Dear Mark,

Great to hear from you and your new work experiences.

I have also been involved with studies involving space syntax analysis and
architectural conservation. A couple of findings have been published in the
2nd and 3rd ISSS and, more recently in the SS Summer Exhibition at UCL. We
hope to be presenting an overview of the finished research report in 4SSS.
We'd be delighted to hear about your guidelines for the preservation of
American Beach. Are they based on space syntax analysis in any way?

Love,

Edja

At 22:39 31/08/2002 EDT, you wrote:
>Please update your records to reflect my new professional contact details.
>
>Mark David Major
>Senior Planner
>Nassau County
>Planning and Zoning Department
>213 Nassau Place
>Yulee, FL 32097
>USA
>
>tel     (904) 491-3606
>         1-800-948-3364
>fax    (904) 491-3611
>email  [log in to unmask]
>
>I won't be distributing changes in my personal contact details until I have a
>better idea of whether or not the availability of DSL in this area of Florida
>will be changing in the very near future (and hence, I will have a more
>permanent, personal email address). For those of you who do want my personal
>contact details now, please email me at this AOL email address (or the work
>email above) for them.
>
>For those of you wondering, I couldn't stand California... or to be more
>accurate Californians. Personally, I didn't find designing footprints for
>rectangular 2-story buildings surrounded by a sea of frightening
>over-prescribed parking lots very challenging. Or very good design for that
>matter. I would be embarrassed to show anyone associated with space syntax
>the 4 or 5 projects I worked on over 4 months in California. A typical
>conversation would go like this...
>
>Someone else: We've catered for pedestrians by designing this curvelinear
>pathway from the administration building to the intersection.
>
>Me: Very few pedestrians are going to use that pathway because it's an
>indirect way to/from a building very few people are going to want to go
>through to a space where there are more direct, efficient routes to that
>destination in the first place.
>
>Someone else: Well, it doesn't matter because there aren't any pedestrians in
>California. Everybody drives.
>
>Me: There are plenty of people walking in downtown Sacramento and the reason
>some places have no pedestrians is because nobody design for them.
>
>Someone else: It isn't our concern. Our only concern is to provide our client
>with a solution.
>
>Me (in my head): Say what?
>
>Anyway, I'm extremely happy to be back down South. We are currently beginning
>conceptual work for a Traditional Neighborhood Development here in the county
>on Crane Island (TND is what people say when they don't want to say New
>Urbanism). I myself am heavily involved in writing the Architectural and
>Community Design controls for American Beach. American Beach was recently
>listed on the National Regster of Historic Places because it was the first
>segregated beach for blacks in Florida. It is currently experiencing extreme
>development pressure which will - if allowed to proceed - will destroy its
>historical grid and building pattern. The neighborhood is still 99% black but
>also only about half of the lots were ever developed. It has a historical,
>geometric grid with small lots (50 x 100) by current Florida building
>practice. There is also a strong undercurrent of racial resentment which
>clouds everything about American Beach... and which goes way back since
>Nassau County was the center of the illegal slave trade in the 19th century.
>
>I have found it very challenging and rewarding to develop guidelines for
>preserving this place of historical significance.
>