Could it be that we will be so overloaded with information that there will be a new kind of blog, a metablog that only references and promotes other blogs with deeper content? Would that even need a blogger? Would it be like iTunes Genius? I digress.

Well, the time is nigh and indeed it should be the duty of all in the blogosphere to shout out and big up  blogs of high quality.

If you don’t you are not doing your blog-and-roll duty, creating a buz buzz buzz (Sorry, Kim Mitchell).

So, without further ado I bring you one of the most interesting architecture/urban blogs:  ”Vanishing New York: a.k.a. The Book of Lamentations: a bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct” by an intrepid fellow named Jeremiah. He also now has a facebook page, which makes it easy to follow.

I came across this blog when I was doing some research on Edward Hopper for a lecture on social capital. As far as I can tell, Jeremiah is the only person to actually do the legwork and research needed to demonstrate that the diner that was the setting for Hopper’s most famous painting “Nighthawks” never really existed. The story and the blog were featured in the New York Times.

Jeremiah’s blog, which is highly interactive and peppered with photos, documents stores, residences and institutions that are vanishing or have vanished from New York City. Reading the blog is addictive. If you have ever been to New York, then there is a building that you cherished that has recently become vacant or has been demolished. My discovery was the Vesuvio bakery, which I adored, down in Soho.

The very fact that this blog exists, and draws people who are not denizens of New York speaks to the character, history and immediacy of New York. Vanishing Toronto Blog? Anyone?

Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York:

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/

This is the first video in Artscape’s Collaborative City Campaign of Ideas was produced by Storyboard Ink.We are excited that the next eight videos will be co-produced by CURL and The Firehouse.We will be updating the videos on our website as they are released. Highlights will include Richard Florida, Sir Ken Robinson and many others!

The Campaign of Ideas:
Video Knowledge Exchange
In October 2009 delegates from across Canada and beyond joined Artscape in Toronto for our third Creative Places + Spaces Conference The Collaborative City. In a packed two-day program inspirational keynote speakers and ground breaking projects made the case for the power of collaboration to solve complex multi dimensional challenges and to fuel innovation.

Over the next 5 months The Campaign of Ideas will bring you a regular diet of conference highlights focusing on the major themes of the conference and some of the tools for collaboration that were presented.

Mexico City/Toronto