KPBS-FM (San Diego, CA)

All right, well, you know, I think it's also interesting because when it comes to art and culture, I think San Diego has this reputation for not having the talent of, you know, say, like Los Angeles, we've got incredible talent here, and I think that you know that is something that this showed me because you know, as you said, you know, I come from the architecture community and that is a very specific and professional community that we can talk about more detail another time. And so this was kind of my first introduction to the graphic design and the photography community in our area, and it has been incredible. It is incredible and the work that everyone is doing is great. I'll also say, you know, as someone who is self-distributing this as well, you know, when I was in London I worked on a book for fighting when I was at the London School of Economics, and you know it's a very different kind of experience. So this was all you know done myself, you know funded myself and I'm now distributing myself. I would like to give a really big thank you to all the institutions whose shops are covering and supporting this book and provided selling this book. Basically, I think that. Has been such a wonderful collaborative process as well. The San Diego Museum of Art was the first shop that said, yeah, we want this book. We're so excited for you. How can we help you? And so I think you know in our region not only do we have a lot of talent that's doing amazing work, but we've got these institutions that are really supporting local creatives, and I think that's just an incredible thing. We're really fortunate. Absolutely well, what are some of your favorite spots that made it into the book? So that's it's like picking your favorite child. I will say you know, back to the collaborative aspect of this. So I came into the project with a short list of you know, these are the places I want. I would like that are important to me as an architect and an urbanist and a parent to cover. But many of the places in the book were recommended to us through people in the community. Basically, so a lot of the Tijuana locations were recommended through this amazing Facebook group called Building Tijuana have a look at it, and that's a kind of a group of architects and urbanist who you know answered the call and said yes, these are the places and likewise in San Diego we had a Google document that we sent a around and we tried to really. You know, we're trying to represent the county and the entire region of as a whole, so being very conscious of trying to have places everywhere represented in terms of my own favorite, you know, I think Waterfront park is the one I like to talk about, because you know that was a parking lot. You know it was a parking lot for the county administration building in the county administration building. If you haven't got married recently and had to go there for your marriage license is a fantastic piece of public architecture. I mean talk about a really you know San Diego is not a city known for our civic architecture, and I, I think, the county administration building, in addition to, of course, our new Central library, are two brilliant examples of that, and so to have you know, the former parking lot for that building then turned into this incredible public park where water you know you can actually touch the water you know be on the waterfront, touching the water, and you know that's such a rare thing and especially in cities around the world that are transitioning from industrial waterfronts and the people that you see in waterfront park, it really is used by members, the people from throughout San Diego. So I really think that that's an extraordinary space. Agreed, agreed. I can image imagine this book it being used as a guide book. Is that something you thought of while writing it? Yeah, so that's exactly right. You know, I kind of pitch it as this is a you know, beautiful guide book. It's paper back you can put in your pocket or maybe a large pocket, your purse, and take it with you and use it. You know both tourists and locals to use it and to enjoy it. It's also quite so, a piece of advocacy for creating better funding for public spaces throughout our region, and also for looking into design processes to create the best quality built environment that we can for everyone as well. So it is a guide book, but it's also kind of a sneaky form of urban advocacy. I mean if you can just tell me a bit about like you know why these spaces are just so important for communities to thrive and for people to thrive. Absolutely, I think, especially now as we talk about housing right and we talk about units of housing, and that's also always how it's presented right numbers, numbers and spreadsheets. But that is not what makes a community, and that's not what makes a strong community really, and it is these public spaces where you interact with people who you don't know and are not from. You know where you are from. They're not. They don't may not look like you. They may not have the same values as you. It doesn't really matter, but you're mixing in these spaces, and that is very important for creating, you know, an informed kind of, you know, public, but also, you know, engendering feelings of civic responsibility and for developing stronger communities outside of individual communities, perhaps, but kind of a larger kind of sense of community. Yeah, and earlier you mentioned San Diego. Thana being named the World design Capital for 2024 and how that also helped inspire this book, can you talk more about what the World design Capital is and what it means about the region? Yeah, the World design Capital is a designation from an organization I believe in Canada the World design Organization, and it's given to a city and actually ours is the first region, but it's given to a city every two years around the world and what it means. You know, there are some requirements and there's a great team that is working in Tijuana and in San Diego right now the WDC team to produce events and all sorts of things for this year. So there's a lot going on. So please check out their website. It's been quite impressive, but really you know it is an opportunity for cities to use it any way that they want, and they can. I guess, just what to say. You know it is really so. When I was in Helsinki, you know the Helsinki World design year Capital year was heavily funded by the state and by the city, and they use it as a platform to toll, totally rethink development, I said especially certain neighborhoods, downtown neighborhoods, and so you know that was one opportunity, and that is something that I have seen, you know, and so it really depends on the city quite honestly. Yeah, yeah, well, it sounds like you'll be featuring the book at Design Week later this year. Can you tell us more about that? Yeah, so we are on September 13. So, as part of the World, a design Capital, there's a pavilion that is built, and so this year's pavilion is built first in San Diego, in front of the San Diego Museum of Art, and they'll be moved to Tiquan, I believe, in front of Scout, and it's designed by the architects at Helio. It's very cool, very exciting, and that will be a place where there will be free public conversation about design, and so we are hosting one on September 13. It's a panel discussion involving some architects and landscape architects of recent projects in Tijuana and San Diego, and we'll be having a discussion about not just the work that they have done, but the design process and working in the public sector in the public sphere, and also just how do we want our public spaces to be designed? Moving forward, great and working people find the book. So there's a website places we love DJT com and that has the full list, because we're adding more books, bookstores as we go, but you can find it the book catapult in South Park, Joy, right at the new Children's Museum in Balbo Park, at the Ming, DMA, EMPA and the visitors Center downtown at the library shop, and then Ardea North Park, the Visions Museum, textile art and Liberty Station, the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Hoya and the Oceanside Museum of Art, and if you're in Tijuana, Laura, at Matias. Studio has been absolutely amazing and is carrying the book great, and of course we will list those locations on our website KPBS dot Org. Finally, like, what did you learn about the San Diego Tijuana region in creating this book? What didn't I learn? that is a great question. You know I like you said, I grew up here and I thought I thought I had a pretty good handle on in San Diego Tijuana history and you know, and then when you start doing this kind of research and you start writing about it and you start really piecing things together, you realize there's so much that we don't know and especially growing up here, and so much I did not learn in school, and so it has been a very interesting educational experience. I will say in terms of the relationship between Tijuana and San Diego how they have informed the growth of each 1, I think, has been very interesting. I think particularly, you know about the Hotel del Coronado you know the Hotel del Coronado has been in various financials situations throughout its history and it was basically saved by the G. E. Of Tijuana as a destination for tourism, you know, and when Tijuana was growing that support. that basic hotel deal out of, you know, dire Straits, and so I think that back-and-forth relationship you know throughout history has been very interesting. I had a comment, a little bit of understanding, but as you read more about these places and the people and the characters who have been involved in developing them, it starts to create a very rich and interesting and complex picture. I've been speaking with Megan Groth about her new book places we love, and Megan thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.