swing a jump
in defensive Ness and I say look what
you’re gonna need to understand about
the swing is it’s based on or I yell at
the coach get your hands off my kid he’s
got the best swing on the team everybody
here in the stands knows that look at
his swing it’s the best swing best swing
best sweetie the people in this stands
rightly think it’s crazy to see don’t be
crazy don’t be a blind enthusiast but
don’t be a jerk either so what so what
is this all about this is simply about
the need for a broader and deeper
conversation around community design
in small cities across the map and that
has to include architecture and
criticism so don’t be a blind enthusiast
don’t be a jerk either evansville be
your best
thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
you [Music]
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