Honestly, one of the best feelings is mustering the courage to seize the day early on a Sunday morning actually getting out of the door early to see something new. Today that something was a bit more of Baltimore and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The pictures captured were during a quick drive through some of Charm City today.
There is something missing when living in the DC area. It’s the the whole sense of belonging. Identity. And it’s not a bad thing, but DC’s overall ‘vibe’ is just too captured in the hurricane that is government of the most powerful nation in the world. Don’t get me wrong, I love DC and all of the opportunities it has to offer, but lately when I’ve traveled to different cities in the US, I have been more sensitive to certain local ‘flavors’ and it has opened up my mind in terms of where I could see myself living in the future. Maybe that’s just one of the side effects of having lived in Medellin for 12 years.
Baltimore is one of those places that I would like to continue exploring. I feel like there is much to learn about its history, architecture, urban development, transportation planning, sports infrastructure, economic development and overall potential to become a hub of creation and innovation on the east coast of the US. I would like to test the paradox of Baltimore being ironically referred to as ‘the city of the future …that will always be the city of the future’. I have a feeling that we will actually see Baltimore break out of that glass ceiling within the next decade and it will suddenly become much more important. Maybe it reminds me of Medellin and Colombia in that way.
Although there are many important topics that are very dear to people’s hearts, I would like to focus on topics closely related to my research interests, as varied as those may be. There are some things I’ve heard about Baltimore but I haven’t verified or tracked down, and would like to know more about.
Some of the ones I can think of right now are:
- Under Armour’s project in Port Covington
- Economic devastation and critical human development indicators in urban neighborhoods
- The local gentrification map and story
- Hispanic neighborhoods in Baltimore
- Camden Yards – I’ve lived in MD for 15+ years and I’ve never been here (shameful)
In the coming weeks, I will be working with LGA Projects with residential rehabilitation in Baltimore and as I spend more time in and researching about the city, I hope to explore some of these topics that pique my curiosity.
Galeano Villa 